M3 DIY amp - BAM^3?

[Burger]

Hi again everyone, I'm proud to present you with the 3rd product of the  Selfish DIYer, the M3. Yes, I got the parts from Glass Jar Audio a few weeks ago and completed this lovely amp last week. and since it's done by me and my dad again, I guess I'll just name it BAM^3. Impressions on this amp after testing with many headphones, which I found DT990 to have the best synergy with it, is that, the sound quality it presents, is very near, or even as good as the Meier Opera in my opinion. My friend who has a pair of ears a lot more discerning than mine, has also agreed that it can be matched with the Meier Opera(especially with the added bass boost feature, it makes the whole listening experience really enjoyable), is definitely better than the Cantante, and even the Apache. Overall, no matter how it compares to other amps, it is still very satisfactory, and exceeded my expectations from a circuit that was designed by just two people at AMB Audio, what's it's a DIY amp.

I've documented parts of the process to show you guys, hope you guys enjoy it. I also heard Uncle has a kit with him that he hasn't built yet, maybe he can dig a tip or two from here......

Opening the package



Setting up my workspace


Myself hard at work soldering after school every night



That's it for the first night, nice workspace I have eh?


Surface mounting the opamp on the socket was really a headache, and having 3 opamps doesn't make the situation any better. (IMPT NOTE: be careful of the pin positions of the opamp socket to the opamp, the opamp socket that Glass Jar Audio sent me was not suitable for the opamp he sent, and in the end I had to mount the opamp upside down. Spent days diagnosing that problem till I found out at last with help from the guys at AMB Audio and my dad.)


First phase complete, all the smaller components up


Alright, it's finally done after 3 days of soldering!



Most irritating part of the project - drilling, luckily my dad was there to help


Brand New Home



There it is on my desk

And with a DT990 I just got today, my home rig is done




That's all folks! Have a very Happy Lunar New Year!

[ahfrost]

nice burger.... very nice but why call yourself a  Selfish DIYer  .

[djlemon]

Very nice burger!

[MAT]

Four words...

I am very jealous

[tok]

Congrats Burger on the successful completion of your amp

And I see you got the limited edition of the DT990 too.

[heady]

Hmmm, very nice. Curious about the case you used. Where did you get it?

[Burger]

nice burger.... very nice but why call yourself a  Selfish DIYer  .

Cause I don't do it for others, muahahaha, although I call it  line of products.

Congrats Burger on the successful completion of your amp

And I see you got the limited edition of the DT990 too.

Yes, thanks to Uncle's uber-kindness, and a bit of luck

Hmmm, very nice. Curious about the case you used. Where did you get it?

Sim Lim Tower, third floor, it's a shop in front of the escalator, I forgot what it's called. How come people like to ask where i got the case, is it nice?

[angchuck]

Hi,

Nice to see another m3 locally.  The m3 makes a very good pre amp and a great little power amp.

My only advice is that you don't solder the heat sinks on the pcb, so that you can play with different voltages and biases. I soldered mine on and regretted almost immediately.

[Burger]

I soldered mine on too, but i'm happy with it now, so I don't think I want to mess around with it, don't have so much time either

[wkwlb]

where did you get your pcb holder? 

[Burger]

where did you get your pcb holder? 

nice burger.... very nice but why call yourself a  Selfish DIYer  .

Cause I don't do it for others, muahahaha, although I call it  line of products.

Congrats Burger on the successful completion of your amp

And I see you got the limited edition of the DT990 too.

Yes, thanks to Uncle's uber-kindness, and a bit of luck

Hmmm, very nice. Curious about the case you used. Where did you get it?

Sim Lim Tower, third floor, it's a shop in front of the escalator, I forgot what it's called. How come people like to ask where i got the case, is it nice?

[aaron-xp]

I suppose burger's tired of me ranting about how jealous I am of his home rig. 

Perhaps it's time for something new.

[Burger]

I suppose burger's tired of me ranting about how jealous I am of his home rig. 

Perhaps it's time for something new.

mUaHaHAhaHahA! The DT990 is sick with classical, I need more classical CDs now! Maybe I can ask from Shoujian

[Burger]

Holy smokes, my amp just burned out... Omg... troubleshooting again. I didn't plug my headphone jack in fully, I think it shorted the left and right channels. Darn

Never mind it's fixed, wiring got burned in the process, luckily the transistors aren't blown