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Constructional Project
Part 1: by Nicholas Vinen
Compact Hi-Fi
headphone Amplifier
This Headphone Amplifier is easy to build, sounds great,
doesn’t cost too much to make and fits into a compact instrument case.
It’s ideal for beginners or just those who want to get the best out of a set of traditional wired
headphones. It’s powered by a plugpack, so no mains wiring is required.
I
t has been a while since we’ve published
a headphone amplifier. The reason I decided to design a new one is that the
last one I designed, way back in 2011,
had excellent audio quality, but was
a bit overkill for many people. It was
fairly large, somewhat expensive to
build and consumed a fair bit of power,
but you couldn’t really fault the resulting sound quality, which was on par
with some of the best power amplifiers.
Many of the headphone amplifier
circuits I see published in various
places are little more than an op amp,
possibly with current-boosting transis-
tors. Such designs work, but they have
modest output power and usually lessthan-stellar audio quality, although
they may be considered adequate by
many people.
I thought there was room for something in between: an amplifier with
excellent audio quality that fit neatly
into a compact case and wasn’t too
difficult or expensive to build.
That’s precisely what this is. It’s
also beginner-f riendly and has the
handy feature of two stereo inputs that
are mixed with independent volume
controls.
Fig.1: the Amp’s distortion versus frequency for four
common headphone/earphone load impedances. Distortion
is lower for higher load impedances due to the lower output
current required; the 600W curve is higher mainly due to the
lower test power due to voltage swing limitations.
4
That means you can connect two
sound sources such as a TV and a
computer, a CD player and a TV or
something like that. With the separate
volume controls, it’s easy to account
for different output levels from those
devices, and you can also easily mute
one if both are active. If you want to
save time and money, you can build
it with just one stereo input.
You have the choice of 3.5mm or
6.35mm jack sockets for the output
(or both, optionally connected in
parallel). Power is from a 9-12V AC
1-2A plugpack, a type that’s readily
Fig.2: this shows how distortion varies with the output power
level, at a fixed frequency. The onset of clipping is around
0.9W for an 8W load, due to current delivery limitations; a
little over 1W for 16W; around 0.75W for 32W; or 90mW for a
600W load due to voltage swing limitations.
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Compact Hi-Fi Headphone Amp pt1
Features & Specifications
🎼 Drives stereo headphones with impedances from 8Ω and up
🎼 Two outputs to suit 3.5mm or 6.35mm jack plugs
🎼 Two stereo RCA inputs with independent volume controls
🎼 Powered by a 9-12V AC plugpack
🎼 Power on/off switch and power indicator LED
🎼 Signal-to-noise ratio: 103dB with respect to 250mW into 8Ω
🎼 Total harmonic distortion: <0.0025% <at> 1kHz, <0.01% <at> 10kHz
(see Figs.1 & 2)
🎼 Frequency response: 10Hz to 100kHz, +0,-0.2dB (16Ω load; see Fig.3)
🎼 Channel separation: >70dB <at> 1kHz (see Fig.4)
🎼 Maximum output power (9V AC supply): 0.9W into 8Ω, 1W into 16Ω,
0.75W into 32Ω, 80-140mW (12V AC) into 600Ω
🎼 Class-AB operating mode (Class-A at lower power levels)
🎼 Inexpensive and easy to build
🎼 Fits into compact 155×86×30mm ABS instrument case
available from most suppliers. There is
an onboard power switch and power
indicator LED.
The headphone amplifier section
is based on common low-noise, low-
distortion op amps with transistor
buffers to boost the output current. It
will drive any headphones from 8W to
600W. It won’t deliver a ton of power,
but should be more than enough for
any headphones, up to a watt (or maybe
more) per channel.
If you really wanted to, you could
use it to drive a pair of high-efficiency
speakers to modest sound levels (eg,
for use with a computer). While it
isn’t really designed for that task,
it will work as long as the speakers are efficient enough and you’re
close to them.
This design uses all through-hole
parts and it fits into a really nice little
snap-together compact case that’s just
155mm wide, 30mm tall and 86mm
deep. So it takes up barely any room.
The modest power consumption means
it only gets a little warm during typical
use, despite being unvented.
There’s really nothing tricky to the
construction. The only slightly fiddly
Fig.3: the Amp’s frequency response is very flat for all
load impedances within the audible range (20Hz–20kHz).
The deviation above 20kHz is due to the output filter. The
vertical shifts are due to the Amp’s output impedance (the
level reduces slightly for lower load impedances).
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Silicon Chip Kit (SC6885; ~£35)
Includes the case but not a power supply
bits are winding the inductors for the
output filter (which only takes a few
minutes) and mounting the output transistors and heatsinks, which is only
difficult because the thermal paste can
get on your fingers.
There is one adjustment per channel for quiescent current. It’s easy to
make by monitoring the voltage between pairs of test points with a DMM
while twiddling a trimpot.
With a circuit that isn’t too difficult
to understand and straightforward construction, this should be a good project
for relative beginners.
Performance
At low signal levels, up to around
5mW (8W), 10mW (16W) or 20mW
(32W/600W), the Headphone Amplifier operates in Class-A mode. Many
headphones and earphones will produce reasonable volume levels at such
powers. If your headphones require
more power, or there are loud transients (like drum hits), the amplifier
will automatically switch to Class-B
(this is known as Class-AB operation).
The resulting performance is pretty
good – not as good as our very best
amplifiers, but certainly well above
average. It’s better than ‘CD quality’
under most conditions (which equates
to about 0.0018% distortion at 1kHz
with a 96dB signal-to-noise ratio).
Fig.4: there’s a small amount of signal bleed between
channels but it’s attenuated by more than 70dB at 1kHz
and below, so it is unlikely to be noticeable. Most stereo
content has less separation than this anyway.
5
Constructional Project
The power supply section is on the left, signal input/
mixing in the middle and power output on the right.
The performance was
measured with a 9V AC
plugpack; using a 12V
plugpack will give the same or better
performance.
Fig.1 shows how the total harmonic
distortion plus noise (THD+N) level
varies with frequency at 250mW (a
high level for headphones!) into four
common headphone load impedances. The performance is excellent
for 32W headphones, well below
0.001% even up to several kilohertz.
It’s almost as good for 16W, reaching
only around 0.0015% at 1kHz for 16W
& 600W loads.
Even for the relatively low impedance of 8W, more typical for loudspeakers, the THD+N is just 0.0025%
at 1kHz for a fairly high output level
(250mW) and remains below 0.01%
up to 10kHz.
Fig.2 shows how THD+N varies
with power level. As the performance
is essentially limited by noise, it is
a steadily descending line until the
point where it goes into clipping.
That figure will give you a pretty
good idea of how much power can
be delivered with the 9V AC supply.
Fig.3 shows the frequency response,
which is basically flat across the
audible spectrum. Fig.4 shows the
6
channel separation, which
we think is pretty reasonable.
You’re unlikely to notice any signal
bleeding between the channels.
Note that the maximum power
delivery into high-impedance loads
will depend on the supply voltage.
Testing with a 9V AC plugpack, we
got around 90mW into a 600W load
before clipping, but we’d expect closer
to 150mW with a 12V AC plugpack.
Most headphones and earphones are
well below 600W, so they are unlikely
to run into voltage swing limitations
even with a 9V AC supply.
Subjective testing
I tested the Amp with a pair of
Philips SHP9000 32W headphones
(which, in my opinion, are excellent).
As expected based on the flat frequency response and low distortion, the
sound quality was top-notch, with
lots of punchy bass, plenty of treble
and no audible noise or artefacts.
There was no noticeable noise
at switch-on with the headphones
plugged in, although more sensitive headphones may make a noise.
There was sometimes a modest
crack or thump sound at switch-off,
although it was not loud enough
to cause anything more than an-
noyance. It didn’t always happen,
but it’s still a good idea to take the
headphones off before switching
the amplifier off.
We also tested it by plugging in
an Exteek C28 Bluetooth adaptor.
We connected it to one input using
a 3.5mm jack to twin RCA plug lead.
That worked fine, and the Amp’s gain
was more than enough to drive the
headphones to deafening levels from
its relatively low-level output.
Circuit details
The full circuit diagram is shown
in Fig.5. We’ll start by describing
the input section and volume control, then the power amplification
section, then the power supply. This
description is for the full version of
the circuit; later, we’ll explain two
ways it can be cut down.
The stereo input signals are applied to either of dual RCA sockets
CON2 & CON3. They pass through
an RF rejecting filter comprising ferrite beads, 100W series resistors and
470pF ceramic capacitors to ground.
This should help eliminate any RF
(eg, AM radio or switch-mode hash)
picked up by the signal leads that
could otherwise be demodulated by
the following circuitry.
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Compact Hi-Fi Headphone Amp pt1
The signals are then AC-coupled
using back-to-back polarised electrolytic capacitors. This is a cheaper
and generally more compact configuration than non-polarised electrolytic capacitors, and has no real disadvantages. We use high-value coupling capacitors to retain good bass
response, it also keeps the source
impedance low for the following
stages, to avoid noise creeping in.
The capacitor voltage ratings here
are pretty high, so that if a faulty
signal source delivering +18V or
-18V DC (or more) is connected to
one of the inputs, it won’t damage
anything.
It’s important to AC-couple signals
to potentiometers to avoid crackle
when they are rotated. The signal is
applied to the top of the potentiometers, which act as variable voltage
dividers, the attenuated signal appearing at the wiper.
The potentiometers have a ‘logarithmic taper’, which is suitable
for volume control since it better
matches the way we hear loudness.
Linear potentiometers tend to give
poor control at the lower end of the
volume range.
From the potentiometer wipers,
the signals are again AC-coupled to
the following op amp buffer stages,
so that the op amp bias currents
don’t cause a DC voltage across the
pots. Otherwise, that can also cause
crackle when the pots are rotated.
Here we only need a polarised
capacitor because we know the op
amp input will be slightly positive
due to the bias current flowing out
of it. That is true for either of the op
amp alternatives specified (NE5532
or LM833, which should both perform well). 100kW resistors to ground
both DC-bias their input signal to
0V and provide a path for that bias
current to flow.
The signals from the two pairs of
buffers are then mixed using 10kW
resistors and the mixed audio is fed
to the power amplifier, on the righthand side of the diagram. The 1MW
resistors to ground provide a path
for IC1’s input bias currents to flow
without IC2 and IC3 having to sink
it, although the circuit would still
work if those resistors were left out.
Power amplifier
This section is based on dual lownoise op amp IC1 and medium-power
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Parts List – Compact Headphone Amplifier
1 double-sided blue PCB coded 01103241, 148 × 80mm
1 Gainta G1816 or equivalent 155×86×30mm ABS instrument case
[TME, Mouser 563-PC-11477]
1 9-12V 1-2A AC plugpack
1 PCB-mount right-angle miniature SPDT toggle switch (S1)
1 PCB-mount barrel socket to suit plugpack (CON1)
2(1) dual horizontal white/red RCA sockets (CON2, CON3)
[RCA-210; AliExpress 1005001629197904, Silicon Chip SC4850]
1 PCB-mounting DPST 3.5mm stereo jack socket (CON4) AND/OR
1 PCB-mounting low-profile DPST/DPDT 6.35mm stereo jack socket (CON5)
4(2) small ferrite beads (FB1-FB4)
1 2-pin header with jumper shunt (JP1)
2(1) 10kW dual-gang logarithmic taper 9mm right-angle PCB-mount
potentiometers (VR1, VR2)
2 2kW top-adjust mini trimpots (VR3, VR4)
3(1) 8-pin DIL IC sockets (optional, for IC1-IC3)
Wire & hardware
1 2m length of 0.25-0.4mm diameter enamelled copper wire (for L1 & L2)
2 M3 × 16mm panhead machine screws
4 M3 × 10mm panhead machine screws
6 M3 flat washers
6 M3 hex nuts
4 No.4 × 5-6mm panhead self-tapping screws
2 TO-220 micro-U flag heatsinks (15 × 10 × 20mm)
2(1) small knobs to suit VR1 & VR2
4 small self-adhesive rubber feet
Semiconductors
3 NE5532 or LM833 low-noise, low-distortion op amps (IC1-IC3) ♦
5 TTC004B 160V 1.5A NPN transistors, TO-126 (Q1, Q3, Q5, Q7, Q8)
3 TTA004B 160V 1.5A PNP transistors, TO-126 (Q2, Q4, Q6)
1 3mm blue LED with diffused lens (LED1)
2 1N5819 40V 1A schottky diodes (D1, D2)
♦ only one is required for cut-down version (unbuffered or single-channel)
Capacitors (maximum 20mm height)
4 1000μF 25V low-ESR electrolytic (5mm pitch, maximum diameter 13mm)
2 470μF 10V electrolytic (5mm pitch, maximum diameter 10mm)
8(4) 100μF 50V electrolytic (5mm pitch, maximum diameter 8mm)
4 100μF 25V low-ESR electrolytic (5mm pitch, maximum diameter 8mm)
4(2) 100μF 16V electrolytic (5mm pitch, maximum diameter 8mm)
2 10μF 50V electrolytic (2.5mm pitch, maximum diameter 6.3mm)
2 100nF 63V MKT
3(1) 100nF 50V MKT, ceramic or multi-layer ceramic
4(2) 470pF 50V NP0/C0G ceramic
2 100pF 50V NP0/C0G ceramic
Resistors (all ¼W 1% unless noted)
2(0) 1MW
4(2) 100kW
7(3) 10kW
4 4.7kW
2 3kW
4 1kW
2 220W
4(2) 100W
2 10W 1W 5%
4 1W ½W (5% OK)
n number in bracket refers to quantities for the single-channel version
7
Constructional Project
SC
Ó2024
V+
HEADPHONE AMPLIFIER FULL CIRCUIT
4
8
INPUT 1
CO N 2 B
FB1
R
100nF
1
100W
100mF 50V
V+
IC1 – IC3
100mF 50V
V–
VR1a
10kW
LO G
470pF
100mF
3
100kW
2
8
10kW
1
IC2a
4
V–
FB2
L
100W
100mF 50V
VR 1 b
1 0 kW
LOG
CO N 2 A
INPUT 1
1MW
100mF 50V
470pF
100mF
100kW
INPUT 2
CO N 3 B
IC2: NE5532 or LM833
5
6
IC2b
10kW
7
V+
FB3
R
100W
100mF 50V
100nF
100mF 50V
V–
VR2a
10kW
LO G
470pF
100mF
3
100kW
2
8
IC3a
1
10kW
4
V–
FB4
L
100W
100mF 50V
CO N 3 A
INPUT 2
470pF
1MW
100mF 50V
VR 2 b
1 0 kW
LOG
100mF
5
100kW
6
IC3b
7
10kW
Fig.5: the full Headphone Amplifier circuit; the two stereo inputs are at upper left, the buffer and mixer left of centre,
the output section at upper right and the power supply at lower right. It’s all pretty conventional, but note the use of
capacitance multipliers rather than regulators to provide reasonably steady V+ and V− rails without requiring a specific
AC supply voltage.
transistors Q3-Q8. As the left and right
channels are essentially identical, we’ll
stick to describing the right channel,
with the corresponding left-channel
designators being given in brackets
(parentheses).
The incoming signal is fed into the
non-inverting input, pin 3, of IC1a
(IC2b). IC1a is configured as a non-
inverting amplifier with a default gain
of four times (12dB), although that can
be changed by varying the 3kW and 1kW
resistor values between the output and
the feedback point, the pin 2 inverting
input of IC1a.
The bottom end of the divider is connected to signal ground via a 470μF capacitor rather than directly, reducing
the amplifier DC gain to unity. That
way, the circuit doesn’t amplify the op
8
amp’s inherent offset voltage (or any
other offsets in the circuit).
Most of the current to drive the headphones is supplied by NPN transistor
Q3 (Q5) and PNP transistor Q4 (Q6),
which are complementary emitter-
followers. As the base voltage of Q3
rises, it sources more current into the
output via its 1W emitter resistor, reducing its base-emitter voltage until
it stabilises.
Similarly, when Q4’s base is pulled
down, its emitter pulls the output down
and it too stabilises at a more-or-less
fixed base-emitter voltage differential.
As Q3 and Q4 both have base-emitter
voltage drops of around 0.7V when
conducting a few milliamps, if we arrange for a difference of around 1.5V
between the two bases (with Q3’s base
voltage being higher than Q4’s), a small
amount of current will constantly flow
from the V+ rail, through Q3, the two
1W emitter resistors, then Q4 and back
to the V- rail. This is called the quiescent current.
By having a small quiescent current,
we keep Q3 and Q4 in conduction all
the time, and we only have to vary
the amount of conduction to smoothly
control the output signal, rather than
switching Q3 or Q4 on when needed.
This is called Class-AB (sometimes
Class-B) and it has the benefit of minimising (and ideally, virtually eliminating) crossover distortion.
Crossover distortion is an undesirable step in the output voltage as it
passes through 0V, which an AC audio
signal does frequently.
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Compact Hi-Fi Headphone Amp pt1
V+
V+
V+
100mF
4.7kW
25V
B
C
VR3
2kW
3
2
B
8
E
TP2
4.7mH*
Q7
TTC004B
1W
10mF
TP1
10W*
E
HEADPHONES
1kW
1
IC1a
Q3
TTC004B
10kW
100nF
OUTPUT STAGE
RIGHT INPUT
C
100nF
1W
TP3
4
E
B
100mF
100pF
CO N 4
3.5mm JACK
C
4.7kW
25V
3.0kW
Q4
TTA004B
V–
1kW
V–
JP1
470mF
10V
V+
4.7kW
C
B
IC1: NE5532 or LM833
E
10kW
VR4
2kW
OUTPUT STAGE
LEFT INPUT
B
4.7mH*
Q8
TTC004B
TP4
1W
10mF
10W*
1kW
7
IC1b
CO N 5
6.35mm JACK
TP5
E
5
6
C
Q5
TTC004B
100nF
1W
TP6
E
B
100pF
3.0kW
Q6
TTA004B
C
4.7kW
*10W 1W RESISTOR
WITH 1m LENGTH
OF 0.4mm DIA ECW
WOUND AROUND
IT (70T APPROX).
1kW
V–
470mF
10V
LED
Q1 TTC004B
C
K
D1
1N5819
9–12V AC
POWER IN
POWER
1000mF
25V
A
E
B
K
100mF
25V
1000mF
A
10kW
1N5819
A
25V
S1
K
1000mF
K
CO N 1
220W
V+
A
25V
1000mF
D2
1N5819
25V
A
220W
C
25V
B
TTC004B,
TTA004B
POWER
l L ED 1
100mF
K
E
E
V–
C
B
Q2 TTA004B
To achieve the required ~1.5V between the bases, we have NPN transistor Q7 (Q8), which acts as a ‘Vbe
multiplier’. There are 4.7kW resistors
from the V+ and V- rails connected to
its collector and emitter, which provide a small bias current of about 3mA
through it.
Trimpot VR3 (VR4) is connected
across the transistor such that we can
vary the collector-base and emitter-base
resistances. The ratio of those resistPractical Electronics | September | 2025
ances causes a multiple of its mostly
fixed base-emitter voltage (again, about
0.7V) to appear between its collector
and emitter. By adjusting the trimpot
for a gain of a little over two times, we
get the required 1.5V.
You will note that its collector and
emitter connect to the bases of Q3 & Q4,
so that voltage appears across them. It
is stabilised by a 10μF capacitor as the
output swings up and down (and thus
the bias in Q7 varies slightly).
The 10kW resistor across the trimpot
prevents Q7 from switching off fully
if the trimpot is intermittent, which
would cause a high current to be conducted by Q3 & Q4, possibly damaging them.
Another thing you might notice is
that Q7 is the same type of transistor
as Q3, even though it only needs to
handle a tiny current and power. That
is because Q3’s base-emitter voltage
will vary as it changes in temperature.
9
Constructional Project
By mounting Q7 in contact with Q3,
the bias voltage changes proportionally, so Q3 always receives the correct
bias voltage.
Q4 is the complementary type to Q3;
while we are not tracking its temperature directly, its dissipation will very
closely match that of Q3, so its temperature should as well, and thus its
base-emitter voltage will be very similar to Q4’s. So the thermal tracking by
Q7 will compensate for temperature
changes in both output transistors and
their required bias voltages.
The 1W emitter resistors provide a
little local negative feedback for Q3 &
Q4 and also help to stabilise the quiescent current, by making the exact bias
voltage across their bases less critical.
The junction of these resistors is the
amplifier output, which is fed to the
headphone socket(s) via an RLC filter
comprising a 10W resistor in parallel with a 4.7μH inductor and then a
100nF capacitor to ground.
This filter is there to isolate the amplifier output from the headphones,
so that any reactance at the headphone socket (eg, from cable capacitance or driver properties) cannot
destabilise the amplifier and cause
it to oscillate. The values have been
chosen so the filter doesn’t change
the overall frequency response when
combined with typical headphone
impedances.
Finally, there is a 1kW resistor between the output of op amp IC1a and
the junction of the 1W emitter resistors. That means the op amp’s output
contributes a tiny bit of current to the
amp output, helping to cancel out any
small amounts of distortion caused by
the output stage that the feedback loop
is too slow to handle.
CON4 gives you the option to use
the smaller type of headphone jack,
while CON5 is the larger and more
robust type. If both are fitted, inserting a plug into CON5 will disconnect
the ground path for CON4, unless
there is a shorting block on jumper
JP1. If there is, both headphones will
be driven in parallel. JP1 must also
be shorted if CON5 is omitted so that
CON4 can be used.
Output transistors
We chose the TTA004B (PNP) and
complementary TTC004B (NPN) because they are inexpensive, compact
and designed for audio use. They have
a high maximum collector voltage of
160V (not that useful in this application), a high transition frequency of
100MHz, low output capacitance and
a reasonably high continuous current
limit of 1.5A each.
While they don’t have a super high
current gain, it is pretty good at 140-280
at 100mA (typically >200). All these
properties combine to make them good
as part of a feedback loop to deliver a
reasonable amount of current while
minimising distortion. The current
gain (beta [β] or hfe) is still usefully
high at 1A (around 100).
They are also very linear, having a
very flat hfe curve from 1mA to over
100mA. So overall, they are excellent
medium-power audio transistors.
Power supply
Fig.6: we can omit IC1 & IC2 by coupling the signals from the wipers of VR1
& VR2 directly to the non-inverting inputs of IC1 & IC2 and removing the
redundant pair of DC-biasing resistors. This will still work and save a bit of
money, but the volume controls will have some interaction.
10
Rather than an unregulated or a
regulated supply, we have opted for
a capacitance-multiplier type supply.
This has the advantage of delivering
much smoother rails to the op amps
and output stage than an unregulated
supply, without the power loss of a
regulated supply or pinning us to a
particular regulated supply voltage.
The incoming low-voltage AC from
the plugpack is converted to pulsating
DC by the full-wave voltage doubler
formed by schottky diodes D1 and
D2. Schottky diodes are used here to
minimise the voltage loss, so we can
get decent output power from just 9V
AC, and to improve efficiency. They
achieve that by having a low forward
voltage drop when in conduction.
The result is about 12V DC across
the two 1000μF capacitors (assuming
a 9V plugpack), giving an unregulated
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Compact Hi-Fi Headphone Amp pt1
±12V supply. This will have an increasing amount of AC ripple as the
load on the supply goes up due to
those capacitors discharging between
peaks in the mains cycle. The ripple
will be 50Hz, not 100Hz, due to the
diode configuration.
We measured over 300mV of ripple
on our prototype with no signal, and
obviously that increases as we load
the output more.
We could add two regulators to the
output but they would need to be
matched to the plugpack; for example,
±12V regulators might work well if the
plugpack is 12V AC and thus develops sufficient input voltage for them
to regulate, but they would be useless with a 9V AC plugpack. There’s
also the problem that under load, the
ripple could cause the regulators to
enter dropout.
Instead, we use capacitance multipliers formed by transistors Q1 & Q2,
operating as complementary emitterfollowers, with another set of 1000μF
capacitors between their bases and
ground. They are biased on by 220W
resistors from each collector to the associated base.
You can think of these as ‘variable
regulators’ that produce a smoothed
output but with the output voltage being
related to the input voltage. That’s because the base capacitors charge to just
below the average of the input voltage
due to the RC low-pass filters formed
by them and the 220W resistors.
Keep in mind that, as they operate as
emitter followers, the emitter voltage
for a fixed load current is essentially
a fixed amount below the base voltage
(around 0.7V). So if the base voltage is
steady, thanks to that low-pass filter
action, as long as the collector voltages don’t drop too low due to excessive
ripple, the voltage at the emitters will
be essentially constant.
As a result, with say ±12V DC at the
collectors overlaid with several hundred millivolts of ripple (we measured
around 350mV in our prototype), the
outputs at their emitters will be close
to ±10.5V DC with much lower ripple
(10mV in our prototype). That’s a reduction of 35 times or 31dB.
While the amplifier section has good
ripple rejection, some may still be audible in the output with 350mV+ on
the supply rails. We doubt any will be
detectable with just 10mV of ripple on
the supply rails, and the performance
figures support that.
Practical Electronics | September | 2025
Fig.7: if you only need one stereo input, the circuit can be further simplified
as shown here. Only one op amp, IC1, is required as there is no longer any
signal mixing.
There are four 100μF supply rail
bypass/filter capacitors after Q1/Q2
although, two of which are physically located close to the output stages.
Thus, they are shown on the circuit
diagram at upper right. Putting them
closer to the output transistors means
less voltage drop during high-current
transients.
The power LED is connected between the two rails so it doesn’t ruin
the symmetry of the device. Its current
is limited to around 2-3mA by its 10kW
series resistor.
Variations
There are two variations to this circuit that can be built on the same board.
The first is the same as the full circuit
shown in Fig.5 but without buffer
op amps IC2 & IC3. The differences
are only in that section, and they are
shown in Fig.6.
The signal path is the same as before
up to the wipers of the volume control potentiometers. Subsequently,
rather than being coupled to buffer op
amps, the signals are coupled directly
to the mixer resistors. This means that
the signal sources are driving a lower
impedance. Now the 1MW resistors
to ground are required, as otherwise
there would be no DC bias for the signals going to IC1a.
The relatively high value of the 1MW
DC bias resistors was chosen to avoid
too much attenuation when combined
with the higher source impedances due
to the mixer resistors.
This version has the advantage of
retaining the two separate inputs but
with fewer components and lower
power consumption. However, due to
the way the signals are mixed, there
will be interactions between the two
volume controls. That means that if
you adjust the level of one source up
or down, the level of the other source
may also change a little.
If that’s likely to bother you, or you
bought a kit that came with all the op
amps, you might as well just build the
full version. But we thought we’d present this cut-down version as it doesn’t
require any modifications to the PCB,
just a few wire links need to be added
to bypass the missing op amps.
The other version is the simplest
configuration, with just a single stereo
input. It is shown in Fig.7. In this
case, we don’t need the buffer op
amps since there is no longer any
mixing going on; the signal from the
sole volume control can simply be
coupled straight to IC1.
Next month
The second and final article on this
Headphone Amplifier next month will
have the PCB assembly instructions,
case preparation, testing, adjustment
details and some usage tips.
PE
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