Ti Kan: Hi-fi Audio Multimedia
News! My recent projects:
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β24:
All discrete, fully differential, fully complementary, cascoded topology
with JFETs, BJTs and power MOSFETs. A reference class power amplifier
of no compromises, and a sight to behold both inside and out.
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β22 and
σ22:
Brawn and finesse taken to a new height.
All-discrete, fully complementary, cascoded pure class A topology
with JFETs, BJTs and power MOSFETs -- the ultimate headphone amplifier
and a superb low-power amplifier for speakers, and an equally capable
companion power supply too.
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Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III:
An all-discrete, fully complementary, no global feedback
headphone amplifier that belies its modest cost and size,
delivering sound that is simply sublime.
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The
M³:
Three-channels of pure class A MOSFET power and exquisite sound.
Maybe you could build one for yourself too?
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The
Dynahi:
Big, bold and hot, this pure class A discrete amplifier exudes
Kevin Gilmore's mantra that too much is not enough.
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The
Mini³:
Miniature in size and cost, but big in performance. This
amplifier is rocking the DIY portable headphone amplifier scene.
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The
γ1:
A full-featured miniature DAC that's proven to be a superior companion
for the Mini³.
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γ2:
A compact high performance upsampling DAC upgrades the γ1 and its
modular concept deep into the high-end without the high cost. |
The
β18:
A modified SDS Labs MOSFET amplifier originally designed
by Sheldon Stokes. This one started my headphone amplifier
infatuation. |
Also see the
σ11 and
σ22
power supplies.
About Me
I am a hi-fi audio enthusiast and hobbyist, and enjoy designing, building,
tinkering and listening to music systems. Those who read Chinese and have
similar interests may remember me as the author of a couple of regular
columns in the Audiotechnique monthly magazine (音響技術) from Taiwan
in the 1980s.
Audio Stuff & Events
- AMB DIY audio website - Resources for the DIY audio enthusiast.
- AMB audio shop - Offering some parts for DIY audio projects.
- NorCal/SF Bay Area Head-fi Meet in Burlingame, California Feb 11, 2012.
- 2011 Burning Amp Festival - A gathering of DIY audio enthusiasts on October 1, 2011 in San Francisco, California.
- South Bay Mini-meet in Monte Sereno, California Mar 26, 2011.
- NorCal/SF Bay Area Head-fi Meet in Burlingame, California Feb 19, 2011.
- 2010 Burning Amp Festival - A gathering of DIY audio enthusiasts on October 30, 2010 in San Francisco, California.
- NorCal/SF Bay Area Head-fi Meet in Burlingame, California Feb 27, 2010.
- Let's get Ti Kan (AMB) an HD800! - A generous gift that shows true community spirit - many thanks, everyone!.
- 2009 Burning Amp Festival - A gathering of DIY audio enthusiasts on October 18, 2009 in Sausalito, California.
- NorCal/SF Bay Area Head-fi Meet in Burlingame, California Aug 8, 2009.
- CanJam 2009 - International Head-fi Meet in Los Angeles, California May 30-31, 2009.
- 2008 Burning Amp Festival - A gathering of DIY audio enthusiasts on October 19, 2008 in Sausalito, California.
- Let's build krmathis a beta22! - A community-donated group-build 4-channel β22 with dual σ22 power supplies.
- NorCal Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on June 28, 2008.
- NorCal Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on August 25, 2007.
- Headfest 2007 - International Head-fi Meet in San Jose, California April 21-22, 2007.
- San Francisco Bay Area Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on February 25, 2006.
- San Jose California Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on August 6, 2005.
- San Mateo California Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on February 26, 2005.
- San Jose California Head-fi Meet - A gathering of headphone enthusiasts on June 13, 2004.
- San Francisco Bay Area NakFest - A gathering of local Nakamichi enthusiasts on March 13, 2004.
- Go to my Links page for more
audio-related links.
AMB Open Projects
- The α10 - A high performance stereo
pre-amplifier integrating the α20 line stage, LCDuino-1
display I/O processor, δ1 volume attenuator, δ2
input/output selector, σ22 regulated power supply and
σ25 power supply.
(Coming soon)
- The α20 - An all-discrete, fully-complementary
versatile line stage amplifier/buffer.
(PCB and parts available)
- The β24 - A reference-class all-discrete,
fully-complementary, cascoded, fully-differential power amplifier.
(PCB and parts available)
- The β22 - A reference-class all-discrete,
fully-complementary, cascoded, pure class A headphone amplifier.
(PCB and parts available)
- The M³ - An opamp-MOSFET pure class A
headphone amplifier.
(PCB and parts available)
- The Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III - An all-discrete,
fully complementary, non global NFB headphone amplifier,
originally designed by Benny Jørgensen and modified by
Alex Cavalli and myself.
(PCB and parts available)
- The Mini³ - A small portable headphone amplifier
offering big performance.
(PCB and parts available)
- The χ1 - An optional companion battery management
board for Mini³ to use LiPo battery packs.
(PCB and parts available)
- The γ1 - A full-featured, modular, miniature DAC.
(PCB and parts available)
- The γ2 - A compact, high-performance DAC.
(PCB and parts available)
- The σ22 - A high performance, all-discrete,
fully complementary, dual-rail, tracking regulated power supply.
(PCB and parts available)
- The σ11 - A high performance, all-discrete,
single-rail, regulated power supply.
(PCB and parts available)
- The σ25 - A simple regulated power supply.
(PCB and parts available)
- The ε24 - Power switch driver circuit with
thermal sensing/shutdown feature.
(PCB and parts available)
- The ε12 - A muting delay and DC offset protection
circuit for headphone amplifiers.
(PCB and parts available)
- The LCDuino-1 - A LCD I/O processor
platform for audio and other control applications.
(PCB and parts available)
- The δ1 - A relay-based precision stereo volume
attenuator, part of the LCDuino-1 system.
(PCB and parts available)
- The δ2 - A relay-based input/output selector,
part of the LCDuino-1 system.
(PCB and parts available)
My Audio Equipment Collection
Below is a sampling of the audio gear in my collection.
All components designated below as
AMB
brand are designed and built by myself.
A high quality analog turntable still feature prominently in each of my
systems because there is a certain magic
in a good quality analog LP and many of my record albums are
not available on CD. I built
my own turntable and
I also have the ne plus ultra
of analog cassette deck technology: the
Nakamichi Dragon and
Nakamichi CR-7A.
Contrary to what some might think, audio technology has not advanced
all that much in the past couple of decades, and some of the famed old
gear can still stand head and shoulders above much of the new stuff.
This is the reason why I still have several classic pieces
in my collection.
Source Components
A broad mix of old and new, featuring several analog turntables,
cassette decks, CD player and Wifi network music player with
separate DAC, and high performance computer sound interfaces.
- NAD
C520 CD player, used as CD transport only
- Logitech
Squeezebox Touch network music player
- Slim Devices
Squeezebox 3 network music player
- AMB γ1
digital-to-analog converter with USB, S/PDIF coaxial and optical inputs
- AMB γ2
compact high performance upsampling digital-to-analog converter
- Benchmark
DAC1 digital-to-analog converter
- RME
ADI-2 analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
- Alien DAC
digital-to-analog converter with USB interface
- E-MU
0404 USB 2.0 audio interface
- M-Audio
Firewire Audiophile audio interface
- M-Audio
Transit USB audio interface
- AMB
λ1 turntable
- Systemdek
IIX turntable
- CEC
BD-5200 turntable (heavily modified), stock tone arm
- Linn
Basik Plus tone arm (two, one mounted on AMB λ1, another on
Systemdek IIX)
- Dynavector
Karat-17D2 Mk.II moving-coil cartridge (mounted on AMB λ1)
- Dynavector
Karat 23R moving-coil cartridge (mounted on CEC BD-5200)
- Ortofon
OM-40 Gold moving-magnet cartridge (mounted on Systemdek IIX)
- Nakamichi
Dragon 3-head auto-reverse stereo cassette deck
- Nakamichi
CR-7A 3-head stereo cassette deck
- Pioneer
CT-F1250 3-head stereo cassette deck (two)
- Kenwood
KX-660HX stereo cassette deck
- Rotel
RT-850A FM/AM tuner
Amplifiers
Lots of DIY amps, and a good collection of classic Hafler gear.
- AMB
α3 moving-coil pre-preamplifier
- AMB
α6 stereo pre-amplifier
- AMB
α8 stereo pre-amplifier
- AMB
α10 stereo pre-amplifier
- AMB
β3 stereo power amplifier
- AMB
β8 stereo power amplifier
- AMB
β24 fully-differential stereo power amplifier
- AMB
ε10 Line level summing amplifier
- Sound Valves
SV100 JFET stereo pre-amplifier
- Hafler
DH-100 Series 2 stereo pre-amplifier
- Hafler
DH-120 stereo power amplifier
- Hafler
DH-220 stereo power amplifier (two)
- Hafler
DH-200 stereo power amplifier
Dayton Audio
DTA-1 "class-T" stereo amplifier (formerly Sonic Impact T-Amp)
Speakers
I had been an avid speaker builder for some time, thus the only piece
in my collection that isn't DIY is the Sunfire subwoofer and the
Velodyne subwoofer management system.
- AMB
θ3W subwoofers
- AMB
θ6S satellite speaker system
- AMB
θ6W subwoofer (with integral electronic crossover and 100W negative output impedance amplifier)
- AMB
θ18 speaker system
- AMB
θ19 speaker system
- AMB
θ20 speaker system
- NHT
VT1 speaker system
- Sunfire
True Subwoofer (with integral adjustable electronic crossover and 2700W tracking down-converter amplifier)
- Velodyne
SMS-1 subwoofer management system
Headphones and Headphone Amplifiers
This is an area where I've been spending a lot of time in.
- Sennheiser
HD800, HD600, HD580, PX100, HD410SL and HD50 headphones
- The β22 stereo amplifier and σ22 power supply
- The M³ stereo headphone amplifier
- The Cavalli-Kan Kumisa III stereo headphone amplifier
- The Mini³ portable stereo headphone amplifier
- The Dynahi stereo headphone amplifier
- AMB β18 stereo headphone amplifier
- Millett Hybrid stereo headphone amplifier
- σ11 linear regulated power supply
- STEPS linear regulated power supply
Video
I am not a videophile, but I do watch Blu-Ray and DVD movies on occasion
and these are more than nice enough for me as a 5.1 surround system.
- Oppo
BDP-83 Blu-Ray universal player
- Rotel
RSP-1068 Surround Sound Processor
- Ölevia
242T-FHD 42" 1080p LCD flat-panel HDTV
Music Server
These are the key components integrating my home computer and LAN with
the music systems. Most music files are encoded in FLAC format.
- Logitech
Squeezebox Server software, running on
openSUSE
Linux server
(for the Squeezebox network music players and
SoftSqueeze
software players on other computers in the in-home network)
- Linksys
WRT54GSv4 wireless router, running
DD-WRT firmware
Mobile Audio
This is the system found in my Audi S4 biturbo quattro. Most music
encoded either in FLAC format (same content as
on the Squeezebox Server at home).
- PhatNoise
Car Audio System with PhatBox and special 320GB DMS
(Audi version, interfaces with Audi Symphony radio)
Cables
Cables are a necessary evil. The best cable would be no cable at all,
but that is not feasible especially in a high-end system where there
are many separate components. On the other hand, I do not believe in
the snake oil and voodoo magic touted by many premium cable
brands to justify their lofty prices. To that end, I use all home-built
cables for component interconnect, and put good quality connectors on
the ends.
For audio interconnects, I use
Belden
8451 or 9452 dual conductor BelfoilTM
shielded cables. The shield wire is connected to the "ground"
conductor on the output end only, which means that the cable is directional.
The choice of these cables is for their superior shielding characteristics
and excellent sound.
For digital coaxial and composite video interconnects, I use
Belden 9221 or 8216 shielded coaxial cables. These cables are
characterized by very low capacitance and is thus suitable for use
in high frequency applications. I also use these cables as audio
interconnects where long runs are a necessity and where induced noise
interference is not a major problem.
All of these Belden cables I use are slim and flexible, making cable
routing very easy. In addition, they all feature very thin stranded
copper conductors. I am very pleased with their performance as used
in my system and I don't think high-end cables costing 100 times as
much as I spent on these would offer any further advantage.
For speaker cables, I use
Monster Cable
products. I believe that minimizing the cable impedance (and maintaining
a high effective amplifier damping factor) is of paramount importance.
The heavy gauge Monster Cables, with their copious thin strands and
flexible jacket fit the bill nicely. All my speakers and amplifiers
use gold plated banana plug connectors, which offer good contact surface
area as well as being easy to plug/unplug.
Audio Accessories
Some audio accessories.
- Decca 2+2 and Zero-ohms phono record brushes
- Dynavector
phono stylus brush
- Discwasher SC-2 phono stylus cleaner system
- Denon
turntable bubble level
- Radio Shack
tape head demagnetizer
Test Equipment
Here are a sampling of the various test equipment I use.
- Audio Precision
System Two SYS-2322A Dual Domain audio analyzer, with options
IMD and BUR, and filters FIL-AWT, FIL-CMS and FIL-CWT.
- Nakamichi
T-100 audio analyzer
- Tektronix
model TDS2014B 100MHz 4-channel color LCD digital storage
oscilloscope
- Protek
model 6510 100MHz 2-channel analog cathode-ray oscilloscope
- Fluke
model 95 50MHz digital ScopeMeter
- Wavetek 188 4MHz sweep function generator
- Fluke
model 187 true-RMS handheld digital multimeter
- Fluke
model 45 benchtop digital multimeter
- Beckman
HD100 digital multimeter
- Circuit Specialists
digital multimeter with transistor Hfe tester
- Hewlett Packard
6236B 0-20V, 0.5A adjustable dual tracking / 0-6V 2.5A triple output
benchtop power supply
- Circuit Specialists
CSI5003X5 0-50V, 0-3A / 5V 1A dual output benchtop power supply
- Tangent Low Noise Measurement Preamplifier
- RME
ADI-2 analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converters
- E-MU
0404 USB 2.0 audio interface
- M-Audio
Firewire Audiophile audio interface
- M-Audio
Transit USB audio interface
- Radio Shack
sound pressure level meter
- AMB headphone amplifier A/B comparison test switchbox
- AMB headphone amplifier dummy load box
(33Ω, 330Ω, or no load selector switch, ground-lift switch)
Misc Audio Projects Images
Building the AMB θ19 speaker system using Dynaudio drivers,
and the AMB θ20 speakers using Audax and Fostex drivers.
Me, the speaker-building wizard,
back when I was only 18...
Last update: 05/10/10 03:23:43