Time to DIY like it's 2009! (hobby has changed, man)

Discussion in 'DIY' started by Beefy, May 29, 2021.

  1. Fallenangel

    Fallenangel Friend

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    *happy diy nerd noises*

    I've been out of the fold for so long that I might have a crazy perspective.

    What was the first thing we all built? A cmoy. I did about 2 weeks after my parents bought me an iPod at 18 years old.

    I kind of want to make one again, just for fun. Just a perf board project to get the blood flowing again. Of course I'll have to make an output stage, maybe bc327/337, and a battery charger.

    It's where it all began, why not go back to the beginning and once you made that, you'll rediscover that feeling of joy at making something that makes you happy.

    I'm rambling, but this actually makes me excited. There is such a difference between theory, design, populating a professional pcb and just making things from connecting resistor leads.

    I'm taking my soldering station out of the closet and placing a $30 order to digikey. It's play time again.
     
  2. Fallenangel

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  3. Fallenangel

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    Just got a little inspiration, this is one of my oldest projects that I still have.
    It does all of my basic testing.

    That's a simple regulated psu, AlienDAC with fancy caps, and a MINT amp.

    Usb input, rca input, headphone output, rca output, all selectable by switches. It just does it all and was really fun to make. I look at it once in a while when I want to feel the diy bug.
     

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  4. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    No, not at all! This all gets the juices flowing, exactly the sort of talk I have missed.

    And I think this is where I need to make the distinction between 'real' DIY where people have the skillset to design something themselves, and kit DIY'ers like me who just enjoy throwing something together because they need some audio equipment and some other smart dude put out a design within a price/performance envelope that makes sense (and with sufficient documentation that an idiot like me could actually put it together).

    You might be the most sane of us all. The time out of the hobby is healthy..... except when you come back expecting to be able to chase the high end with kit DIY. That will do your head in (hence this thread).

    I can entirely relate, and you seem to be reaching a conclusion far quicker than I did.

    I think the putative $30 parts for a Cmoy order makes incredible sense, just something cool to play around with for shits and giggles. I think a $3000 parts order for a bespoke self-designed amp makes sense, that gets you something totally unique. But $300 for an M3 or a γ2? It's a lot harder to see the value there.
     
  5. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    I used to assemble stuff like this just to do proof of concept. Looking at my file properties, it says January 2011 so over a decade old at this point. Sheesh.

    edit: found another one where I then took a similar proof of concept and fed it into an AMB a20. Ah those were the days. I specifically kept a bag of cheapo AirCanada 300ohm headphones for testing purposes :D
     

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  6. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    I'm mostly curious about those phones in the second picture. Are they Canadian-ised KSC75?

    [EDIT] Ah, you edited to answer that. They look so much like the shape of KSC75!
     
  7. Fallenangel

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    @Beefy I'm not sure if you remember that I had a regular relationship with parmetal and front panel express with how often I ordered from them. Total shill but front panel express did have the best engineering customer service I've ever seen. I ordered a panel (maybe the 20th one) with a cutout of 1.5mm and a clear acrylic disk to fit in it at 2mm. The engineer actually called me and asked if I made a mistake and if he should correct it so it fit perfectly. That's what I call really great service! Well, they also include a package of gummy bears when they ship the order, so maybe I'm biased. Lol

    Anyways, I did build a crazy Beta22, balanced, in two cases, dual Sigma22 with a Plitron transformer. All Jenna wiring. A balanced DACT stepped attenuation that cost like $300+. Yeah, parts cost was about 3k. Fun times.

    I actually disagree my friend, I think the amb M3 is a fantastic amp well worth $300 in parts.
     
  8. Armaegis

    Armaegis Friend

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    Haha, not KSC75 clones. They were 300 ohm (I think) random sets that AirCanada would give out for people who wanted to watch a movie or listen to music. I imagine I must still have at least a couple left sitting in a drawer somewhere. I blew some of them up just for the fun of it. It took a surprising amount of juice. They actually have dual mono prongs on them as well (technically one stereo & one mono, for the old airline connections)
     
  9. Fallenangel

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    Ah, looks like Sigma22 running 3 JISBOS. Good stuff. @Armaegis
     
  10. Beefy

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    I love FPE. But you should fire up the software, and check the current pricing. It will make you wince in pain.

    I think it's a great amp too. My revamping/recasing project isn't finished yet, but this is on my desk right now......

    [​IMG]

    But when you can buy a Schiit Jotunheim for only a few bucks more than what I spent on just the casework? The value proposition is very, very questionable.

    Compare that with a big crazy B22? Well, you just can't get something like that anywhere else, at any price.
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2021
  11. Fallenangel

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    @Beefy totally agree here, custom casework is stupidly expensive. Cases in general are stupidly expensive. $60 frame, $75 each panel, you're paying $200-250 easily.

    I remember trying to build a First Watt F5 and honestly, $200 shipping cost from Hong Kong was worth it for a steel case made for another company. I think it was vt4c
     
  12. JeffYoung

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    I made my own case for my HPA-1 clone. Stupid number of hours in it.

    progress_frontplate.jpg

    progress_tapping.jpg

    progress_volume_insert2.jpg

    progress_volume_insert.jpg

    progress_front.jpg
     
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  13. JeffYoung

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    Oh, I forgot. Made a custom case for my Bottlehead S.E.X. too.

    SEX front.jpg
     
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  14. Beefy

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    That tool shop, and the skills you have to use it, are literally making me salivate. Bloody good job!
     
  15. dBel84

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    aaaah VT4C - he joined CMoy in the stars sadly but I loved his collection of parts, always reasonable too.

    and I am another huge supporter of the M3, the whammy from DIYA is a revisit to this classic concept.

    my first DIY headphone amp was also a cmoy ( I already had the original XCans for my HD580's ) , then I evolved the concept to include a diamond buffer on the output

    some pics from the past

    a diamond buffer A47

    [​IMG]

    and variations with crossfeed built in - reaching for the stars ;)

    [​IMG]

    and a high tech chassis for my alien dac

    [​IMG]

    nostalgia can be fun - luckily I took a few days vacation so can indulge the time to dig up this stuff :D

    thanks for this
    ..dB


    EDIT - yes, @JeffYoung is in a different league - I would have so much fun playing with a mill ( probably loose a finger or 2 along the way )
     
  16. Armaegis

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    I'll give you a pair when the restrictions finally lift up and people can meet again lol. Tough little buggers that are perfect for testing.

    S22 feeding both the 3-channel a20 (which I believe was veeery similar to the JISBOS) and also my own weird preamp Meier-inspired circuit which was the source into the a20 being used as unity output buffer.

    I eventually ditched the a20 part and built the weird circuit itself into a cmoy tin with a gain switch and bass boost switch, but for the life if me I can't find any of the pics. That was probably my best "in a tin" build I ever did for the sheer oddity of it.
     
  17. JeffYoung

    JeffYoung Friend

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    Funny, the guy who taught me how to use a mill was missing a finger and a thumb. Definitely makes you take safety seriously....
     
  18. Beefy

    Beefy Friend

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    I might be the only headphone DIY'er in history to not build a Cmoy in an Altoids tin. I have always hated working in tight little spaces like that. Big open cases for me!

    My dad lost 2.5 fingers in a wood shop accident. I'd never dip my toes that deep unless I was able to do it properly.
     
  19. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    These days the only DIY that makes sense to me are tubed gear and speakers.

    The solid state side is a bit solved with companies like Schiit unless you have a really exotic design that no one else is making.

    Actually I just remembered one domain where DIY is very rich and that is sound production. They haven't caught the objectivist bug as much because in many cases the distortion is desirable. Mics, preamps, tube amps, effects pedals, modular synthesizers, etc; there's tons of producers that not only have a deep knowledge about gear, but also will use a soldering iron to either fix something themselves or to make a clone of gear that doesn't exist anymore.

    Unfortunately I'm not much of a musician but I want my kids to take up music seriously so I have an excuse to build a lot of this stuff.
     
    Last edited: Jun 22, 2021
  20. Beefy

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    Yeah, I do definitely agree.

    Yet, looking around I do still feel like there must still be room for interesting and unique designs, without going completely crazy. I keep looking at @dsavitsk and his DHSA-3(F), with it's transformer voltage gain and what seems to be a really, really neat buffer design. Just so elegant and different, and seems to perform absolutely beautifully. And yet, almost certainly not a design that would ever be mass produced by a big manufacturer like Schiit.

    From a builder's perspective, I think there is definitely a niche for this sort of design, and if there was a well-documented schematic I would absolutely DIY something like that. I would DIY that project's brains out.

    It will never happen though. What is the incentive to actually produce and document a project like that these days, for a DIY'er like me? There is none. Those days have indeed passed. I need to learn how to design things for myself, or just start buying commercial gear.
     

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