Chip Amps - Anyone using or building them

[Full Range]

Doing some research on chip amps

I must confess that I know very little about chip amps and I came across some information on them by chance, hence the research

So the question is how do they compare to Solid State and Tube amps

Pardon the pun but they are cheap as chips to purchase a complete unit or a kit

Most are very simple in design

As most will know I use full range/wide range high sensitivity speakers - they will happily run on 2 to 5 watts and blast you out of the house at 15 watts

I understand that one must have a good marriage of components

So I was just wondering how my speakers or any speakers will go being powered by one of these baby amps ?

[ehtcom]

Some pay big money to run chip amps.

 

 

[hochopeper]

Earle, why on earth is there no clamp holding the chip to the heatsink :/

[Once was an audiophile]

Some pay big money to run chip amps.

 

 

How much for the amp?   

[Once was an audiophile]

Earle, why on earth is there no clamp holding the chip to the heatsink :/

Thats comes with mk2 version for extra $$$

[ehtcom]

Earle, why on earth is there no clamp holding the chip to the heatsink :/

Most likely removed for the photo.

[ehtcom]

How much for the amp?   

I think they were close to $10K in aus.

[Once was an audiophile]

I think they were close to $10K in aus.

Wtf ok your amps should start at 10k just for one channel

[Full Range]

I think they were close to $10K in aus.

Haven't got to or seen any 10k models in my research

Most of the ones I have seen are under $200

Still they have me intrigued and it's all new to me

[Addicted to music]

Never underestimate the LM/LME devices.

It's no wonder why BB/TI bought them out.

[Full Range]

Found a little amp called

Virtue Audio One integrated amplifier;

30 watts per channel @ $250 US at time of the test

Question - is a mini amp the same as a chip amp?

Photo tells a thousand words

[hochopeper]

Most likely removed for the photo.

 

Here's hoping. I just couldn't see how the clamps were even mounted and found that kind of alarming.

 

 

Never underestimate the LM/LME devices.

It's no wonder why BB/TI bought them out.

 

Indeed! 

[LogicprObe]

You can get an epoxy based heat transfer compound...............they may have used that.........but I'm not seeing any oozing either.

[Addicted to music]

You can get an epoxy based heat transfer compound...............they may have used that.........but I'm not seeing any oozing either.

 

LP,

 

Please provide us a link

[A J]

Found a little amp called

Virtue Audio One integrated amplifier;

30 watts per channel @ $250 US at time of the test

Question - is a mini amp the same as a chip amp?

Photo tells a thousand words

This amp uses a triparh amp which is different to a chip amp. These amps are more efficient - run cooler like a d class - the virtue ones got some very good reviews and people seem to like them.

A chip amp will be sensitive to the implementation - quality of components and circuit design & placement. For that reason you will get two different amps using the same chip potentially sounding quite different.

I've made a chip amp using the LM3875 and it is very detailed - for some reason I recalled it lacking base but when I pulled it out the other day for a listening session it certainly wasn't lacking anything in the bottom end. I imagine this build would sound awesome with a set of full rangers - depending on their impedance. I also have an old dick smith 15w kit amp which always sounded better than its humble price suggested. I bought this as a young fella - and cracked it open to remind myself what was driving it and it's a pair of LM1875's

[Full Range]

This amp uses a triparh amp which is different to a chip amp. These amps are more efficient - run cooler like a d class - the virtue ones got some very good reviews and people seem to like them.

A chip amp will be sensitive to the implementation - quality of components and circuit design & placement. For that reason you will get two different amps using the same chip potentially sounding quite different.

I've made a chip amp using the LM3875 and it is very detailed - for some reason I recalled it lacking base but when I pulled it out the other day for a listening session it certainly wasn't lacking anything in the bottom end. I imagine this build would sound awesome with a set of full rangers - depending on their impedance. I also have an old dick smith 15w kit amp which always sounded better than its humble price suggested. I bought this as a young fella - and cracked it open to remind myself what was driving it and it's a pair of LM1875's

Thanks for the explanation

There are some very resonably priced kits about

One Chip Amp design that initially peeked my interest was the Patec - http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_patek_amp.shtml

There is an Aussie bloke called Mark Houston that does many DIY projects - http://diyaudioprojects.com/Chip/Nanoo/

All very interesting and I am willing to try my hand at a good design kit

I am handy with a soldering iron but if I was to try out a kit it would need to be a complete kit including connectors and case ect with good connect the dots instructions

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

Doing some research on chip amps

I must confess that I know very little about chip amps and I came across some information on them by chance, hence the research

So the question is how do they compare to Solid State and Tube amps

Pardon the pun but they are cheap as chips to purchase a complete unit or a kit

Most are very simple in design

As most will know I use full range/wide range high sensitivity speakers - they will happily run on 2 to 5 watts and blast you out of the house at 15 watts

I understand that one must have a good marriage of components

So I was just wondering how my speakers or any speakers will go being powered by one of these baby amps ?

 

Chip amps are not a significant mystery. They are designed to be:

 

* Cheap.

* Convenient.

* Reliable.

* Compact.

* Efficient.

* Reasonably high quality.

 

Essentially, they contain all the stuff that is in a discrete component amplifier in one small package. None (AFAIK) employ what the very best amplifiers available employ, however. Stuff like:

 

* Class A operation.

* Massive current ability.

* Zero global NFB.

 

There are many different types. One of the best is the TDA1514A. Far, far superior to the popular LM3886 and it's derivatives.

Edited November 3, 2013 by Zaphod Beeblebrox

[A J]

Thanks for the explanation

There are some very resonably priced kits about

One Chip Amp design that initially peeked my interest was the Patec - http://www.audiosector.com/chassis_patek_amp.shtml

There is an Aussie bloke called Mark Houston that does many DIY projects - http://diyaudioprojects.com/Chip/Nanoo/

All very interesting and I am willing to try my hand at a good design kit

I am handy with a soldering iron but if I was to try out a kit it would need to be a complete kit including connectors and case ect with good connect the dots instructions

 

Here's my implementation - the buffer is an X-10D clone with 6DJ8 tubes - all  in a 2U jaycar case worth $100 or so, and the additional circuitry on the amp side of the PSU is a fully regulating circuit designed by Teddy Pardo. The other unit is my FrankenPre - basically a 2XSPDIF and 2XAnalogue input remote control preamplifier with a Pass B1 buffer, and TDA1543 dac. Looks a mess inside, but actually sounds great.

 

Edited November 4, 2013 by A J

[ehtcom]

Here's hoping. I just couldn't see how the clamps were even mounted and found that kind of alarming.

 

 

 

Indeed! 

 

If you look close at the first picture you can see a brass/bronze flat bar covering the LM3886 chips. This will most likely be clamping all chips to the heatsink.

[Newman]

Still they have me intrigued and it's all new to me

 

Search "gainclone amp" and you will find a million DIY projects over the past 10 years. Even Joe Rasmussen developed a  gainclone circuit, with a valve front end.

 

The reason 'gainclone' is in the name is because they are essentially clones of the Japanese Juni Kimura's company 47 Labs amplifier called Gaincard, which is a high-end product based on simplicity and purity of concept. It costs about $4,000 US with external power supply.

 

If you can get away with 25 to 35 watts and have a sane impedance on your loudspeakers, these ICs can provide excellent performance.

[Full Range]

Search "gainclone amp" and you will find a million DIY projects over the past 10 years. Even Joe Rasmussen developed a  gainclone circuit, with a valve front end.

 

The reason 'gainclone' is in the name is because they are essentially clones of the Japanese Juni Kimura's company 47 Labs amplifier called Gaincard, which is a high-end product based on simplicity and purity of concept. It costs about $4,000 US with external power supply.

 

If you can get away with 25 to 35 watts and have a sane impedance on your loudspeakers, these ICs can provide excellent performance.

Plenty of Gainclone units for sale around the net

With over 100 db sensitivity speakers in cabinet 25 to 30 watts per channel is more than I need

Earle Weston's tube amp is giving me 14 watts per ch max - dependant on the tubes used

[ArthurDent]

The reason 'gainclone' is in the name is because they are essentially clones of the Japanese Juni Kimura's company 47 Labs amplifier called Gaincard, which is a high-end product based on simplicity and purity of concept. It costs about $4,000 US with external power supply.

 

Do you know what chip they use in these very well regarded amplifiers? Is it a TDA1514A by any chance.

[Newman]

The LM3875

[hochopeper]

The audiophile feat of things in compact plastic packages is bizarre ... surely all that matters is the performance?

 

Now I'm not sure if these are strictly chip amps but they're pretty close .... I've got an amplifier with an opamp (LME49990) input stage and diamond buffers (LME49610) in parrallel for output and another with a chip amp input stage (LME49830) and lateral mosfets on the output stage. Both with fully regulated PSUs. The LME49830 I've got powered with a SMPS with 65V rails on the input stage and 55V rails on the output stage. It's good for 190W continuous into 8R . The one with the opamp front end is good for ~16W into 8R and has utterly astonishing measurements. These amps were designed by a guy with access to some pretty astonishing measurement gear and there is simply no way there is any objectionable artefact in the amps as long as I construct them properly. Both are designed for best performance with a philosophy of selecting the correct component for the job, not the cheapest component for the job and not the most 'audiophile approved' component.

 

 

I haven't taken any pics since - http://www.stereo.net.au/forums/index.php?/topic/27524-diy-audio-what-are-you-building/page-25#entry828431 - but it was sort of sitting there for a while (had other things to focus on for a while) till I got them out of the cupboard on the weekend, I'm going to finish off the build over the next week or so ... four fully regulated monoblocks in one chassis 

Edited November 4, 2013 by hochopeper

[tuyen]

I'm using a borrowed Peter Daniel's Audio Sector LM3875 stereo amp from SteveM (cheers mate!) to power my mid-horn drivers in my active system.

 

Sounds great IMO.

 

 

 

I've also enjoyed running modified battery powered Tripath TA2020 chipamps to drive some of my horn channels previously with great results (IMO). 

 

What's interesting is this Japanese guy who is a very experienced single-ended tube amp builder (runs single-ended.com site) wrote this page when he tried a modded Tripath amp and says  it compares sonically  to the likes of his 45 SET amps?       

http://lagarto-ex-infoseek.jp/tripath-amp.htm