Nice to see they have an Audio Precision; now if only they followed Schiit & Topping in releasing the AP reports.
I had to return my AVR last week to Emotiva. Turned out the problem was faulty caps on the PS board. Measurements are one thing, reliability is another.
Maybe, maybe not. Could be Emotiva for cheapening out on the cap quality to keep costs down too. Either way i wasnt blaming Emotiva and wouldnt until I knew for sure what quality caps they used.To be fair, that's really the cap manufacturer's issue. I built a pair of power amps a good few years back - a week after completing them, one of the Black Gate input caps went bad. The amp would distort really badly for a few seconds after power up and then settle down OK. After replacing the cap all was well again.
Linear power supplies can be made to be quiet and they are repairable and protect the gear from line disturbances more than most SMPS.
SMPS often have custom chips and can't be field repaired. No thank you. They also may have less power line isolation which makes the green ground connection more important.
Measurements are one thing, reliability is another.
Just an obversion - you will note that the 2500 VA transformer actually can take up equal or less space in the chassis (depending on orientation) than the SMPS of equivalent power. So at least as far as space saving, they are essentially a wash. I'm assuming the filter capacitors are separate on each channel module as is widely done. Obviously the transformer is far heavier, so I'm not arguing that point.
Both linear and SMPS supplies have their strengths and weaknesses - an SMPS does not make a linear supply obsolete.
Hehe, properly debunks the audiophile myth that expensive LPS are better (lower noise) than SMPS.
The SMPS module in the video has a bigger area in two dimensions yes... but total volume, not so.
Reliability goes out the window too.
, electrolytic capacitors fail regularly.
Reliability goes out the window too.
I guess the filter capacitors in my decades old power amps never got that memo.
As a manufacturer, we ran into this tradeoff. We tried to incorporate a SMPS, but ultimately we went with transformers because they took up less space in an already crowded chassis. The form factor if SMPS is kind of unwieldy in some circumstances, especially when heat sinking requirements are taken into account.