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About Jan Didden

Jan Didden has written for audioXpress since the 1970s and he is the magazine’s Technical Editor. He is retired following a career with the Netherlands Air Force and NATO. He worked in logistics, air defense, and information technology. Retirement has provided him with the time to finish all the audio projects that have piled up for decades. He sometimes writes about them on his website linearaudio.nl. Didden is also known as the publisher and managing editor of the twice-yearly bookzine Linear Audio, which he published until 2018. He is currently teaching audio electronics for enthusiast hobbyists and serious amateurs in the Belgian city of Hasselt. More information is available at linearaudio.net

All items written by Jan Didden

A Look Inside Douglas Self’s "Small Signal Audio Design" 4th edition

April 3, 2024 by Jan Didden

A Look Inside Douglas Self’s "Small Signal Audio Design" 4th edition

Whether it is power amplifiers, vinyl reproduction preamplifiers, active crossover filters or, as in this case, small-signal circuits for a very wide range of applications, Douglas Self is one of those authors who consistently has produced reference works about technical audio. You may think that as a fourth edition, it would just be a refinement on the three editions that went before it but Self always adds new material and new insights to make it worthwhile to get this new book.

Scott A. Wurcer – An Audio Legend Left Us

March 22, 2024 by Jan Didden

Scott A. Wurcer – An Audio Legend Left Us

Scott Wurcer from Cambridge Mass passed away on March 18, at the age of 74. Scott was one of those people who made a technical contribution to audio that can hardly be overstated. His analog IC designs for Analog Devices are legendary for their creative design and extremely high performance. Scott loved a good life, and I shared many exquisite meals and great wines with him. I will miss him.

You Can DIY! eDD - A Direct-Drive Amplifier for Electrostatic Speakers

February 21, 2024 by Jan Didden

You Can DIY! eDD - A Direct-Drive Amplifier for Electrostatic Speakers

This article details a lifetime project from audioXpress' technical editor Jan Didden. After a successful restoration project of a pair of precious ESL-63 Quad electrostatic speakers, he opted to design and build the eDD, a well-performing high voltage amplifier to directly drive electrostatic speakers. This challenging but successful DIY project with a design goal of 1500V RMS at 20mA RMS over the full audio band, took a while to complete but was a success. This article shares every step of the construction.

What About Loudspeaker Damping Factor and How Much Do I Need?

January 5, 2024 by Jan Didden

What About Loudspeaker Damping Factor and How Much Do I Need?

A loudspeaker is a mechanically moving system and like any such system, it cannot stop moving in zero time. For example, if a tone is reproduced, and the amplifier outputs a zero voltage at the end of the tone, the speaker cone will not stop immediately but will tend to keep on moving with lower and lower amplitude and eventually come to a stop. Jan Didden explores Loudspeaker Damping Factor in simple terms.

New Book by Bob Cordell: Designing Audio Circuits and Systems

January 3, 2024 by Jan Didden

New Book by Bob Cordell: Designing Audio Circuits and Systems

Designing Audio Circuits and Systems will have its 1st Edition published in April 2024, and advanced copies are being sent to reviewers, which includes audioXpress. Bob Cordell, wrote this new book as a comprehensive guide to audio circuits and systems design, beginning with analog audio basics, all the way through to in-depth design techniques for home and professional audio preamps, amplifiers, filters, equalizers, and even headphone amplifiers and DACs.

Imersiv D1 Multi-Path Digital-to-Analog Converter Completes 32-bit Audio Chain

December 11, 2023 by Jan Didden

Imersiv D1 Multi-Path Digital-to-Analog Converter Completes 32-bit Audio Chain

Unveiled at the 2023 AES Conference in New York, the new Imersiv D1 Digital-to-Analog Converter is the first product from a new brand created by Millennia founder John La Grou, and the first to introduce to the market his approach to multi-path technology. The results of years of research and development, his triple-patented Imersiv D1 DAC explores a multi-path architecture to achieve a breakthrough dynamic range performance of 162dB, broadband, unweighted.

Getting to Know Dutch & Dutch

December 6, 2023 by Jan Didden

Getting to Know Dutch & Dutch

With a visit to Dutch & Dutch, Jan Didden unveils the journey of this innovative speaker manufacturer from The Netherlands. This company, founded in 2014, has so far achieved remarkable success with a single product designed to break the vicious cycle of speakers and room acoustics. The Dutch & Dutch 8c is a no-compromise active speaker designed to work together with the acoustics of the listening room.

ICEpower Unveils Cutting-Edge ICC5 Audio IC for High-Performance Class D Amplifiers

November 13, 2023 by Jan Didden

ICEpower Unveils Cutting-Edge ICC5 Audio IC for High-Performance Class D Amplifiers

ICEpower A/S introduced the latest addition to its lineup of audio power solutions, the ICEpower ICC5. This audio integrated circuit (IC) boasts advanced technology, fast propagation delay, and support for up to a 220V supply voltage. As a high side and low side FET gate driver optimized for flexibility, the ICC5 enables high-fidelity sound with minimal noise and distortion, making it an ideal choice for reliable class D amplifier designs ranging from 25W to 4kW.

Bandwidth, Slew Rate and All That Jazz

October 20, 2023 by Jan Didden

Bandwidth, Slew Rate and All That Jazz

To reproduce an audio signal faithfully over the whole audio band, your circuit needs to have a bandwidth at least as large as the audio band. But that’s not the only requirement: your circuit needs to maintain that bandwidth from the lowest to the highest signal level. That’s where the crux lies: it is relatively easy to get a nice wide bandwidth for small signals, only to have it breakdown with high signal levels due to the dreaded slew rate limiting.

Audio Myths: Feedback Re-Entrant Distortion. Should We Worry?

September 14, 2023 by Jan Didden

Audio Myths: Feedback Re-Entrant Distortion. Should We Worry?

There are many aspects of negative feedback in audio that are the subject of continued discussion. Jan Didden continues to debunk more Audio Myths. This article addresses re-entrant distortion. The idea is that, since negative feedback sends some of the distorted output signal back to the input, this already-distorted signal would only get more distorted by going through the nonlinear amplifier, over and over again.

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