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"Much of my push here occurred very quickly after years of making little amps in little oak boxes for my own amusement; and as education to understand what my wire fiddling did to the sound and more importantly, how I could work backward from that. In any case I certainly don't want to do something that would upset Mr. Pass. While I'm aware of some of his thinking and have learnt from his gracious contributions to the community, I would like to think that I have a contribution to make as well.


"Of course I am quite a bit junior in experience but have to start somewhere. I certainly would appreciate your thoughts on it since Mr. Pass is essentially a legend with regard to this topology. As to the SiC parts, I had been curious about them and am fortunate enough to have been in the Physics department at school with someone who now works at SemiSouth. When I first noticed the new part that is very nicely sized with what I perceived to have potentially compelling specs for an amplifier, I reached out to see if I could get a sample." - Colin

"Colin, my question simply arose from your use of the word 'Zen' which is from the Nelson Pass catalogue of DIY amp topologies. Using that word creates the tie-in and that tie-in creates a number of questions of the sort I posed already. Using the 'Zen' term could also be seen as coat-tailing attempt. My suggestion would be simply not to use this term altogether and make hay on your own farm. Then there should be no issue."

"That makes a lot of sense. I chose to use the word because it might help people identify with the notional design idea. In any case, I think you were right about notifying Mr. Pass since he is so well known for what he has done in this area so I sent him a note about it." - Colin

Whilst Colin's project was too premature to formally review when he first contacted me, two weeks before his pledge drive would expire he'd already secured an extra $1.000 over his target amount to make the project a go. Five hours before the pledge drive closed 104 backers had committed to a total of $26.941 or $9.000 above the requirement.


On October 1st I received this email. "Congratulations! Thanks to you and 104 other backers, Sicphones: A high-end Silicon Carbide headphone amplifier has been successfully funded. Amazon will now charge your credit card. Pledge summary: amount pledged $389. Reward: priority build of the Sicphones amplifier completely assembled and both a T-shirt and sticker. Case color is black and white as depicted in the photographs and video. Delivery time is based on lead time for transistors. We will build the priority build amplifiers first. Domestic shipping included. A headphone amplifier like the Sicphones amplifier would normally cost much more. Get yours today! Estimated delivery December 2012. When your reward is ready, Colin Shaw will send you a survey via email to request any info needed to deliver your reward (mailing address, T-shirt size etc)."