[Jesse] sent in this headphone amp. It’s really just a board with a dedicated smd headphone amp chip(MAX9725) and a pair of smd caps recycled from an old hard drive, but it does job. I think the goal is to boost low signals rather than the usual audiophile quest for cleaner tunes.
Portable Audio Hacks103 Articles
SIP For The SMC WSKP100
[sprite_tm] made my morning by sending in his latest work. After opening up his new SMC WSKP100
Mini V3 Headphone Amp
Every so often, I like to check out the headphone amp scene at [headwize]. The headphone lovers there never seem to stop. This little amp is one of the latest creations. The latest is the mini v3 – it reflects a trend I’ve been seeing on homebrew hardware: SMD core chips and through hole components for support hardware. A 9 volt supplies power, and a pair of linear regulators. It’s a nice simple, solid design – and you’ve gotta love the thumb screws. (I’m not sure how a more efficient PWM regulated power source would affect the audio output)
DIY Beatbox
[formathirn] sent in his latest project, his Beatbox 2.0. He was kind enough to write up an instructable (Don’t whine about it, they’re giving away a friggin $6k laser etching machine.)
It features a 600 watt amp, four internal mid/fullrange speakers and it’ll run external subs, if you don’t mind carting them around. He used some p3 heat sinks to reduce the space needed by the amp and fit everything into an old ‘Grundig Bandmaschine’ case. For extra bling, he put used fiber optics in the side.
DIY Digital Voice Transceiver
[dk] sent in the DVX project. It’s a complete D-STAR implementation that’s built around a digital transceiver chip, an ATMEL mcu and a digital voice compression chip. Compared to most digital radio’s I’ve seen, this one is pretty simple. The really complex action lives in the main chips with a bunch of caps and resistors to support them. Watch out for Digikey’s pricing – it looks like a major gouge after looking at the tx/rx chips on Analog Device’s site. If you get them at a decent price, they could make great rf links for your projects. The link to the paper seems a bit broken, but here’s the correct one.
IPod Laptop AKA ITop (take Two)
It wasn’t [Ben Heck] this time. [Owen] sent in his modded iPod. Once the warranty was voided by some breakage, he decided to make sure it was *really* void. The fold is limited by the length of the wires – but I can’t tell from the description or pictures if he actually hinged it.
Update: I’m re-posting this thanks to some funky cms bug…
Preamp Recycling
[lgbsneak] found a good source of pre-amps to fill his needs. Some older receivers, like his old Kenwood KA-305 have modular pre-amps. So it’s just a matter of ripping out, powering it up and tossing it into an enclosure. Now he’s got a handy 9v battery powered pre-amp for field work.
