Aegis DIY Headphone Amp

Ok, after a member asked me to share impressions, I wrote this up on my phone after a few months with this amp. I ended up selling it as it just wasn't doing what I wanted in the end.

I had a hard time with the DIY Aegis. I put a lot of time, money and effort into it.

While it is exceptional in a lot of areas, I still ended up finding it to be a bit aggravating and fatiguing to listen to. I'm not sure why. Possibly it is the level of attack, sharpness of note edges.

Stratus does the beautiful trick of being insanely dynamic, extended in the treble but with slightly rounded leading edges that make any music pleasant to listen to.

No matter what tubes, I couldn't get the Aegis to settle down and relax. There is a possibility that different (Capacitors) rectifiers or input tubes would have got me there, but after a bunch of pairs of tubes my wallet said enough is enough.

I also tried different dacs, but in the end the Aegis wasn't for me.

I suspect that the ZMF version might hit the sweet spot compared to the DIY. The DIY high impedance setting is still quite low, but the ZMF version gives a higher impedance, as well as low and medium to tweak to your preferences and particular cans.

With most of my ZMFs and senns I always prefer high impedance. I was hoping I could tube roll my way around this with the DIY version, but alas, no.

From what I heard, the DIY Aegis is very resolving and extends to the furthest reaches of the low and high frequencies.

It is also unrelenting and will unabashedly show you what is wrong with any recording. Excellent recordings sound incredible to me, but poor quality recordings were nearly unlistenable. Too fatiguing. That's a no no for me. If I can't enjoy crappy recordings than I bow out. Too much nervosa is then caused worrying about picking the 'wrong' music.

It may be a different case when paired with, say, a planar headphone, but with dynamic drivers (300ohm) I know there are better amp pairings, and for less money.

It's also fair to say it's just a very truthful and neutral amp. I know I prefer warmer, bloomier (to taste) and fuller sounding amps. Hence the eventual sale.

Is it a bad amp? Hell no. It's just not for me and my tastes.

 

Sorry the DIY Aegis didn’t work out for you. I must say, I was really impressed with your build! I’ve got the ZMF version myself, and I really do like having all the different output impedance options between the two headphone jacks. I’ve had great luck matching the amp with both my 300-ohm ZMF dynamics and my 32-ohm Meze Elite. I’ve tried a lot of tubes, and I’ve had a hard time finding a bad combination. Even the stock tubes sound great.

My favorite tube roll at present is Tung Sol 6SU7GTY inputs, Ei KT-90 outputs, and an RCA 5U4G/VT-244 rectifier. It has strong impactful bass as well as a refined treble that never gets harsh. Vocals are incredibly life-like and detailed. Soundstage is very three-dimensional and imaging is precise. The amp does reveal the quality of the recording, but I have no trouble enjoying the less-than-perfect stuff as well. This might in fact be a difference between the DIY and ZMF versions. It would certainly be interesting to compare the two with the same tubes to see how they differ.

 

Yes, there are more than a few variables between the amps. Capacitors used, Lundahl vs. custom wound transformers by Cayin, output impedance, etc. I have not written off the ZMF Aegis and would love to hear one some day!

 

I just realized based on @RestoredSparda impressions why I really like the DIY Aegis with the MIB. On its own, MIB doesn't emphasize anything on any areas at all and as such can come across as less dynamic or less slammy compared to other Yggdrasil flavors. DIY Aegis does magic pixies on MIB's sound signature and thus the combo is never ever fatiguing or sharp while having slam, dynamics, resolution and immediacy for days. Just for context, I listen to a lot of K-Pop and J-Rock genre which are known to be poorly mastered and harsh sounding on revealing headphones like the Susvara

For reference, the tubes I currently use with the DIY Aegis are the Svetlana (not Winged C) KT88, TJ Full Music 6SL7s, Mullard GZ32 along with Schiit Saga OG with Ray Tubes Reserve 6SN7

 

That's a good triangulation, thanks. Always sort of thought the MIB sounded like it would be a little softer/subtler/less emphatic based on other folks' impressions -- still haven't heard it. Will help me if I do end up trying it, since right now I have things dialed in to compliment the pretty slammy/incisive A1/GS.

 

I’m still getting a feel and letting my caps burn in on my DIY Aegis but my experiences mirror @theveterans since I also use MIB. Triangulating from @RestoredSparda experiences, some of the difference is coming from DAC but I think the biggest share is from the Jupiter caps he used. I have experience with the same caps when i installed them in EC Aficionado. I remember them as thin and harsh at first until the long break-in period was done. I went with VCap ODAMs in my build which may also account for my different impressions thus far.

My local friend and I got together and compared his ZMF Aegis and my DIY Aegis. Interestingly despite all of the differences in iron and caps, the amps sound pretty similar. TBH tube changes are noticeable but not earth shattering. It is more finding which tubes synergize best with which headphones.

 

It's possible the Jupiter's just suck. I had more than 500 hours on em so they should have been broken in. Idk.

 

What’s good, just wanted to share some first impressions:

not sure if anybody’s heard the Ragnarok2 but that has a bigger (wider) soundstage than both of these amps with good bass but less clarity, and is a darker amp. My phonitor XE (compared to both of the amps below) is slightly brighter, less punchy, less dynamic, and is less realistic in terms of the image size and how free the music sounds. Also, both tube amps have bigger sound stages than the XE which is not considerably small. All of them are resolving enough for me.

The XE comes alive with the XLR output. The ZMF Aegis feels the most flexible since the XLR output has a higher impedance and also lower impedances. The Rag2 seems also consistently punchy and controlled with all the headphones, yet not as rich and full as the tube amps.

Both the Mogwai SE MK2 and the ZMF Aegis have a similar tonality. They have good bass, bass extension, good mids, nice treble for my tastes. The Ampsandsound is a little more wide in soundstage and the image is less focused and more diffuse so it feels a little ( I do mean a little) less in the middle of your head with the center vocals. The Ampsandsound gives the center image a little more height, whereas the Aegis is right between your ears.

I swappes tubes all around and still haven’t gotten to try all of them so I just kept the stock ones in for most listening. Those Sophias didn’t make a huge difference.

So how do they compare? Well…first let me say I like the AmpsandSound Mogwai latest version, BUT the Aegis has:
- Snappier transients
- Better Macrodynamics
- More grip and control on the attacks and is punchier so even pianos and voices are more tangible. While on the Mogwai they can sound slightly less dense and sharp.
- Has better microdynamics.
- a little more resolution but is definitely less soft around the edges.

When a vocalist sings they sound dead focused and locked in with good projection and range on the Aegis. Things sound crisp like my XE but with more bite and engagement, yet still with the fullness of a good tube amp.

Going back to the A&S doesn’t all dissappoint. It sounds a bit bigger and grander(just a little). It is very transparent and about tied with the Aegis. It works well with my LCD-4 on the high impedance where it feels like a good match. It is a more powerful amp I believe and drives planars well( not to say the Aegis does bad). The Elites pair with the ZMF Aegis really well. They can be good with bass rumble and clarity, but arent the last word in being engaging and the Aegis brings them alive more than the other amps here and gives them that bite and snap they miss being an inherently polite headphone. I haven’t really tried my dynamics in my comparison but I like both amps for my Gjallerhorn JM MK2. Actually I like it with all 4 amps I have here except the Rag2 makes it sound too muffled since it already does a bad job with male vocals.

Anyway, that was all over the place but I would definitely take the Aegis over the Mogwai SE MK2 (I am calling it MK2, I don’t know what it is except its a revision of the latest Se version).

 

I wanted to report back after having my DIY Aegis amp for about 4 months. I decided to really do it justice and put it in a more aesthetically pleasing case that will also fix some grounding issues I had with my first case which led to some low level hum that I became noticeable with Utopia. Now it’s quiet as a tomb.

I used to own a Starlett and decided to try an Aegis build because ultimately I found Starlett a little polite with MIB and unfortunately Starlett can’t roll its way out of that. I can confidently say that this amp (with even JJ tubes and TAD rectifier) has more resolve and slam compared to Starlett. This is all a synergy thing with the DAC too but whatever. Now that it looks the part I’m going to loan my Aegis out to a couple local audio friends and see if I’m just biased because I built this.

For pairings, I’m very much enjoying my Blackwood Auteur Classic, HD6XX Kiss, JAR600, and finally Utopia.
The bottom line is that if you can build a Crack, you can build this beast. This to boot is for less than a Starlett and you won’t need to wait that long either if you plan it out.

Special thanks to @miter53 for the Casper Blue color!

 

I'm no expert but that's a beautiful looking build IMO. Love the color too

 

Agreed, that blue is gorgeous. I’m loving the color choices of all the builds in this thread.

 

Beautiful execution.

 

Indeed. I think I found my winter project.

 

DIY Aegis - Breakin period experience.

I was helping transfer another member amp components to a new chassis and the amp building bug hit leading me to consider the DIY Aegis. A quick look at the step by step by step (literally every step) guide made it look too simple not to try it out. One more note on the DIY instructions and BOM...this is a fullproof build document. I honestly do not know how you could screw it up if you have some practical experience with a soldering iron and ordering parts from Mouser/digikey/etc.

I put togther all the parts over the course of the fall while working on the other project and finally got everyting together sometime in Nov. when I started to assemble components onto the boards. The switch from Elma and the Transformers from Lundhal took around a month to acquire, but that time frame changes as stock comes in and out. The last piece of my build was the chassis. Instead of using a Landfall case as recommended I left it up to my FIL who is a hobbyist woodworker to put together a wooden frame that I could use as the container. The hardest part about the chassis was drilling the top plate holes for the tubes and mounting hardware, but some patience, CAD plans and a hole punch and I got everything lined up almost perfectly.

With a Landfall case, I am sure the build would have gone a little more quickly, but it was not about quickness, it was more about the fun of it all, and it is a fun build. I didnt follow the directions to a tee, but its mostly the DIY recommended parts. The key difference is in the coupling caps (VCAPS) and in the resevoir capacitor for the recitfier, its setup to allow for 274b tubes and I decided to use a CDE oil filled cap since it seemed more fun.

I have let the amp run in daily during most of the winter break and now probably have around 50 hours of it powered on, and a dozen or so hours listening on it, so these impressions are pretty early, but what a great great sounding amp. Its resolving beyond what I was expecting and has that somewhat intangible tube love that is hard to place.

For reference, the best tube amp I have ever owned was the BA307 that Vansen now owns, but the favorite I have tried was the Starlett. The Starlett had more of the lush tubeness that I didnt know that I wanted. Granted it has been a while since I have heard both of those amps, my perception is that the Aegis is somewhat of the middle ground. I am totally blown away with the space/layering and resolve of this amp, and I have not even ventured into NOS tubes at this point.

The vocals presentation is seductive and delicately delivered on a ocean swell of supporting frequencies. I am engaged while also flowing with the music. The most surprising part about it has been how good it has made the LCD-X sound, along with my Genesis G. I purchased a set of HD800 especially for this amp, and dont get me wrong, it was a great match, but the synergy with my well loved LCD-X on LOI is superb...so much so that i let the 800s go. I am now salivating thinking about picking up an RD-X when my turn comes up with RD.

If anyone is thinking about doing it...its a straight forward build and I urge you to do so. I have spare boards if anyone is in need (3 of each to give away).

I iwll update my thoughts at a later date with more listening time, but for now I am smitten.

Pics to prove its real