Good DIY headphone amp?

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jrmintz

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 4, 2004
Messages
998
Location
NY
Hi all,

Does anyone know of a good design or kit for a DIY headphone amp? I'm not looking for a studio distribution box, but something really nice sounding for my personal enjoyment. I'm allowed 20 minutes of personal enjoyment per week whether I want it or not....

I saw that design using the surface mount stuff and that scares me - I was looking for something I can see.

Thanks -
 
Try this. Lots of designs, though I don't know if there are kits.

http://headwize.com/projects/index.htm

Brian
 
I've wanted the same thing. I'd like to have a high quality headphone amp that I can take between home and the studio for a constant reference.

That class A design looks pretty sweet. Be sure to post info here if you decide to build that one. I wouldn't go there myself as I can't build PCB's for $hit. The two times I've tried it's been an absolute disaster and waste of time and money. I didn't see a layout on there to send in to have it made by a manufacturer either. That's exactly what I've been looking for too...
 
[quote author="NewYorkDave"]The Master is coming. I can hear his footsteps... [/quote]
mmm :cool:

what are you up too Dave ? ... :green: give, give
 
Ooh, the anticipation is killing me... Who's coming?

Meanwhile I'll be glomming that class A design - Thanks, Butta. I was sitting here the other day realizing I have piles of gear and no place to listen to music to relax. I'd like to do some listening that's not working. Thanks, everyone.
 
I know the answer, I know the answer, it's got three lettters, and is straight outta Jersey.

ju :grin:
 
> a good design or kit for a DIY headphone amp

I have nothing to say except what's been said: Headwize.com

> something really nice sounding for my personal enjoyment.

That is utterly subjective (also highly biased by headphone impedance, tone, background noise, listening level, and source material). Listen to anybody's opinion, but don't believe any of them.

My unbelievable opinions:

Some differing opinions are due to the varied impedances and power demands. Some sweet tricks work well at 300Ω, less-well at 32Ω, or OK at 1mW and not at 200mW. Since impedance, sensitivity, and acoustic levels each vary about 10:1, the difference between one situation and another may be 1,000:1.

If you can afford power and heatsinks, use a good op-amp followed by a fast power BJT emitter follower, all run from at least +/-12V rails (Senn 600 often need more voltage, more than any good opamp). Very wasteful, but serious power, and clean and simple. I wired one on perf-board.

If you want fun and funky, get a TV V-sweep tube and use a power transformer for an output transformer. Power output is ample in most impedances, THD is low and simple, and you could literally wire it on a breadboard (wood board for cutting bread) with some brass tacks for solder points.

Ordinary hi-current opamps do astonishingly well for mid-and hi-Z loads, and are often satisfactory at 32Ω, though they are not sexy.

Remember that a headphone amp IS a "line amp": headphones come from that tradition. For 100-300Ω phones, use your Neve class-A or Jensen 990 module connected as 150Ω. Put about 20-30 ohms in series with the output to reduce headphone melt-down.

You can wire CMOS inverters in mass-parallel and get adequate power with a very round sound.

There is also GainClone. If these things are so wonderful driving speakers, they should be killer at driving headphones. And they are certainly simple.

-Zeus
 
Here's a headphone box I made for our studios a long time ago. Works very well - sounds very good..

http://www.gyraf.dk/tmp/Gyraf_headphone_box.PDF

Jakob E.
 
Thanks very much everyone.

I have nothing to say except what's been said: Headwize.com

OK, I'll go have a look

Remember that a headphone amp IS a "line amp": headphones come from that tradition. For 100-300? phones, use your Neve class-A or Jensen 990 module connected as 150?. Put about 20-30 ohms in series with the output to reduce headphone melt-down.

My headphones are 300 ohms, so I could use a pair of API 325 cards wired for 150 ohm output? That would be simple enough.

Thanks PRR. I have been wanting to listen to some Bach lately, and I can't face the idea of Bach on studio monitors -
 
Seth,

I'm thinking of making this a DIY-project:

Schematic:
http://www.gyraf.dk/tmp/Tube_headphoneamp.gif

Layout (for two units on a 10x16 card):
http://www.gyraf.dk/tmp/Tube_headphoneamp.pdf

It's a simple and basic transformerless CF tube amplifier, based on four easy-to-find ECC88/6DJ8's.

Works very nice into high-Z headphones - some 300 Ohms and upwards. It's the favorite singer-headphone driver around here..

If you try this out, I would love some feedback in order to optimize it as a DIY-project..

Jakob E.
 
That looks nice, Jakob. I'll definitely try it out and let you know how I make out.

Thanks -
 
And yet another idea... This is my line amp, which can deliver nearly half a watt with low distortion. It should work well as a headphone amp.

Schematic (10kB)

The 2:1 ratio on the output transformer is specified with a 600-ohm load in mind. For a 300-ohm load, use a 3:1 transformer... or use a 4:1, or the 2:1 with only half the secondary connected, to drive phones down to 150 ohms nominal. Or, just use it as-is, with a slight reduction in maximum output, which you'll probably never notice because several hundred milliwatts into a set of cans is pretty damned loud :wink:
 
I need an amp for my 32 ohm phones. Most presented here have been for higher impedances. Any direction for this would be appreciated.

Thanks, JEfff
 

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