The high power consumption of class A amplifiers makes them impractical in battery-powered headphone amplifiers. The current booster circuits in figure 11 have complementary output devices that each reproduce one half of the audio signal. These schemes are more efficient because the idle current can be very low or even 0mA. The circuit in figure 11a is a class B amplifier with Q1 and Q2 off at turned off at idle. When the audio signal is positive, Q1 conducts; when it is negative, Q2 conducts. However, both transistors conduct only when the signal exceeds the forward bias voltages which is around 0.7V. Therefore, both transistors remain off when the audio signal is between ±0.7V, resulting in crossover distortion at the output. Since headphones are driven at low output voltages, this type of distortion is particularly noticeable in a headphone amplifier.
The circuit in figure 11b improves performance by allow the opamp stage to supply current until the voltage d r o p across R is large enough to forward bias both transistors. However, this design suffers from fluctuating output impedance. The output stage in figure 11c solves both problems by having both transistors conducting at very low idle currents. The voltage d r o p across the two diodes forward biases Q1 and Q2; the emitter resistors determine the idle current about 0.6mA with these values. The output stage operates in class A at low levels until the load draws more current or voltage swing than one of the transistors can provide. For battery operation, the output stage is often biased from 1-10mA, trading off between sound quality and battery life. The minimum idle current is best determined by monitoring a sine wave output on an oscilloscpe while adjusting the bias until the crossover distortion just disappears. AC powered amplifiers can take advantage of extended class A operation by increasing the bias current. Earle Eaton´s headphone amplifier uses a variation of this design. Sheldon Stokes´ headphone amplifier has a class AB MOSFET output stage.
High Current Buffers
Figure 12
High current buffers are basically output stages on a chip. Because they are specialty products and are meant for use in specific applications, buffers are optimized to be particularly good at one job. In general, these chips have fantastic specs: slew rates in the hundreds, low distortion and of course, high current capability. For a headphone amplifier, a buffer that can output 100mA is probably more than sufficient, but additional current drive doesn´t hurt, so long as the power supply requirements meet the builder´s goals. Figure 12a shows a voltage gain opamp with its current capability doubled with the help of an identical opamp configured as a voltage follower. The load balancing resistors ( Rc ) are about 50 ohms. The output impedance of this circuit would be Rc || Rc || ( R + Rf ), but the impedance seen by the headphones is much less reduced by the effect of the feedback taken at the outputs of the combined Rcs: Zout = Rout / amount of feedback.
Figures 12b and 12c show voltage gain opamps augmented with current buffers 12b has a buffer outside the feedback loop and 12c has buffers inside. The overall gain for both versions is the same, but the version with global feedback might function with greater linearity. However, some designers argue that these buffers are already very linear, and global feedback can introduce instability into a system. Both configurations work. If the circuit of figure 12c is wired for local feedback only, such as in figure 12b, then the load balancing resistors can be as little as 1 ohm for a lower output impedance. When using dual or quad buffer ICs, global feedback can help correct for output loading errors (see the sections on selecting opamps and configuring opamp voltage gain stages for more information about output loading errors). Note: Class A output stages can similarly be excluded from the feedback loop, but class AB stages should be included, since they are more prone to nonlinear operation.
In the case where a single buffer does not supply enough current or has an output impedance that is too high, it is possible to parallel output buffers. Figure 12c doubles output current capability and cuts output impedance in half by paralleling 2 output buffers. The current-summing output resistors Rc (typically 50 ohms) ensure that all of the buffers contribute equally to the output. Again, because the feedback is taken after the Rcs, the output impedance seen by the headphones is less than 1 ohm. Ben Duncan´s PHONES-01 headphone amplifier substitutes ferrite beads and incandescent lamps (see below) for the output resistors, reasoning that any unequal sharing is likely to be in the RF range. The beads also help block RF. Again, the feedback loop can be placed either before or after the parallel buffers.
Keywords :
Opamp,
Operational Amplifier,
Headphone,
P-amp,
Configuring,
Opamps,
For,
Voltage,
Gain
Writer : delon |
27 Feb 2011 Mon
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