Justblairs Audio and Electronic's Pages

Over  at TwistedPearAudio, Russ White and Brian Donegan  have been busy adding yet another DIY Audio kit to their selection.  Twisted Pear this time have produced what Russ describes as a “Mostly Discrete Opamp”.  Or to put it another way a headphone amplifier! 

This kit occupies two printed circuit boards, one per channel and accepts either balanced line inputs or single ended operation.  The balanced line option is designed to interface with several of their other product offerings.  The Ventus can also easily be setup as a classic non-inverting amplifier with single ended input. It also can be setup as an in inverting amplifier with single ended input.

The front end is a folded cascode design and runs into a LME49600 buffer. The buffer is in the feedback loop.  (hence “Mostly Discrete”)

As always Russ and Brian share schematics at their website for you to peruse before purchase.  Kits will require soldering together before you get to hear if their efforts have succeeded, however in their own words...

“The Ventus is a versatile and powerful headphone amplifier, featuring balanced inputs (can be connected directly to our balanced DACs and I/V stages), fully discrete front end, and powerful National Semiconductor LME49600 integrated diamond buffer output stage, capable of delivering up to 250mA of sweet goodness per channel.”

I have just purchased a vintage set of Koss Pro-4AA headphones (Circa 1970’s) which I am looking to power.  I have a Cmoy style DAC from AMB Labs to complete and try out, but the Ventus looks like a very worthwhile project.  Hmmm too many fun toys to be had, I am severely tempted!

Read more and if you wish to get hold of the Ventus you can order at this link… Ventus Product Page at TwistedPairAudio