O2 Headphone Amp

[@CaseyFriday]

I just bought the parts listed on NwAvGuy's website and matched the parts up to the labels on the PCB that I bought from JDS Labs. Not much to show, besides how to get a good solder joint. If you're really interested though, I'll do a video overview of putting one together in the future!

[@shaolin95]

I am glad to find someone that does not come up with fancy terms to sound cool and "audiophile". The reason you cant hear a difference between lossless and a high quality lossy encond is because we are ALL humans not measuring devices. The days of horrible lossy formats are long gone. These days most of them when enconded at high bit rates create copies of the file so closed to the original that NO HUMAN can really tell the difference. Even when shown visually, you can see the copies are almost %100 the same so no ear can pick that up but you have people that live in this placebo world "hearing" things they want to hear. I used to work on the industry for a speakers company and we used those same terms to sell our products..not proud of it but if people is willing to buy that BS then is their fault. That is why you have companies selling power cords in the thousands of dollars, interconnectors etc..because someone is dumb enough to believe it...The Emperor's New Clothes for sure! No Blind test has been able to find a so called audiophile able to tell all the time which is which yet when they are describing the differences they make you believe is night and day...pure BS. I sub just because of you being honest! :)

[@CaseyFriday]

Glad to hear it - I like to get straight to the point, and while I think my pursuit of high-fidelity sound classifies me as an "audiophile", I don't subscribe to the snakeoil. If it sounds good, I'm in. If it costs thousands of dollars - I'm out!

[@shaolin95]

Casey Friday Exactly! To clarify at 128 mp3 you can tell the difference just like with better gear you get better sound quality to a certain point, then after that all you get is snake oil and mystical words to fool people with too much money and over active imaginations! LOL I knew I was not alone in the lets keep it real clan :D

[@BoredErica]

People have ABXed MP3 vs FLAC. It's much more difficult than many audiophiles assume and few people can do it, but it is possible. I can't do it, I admit. Quite sure you can ABX headphones as well, that is much easier in fact. ABX audiophile cables, no, they don't do anything. But if your headphone needs more power from the amp and your integrated can't cut it, you've got to get an amp. And Shaolin, your logic for justifying deceit is saying, if they fall for it, they deserve it. Real moral.

[@shaolin95]

Eric Lin Eric who the FUCK are you to question my moral. If you have money to buy that crap and are so stupid then yes you deserve it. If you dont like it go back to your bubble gum world or grow up.

[@BoredErica]

You're pathetic. Blocked.

[@StarlancerAstro]

You might just not be able to get more out of those phones with your source. I use to own the HD650's and a O2 along with the AMB Gamma2 DAC. Using the HD650's out of my Macbook air headphone port was useable but pretty dismal, adding the O2 improved the sound massively, then adding the DAC wasn't as much as an improvement but definitely widened the soundstage and brought more detail to my music. I have now sold the HD650's and purchased HiFiMan HE-400's and they are even more impressive!

[@CaseyFriday]

Actually, yeah, I ordered the JDS Labs enclosure, but I never got around to putting it together. I wanted to wait until I purchased some Tenergy rechargeable batteries, but I haven't done that either. I'm going to be making a lot more of these soon, though. You can find the parts list on NwAvGuy's site. I ordered from Mouser.

[@garbulky]

Assuming that you are using the analog out from a macbook I wouldn't be surprised that you couldn't hear a difference between mp3's and cd's. A good DAC of which there are many out there would really help the sound quality especially when comapred to a macbooks analog output.

[@timr3563]

Very interesting video. Kit looks good. hope ur still enjoying the amp.

[@CaseyFriday]

The HD598 is just an upgraded model of the phones I have, still at 50 ohms, so that probably wouldn't be any different. The HD650 however looks to have a 300 ohm impedance, and costs significantly more - so those are probably a good place for me to start with sound tests.

[@WeightyGhost1]

Nice video, easy to watch and listen to what you have to say.

[@CaseyFriday]

That's a good point. I've listened to music through my iPod Classic, which seems to have a better DAC than my MBP. Unlike the MBA, though, the amp in the MBP is probably a bit more powerful. My guess is that my HD-595's sound so good to start with that I won't hear much of an improvement with an added amp.

[@DavidH373]

Get a DAC, an Amp will primarily change the Dynamics and Volume. The DAC changes how the file is decoded into analog signal. You can even rip FLAC or WAV in a playback program like Foobar2000. Also, a good idea might be to get the Wasapi plugin for Foobar to skip over Windows or OSX audio processing. It's a lot of work and a little bit of cash to get your audio to sound better, but it's worth it.It starts to matter more what kind of music you listen to as well.

[@MatteNoob]

You should put links to the companies where you bought the parts in the description box, makes it easier for us than to go back and check what you said and then search for the companies in google. Thanks for the effort though, good video.

[@cerevor]

Sound quality probably depends on more than just the data rate. It also depends on the software and other quality options that do the conversion... But I can always tell the difference. I think I can even tell the difference between a CD and a lossless file. I don't want to show off or say I have any special skill, in the opposite. Whenever someone says about any high tech "its not noticeable to human senses" you can basically assume, yes, it totally is, and that's what human senses are about

[@RemX405]

First I think a DAC make a much greater difference than a amp when your cans (here the 595) already have enough power from an ipod/laptop. I have the 558 and I did notice a difference in bass control from a good DAC/no amp to a good dac/ with amp.

[@CaseyFriday]

I am using the headphone jack. You might want to examine your source, and see if your encodes are at a high enough bitrate, etc. I can't really say that the sound quality is improved, but my HD595's aren't hard to drive in the first place, so maybe with more expensive headphones, it would be more impressive.

[@sSPACEBALLSs]

transparent case would look awesome

[@CaseyFriday]

Just added the Bill of Materials spreadsheet to the info.

[@CaseyFriday]

I think those extra parts are optional, if you want higher quality. No, I don't want to sell what I have - I enjoy using it.

[@thebestpaintballer]

Looks great. I am looking to build the same thing. Could you tell me the parts list? did you get this as a full kit? please send me a message i would really like to order all the parts and get started on this by the weekend. also.. did you ever get an enclosure? i saw some parts on JDS labs but i want to be sure i get everything! thanks

[@balticvid]

Very informative tape. I'm going to get the 02 and probably the HE-400 or the AKG K702/65. I'm not sure which. This sounds like a excellent amp. I'll be using it with the TV and DVD player. Any thoughts? Thanks for your info. Walt

[@j300a]

Also have you test it with sensitive iem ? because thats where it would hiss, you cant hear a difference between a well ripped 320kbps and lossless unless your using a high quality setup. it would be good if you could get the sennheiser HD 598 or 650. Peace

[@MatteNoob]

Thank you, Sir! :)

[@thebestpaintballer]

Do you happen to know what the extra parts are for? when you get your case please let me know if you think it has any extra room. i am also going to try to add a bass boost switch. Do you have a DAC?

[@CaseyFriday]

I just ordered one from JDS labs.

[@saphire1216]

Thanks for making this video! I"m thinking about making this

[@theryaner]

I can tell the difference between 320 and FLAC. That said, the differences are very minute and honestly will not change your listening experience very much.

[@RashaTwain]

I'm really interested because I'm trying to buy the parts and I'm not sure if every single part on the part-list in your description is what I need to buy. Could you make a shopping cart from mouser and save/share it? That would be extremely helpful.

[@j300a]

Fiio E17 ftw

[@TheGamingAudiophile]

It's not that you're not an audiophile. You just don't fall prey to placebo to the extent that the typical audiophile does.

[@livedeliciously]

Where are you planning to get the case from?

[@arncj18]

well wouldn't mind if u do, but whats the ohm range this amp covers anyways, like 30-600? and total cost on prices? thanks !

[@thebestpaintballer]

Do you want to sell what u have? i am going to try to put a 1/4 jack on it but i was not sure if it would fit with the B3-080 enclosure. i found the list that was saved in google docs. i can't paste it on youtube. the total comes to 30.84.. but after that the list goes on with more resistors / batteries and other stuff. Do i need that? or would the top of the list for 30.84 built the board?

[@shinyhunterlens]

What are you using as a source?

[@tubegdv]

Very recently got introduced to NWAVGUY and O2. I currently live in the UK. I am interested in building one. let me know how can I start. once I ordered the parts guess soldering shoudnt be a bigger problem right

[@CaseyFriday]

+Ganesh Saptharishi Not at all - you can download the schematic from his website, and it tells you exactly which parts to solder, and where, and what the polarity is for each part. The hardest part is getting your solder joints nice and clean - need to warm up the parts considerably before applying the solder. Have fun!

[@samuel3040]

+Casey Friday sorry for the studpid question but...i can't find the layout to print my own pcb,im i forced to buy/custom(cad) make one?i know this question has nothing to do with you but i was wondering if there was any accessible way for me to make one...

[@vteckpwr]

I wonder how much it will cost to ship a kit to New Zealand, so you think it'd be worth it just buying the kit from JDS for 60?

[@CaseyFriday]

It's a really great amp. I'd do it if I were you. I searched the parts on mouser, and I got an entire kit put together for about $50, power brick included. The only extras I'd need is the case and PCB (from JDS). That might save you some money.

[@vteckpwr]

Casey Friday Thanks, I think I will buy one, and try my hand at it, after what you were saying about the JDS PCB, it sounds like it should be an easy project as long as I get my solder points clean and nice.

[@CaseyFriday]

Hmmm... I have a hard time accepting that what you're explaining is anything more than placebo effect, since CD and lossless are an identical file. Perhaps you were being sarcastic though.

[@CaseyFriday]

agreed.

[@arncj18]

a step by step would've been nice

[@DigitalBliss69]

How much did it cost you to build it?

[@CaseyFriday]

~$40

[@DigitalBliss69]

+Casey Friday what about objective 2/ODAC combo?

[@CaseyFriday]

+Maxwell Herman about an extra $105, ordering parts from JDS Labs

[@76honda76]

nah... dont need EE degree to put this together buddy. haha : )

[@CaseyFriday]

+SoundsRight :P

[@cerevor]

Any review sites about monitors for example. They make u some average value for good colour deviation, or good contrast. It's totally random, and even if yone colour is toatlly out of bounds, it may yet get a good average and supposedly "not be noticeable". That's nothing short of deception. It's like saying you can't tell the difference between looking out your window and looking at a crappy screen with wrong colours and a colour gamut that only manages about 60% of true colour... Stupid imo

[@jazzjuke4218]

no bass boost option :- (

[@samdeur]

Nice vid ;-) compliments on the build ..i'm not that much of a builder so am thinking of getting one pre-build..But about placebo effect and others reading this.. simple solution.. Just google "nwavguy" blog..he talks about software that can help with blind test. it's very difficult to do a real blind test.. Human brain is stubborn and to smart for it's one good..You can make your self believe anything. i'm looking for a reference amp.