I bought the SN DACKit and a pair of LM3875 amp kits a while back. My aims were to satisfy my desire to build something myself and also to see what improvements can be had in bypassing all interconnects possible.
I finished the DACKit off a while back and it is well broken in by now. I just finished the monoblocks tonight and they passed their first electrons a while ago.
I have no idea how long it takes for the amps to burn in, but so far, they sound very nice. I mounted the two amps on a pair of fairly large heatsinks and stuck the dac in the middle. It talks to the amps via a bog standard Alps pot.
The transformer and bridge rectifiers are in an old ATX power supply enclosure from an old PC. It looks way too ugly to post a picture. I will see what I am going to do about a case, but for now, I will just listen for a while.
It is incredible that for less than $300, I have most of a system. A transport and pair of speakers and you're done! Of course, you would probably want to spend some money on a case, as I might but that is up to the builder.
I will try to AB against my other system, SCD-775ES modded by Matthew Anker - passive preamp (Alps pot) - pair of LeAmps in a few weeks.
I am running a pair of 626 Neos and the transport for the SNNS integrated is an Arcam Alpha 7.
I really do recommend that everyone who owns a soldering iron gives this a try!! It would make a great bedroom system if it doesn't replace your current main system
Neil.
