Linear Power Supplies

Discussion in 'General Audio Discussion' started by Aplle, Apr 5, 2016.

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  1. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    Going back to college here but a professor put it simply:

    Are price, heat, and efficiency concerns? Use a switcher.

    If not, use a linear power supply.

    @Rex Aeterna is talking about some situation where you need extra burst power (sorry, none of my systems are designed to hit some absurd transient peak need that is outside the RMS performance of my amps). There is no situation where a switcher is the right choice UNLESS cost, efficiency, and/or heat are concerns.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    It would be a lot easier if manufacturers stopped offering "LPS upgrades" and just made the gear as it should be, whether such gear be value or performance positioned.
     
  3. Rex Aeterna

    Rex Aeterna Friend

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    that's what i meant. past week i been very busy with no sleep so, i been off a bit. i don't remember what i was reading but, it was one qsc engineering papers. the caps do recharge after so many cycles especially for power demands. was just reading switchers do it faster which in conjunction means you can uses smaller caps for equal amount of power output without straining the power supply....
     
  4. Rex Aeterna

    Rex Aeterna Friend

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    seems be lot of bias here. yea, i bet no one here uses as much power as i do but, was heat, efficiency, and cost my concerns? no, not really. i have a 25a and 30a circuits wired in the house. just saying there is good amps of either use. i have tons of amps,receivers, and even few integrated of both designs and there is bad and good of both. i don't deem one type ass or gold mine.
     
  5. bobmysterious

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    Just don't bring up power cords or all hell will break loose.
     
  6. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Best to read the OP and understand the context. I sense frustration and disbelief on the part of the OP on the effectiveness of an LPS over a switcher. This is why manufacturers should just make whatever best they can at a certain price instead of offering adds-ons. This is what unnecessary product choice does to the consumer. Causes confusion, fear, hope, anger, disbelief.

    The fact is, power supplies do have a sound of their own. I have heard LPS units sounding different not better on certain amps. I have also heard certain power supplies carry their "sound" over different pieces of gear. There are certain kinds of power supplies that are better suited to certain purposes. And remember, "LPS" can still mean a wide gamut of very different kinds of designs.

    This is kind of a lame thread that reminds me of Head-Fi. Like these infinite loop bad programming dreams I used to have in college. In the end, just listen to shit rather than conjecture, have random thoughts, science thoughts, Spidey sense, obi-wan sense, or common sense of what should or should not be.
     
    Last edited: Apr 6, 2016
  7. willsw

    willsw Friend

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    I don't disagree that manufacturers should make the best they can at a target price point of their choosing, but being against add-on upgrades that weren't possible while maintaining that price point seems strange. It could be clearer to the consumer if you just renamed the product+add-ons as a higher end product, but if it is a matter of upgrading individual components, it's not really a new product, even the dilemma of choosing the upgrade or not does lead the consumer to the dark side.
     
  8. bazelio

    bazelio Friend

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    Heheh, true. And talk about first world problems.... :rolleyes:
     
  9. matt.w

    matt.w New

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    Yeah, that's the argument. I feel like real world factors like heat, size etc issues are way too dismissed in favor of dick swinging in audio, so I'd like to see someone contrarian investigate more. I'm just some bullshitter on the Internet.
     
  10. OJneg

    OJneg The Most Insufferable

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    Last time I checked, the DAC/amp inside of an iPhone or mobo audio was considered "good enough" as well, so sure!
     
  11. chakku

    chakku Friend

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    People consider the iPhone DAC to be bad?
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Hot and heavy shit generally sounds better. There is actually some science behind this. This is an audiophile forum, and not CNET after all. We do have occasional features such as how to get good sound for cheap.
     
  13. Rex Aeterna

    Rex Aeterna Friend

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    that depends. lot of transistors and other components actually perform worst when heated. that's why overuse of metal and an overbuilt psu is needed for very little power. seems only tubes and old school metal die t-03's are one few that handle heat and stay linear enough to perform accurately. usually those giant class A monsters are most likely rocking banks and banks of metal die t-03's to stay linear in the signal(why they're so damn expensive). good mos-fet designs does it pretty well too but, are usually over-heated(over-biased) on purpose most of the time to give a desired smooth tube effect........anyhoo,

    i know we are discussing bout headphone amps/dacs in general. with them, i don't know much bout since i never dubbing into headphone amp stuff too much since i always had adequate power available on hand with ultra-low output impedances and plenty of gain with ability of controlling s/n ratios. even all the preamps and mixers i have sitting around has no issues with headphones i ever used in past so i can be absolutely wrong on everything bout this specific subject on hand...only thing i want in near future is upgrade my interface but, hard finding something that doesn't add a weird ''digital'' like graininess to the signal in the top-end/air region..most i find that i like use delta-sigma converters but being, in 1-2k range it's gonna be awhile before i opt for one.

    i didn't mean to sound offensive on my part if i did. i apologize if i did. it's very hard reading things like emotions on the interwebz and lot of times things are taken out of context... i will read more on this lps thingy you guys are discussing and learn more bout this. keeping to myself now....
     
  14. matt.w

    matt.w New

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    Wow, you guys totally missed the point.

    It's about separating what matters from what doesn't, or less extremely, allocating attention to the right areas in the right order. And, it's all relative, and isn't about cheapness at all.

    Doug/ECP's approach is a breath of fresh air compared to the SDS-XLRs of the past, for example. But in 2006 something that small and low power would be laughed out the door.

    I'm not advocating for switchers; just thought it wasn't an open-and-shut question.

    Lollerskates.
     
  15. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    We don't care about 2006 or the days of the SDS-XLR past. You can go to Head-Case for that. While you are at it, maybe you can suggest plugging in a switcher for a Dynalo. It would make things smaller and more efficient.

    Thread locked: this discussion should now be continued at diyaudio.com
     
    Last edited: Apr 7, 2016
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