an interconnect or something else?

a 2.5mm minijack, with a unique locking mechanism. the other end is terminated with the normal 3.5mm minijack.
that 2.5mm minijack will be hard to DIY since it needs a unique lock.

the AD8065 got my vote. or you could try OPA627(pricey) or the OPA227 (cheap). the AD8065 has the best price/performance ratio IMO.

another thing, why not wait for the next gathering and see if a tube amp could scale higher than a discreet solid state amp. or how well a full OTL tube amp compares to a hybrid implementation (SOHA).
i bet the next gathering will have more contenders than the previous.

i have no idea. but the cable is already using a Linear Oxygen Free Copper, good enough if you ask me. unless you replace it with silver based cables, then it's a waste of time/money.

though i do think that this should be asked in the DIY amp thread since i've been warned by the thread starter once for not sticking to the topic and leading the discussion astray, i do think i should in someway reply since it's been asked.

PC uses a switching power supply which is in a way bad to audio usage since the power supplied isn't constant. you could however get away with a large capacitance caps and use a CRC filter to smooth it out. but still, switching power supply isn't always preffered especially in headphone amp where power supply quality has a large effect on the sound quality. most people tend to avoid using switching power supply especially from the PC since that's not the best place to get a good quality power.

and you might wanna take into consideration the RF interference from the many components in the case, which could possibly get into the audio path. but if you're still interested to try it out, a PIMETA or an M3 in an aluminium case with proper grounding might help in reducing the interference.

still, i do think that you should at least filter about 5V from the 12V rail to get acceptable quality power, which gives you something more or less 7V to run the amp from. you could add a low dropout voltage regulator after that to stabilize the power. but with 6V-7V, you'd have to cancel out high voltage Opamps, mainly the OPA627, AD8066, AD8065, AD843, AD8610 and AD8620 since those requires higher voltage to work well. that will leave you with the normal quality/stock choices like the OPA2227, OPA2134, OPA2132, AD823 and something like the TL072, NE5532, NJM4556, NJM4558 and the rest of the jellybean chips.

oh, i forgot.. the M3 tend to get hot after a while so that might also be taken into your consideration. the discreet MOSFET output requires heatsinking since those are biased into Class A with a somewhat high current. a PIMETA however doesn't produce that much heat and might be better in a closed casing. a Gilmore Dynalo also produces considerable heat so you might wanna think about it also.

all and all, you could pick from the range of choices that i've mentioned above. a PIMETA, an M3 or a Dynalo. and of course the CMOY (but from the looks of it, you're trying to avoid the CMOY). the M3 might get a bit packed in the 5.25" case. a Dynalo could be miniturized pretty small, but produces heat. so my suggestion is the PIMETA.

the PIMETA is quite easy to build, not that awfully complex compared to the CMOY, and easily sourceable for parts. you could refer here for schematics.
^ but i do suggest that you start off slowly, trying the CMOY first before moving on to better designs. that should give you the experience which will come in handy.

the components is a lot harder to source for. take a look in the DIY Amp thread and you'll see that most people have a problem sourcing for one or more of the required parts. even necessary parts for the CMOY is hard to source for.

some hard to acquire parts includes the high quality power caps, a high quality polypropylene decoupling cap, the gold plated IC socket, the Opamp chip and a high quality dual track potentiometer for volume control. also, the 1% metal film resistors are hard to come by.

there's shops mentioned in the DIY Amp thread, which is Nixie Electronics and some other shops that you could source parts for. try reading the many pages in the thread to get yourself started.

some on external DACs, some on EMU0404, some on EMU1212, some on Prodigy, some on Chaintech AV710, and some on external soundcards. heck, some even use built-in soundcards and SoundBlasters.

i don't recall anyone still using ESI Juli@, or am i wrong?

^ there's even EMU1616 in here. and if i recall correctly, there's EMU1820 also.

a CMOY?

[ah, the minimum 10 letters regulation. so this shall count as a filler.]

ah, about that. i could build you another one with a knob and an adapter. those are custom made, so feel free to ask for custom specs. both of the buyers did ask for a somewhat major modification to the amp, and i fulfilled their request.

i did tried both the SHP-895 and SHP-805, but can't really remember where exactly i posted the review.

plus points of the 895 compared to the 805:
+ stand
+ better finishing
+ better quality
+ better soundstage
+ better sound detail
+ bigger earcup
+ longer cord
+ harder to drive?

you'd most probably need a headamp with the SHP-895, but you could get away unamped if you were to use the SHP-805. still, the SHP-895 benefits greatly with ample amplification, yet the SHP-805 stays stagnant even when amped.

my take : get the SHP-895. the extra $100 is worth it, every penny of the way.

the nick is after Valentino Rossi, i'm in no way related to the medical fields.


eh, i though the cord is 4 meters? or i might be making a mistake.


a headamp is a Headphone Amplifier. and different from the rest of the crowd who don't think that the SHP-895 would benefit much from amplification, from my experience messing with it, it needs an amp to perform well.
regardless whether you're using a walkman, an mp3 player or from an uber l33t soundcard, an external amp shall improve the sound a lot.

a headmp could be DIY'ed if you're interested, or bought from somewhere. even retailers/shops are selling it.


market price should be around the price selling the bulk sections. but the SHP-895 are kindda hard to find in retail shops. i've never seen one, only the SHP-805.

what type of headamp that you have in mind? if solid state is your preference, then my take is the M3.
or might i suggest something different? the SOHA. that's by far the best DIY amp that i've built so far. but since there's no printed PCB available yet, you'd have to live with the normal stripboard. but still, the SOHA should be a step up from the raved Millet Hybrid.

i would most probably attend the next gathering, and bring along my modded EMU0404, together with the many amps that i have in my possession.

now this is what i would call personal preference.
from my experience : the SHP805 doesn't benefit much from an amp, not like the SHP895 did. and i assure you, my setup is nothing to be reckoned off. i did an AB test and clearly the SHP-895 beats the SHP-805 by a few miles.

both are properly burned-in at about 60 hours each, properly amped, and feeded by an EMU0404.

i like the watermelon analogy. i makes me recall Anna Ohura..

there will be another batch build of SOHAs next week. i'm getting parts for my Valve Buffered Inverted GainClone and since those are basically a SOHA preamp, i'm thinking of offering another SOHA bulk for interested parties.
this time around, i'm thinking of a level higher than the last build. *hint* lots and lots of silver.

the PSC805 might be a lil bit hard to get right now. so the other viable option is to use the Chaintech AV-710 and a headamp.
i find that the Chaintech AV-710 is quite good actually. the soundstage is narrower compared to the EMU0404, with lack of details and the sheer excitement, but still it's a good card for budget buyers.

the Chaintech AV-710 + dedicated headamp has my vote.

^ a quick glimpse through the datasheet shows that the AKM AK4353 DAC used in the Aurilium is on par with the Wolfson WM8728 used in the Chaintech AV-710. in fact, the Wolfson WM8728 (Chaintech) is a tad better than the AKM4353 (Aurilium) according to the specs.

and judging from the internal pic mikechai posted in his review, i would say the Chaintech has more or less the same DAC implementation as the Aurilium. but the Chaintech uses suckier cheaper caps in it (G-LUXCON compared to Panasonic).

i missed that.
comparison is based entirely on the AKM4353 for the amplified headphone out. if that's the case, then most probably you're right, then Aurilium is on par with the EMU0404. didn't know the multichannel output is superior than the stereo output.

need an amp desperately.

i'm sure it's just us.
and how come Tachi is mentioned? supposed to be ijan and KilJim.

maybe you should wait for the next gathering. if i could attend, you could hope to play with some uber high end DIY amps. and a few modded sources.