Have your say & ask the experts

I'm expecting delivery of this kit in July. Watch this space.


Starving Student Millet Hybrid

Like: the shiny valves

Dislike: the curtain rail brackets

tractorboy:

Like: the shiny valves

Dislike: the curtain rail brackets

Yeah, I agree with you. I really wanted to do something with valves but was a bit worried about the high voltages usually involved. The Starving Student is a hybrid and was effectively designed to negate the need for high voltages by relying on integrated circuits to assist with the amplification. This particular variant is PCB based rather than point to point (P2P)and was designed by some of the posters on Headfi based on the Peter Millet original. I did consider the SOHA 2 but this Starvinbg student is a complete kit.

As for the heatsink, some love it others hate it. I'll reserve judgement for now. Clearly, it is easily replaced by a different style like this one....


Anyway, hopefully it'll make an for an interesting build and sound good too. With a bit of luck, I may even inspire someone else to have a go!

Hi PJ. Can't wait for the build to start. A little question, whether you can answer it now or will have to wait until the build is finished to answer it doesn't matter. The Starving Student has two valves and is a hybrid. The valves poke out of the top and there is a large heat sink on it. The Musical Fidelity X-CANS and V8P are also two valve hybrid amps. They come in metal boxes with similar finishes to that seen on the above photo with the ridges in the metal. Both X-CANS get warm during extended listening, but not hot. They do not get as hot as the Rega Mira amp. How hot do you expect the Starving Student to get? Any idea why it appears to need far more ventilation that the X-CANS?

Thanks.

My guess would be that the two you mention come in heatsink cases.

I'm not sure how hot the MOSFETs will get but there appears to be amble heatsinking in place. I'll report back once the build is comlete.

Thanks PJ.

Look forward to this, mmm valves...

Enjoyed your earlier projects too, great work!

Thanks Martyp.

I hope to show others that this DIY isn't too difficult. It adds a whole new dimension to Hifi. And it's much more satisfying listening to something you've made rather than just gone out and bought. You can get decent results for not much money, with not a lot of skill required.

I bet that if you build it rather than buy it it WILL sound better!

idc:

I bet that if you build it rather than buy it it WILL sound better!

Agreed. That's why I haven't majored too much on how my builds so far have sounded.

PJPro:

idc:

I bet that if you build it rather than buy it it WILL sound better!

Agreed. That's why I haven't majored too much on how my builds so far have sounded.

What does your present setup comprise of? I remember from other posts you are a bit if a headfier!

flac->foobar2000->WASAPI->Xfi Extreme Gamer->True Colour Industries Coral->Modded Beresford TC7510 DAC->Lindy Premium Gold->GS Novo->Grado SR80s

PJPro:

flac->foobar2000->WASAPI->Xfi Extreme Gamer->True Colour Industries Coral->Modded Beresford TC7510 DAC->Lindy Premiuim Gold->GS Novo->Grado SR80s

Had to google half of that to find out what it was!

I must admit that Lindy are a bit of an unknown make but I find the interconnects OK...although they were free.

If anyone is interested, find them here.

Looks as though the kit isn't coming any time soon. My ETA would be early to mid August.