WTB: want to hire expert DIYer to fix buzz in First Watt DIY clone

Will pay for your time and parts of course.

it’s an Aleph J clone and sounds fantastic and probably doesn’t buzz with speakers but it even buzzes with the HE6se a bit. I’d like to get it quiet enough to use with Audeze headphones.

I'll also pay shipping both ways. It will have to be someone in the CONUS due to the size and weight.

and my apologies for the weird ad but I don’t know enough experienced DIYers anymore. It seems like a lost art with the cost of decent DACs and amps coming down over the last decade.

here’s a picture of the internals of the amp. Ignore the iPhone power cable hanging into the shot.

 

What frequency is the hum?

 

It's fairly low frequency and it's a buzz. Sounds like a ground issue or something. I tried both of iFI's new products and they din't help though.

 

It really depends upon whether it is 120Hz or 60Hz. One is probably grounding, and the other is probably PS ripple, and the solutions are quite different. There's a thread on DIYAudio about just this that might be helpful, at least as a starting point to rule out some stuff: https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pass-labs/369555-aleph-hums-quiets-shorting-plugs.html

 

thank you for that link @dsavitsk !

This would have been an easy ask 10 years ago. How things have changed….:

 

Pretty much. I don't have perspective from a decade back since I was just getting out of really cheap and bad headphones around then but finding someone to repair or even properly diagnose the one amp I have that needs a fix seems impossible. And again I'd do it myself but I have as much grace as an elephant doing tai chi chuan.

 

Schiit happened.

Have you tried contacting local pro electricians specializing in audio for estimates?

 

Yeah, screw those guys for making affordable high performance gear!

*

It's really hard to see what's going on inside that amp. That PSU should be enough to keep ripple low for those amp modules. It looks like there might be a thermistor ground loop breaker on the chassis connection on the left base plate, although it is impossible to really see what is going wrong with grounding. Some of the input wiring looks like it isn't well soldered, although that might be shielding. It's a big unshielded transformer, so there might be the possibility it is just an unavoidable magnetically induced hum.

I'd take a look for shits'n'giggle, but shipping that beast to Canada and back would be absolute madness.

 

I just don’t trust random electricians. I mean if the knowledge base has dried up here how could I hand it over to a shop that also fixes vacuums?

 

Maybe meant pro audio? It couldn't hurt to do a little google and ask repair shops if they're familiar with Pass topologies. Further, Papa Pass is only a bit east of the bay outside of Sacratomato. Give them a ring!

 

This is a DIY clone of one of his designs. I’m sure he wouldn’t want anything to do with a DIYer copying his work and it not turning out perfect.

AFAIK this isn’t a morally corrupt thing to do though. It’s very common. I believe papa pass doesn’t mind.

I’m very pessimistic of an electrician even knowing who Pass is but I’ll continue looking into it.

 

I can't imagine either Papa or one of their lead techs would say no as long as you're willing to pay a diagnostic fee. After that, it's probably $125-200/hr repair cost plus parts.