I drew up a discrete output stage for the TC-7520 and Caiman to hear how it would sound. Leo built a prototype of it on stripboard and I did one as a 'proper' PCB. I wanted to find a solution for the low output of the passive mod and preserve the headphone output capability, but didn't want to go overboard with a complex discrete opamp type design. The gain required is only between 2X to 4X so a single ended class A design with just 10% negative feedback was all I felt that was necessary. No need to crack a nut with a sledge hammer .



It's the best I have heard my D7000 and HD800 sound to date. I managed to pick up some detail in musical passages I thought I had explored to the full.
Time for a retake on all my test tracks .