Pocket Class A DIY Headphone Amp by XRK971

I crossed paths with XRK971 a few months ago on the diyaudio.com forums as we worked concurrently on Class A single-ended headphone designs. Although we did not collaborate and our parts choices differed, our overall topologies share a strong resemblance. After chatting a bit, we exchanged some parts so that each could hear what the... Continue Reading →

July 18, 2017 3

DIY Cables: braiding video essentials from the interwebs

So if you've ever looked at aftermarket cables, you've probably seen about a million braids. The most common is the quad braid, usually seen in a round variety, but I do happen to own a flat braid quad cable that I bought in the UK. I've not made any of my own cables yet, but... Continue Reading →

June 28, 2017 1

DIY amps: a roadmap for beginners

So you have decided to take the DIY dive and start building your own headphone amplifiers! If you stick with it, you are going to learn a lot about audio and electronics theory and develop several handy skills in the process. Intention is one thing and action is another though, so now that you have the motivation,... Continue Reading →

June 17, 2017 19

The real cost of DIY

We DIY for many reasons. Some DIY because what they are looking for does not exist in the commercial products market (this used to be particularly true of the headphone market). Other DIYers start down the road of building their own equipment because they think they will trade blood, sweat, and tears for dollars saved... Continue Reading →

June 5, 2017 14

How to make a round 8-braid

Saw this on Facebook in the DIY Cable Makers group and thought I'd share. Round 8-braids are what you see on many top price cables. I'm not sure that it makes a difference over quad braids, but it sure do look pretty. The method applies whether using paracord or not. I recommend using heat-shrink at... Continue Reading →

May 25, 2017 0

Intro to the DIY Domain

Modding can be very rewarding. I have modded my Sennheiser HD600s to remove the veil and expand the soundstage. Trekasaurus has modded his HD800s and is in the process of having his IE800s modded to solve the cable problem that those headphones have. Many HiFiMan HE-6 (and many other HiFiMan headphone) owners have modded their... Continue Reading →