2. amps-preamps
  3. 1153416583

Gainclone chip amp

This post is geared toward owners or previous owners of this diy amp. I probably should have inqired with the diy site but wanted to hear what A-goners may have to say. This is my first chip amp and after seeing many auctions and ads here and on ebay I decided to take the plunge. On the technical side of things the layout looks very simple. No huge caps or numerous parts. I do know that this design is from the 47labs camp but not all that familiar with the product. As for sonics this an amazing piece of gear. My amp is supposed to be 60w into 4 ohms and I suspect there may be more power to boot. I can't figure out where all this sound is coming from with the small caps and all Must be in the chips. Like I said amazing. For the rest of my system I'm using a nad 304 as the pre, nad tuner, philips sacd player, and epos ELS3 spkrs. I plan on upgrading my pre(used sugden)and possibly selling the 304. Well just wanted to share my thoughts and look for any advise or info on possible tweeks for this jewel of a amp. Enjoy the music!
south43
jsadurni
210 posts
 
I built a pair of the Thorsten inverted design, great for bass, livelier than tubes and not SS...It needs a preamp as gain is not so much I found. Good for bass a bit grainy on mids and highs...

South43 I read the main advantage of a gainclone its the short path, so I welded the resistors and caps directly to the chips legs, be very careful to weld fast enough as to avoid a lot of heat on the chip, I fried a couple before I got it right...good luck!
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
South43,
You can contact Peter Daniel about the prefab chassis. He sells them through his site. You can go here Audio Sector. It is also possible to contact him through the DIY.com site ..he has several threads on it. He's very helpful..just ask him.

Good luck to you!
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 
These chip amps have to be the best value in audio.
I have two of these.One is a paralled 4780[100 watts RMS]and the other is a 3876T[56 watts RMS].I actually prefer the sound of the Sonic Art 3876T-it is a bit more expressive and open.These use 44,000mF and 22,000mF resevoir caps per channel respectively so are not of the very low capacitance type.
I have been using them with a Supratek Cabernet 300B preamp am really amazed how fantastic they sound.These things comfortably better every transistor amp I have heard[better clarity,speed,dynamics,micro dynamics and really precise 3D imaging].When you first hear them you think that they sound a bit cold but with extended listening it becomes obvious that they are just neutral.
A good tube amp is arguably better-but it has to be a seriously good one and probably at least 10 times the price!
The digital type amps sound slow and flacid by comparison and lack the chip amps vibrancy and micro dynamics.
They are not perfect-they tend to sound a bit hard when driven really hard,but at normal listening levels they provide a level of clarity and naturalness that is missing in the vast majority of amps I have heard-regardless of cost.

JT
gmood1
1,251 posts
 
Wow!! JT ...I couldn't have said it better myself!! You've described the Chip amps to a T. Where do you find the Sonic Art 3876T ? It sounds like a very interesting amplifier.

Thanks
jtgofish's avatar
jtgofish
515 posts
 
Gmood,
I actually bought the SonicArt on Ebay.They are an obscure Aussie company-
www.sonicartaudio.com/

There is no mention of the 3876T chip amp on their site but you could email them for info.

Just last night I dropped off the 4780 amp at a friends.He has an M.E. 850 transistor amp which are monster things and very highly regarded in Australia,and found in many seriously expensive systems.The chip amp,at least to my ears,sounds vastly better.The soundstage went from being very box bound to having depth,layering and projection and the whole sound was just clearer,faster,more vibrant and more detailed.Like lifting several blankets off the speakers.

JT
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