Recently I built the Nelson Pass H2 Harmonic Generator, a circuit that injects some 2nd harmonic distortion into the signal chain. Whilst I still need to get this boxed up to play with it properly, I’ve been mooching around and doing some reading on distortion. As part of my meandering, I came across this website…
Category: Audio Gear
PCM1794A DAC and Streamer project
As mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to build an integrated DAC and streamer to go with my XP-7 headphone amplifier. My search for a suitable DAC led me to the PCM1794A and further searching led me to the slowdiyer who, yet again, had built exactly what I wanted. A previous build had me…
Nelson Pass H2 Harmonic Generator
In a nice turn of events, my anniversary of 2 years as a member of the DIYAudio.com forum was coincidentally marked with a nice little gift. Nelson Pass and the good people at DIYAudio host an event called Burning Amp annually. It allows people to see and hear designs made by other DIY audio enthusiasts…
Reusing an old laptop screen for a Raspberry Pi 4 workstation computer
When I first started with DIY audio, I had to use the desk in my garden shed/office for projects. This was never ideal as I frequently work from home for my job at this desk and had to keep packing equipment and components away. After Idiot Child No.2 left home, I moved my electronics to…
All together now….building an integrated DAC/streamer.
A while ago, when building my friend’s chipamp, I had the intention of incorporating an internal DAC and streaming capabilities into the enclosure. Nothing special, just a Pi Zero and DAC HAT. Noise problems that I didn’t have the time (or knowledge) to troubleshoot meant the amp was just built as standard. The idea of…
Akitika 1kHz Oscillator
In a previous post I detailed the setup I’ve begun to use to learn about measuring the distortion of some of my amplifiers. Acknowledging this setup is rudimentary, for those wishing to tinker further there are of course many options. As ever, improvements can be made by the utilisation of better (read more expensive) equipment…
A DIY approach to distortion measurements for audio amplifiers
I imagine I am typical of many DIY audio enthusiasts in that I build something and hope that subjectively it sounds good. However, I am also curious about the objective measurements of the equipment. I thought this level of analysis would be beyond my ability and budget, but an interesting thread appeared on DIYAudio.com recently,…
An open source LM3886 chip amplifier.
I decided to build an amplifier for a friend. There are a number of good chips for amplifiers and I managed to purchase a pair of LM3886 opamps new for £5 from a seller on DIYAudio a few months ago. With the chip decided upon, a suitable layout was sought. As much as I would…
Do digital players have their own sound? An internet blind test
Following a poll on the Steve Hoffman hardware forum which concluded that CD players have their own signature, Archimago, a respected audio blogger, has developed a blind test to see whether listeners can hear a difference between different types of digital players. The original poll asked for subjective opinions, with the majority (>89%) of respondents…
Workspace listening setup
For this short post I thought I’d just show the setup I’m using for the spare bedroom now that both Idiot Children have left home. The room still has a bed but I’ve managed to have a desk for my electronics.