heady

No discussions please. Note the rules. Thanks.

I still got his e-mail and it's mouz's contact actually. Nice guy to deal with. I can do the picking up.

Wah, you lucky man. I balked at the USD40 which was the initial price and decided not to join the order.

Wow, how to get faceplate so cheap, unless custom lasercut in SG with plastic plates. I would say it is not much more difficult than the Mini3 because not so easy to spoil the chips. I had no problems with solder bridges. The way to clean off the solder bridges is to clean all solder off the iron tip with a wet sponge, dip the tip into flux and then wipe it across all the leads slowly. The solder will melt and be wicked onto the iron tip. Viola, no more bridges. Checking with DMM for cold joints can't be helped but is not difficult, just time consuming. And with a lot more parts than the Mini3, need to be careful. The y1 don't need a power supply, it can run off USB power. But if you wish, you can buy a 5V wall wart to power it.

Yes, yes! I can and will help with the faceplates if required. My self-made plates are plain ugly.

Congrats! Although the number of parts are more, this is easier than the Mini3. The problem with the Mini3 is accidentally killing the opamp while testing as the capacitor in the Mini3 still supply power even when turned off.

I don't think it is particularly difficult. Just don't do it as first project. First, two of the chips have leads which are very close together and so need a special technique to solder. There are video guides on tangent's site on this. Basically, there are two methods. One, is to use lots of flux on the pcb and chip, and with a very fine solder iron, apply just a small ball of molten solder to each lead. The flux will melt and pull the solder into the space between each leg and the pcb. The key here is to keep the amount of molten solder as small as possible. The second method, is to also apply flx liberally but use lots of molten solder and apply to all the leads at the same time. There will be solder which bridge all the leads. Clean the iron tip and with a solder sucker ready, re-apply the iron to melt the solder on all the leads and suck them off. This second method is easier than the first but require a bit more guts. To avoid over heating the chip, mentally count off while applying iron, never let the iron heat the chip longer than 10 seconds. If there are problems, wait a few minutes for the chip to cool and then try again. Check visually against a bright light to see if there are any solder bridges remaining. Second possible problem, there are many many parts and so lots of opportunities to make mistakes unless you are very careful and check each part before soldering. This includes checking the resistance of each resistor, checking against the BOM to confirm before soldering. So take your time with each part and you should be fine.

I ordered everything I needed from Digikey. Only the resistors from Farnell. FYI.

You are welcome.

Try applying your hot soldering iron to every solder point on the pcb to refresh the solder joints. Your problem sounds like a cold joint some where.

Wishing you a Happy Birthday AND a New Year!!

I was also joking. We are cool in sgheadphones with criticism, as long as it is done in mature way. Flame wars and un-restrained personal attacks as just not the in thing here. Back to the topic.

The PX200 is not suitable for all, it depends on your ear shape. If properly placed, it does offer reasonably good passive noise reduction. At least, that's my experience.

Thanks yotiao for the offer, I must first find time to shoot the pics first.

What do you mean? Hah? I so bad meh? Just joking...

Pretty hard to do a full review, firstly my ears aren't golden and my writing is not so good lah. Also the output capacitors of the y1 may not be fully run in yet. I will give a quick impression of it compared with AlienDAC and USB-Monica. The source is my PC, with Foobar and ASIO. Amp is SOHA with JISBO buffers. Phones are DT150. Listening to flac files of jazz audiophile female voices. Firstly the y1 wipes the floor with the AlienDAC. Both are USB powered but the y1 has much better S/N which shows by the very dark silence between notes and the clarity of the vocals. The bass is also more extended and there is more definition of the bass guitar riffs and the kick drums. For a OS DAC, the y1 does not sound more shrill than the AlienDAC but the AlienDAC sounds quite congested compare to the y1 due to clarity of the y1. I have sold my ZeroDAC but I did so because it was too shrill for my taste, which is why I tend to stick to NOS DACs. The y1 is not shrill, in fact it may be a bit too neutral but that is good and it complements the Mini3 well, as the Mini3 tends towards brightness in the treble. However, the USB-Monica is more musical and detailed than the y1. But then the USB-Monica is not USB powered. It needs AC power and also much bigger than the y1. The USB-Monica uses a buffered SS I/V convertor while the y1 has none. So the comparison is actually not fair. Maybe the y1 has about 85-90% of the USB-Monica sound quality. So I think the y1 has very respectable performance and sound quality. Very listenable with a nice amp like the SOHA.

Actually the building is not difficult. Got lots more parts than the Mini3 but less sensitive, won't burn so easily like the Mini3 opamps. The only difficult thing is to source the parts. Because the boards are supposed to fit together, need to pay close attention to size of the part or after building, cannot fit together into the Hammond case. If you can wait, I am sure some enterprising people will start selling kits, just like the Mini3 kit.

Hi Stephen, You can buy the board from Amb's shop http://www.amb.org/shop/ Some parts can buy from Amb but many others you have to purchase elsewhere like Digikey, Mouser or Farnell. Regards

Yotiao, How did you get the pictures digitised? Looks like Hong Lim area. The pics lppked really sharp. Some how film still looks better. I need to thaw my films from my fridge and start shooting again. Problem is finding the time for all my hobbies.

mouz, Why don't you put an IC and see how many people join? I found many of the items need to get from Digikey. I will share the items I bought from Farnell here. I also have an extra transformer and RCA socket due to my over-order. Working on my y1 boards this holiday season. Hope to get them done by today. **UPDATE** My y1 is working! It sounds very good. One of the best over-sampling DACs I have heard. As a rule, I prefer NOS DACs but this one doesn't sound harsh, even with the Mini3. Will listen to it with my SOHA and JISBO buffers tomorrow, got to go out soon.

You can still create a new thread in the Classified and in it, point to this thread for any discussions. This way you get the best of both.

I have moved this thread to Portables and so all of you can discuss to your hearts' content.

I scared to get poisoned... Missed you the last time I was in Stereo. Quickly made my purchases and escaped. Seriously, I liked the treble and mid of the IE8, just that the bass is a little over-whelming.

IMHO, even bass at minimum, it is still quite strong but some say after break-in sounds ok. Well, I haven't heard an IE8 which has been properly broken-in yet. Maybe I should visit Stereo.

Wells Audio at Burlington Square ground level. Or Koba Electronics at Peoples Park Complex, level 3.