Review and Measurements of Gustard H10 Headphone Amp

[JohnYang1997]

I'm amazed that so few posts are in this thread. +-30V madness....

 

[Chilli]

I never get time to listen to HP anymore and so sold my unit. During transit, some of the side screws came a little loose and the front faceplate/fascia was thus loose. This pushed outward causing the volume knob to have a scratchy-stuck feeling, which the new owner was dissatisfied and wanted to return it. I was flabbergasted, and the unit was sent back to me. That is not the way the world works here, but I accepted the return and found the problem.
So, if anyone is having a scratchy and stuck vol knob then just push the front fascia while tightening the side screws and it's all fixed.

Had a short listen, and the sound was just great! Looks like I will keep this little gem for the rest of my life!
Really good HP amp, but sadly lots of people look to buy something else these days.

 

[trl]

I'm amazed that so few posts are in this thread. +-30V madness....

Probably this is why some MOSFETs were blowing away when wrong opamps were rolled in this headamp.

 

[JohnYang1997]

Probably this is why some MOSFETs were blowing away when wrong opamps were rolled in this headamp.

No issue with violectric v200 which is the original reference of this amp.
Wrong opamp may cause oscillation in the amplification stage. I mean, people who don't know the stuff shouldn't be modifying anything in the first place. At least people like us can check on the scope or an analyzer.

 

[trl]

It was definitely to the oscillations, especially that the opamps were also blown away as well.

L.E.: All opamps were audio opamps, so low-bandwidth.

 

[AudioJester]

I have had one of these for many years. Is it safe to use a desktop amp like ths with IEMs?

 

[Veri]

I have had one of these for many years. Is it safe to use a desktop amp like ths with IEMs?

Don't see why not. You can use the -12dB gain on the back.

 

[SpaceMonkey]

How about using this one as an amp for a compression driver? It should manage with low noise... Or bad idea?

 

[Bjoern]

Opamp rolling did H10 to oscillate the audio chain and the internal MOSFET regulators to blow away. PCB is black and opaque, so really hard to investigate where the traces go and to get the schematic on the paper.

This was happening on at least two HeadFiers, if I remember with SS V5 opamps. Worth mentioning that V5 has a max. supported voltage of +/-15V while H10 has +/-16.5 V, although the blowing away thing happened within few seconds on some headfier.

Worth mentioning the overheating from inside H10 (feel free to read on HeadFi about it).

P.S.: I personally tested SS V5 duals on +/-18V and nothing was blowing away. The test was for no more than 30' with case closed. Regulators were NJM7818/7918, headamp Matrix HPA-3B.

Hi, I am trying to fix the Gustard H10 amplifier and it seems that you had a simular issue. I am missing the +VCC on both output stage OP amps and I am unable to trace the + voltage. One of the voltage regulating transitors (-VCC) was also faulty which I replaced. Did you manage to trace back the voltages ? Perhaps you point me to the right direction in regards to the plus and minus voltages on the power stage OP amps ? Highly appriciated Bjoern (Singapore) [email protected]