JACQUES HIFI PAGES
MY PREAMP/BUFFER:
MYKONOS
Introduction
:
Thanks to the marvelous inspiration from Mr. Lampizator, I have been experimenting
with hifi for two years now and came up with this new design , directly inspired
from both its lampization technique of CD Players and from my own experience in guitar
effects pedals , which can be traced back in 1973.
Where Mr.Lampizator uses tubes, I use what I know best : pure and simple transistors. I realized this preamp/buffer stage with only ONE transistor per channel , in order to avoid any type of loss in the signal ---just imagine an opamp contains 9 tiny transistors and other components !....
I use there
point-to-point wiring, precision resistors in the signal path, chosen capacitors
regarding their function and paired transistors from MOTOROLA. Nothing magical
but nothing left unexperienced before applications.
This preamp is the result
of dozen of different circuit all A/B and tested in order to find the PERFECT
mixture.
Uses :
The
MYKONOS preamp/buffer has 3 uses where it excels :
DAC buffer
Preamp
for D-Class amps -- aka T-Class --
Everything buffer
1-DAC BUFFER APPLICATION
Here , just
as Mr.Lampizator tells us to do, I disconnect analog output buffer from any
DAC with voltage ouput
and go directly in my MYKONOS preamp/buffer ( see for
example here green
and blue wired coming from the DAC ).
I also use the 12v power supply which
is available since there are no more opamps in the circuit. ( red wire directly
soldered on the opamp socket ) .
I tried both , DAC directly to the amp or
through Mykonos and there is no way the DAC alone could compete. Sound is wider,
more precise and seems to get some sort of loudness on both ends of the audio
spectra, while Mykonos is perfectly neutral all along the 20-20000Hz..
Here is another exemple with Lampucera ( the name Mr. Lampizator gave to this wonderful little DAC from China ) :
With Lampucera,
I used less expensive caps because I wanted the circuit to be smaller. I had
no idea what box I would use,
but this BOSS perfume box was great. I hate to
drill , so carton was ok as there was no critical shield needed here.
I also
use here the unoccupied 12V dc from Lampucera power plant.
Here is my
homemade cd player, where mykonos is used in connection with the gigawork DAC,
just like on my stand alone DAC.
I also used
Mykonos directly into CD player , but that's a game I gave up some time ago
because of the audio supremacy of modern chinese DACs such as Lampucera or Gigawork
upscaling DAC. Maybe with the exception of old Philips with tda1541 chip and
ps1 :
With the
classic philips tda1541 , I usually take the output of this great DAC just after
I/V opamp conversion and plug it into my Mykonos with great results.
I don't
do I/V conversion myself, although I tried, but dismantling an old Philips CD
Player is always a nightmare and I always afraid to damage the tda1541. Too
much respect for this chip.
Here Mykonos relies on an inboard 9v battery.
He is so frugal in DC that battery will last at least one year.
The LED is a
low-energy red LED , also champion for energy savings.
The GREAT
marantz cd40 , modified non-oversampling and tda1541A caps upgrade, with inboard
mykonos featuring French ST microelectronics transistors and nichicon dc filtering
cap to use already available dc .
Match from heaven.
Here is the
mykonos ( maxed, I did not put this pot for nothing ) doing duty with revered
playstation 1 scph-1002 , with ps2 remote control .
The ps1 really needed
it after the classic direct mod :
The great Asahi Kasei DAC is now direct to the cinch output . Rather weak by itself , the AKM now makes a great high-end audio couple with mykonos .
2-PREAMP FOR D-CLASS AMP
D-Class
amp are really a revolution in audio : there are small, VERY efficient ( most
of other amps power is lost in heat ) , cheap and very good sounding. Anyway,
to my ears, stock D-Class amps , really lack cristal treble quality and
franck basses of old tube amps.
My idea was to put Mykonos in front of the new
little giant.
See here
a review from a happy owner of my 1st series ( in French ) .
You can see
here ( excuse the rat nest of my 1st try ) a ultra-cheap D-Class amp basic circuit
coupled with Mykonos preamp in a compact biscuit box.
Really an incredible
amp now. They share the same power section with no problem, as they make a great
couple for energy savings.
We'll talk more about this biscuit-box amp in the
amp sextion.
Here in its lightweight version couples with a mighty ta2020 tripath amp in another biscuit-box amp.
3-EVERYTHING-BUFFER
My preamp makes a great buffer with any sources...I tried everything ( DCC, after RIAA preamp, stock CD Player , ... ) and everything sounded...better. Really the universal hifi link to my ears....
4- If you want one ...
Please email me at mykonos@ts808.com .
MY PREAMP/BUFFER : MYKONOS AMPLIFIERS SPEAKERS CD PLAYERS DAC DRIVES / TRANSPORTS OSCILLOSCOPE TEST DRIVE TURNTABLES DCC PLAYERS