Getting tweaky with it

By Anonymous -

DIY Hifi Supply Chazz2 Mk. II Headphone Amp



You can call me a tweaker, and I am, to an extent.

But instead of focusing on EMI/RFI rejection or wall-mounting active room treatment devices ALA Bybee, I like to tweak things like cabling and room acoustics.

And, I really get a kick when I see a piece of audio equipment that allows actually tweaking of the audio circuit, to taste.

Just last week I was listening to an amplifier that allowed me to switch between cap-coupled output and transformer-coupled output.

True to most descriptions, I found the transformer coupling to produce a bit softer, rounder bass. There was something exciting about the capacitor-coupled output. I never did find a track I preferred on transformer output, but again — I like having the option to switch.

Other onboard circuit tweaks you might see include switching from triode operation to pentode, or switching from push/pull to single ended (thinking of that righteous Mesa Boogie hifi tube amp that came through here last year), and maybe most common is adjustment of global negative feedback.

You can take your extended bandwidth — give me zero global feedback any day.

Back to this little headphone amp gem. This DIY Hifi Supply tube headphone amp gives you some very interesting tweaks indeed, options I’ve not seen before.

There are two 1/4” TRS outputs for headphones from the front of the amp. When both are used, the amp recognizes it’s being used for balanced operation, and sends the same signal down both.

But, if only one plug is inserted into a jack, the two jacks become the tweak itself. Plug into the left jack and you are listening to a feed from the tube’s anode. Plug into the right-hand jack and you’re listening to the cathode output.

And between the two jacks is a switch to adjust global negative feedback. So between the tweak options you have four different presentations of sound - and that’s before tube rolling comes into play.

This is a really, really excellent sounding headphone amp. On my favorite setting, cathode output with the lowest amount of feedback (-3dB), the dynamics of Jacob Collier’s frenetic jazz tune “Don’t You Know” were kicking me right in the head.

Highly recommended, especially if you’re a tweaker!

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