Have your say & ask the experts

I've recently developed an itch to get a new headphone amplifier. I get it every 6 weeks or so. I would have liked to get the Stello HP100. However, recent price rises have put it out of my league.

So, given my recent success with my first diy headphone amplifier (see here), I thought I'd have a go at building the recently available Novo kit from Graham Slee. The kit uses exactly the same components as the factory made Novo. The only difference is the front panel graphics. WHFSV rate the Novo as a 5 star product.


The Novo Kit

Costs
I went for the complete kit costing £120 + VAT + Shipping. For me in the UK, this translates into a total cost of £147.77. The complete kit comprises of a PCB kit (with components), a Power Supply kit and an Case kit. This compares to the ready made Novo cost of £200 + VAT. So, the cost of making the amplifier is approximately £80.

You are able to buy the PCB kit on its own for £76 + VAT + Shipping or the PCB and Case Kit (ie no power supply) for £112 + VAT + Shipping. So, the power supply costs around £8 + VAT and the case £36 + VAT.

It's quite interesting to do this breakdown of costs.....something you aren't ordinarily able to do with commercially available kit. The stuff that does the business (PCB + components) is under half the cost of the completed factory built amp. Factor in the bulk of the labour, say £60, and the total for the things that actually makes the sound is approx £130 or 65% of the total expenditure. Make of this what you will.

My only other observation is that the power supply seems a little on the cheap side. I don't know if Graham does a more expensive version. If it were my business, I'd offer a power supply kit in a similar case to the amp....although I understand that power supplies tend to be more dangerous for the amateur to build because you are dealing with 240V rather than the usual 12V.

Anyway, the kit was ordered on Sunday night and arrived today (Wednesday).

MMMmmmm. April the first.

It's not uncommon for the casework, screen printing and so on to account for a significant amount of the cost of a product like this. In fact more than one manufacturer has told me in the past that the case and fascia of a product contributes a lot more to the cost than the bits that make the noise.

The rest? Well, of course you're not taking a dealer margin, which on a product like this from a small manufacturer could easily contribute the difference between kit and retail product. I'd suggest the manufacturer is still making a sensible margin...

Good luck and keep us posted.

Murray 

I've taken a few pictures of the kit and will provide a few first impressions.

The kit is delivered in a well wrapped/sealed box


The box contains the three kits plus an instruction booklet. The booklet also contains a colour picture of the completed PCB and the schematic. The booklet states a cost of £15....although it's cost is included in the price of the kit.


The case kit contains the front and rear panels and top and bottom all in reassuringly thick aluminium. A metal knob is provided (much like the one I used for my CMoy) along with various bolts, nuts and rubber feet. The panel graphics are well done. Nice. I can see why it cost £36 + VAT.


The power supply kit is fairly small and provides a variety of plug attachments.....presumably to support sales to different countries. It feels lightweight and is made out of cheap feeling plastic. Not good. I now understand why it costs £8 + VAT.


The PCB and components kits contains the PCB (not surprisingly), capacitors, resistors, semiconductors (for the power supply circuit....remember this is a discrete amplifier so no opamps here) and miscellaneous bits and pieces e.g DC jack, phono jacks, a volume pot, an LED, etc. There doesn't appear to be an on/off switch and the volume pot doesn't provide on/off capability either.


I've not looked at the components in too much detail, but the capacitors look like the same make as I used in my CMoy e.g. Nichicon. Slightly disappointed that the volume pot isn't Alps.....as far as I can tell it's unbranded.

I was expecting the resistors, capacitors, etc to be bagged up and identified separately. This is not the case. A guide is supplied in the handbook which relates to the strips on the resistors, for instance, and this has me more than a little worried. It's gonna be easy for a numpty like me to make a mistake and not realise until it's too late. I'll report back on ease of identifying components as I go. Perhaps it's not an issue.

In the problems section of the handbook it states that electronics grade cored solder needs to be used not DIY formulations. It would have been nice if some of this solder had been provided with the kit. I have my silver solder but didn't really want to use that due to the extra heat required to melt it.

The PCB artwork (the metal stuff underneath) and the screen printing (the marking on top of the board which shows where to fit the components) looks good and is clear.

I was going to post a photo of the PCB here but am slightly concerned that this may reveal slightly more than Graham would appreciate. I'll contact Graham and inform him of this thread. If he's happy, I'll post the picture.

Andrew Everard:

The rest? Well, of course you're not taking a dealer margin, which on a product like this from a small manufacturer could easily contribute the difference between kit and retail product. I'd suggest the manufacturer is still making a sensible margin...

OK. Accepted. However, the amp can be purchased direct from the manufacturer for £200 + VAT.

I wasn't really trying to make a comment on margin (because I'm assuming the kit contains margin as well), just trying to demonstrate how the money is divided up between the components, the case and the construction labour.

Having had a quick look at the kit, I suspect this is going to be a pretty fearsome build for me and £80 for construction is going to look cheap. Still, I'm up for it. And if I end up with nothing, I'll take in on the chin like a man......just don't tell my wife!

Andrew - I'm going to copy you in on my email to Graham using the whathifi@haymarket.com email address just so you know first hand any concerns Graham may have.

Yes, I saw.

Deep joy, can't wait, excellent photos and descriptive.

PJPro writes: The power supply kit is fairly small and provides a variety of plug attachments.....presumably to support sales to different countries. It feels lightweight and is made out of cheap feeling plastic. Not good. I now understand why it costs £8 + VAT.

Quick to judge? "Not good"? The Novo that scooped group test winner in What Hi-Fi April 09... sounding "involving" and "addictive" used the exact same power supply.

PJPro writes:...the capacitors look like the same make as I used in my CMoy e.g. Nichicon. Slightly disappointed that the volume pot isn't Alps.....as far as I can tell it's unbranded

The volume pot IS ALPS - it is stamped into the metal shield. It is sourced through an Alps official distributor having ISO9000 such that the part can be traced all the way back to Alps.

One of the capacitors is a Nichicon type "Fine Gold" 

PJPro writes: I was expecting the resistors, capacitors, etc to be bagged up and identified separately. This is not the case. A guide is supplied in the handbook which relates to the strips on the resistors, for instance, and this has me more than a little worried. It's gonna be easy for a numpty like me to make a mistake and not realise until it's too late.

Unfortunately because of the speed the webpage at diy-audio-kits.com was put online we forgot the following statement "For electronics hobbyists having good soldering skills and a general good understanding of electronic components", but it is now online. It does however say this on the packing the kit is supplied in. We can offer a refund if you feel you have been misled.

PJPro writes: In the problems section of the handbook it states that electronics grade cored solder needs to be used not DIY formulations. It would have been nice if some of this solder had been provided with the kit.

We have also added to the website "Solder not included..."

And stated the reason why...

"Amateur constructors often prefer to use Tin/Lead solder but under EU RoHS legislation we are not allowed to include it in any product and that means kits too. Lead-free solder can be very difficult for the hobbyist and therefore the solder is left out of our kits"

PJPro writes: I was going to post a photo of the PCB here but am slightly concerned that this may reveal slightly more than Graham would appreciate. I'll contact Graham and inform him of this thread. If he's happy, I'll post the picture.

Please follow the gudelines in our handbook...

"Our excellent value for money designs take many months (sometimes years) of serious development. Please help us to be able to continue to design great circuits by preventing others copying the kit you have just bought. You can also support us by telling us if you discover anybody breaching our copyright so we can at least prevent them obtaining any other of our designs – please let us know"

Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Best wishes,

Graham

Graham Slee:

PJPro writes: The power supply kit is fairly small and provides a variety of plug attachments.....presumably to support sales to different countries. It feels lightweight and is made out of cheap feeling plastic. Not good. I now understand why it costs £8 + VAT.

Quick to judge? "Not good"? The Novo that scooped group test winner in What Hi-Fi April 09... sounding "involving" and "addictive" used the exact same power supply.

Not a comment on its effect on sound quality, more aesthetics. It might perform but I stand by my comments. It feels and looks cheap....which it is at £8.

Graham Slee:

PJPro writes:...the capacitors look like the same make as I used in my CMoy e.g. Nichicon. Slightly disappointed that the volume pot isn't Alps.....as far as I can tell it's unbranded

The volume pot IS ALPS - it is stamped into the metal shield. It is sourced through an Alps official distributor having ISO9000 such that the part can be traced all the way back to Alps.

One of the capacitors is a Nichicon type "Fine Gold" 

I'll double check. Apologies if I got this wrong and thanks for the correction.

Graham Slee:

PJPro writes: I was expecting the resistors, capacitors, etc to be bagged up and identified separately. This is not the case. A guide is supplied in the handbook which relates to the strips on the resistors, for instance, and this has me more than a little worried. It's gonna be easy for a numpty like me to make a mistake and not realise until it's too late.

Unfortunately because of the speed the webpage at diy-audio-kits.com was put online we forgot the following statement "For electronics hobbyists having good soldering skills and a general good understanding of electronic components", but it is now online. It does however say this on the packing the kit is supplied in. We can offer a refund if you feel you have been misled.

Thanks for the offer. But I'll take my chances. I think updating the website will avoid future misunderstanding, so a worthwhile addition.

Graham Slee:

PJPro writes: In the problems section of the handbook it states that electronics grade cored solder needs to be used not DIY formulations. It would have been nice if some of this solder had been provided with the kit.

We have also added to the website "Solder not included..."

And stated the reason why...

"Amateur constructors often prefer to use Tin/Lead solder but under EU RoHS legislation we are not allowed to include it in any product and that means kits too. Lead-free solder can be very difficult for the hobbyist and therefore the solder is left out of our kits"

Yes. Fully understand the reasoning. Have bought some 63/37 from RSComponents for the princely sum of £27 delivered.

Graham Slee:

PJPro writes: I was going to post a photo of the PCB here but am slightly concerned that this may reveal slightly more than Graham would appreciate. I'll contact Graham and inform him of this thread. If he's happy, I'll post the picture.

Please follow the gudelines in our handbook...

"Our excellent value for money designs take many months (sometimes years) of serious development. Please help us to be able to continue to design great circuits by preventing others copying the kit you have just bought. You can also support us by telling us if you discover anybody breaching our copyright so we can at least prevent them obtaining any other of our designs – please let us know"

If you think I stray outside of your guidelines, please email me and I will remove the offending picture.

Graham Slee:

Looking forward to seeing how it goes.

Best wishes,

Graham

Graham, it's really cool to have another manufacturer posting on the website. Thanks for replying to my email and posting on my thread.

Good luck mate. My Gram Amp was well packaged too and it took me ages to do. I had to plug the power lead in and all sorts...

Cheers JoelSim. Having looked at the bits, I've got a nasty feeling I'm gonna make a mess of it. Still, I'll give it my best shot.

Good luck mate think I would have taken the one ready to go my self

PJPro:

Cheers JoelSim. Having looked at the bits, I've got a nasty feeling I'm gonna make a mess of it. Still, I'll give it my best shot.

Nah, you'll be fine. Just take it slow and double check everything before commiting with the solder. Look forward to seeing the finished product.

I can confirm the pot is indeed made by ALPS and, as Graham said, this is stamped onto the side of the casing (easy to over look)......I am familiar with the "Blue Velvet" variety, as used on my first amp, so was looking for something similiar. The boutique version is the Black Velvet.