Did you ever do a write up of your impressions on this?
No, and I will preface what Iām about to say with a disclaimer: I donāt feel I have the language others do in describing things.
First, this is a fun project. There is a satisfaction in building amps that is different than listening to them or even evaluating them. āI built this and itās not perfect but I built thisā feels different than āwell this Asgard 3 could present more detail.ā I find I am more forgiving of amps if I built them. Iām a little more likely to listen to amps I built even if they have flaws.
Current second desk chain: mimby ā whammy ā ananda
I should move the Neurochome HP-2 over to this chain, but itās sitting in my office with a Lyr 3 and Aeolus. I donāt think this whammy chain is perfect. The Neurochrome pairs much better. It is neutral solid state that doesnāt sound like ass, solid state that can take advantage of the ananda soundstage. The ananda shines when the sources are not warm, when it tilts bright and detailed. When I listen to the ananda, I want to take advantage of the frequency response and get as much as I can out of the treble extension and detail. I switched to mimby ā vali 2+ ā ananda and this sounds brighter and better. (test track/album: Andrienne Lenker, Songs)
So yeah if the Vali 2+ is more neutral you know this is a warm amp. I am not knowledgeable enough to know if this is dependent on the op amp or any other tweaks one can do.
just tried this: mimby ā whammy ā hd6xx. This is nice (and obviously upper bass and mid centric). It is not as bloomy as a tubey tube amp but not sterile. The bass drum and guitar on Jesus Etc. are very highlighted here. This is the kind of song this chain works well with - not really treble centric, and warm amp + warm headphones are going to emphasize some things. The emotional impact of the heavy synths and guitar and the split vocal track on Describe by Perfume Genius add emotional impact to what is already a heavy song.
I have said once that the whammy is congested. I donāt know that it is if itās warmed up. Movement 6 of Promises (the Floating Points Pharaoh Sanders album) feels slightly harsh when the strings reach their crescendos. Same at times on Donāt Wanna Fight by the Alabama Shakes, even if the emotional impact still hits hard.
There is a lot you can do with the whammy to make it better. My build is more of a stock build using basic components. If you want to try like a burson op amp or figure out a way to use fancy caps, it may change things. It has a ton of power. The HD6xx is at 10 or 11 on the volume dial.
Performance wise, using basic components I would not take it over a Lyr 3 or high quality solid state depending on what I want or need. I would be more interested in a comparison with the Asgard 2, 3, those kinds of things. Iām not able to do that right now. My guess is there are things the Whammy does as well or slightly better.
That said, the appeal of DIY to me is not just getting the highest quality but experimenting, learning, getting frustrated at things you donāt know much about, having fun, and listening to something I built. In that regard, Iām happy to sacrifice some detail or extension for the satisfaction of listening to something I was involved with.
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For a guy who feels he lacks language, you sure do communicate well.
This was fantastic, thank you for taking the time. I feel I know exactly what I am getting into now.
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First post hereā¦so Howdy to the group. Thought Iād warm this thread back up and maybe fire up some interest for building this. For what itās worth, I just wanted to toss my 10 cents worth in here in support of this great project amp. A few years ago, apartment living became such that I needed to almost exclusively move to headphone listening. Having been away from this portion of audio equipment for a while, I started with basic stuffā¦Senn HD280ās and an Asgard 3, with sources consisting of a modded Kenwood FM tuner and a Sony NS-999ES player. Moving to the target cans I really wantedā¦HD-650ās, I became a little bored with the Asgardā¦it was OK, but I was left feeling that something was missing overall. Not being one whoās afraid to melt some solder and as a member at diyAudio, I took notice of the WHAMMY project. Now Iāve had a fondness for tubes over the years, but with the thought that a headphone amp may not always be the best place for tubes, I wrestled with the decision. Yes, tube gear can sound greatā¦but there can be issues with noise and consistency of sound with time. I wanted an amp that I didnāt have to swap out parts to optimize and one that would be consistentā¦something I could just turn on and go. Thereās enough stress in the world as it is. Simplicity can be a beautiful thing. So the MOSFET based WHAMMY got the nod. In fact, I ended up building a second one, because I knew that I could do better. The result was closer to what I was looking forā¦neutrality and nice frequency extension paired with good detailā¦without going over the top in the process. Something that could showcase what the 650ās could do. Right now, Iām much closer and feeling that Iām not leaving much sound quality on the table. My digital source has changed to a Denon DCD-800NEā¦but still using the analog outs, which are pretty amazing on this player. Changed interconnects from Pangea to homemade with Canare L-4E6Sā¦changed the stock Senn cord to Audiophile Ninjaā¦with every step being an improvement. So this tells me that the WHAMMY is a very capable amp and was a good choice. Feeling lucky because choices could have gone in the other direction. Now for a few build recommendations. One thing that struck me in the original diyAudio build was that the case he used was too small. Space was compromised and things were jammed inside. I wanted the freedom to put at least 2 sets of input jacks and a toggle switch, along with a 2 stage power line filter. I ended up getting a case from the diyAudio store that may be a bit too big, but Iād rather go that way. It just makes more sense to fit a larger case. Another tip here is about soldering. This board is really well made but some of the pads are tiny. A pencil tip for your iron is highly recommended along with .030 diameter solder. And one thing Iāve always done with boards that have thru hole plating is to solder both sides if each pad is accessible. The second build used Takman REX resistors in the audio path and Nichicon audio grade ecaps, along with Mundorf caps for the two inputs. The two bypass caps for the 8 pin IC were mounted underneath to leave room to get a grip on the IC to change itā¦yeah, I knowā¦but I found the OPA2604 was quite good. For the volume control, I went with a PEC carbon RV4. These are not to be confused with the standard noisy guitar type carbon pots. The PEC ones are hot molded and of higher precisionā¦and stays with the carbon type resistive element. My only issue with these is that the stereo tracking suffers some during the first 20% or so of adjustment. This isnāt much of an issue as you tend to get past this and into the āgood stuffā for most listening. They do have a slightly grainy feel but with a decent sized control, itās not tight at all. These additions are a little extra money, but not into crazy money area. I feel itās worth it if youāre using good cans because of the amount of detail that using headphones can reveal versus if the same things were done to an amp with speakers. Iām feeling that the output definitely rewards the time and money used for the input. What more can you ask for?
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Great write up, John!
I also built a pair for my brothers a gifts, and will be building my own over the holidays as a bedside amp.
When you source some of the highest quality components out there, this amp really shines. Like anything, the more simplistic it is, the more attention that needs to be made on quality that comprises it.
Also, for the first time I can tell subtle differences between opamps with this circuit. Iāve not been able to do so with previous amps.
Iām looking forward to building mine ā this time with Sparkos discrete regulators and opamp.
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Recently finished a Whammy build and it sounds marvelous. Wow can this amp articulate detail.
Blind A-B testing with audiophile friends between 4 different Opamps, the clear winner was the BurrBrown OPA2134PA. Itās just slams harder and had the best authority. This held true for all types of music for both headphones used in blind tests - HD650 & LCD-4z.
BE CAREFUL when OPamp rolling, as the PSU needs the āNaked regulatorā option to cap the power supply at Ā±15vdc. The suggested LED option raises the output to about 17vdc which is too hot for most/many OPamps.
PSU LEDās were removed just after taking this pic in favor of the naked regulator option.
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