I added a 5uF/100V ERO Polycarbonate capacitor bypass to each of the 300uF output capacitors. That and a little break in seems to have 'opened up' the treble a bit. I brought the headphone amplifier over to my friends house - he is currently running an all tube OTL headphone amplifier built by me using a EF86 triode connected as the gain tube and a 6922 as a White Cathode Follower.
In comparison, the Starving Student has better bass control and sounds more neutral top to bottom. To my ears the all tube unit sounds a bit more musical, but that could be from the higher output impedance having a little less control over his 150ohm Sennheisers. The 'Starving Student' sounded better and better the longer it was kept on and really had great impact and detail. I could live with either circuits - but the EF86 unit cost $500 to make versus $80 for the Starving Student! Of course the EF86 linestage has multiple input switching, RCA outs, tube rectification and premium parts.
.
Showing posts with label headphone amplifier starving student tube hybrid update. Show all posts
Showing posts with label headphone amplifier starving student tube hybrid update. Show all posts
Friday, November 28, 2008
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)