Son of Zen — Nelson Pass / 1997

The Zen has proven to be a popular and enduring do-it-yourself amplifier. The design addresses the audiophile's enthusiasm for singleended amplification, but is even more interesting for its exploration of the performance available at the extremes of simplicity, having only a single gain device. Judging by the mail, more than a thousand of them have been constructed, not including a couple of commercial rip-offs. Incoming mail is an excellent barometer of interest and taste among the readers. Letters suggesting design improvements provide the direction and the excuse to proceed with the Son of Zen. It responds to the following common… More...

Zen Variations 5 Hi Res — Nelson Pass / 2003

The Zen Amp concept is an exploration of how well you can make a simple audio amplifier perform. It makes for an interesting illustration of design technique, since more complex circuits are inevitably composed of collections of simple circuits, and it is well recognized that the optimization of these simple sub circuits is usually the key to getting the most out of the larger circuit. Apart from that, there is aesthetic pleasure in rendering a device in a simple way. Also we find that, other things being roughly equal, simple circuits sound better musically. The Zen series has so far… More...