by Jan Meier
“The better is the enemy of the good.”
The headphone amplifier with the natural crossfeed filter published on HeadWize in fact was my first DIY-project. I built this device because I was unsatisfied with the sound reproduction via the headphone-socket of my CD-player. But, as things go, I started to like constructing and decided to design and build some power amplifiers also. Having finished these, they sounded so good that I also made a new matching preamplifier with integrated headphone-amp.
Although the circuit of this new preamp basically is the same as that of the original headphone-amp, some modifications made it possible to increase the sound-quality substantially. The new preamp also has some more options as far as inputs and outputs are concerned. In this article I’ll briefly discuss each modification and leave it to the reader which modifications/options he wants to realize. For the basic preamp/headphone amplifier circuit, the reader is referred to the original article.
The matching 35W stereo power amplifier has 44 output stage opamps per channel and is not intended for a DIY novice. [Editor: the author also includes instructions for building a less ambitious 10W stereo amplifier.] In my opinion it really requires quite a lot of experience to build this amp properly. I had to drill/solder over 2000 holes/connections per amplifier. I made three of them, two for myself for biamping purposes and one for a friend. However, I have found the sound quality of the amplifier to be very rewarding. I was able to compare it with some very decent commercial amplifiers (DENON, LINN, NAIM), but these were completely outclassed by the new preamp-poweramp combo (an opinion shared by others).
THE PREAMPLIFIER-HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER
Modifications to the original headphone amp circuit:
1. Breaking the ground loop
The preamp incorporates a ground-loop breaker. The ground-connection of the mains-socket is directly connected to the case of the preamp. It is connected to the ground-plane of the audio-circuit via a 4.7 ohm resistor in parallel with a 100 nF capacitor. This resistor prevents 50/60 Hz currents from flowing freely along the ground connections between the various audio components in a system, and thus eliminates the 50/60 Hz hum. Even if one component does not have a loop breaker, but all the other ones have, then there are also no ground loops and there is no problem. The 100 nF provides adequate RF-shielding. To prevent high voltages on the interconnect cables in case of a defective transformer, both inputs of the transformer are secured by a fuse (you never know which input is connected to neutral and which is connected to the alternating high potential).
The metal housing of the mains filter and the enclosure are both directly connected and are grounded to the mains. Normally the “signal ground” is also directly connected to this ground; however, in such situations a ground loop will occur if other equipment is connected to the preamp. By connecting the signal ground through a 4.7 ohm resistor, loop currents (and thereby hum) are greatly reduced. This implies that the preamp audio inputs and outputs MUST have floating grounds – their grounds cannot be directly connected to the enclosure.
2. Driving the opamps into class A operation
The output of each opamp is connected via a 1.5K ohm, 0.6 Watt resistor to one of the voltage-rails to drive the opamps into class A operation. At zero voltage output each output-stage now has to drive a 10 mA current and effectively works in class A. Only driving a low-impedance headphone at high volumes will result in the output stages leaving the class-A range.
By comparison, the output stage of a class B amplifier has two transistors that act like switches. One is opened to deliver the positive output currents, the other is opened to deliver the negative output currents. The switching behaviour going from positive to negative output currents (and vice versa) introduces distortion (for a very short moment the opamp is not able to “control” the signal) in the output that is readily heard (TIM-distortion).
With the output of the opamp connected via a resistor to one of the voltage rails, the DC output voltage will not change but one of the two output transistors will be opened to “dissipate” the current that flows through the resistor. As long as this current is higher then the current demand to drive the load, this output transistor will stay opened (and the other one will stay closed). There is no switching and therefore no distortion added.
This technique in principle does not limit voltage-swing, but it does limit the current swing. However, this should be no problem with my design. I enforce a DC output current of 10 mA. If higher currents are demanded by the circuitry (headphone) driven, the opamp will turn to class AB-operation. It is rather unlikely though that the preamp will need to output currents in excess of 10 mA, and if it does, sound levels will be so high that the distortion will not be heard. This modification resulted in a substantially improvement of sound quality, and can be easily added to the original design. Strongly recommended.
3. RF-shielding and prevention of oscillation
The + input of the first-stage opamps are connected to the potentiometer via two 1.5K ohm resistors. In the middle these two resistors are connected to ground by a 47 pF capacitor. Also 10 pF capacitors are added between the outputs and the inverting inputs of each opamp. These measures prevent high-frequency signals from entering the circuit and thereby increase stability and prevent high-frequency oscillations. I used polystryrol capacitors, but any other film-capacitors will also do.
4. Bass-enhancement circuit
I slightly modified the bass-enhancement circuit. The functionality has not changed, but now the feedback resistors are 10K ohms, and the outputs of the opamps are always connected by a 150 nF capacitor. This does not improve sound quality, but it does prevent annoying clicks when changing the settings of the bass-enhancement.
5. Decreased impedance of the potentiometer
Originally, a 50K ohm potentiometer was used. I found a lower impedance to sound marginally better – but only marginally. It is not worthwhile replacing a 50K ohms pot, if you already built the original circuit.
Additions to the original headphone amp circuit:
1. Inputs
There are now five inputs connected via a switch to the potentiometer. At the input jacks, the signal-pathways are connected to ground by 47K ohm resistors. This decreased the capacitive and inductive crosstalk between the various channels/inputs both audibly and measurably. Actually, I was rather surprised how much these resistors added to the sound quality.
2. Line out
For recording purposes, a non-volume-controlled output was added. The audio source can be chosen independently from the source being listened to. Note that there is no signal buffer and that it might be advantageous not to have these switches set to the same position, if a recording device is connected. Otherwise, the same source will be loaded by both the preamp and the recording device and cables.
3. Preamp out
A volume controlled output to drive a power amplifier. This output signal is not processed by the natural crossfeed filter.
4. Processor out
A volume controlled output to drive an amplifier (e.g., an electrostatic headphone amplifier). This audio-signal is processed by the natural crossfeed filter.
5. Headphone out
For connecting a dynamic headphone. The headphone jack I used has a built-in switch that disconnects the processor outputs, if a headphone is connected. It is made by Lumberg (part-number is KLBRSS 3 L) and can be ordered at Farnell in Germany (ordering number 838 550). The jack is directly mounted to the board.
6. Increased headphone output impedance
The headphone output impedance is normally near zero ohms. Optionally, the output impedance can be increased to 120 ohm by adding a resistor. Many headphones are designed to be connected to a source with a 120 ohm output impedance. Personally, I did not add these resistors to my preamp, but built a plug to connect preamp and headphone that has these resistors incorporated. My Sony headphones reacted very favorably to this increased impedance, whereas my Sennheiser HD600 became rather muddy. Simply try which suits your headphones/taste best. Since most dynamic headphones have a higher impedance at lower frequencies the increased output impedance results in an increased bass (with my Sony + 3dB!, Sennheiser + 1.5 dB).
THE POWER AMPLIFIER
The design
This all-opamp power amplifier has 44 output opamps per channel! Why 44 output opamps? My design goals were:
- The output stage should be very fast.
- The output stage should be linear, so the “control-opamps” would have an easy job.
- The amplifier should be driven by a regulated power supply (unregulated supplies, as used in conventional amplifiers are IMHO a major source for a decrease in sound quality, because there is no infinite PSRR).
I wanted a completely regulated power supply for the output stage for currents up to 4 Amps. This implied using 4 pairs of LM317/LM337, since one voltage regulator only handles 1 Amp. I, therefore, would also need at least 4 pairs of output transistors per channel, since you can’t put voltage regulators in parallel to supply the same component with current. (There are voltage regulators that handle more than 1 Amp, but these are very expensive and require lots of heatsinking). So the choice was between [8 transistors + 4 opamps + heatsinks] or 44 opamps.
I also wanted to have a linear output stage with no distortion, which implied local feedback using one opamp per transistor-pair. For semi-class-A operation, 4 pairs of transistors allow for 4 different “switching” points (or more precisely, the output voltage where the opamp switches between the two transistors in the output stage). 44 Opamps allow for 44 different “switching points” (actually I only use 24 different points but this still is far better than 4). Each transistor-pair that is to be driven in class-AB dissipates heat and requires a heat sink. Opamps like the LM6171 don’t need a heatsink (unless you use the dual version at high currents).
Opamps are an ideal solution, but their current capabilities are too limited. I, therefore, placed 44 of them in parallel. To drive them in pure class A would demand a high DC-current (per opamp) and increase power dissipation. I decided to inject only a relatively small DC-current, so each opamp works in class AB.
By using different current values for the various opamps, each opamp will switch at a different overall current demand. At any time of operation, the major part of the output opamps will be in a non-switching state, and the “control-opamp” (which is working in class-A) is able to control the output signal continously. TIM-distortion is eliminated, although class-AB functionality is used. In contrast to a conventional class AB device, where there is no control during switching, there always will be “control” using many parallel output stages, each switching at different points. That’s why I called it semi-class A.
I wanted biasing currents for the output stage opamps between approximately 1.5 and 5 mA – not too high to cause excessive current drain and power dissipation, and not too low to start switching at very low sound levels. So RP resistors should be approximately within the range 3K ohms to 12K ohms. Then I simply selected values that were available in the catalogue. No sophisticated calculations.
When you look at the costs, I don’t think that the transistor solution is much cheaper than the all-opamp solution. High quality, high speed transistors as well as decent heatsinks do cost. Of course the second solution is more elaborate, but the way is our goal, so time is for free.
Construction
There are no special new construction techniques. This is not a project for novices. The enclosure shown is a real nice part but unfortunately also very expensive ($150). Like the preamp, the audio input and output jacks MUST have floating grounds, because of the loop-breaker circuit in the power supply.
The opamps that have the highest power dissipation in “standby” are the input opamps. They have to dissipate a current of 18V/1.5K ohms = 12 mA. Power dissipation is 216 mW. This is fully acceptable. Power dissipation of the output stage opamps is much lower, except when driving large signals into low loads. However, such power demands are transient. Power handling is one of the reasons I decided to use the LM6171 instead of its dual version LM6172. Note that 2 x 44 amps have quite a large total body surface so any heat is easily transferred to the air.
Originally, part of the amp got quite hot, not because of the heat dissipated in the opamps, but because of the heat dissipated in the voltage regulators. The total standby current for both channels is approximately 0.34 A. The power transformers are 2 x 18 VAC (50 Watts). With a voltage drop across the positive voltage regulators of 25V – 18V = 7V, power dissipation becomes 2.4 Watts. The negative regulators have to dissipate an equal amount of heat, so total power dissipation in the voltage regulators comes up to approximately 5 Watts. This is easily handled by the heatsink I made out of a aluminum sheeting. Even at high sound levels, the output voltage of the regulators does not drop below 23V, which means that the regulators can still do their jobs most adequately.
The amplifier uses 2 power transformers, not to have a completely independent supply for both channels (because they aren’t), but because I use a very slim enclosure and one big transformer would not fit. Each transformer “drives” 4 positive and 4 negative voltage regulators (4 pairs). Each voltage regulator pair, consisting of a positive and a negative voltage regulator, “drives” a group of 11 output stage opamps (44 opamps total). One additional pair of positive and negative voltage regulators (after a thorough LC-filtering) powers the the four input stage opamps of both channels. There are separate fuses for both transformers. The values of the fuses shown in the schematic are for 230VAC mains. For 110VAC, a value of 800 mA would be more appropriate.
A simpler 10W amplifier
The maximum output voltage of the amplifier is approximately 16V and the maximum current is about 6.6 Amps. To build a “smaller” power amplifier, reduce the number of output stage opamps to limit the current capability of the output stage. There will be a point where the amplifier will not be able to deliver the 16V. It all depends on the impedance of the speaker. For example, using 20 opamps will limit the maximum output current to approximately 20 x 0.15 = 3 Amps. With a 4 ohm loudspeaker, the maximum voltage is 12 V and maximum music power is 0.5 * I * I * R = 18 Watts per channel.
Which output stage opamps should be removed to reduce the output power? I would take the ones with the higher impedances to the power rails first, since this would drive the output stage for a longer period of time in pure class A. However, I think the sonic difference will be small, if some of the other opamps were removed.
Operation
The maximum power of the amplifier is primarily set by the supply voltage (18V). The maximum output voltage is approximately 16V. With 8 ohm speakers, the power rating is 16 Watts per channel. With 4 ohm speakers, the power rating doubles (32W per channel). Continuous power output equals the peak power output since, except for the supply voltage, power supply is “over-dimensioned”. Each LM6171 opamp is able to deliver up to 150 mA of current, we have 6.6 Amps per channel. With 16V output, the amp should drive loudspeakers down to 2.5 ohm. In this case, the output impedance effectively seen by each separate opamp is 44 x 2.5 + 10 = 120 ohms and does not represent a major problem (LM6171 is specified for impedances down to 50 ohms).
The noise of preamp and power amp measured at the loudspeaker connections with the volume at maximum was heardly noticable (no hum due to the regulated power supply) and unmeasurable for my multimeter (less then 0.1 mV!). SNR thus by far exceeds the specifications of the CD and is estimated to be better than 120 dB.
The “Phase” switch can be used to configure the both channels of the amplifier for biamping or can convert the amplifier into a monoblock with double the output power. It has three positions:
- Position 1: each channel is driven by its own input buffer. This is the normal stereo mode.
- Position 2: each channel is driven by one and the same input buffer. This can be used for biamping when both channels drive different units of the same loudspeaker. (Alternatively, one can connect the same output of the preamp to both inputs, but this solution saves cable and was given for free by the phase-switch.
- Position 3: Each channel is driven by the same input buffer but the phase of one of the output channels is reversed. Connecting one single loudspeaker to the positive terminals of both channels (instead to one positive and one negative (ground) terminal) doubles the signal amplitude. This option is specially designed for high impedance, low efficiency loudspeakers. Advantage: Maximum output power per loudspeaker has increased by a factor 4 (approximately 64 Watts at 8 ohms instead of 16 Watts). Disadvantage: The stereo amp is converted to a mono amp (double costs).
Last week I listened to some real loud music. Due to the Analoguer filter (described in another article on HeadWize), I am simply able to sustain much louder sound levels now. I have used the amps with various loudspeakers (CHORD, KEF, QUAD, etc.) and although some of these speakers are quite hard to drive, the amp did not seem to have any problems with them. Especially the excellent bass-control was one of the first characteristics noticed by most listeners.
I am offering a DIY-kit for the headphone amplifier (NOT the preamplifier) with the updates discussed in this article. The completed headphone amp is shown above. If you are interested in the kit, please e-mail me.
I strongly recommend experimenting with these designs. As always, have fun!
Addendum
10/11/2000: Corrected ground-loop breaker section in power supply schematics for preamp and power amp. For the ground-loop breaker to work properly, the circuit ground must be isolated from the metal enclosure, which is connected to the mains ground.
11/6/2000: Repositioned 10pF feedback capacitor around IC2 in preamp for greater stability. Also added pictures of headphone amplifier kit and updated picture of preamp-power amp combo at beginning of article.
c. 2002 Jan Meier.
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