Bam!

[Paul Birkeland]

I suspect that the 18V switching supply will work, but that the sound quality will deteriorate greatly.

There are some good papers available online that go into what happens in a switching supply when you operate outside of the rated supply current.  Essentially, things are really bad at either end, and a Class D amp is going to run you into the low end and high end of current demand frequently.

-PB

 

[Bonzo]

I suspect that the 18V switching supply will work, but that the sound quality will deteriorate greatly.

There are some good papers available online that go into what happens in a switching supply when you operate outside of the rated supply current.  Essentially, things are really bad at either end, and a Class D amp is going to run you into the low end and high end of current demand frequently.

-PB

Got it!
What about input sensitivity? It would be lovely to mate it with a quickie, but I noticed chip amps needs attenuation rather than amplification of the input signal
PS:Any underside pics? ;-)
Ciao!

 

[Paul Birkeland]

What about input sensitivity?

IIRC, gain is right around 20dB.  Since the Quickie isn't a particularly high gain preamp, they are a well suited match.

-PB

 

[Bonzo]

IIRC, gain is right around 20dB.  Since the Quickie isn't a particularly high gain preamp, they are a well suited match.

-PB

Thank you very much Paul!

 

[johnsonad]

Nice one! I look forward to hearing it!

 

[aragorn723]

How well would this amp do with 24V instead of 18?  2 12 volt SLAs would be a nice battery choice for this   I like my current SS power amp but this is kinda intriguing!

Dave

 

[Doc B]

The amp will run on anything from 10 to 30 volts, just like it says a few posts up.

 

[satbaba]

Sennheiser HD800 compatible?
I'm still using crack OTL + speedball

 

[Paul Birkeland]

Sennheiser HD800 compatible?

Yes.

 

[Doc B]

Thanks for all of the Quicksand orders the past 24 hours! The guys will be photographing the assembly today for the manual. We should have the oft requested underside photo very soon.

 

[Cary]

Just ordered mine yesterday, it will be demonstrated at the Northern California DIY show in October.

 

[Magnetron]

I have been OK with the low power, unmodded tripath chip amps with the quickie in my bedroom stereo, I anxiously await the bottlehead quicksand.

 

[fullheadofnothing]

First post edited to add a picture of the underside of the completed amp.

 

[Grainger49]

I think that there is room for bypass caps and upgraded output caps there. 

It is tiny.  Not at all like my ChipAmp Gain Clone.

 

[WK3K]

Looking at how clean the underside is, my first thought is: Can this be built into the same chasis/enclosure as the quickie...

Only one way to find out!

;D

 

[denti alligator]

Looking at how clean the underside is, my first thought is: Can this be built into the same chasis/enclosure as the quickie...

Only one way to find out!

;D

I don't see how, unless you planned on making the plates at 90-degree angles to one another or on opposite sides of the chassis. But you could probably just saw your Quickie chassis in half (horizontally, of course) and use the two pieces for the two amps.

 

[WK3K]

I was thinking more along the lines of mounting the PCB to a standoff on the underside of the quickie chassis, hardwiring the quickie output into the quicksand input, then installing the various audio outs and power switch into the base itself. The only problem will be figuring where to mount all those batteries. Maybe on the inside of the base itself...

 

[Grainger49]

I think it is a natural progression.  But the problem I see is all those batteries!  The Quicksand has 95% of the top of the chassis covered with batteries. 

Maybe put the Quickie batteries under the top and the Quicksand batteries on the top?

If you lead others will follow.

 

[Paul Birkeland]

The only problem will be figuring where to mount all those batteries.

Yeah, there are a lot of batteries!

 

[kgoss]

Since battery power is what makes this amp special and there are so many to replace, maybe Bottlehead will offer an upgrade kit to run it from SLA batteries. Something like the upcoming DAC if that would work. Not that those are small, but they could charge when you weren't listening. Anyway just a thought.