Fosi's New Linear Power Supply

[Ropeburn]

i suppose those all knowing people drink beer and wine or scotch from the same glass pickle jar given all one need is a glass container of any type to hold the liquid no matter what where your having those drinks...wedding, pub, at home, no matter. Any glass will do if one assumes the goal is just to get it to your lips.

You're being facetious but let me tell you, a lot of people here use washed mustard glasses for everything. They're free, nice enough, even available in different shapes. Waste is the biggest sin, so instead of throwing these away, a lot of people keep and use them.

Not the worst whiskey glass. Joke's on you!

 

[Redacted]

Wrong price . More like 150 pounds . 200 USD. And there are discounts avaliable

That's probably true, but as we stand, there would be shipping to UK, taxes and tariffs, so more like £300.....
But they they mad it £1300 they'd double their sales (so long as it had a "special sauce" sticker on it....
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[Mnyb]

You're being facetious but let me tell you, a lot of people here use washed mustard glasses for everything. They're free, nice enough, even available in different shapes. Waste is the biggest sin, so instead of throwing these away, a lot of people keep and use them.

View attachment 542476

Not the worst whiskey glass. Joke's on you!

yes mustard glasses , for some reason they are made for it no screw top lid and different shapes

 

[Redacted]

You're being facetious but let me tell you, a lot of people here use washed mustard glasses for everything. They're free, nice enough, even available in different shapes. Waste is the biggest sin, so instead of throwing these away, a lot of people keep and use them.

View attachment 542476

Not the worst whiskey glass. Joke's on you!

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To avoid confusion in some parts of the world, my tip would be to remove the label and the lid. You could add a new label saying "audiophile shorts" which would mean you could sell each glass for $50 each.

 

[Geert]

Fosi is peddling nonsense in their marketing;

View attachment 542215

So is it black, clean or both at once?

I worked in the pro audio business for more then 30 years and never heard of a "blacker background". Looks like we were missing an important aspect of sound. Since more then a decade I of course know it from audiophile forums, but I thought it was interesting to ask AI when the term emerged and when Hifi manufacturers picked it up. In short:
- "The expression "black background" used by audiophiles emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It became wildly popular in the 1990s as a staple piece of high-end audio vocabulary"
- "Though the term has existed in subcultures for decades, it is only in recent years that major Hi-Fi manufacturers have embraced "black background" as a front-and-center marketing buzzword. Newer boutique brands realized that average consumers don't get excited by graphs and math equations. They get excited by feelings. To sound authentic, companies started writing marketing copy that copied the exact language used by real hobbyists on forums".

Don't sell the steak (S/N, THD), sell the sizzle.

 

[respice finem]

I worked in the pro audio business for more then 30 years and never heard of a "blacker background". Looks like we were missing an important aspect of sound. Since more then a decade I of course know it from audiophile forums, but I thought it was interesting to ask AI when the term emerged and when Hifi manufacturers picked it up. In short:
- "The expression "black background" used by audiophiles emerged in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It became wildly popular in the 1990s as a staple piece of high-end audio vocabulary"
- "Though the term has existed in subcultures for decades, it is only in recent years that major Hi-Fi manufacturers have embraced "black background" as a front-and-center marketing buzzword. Newer boutique brands realized that average consumers don't get excited by graphs and math equations. They get excited by feelings. To sound authentic, companies started writing marketing copy that copied the exact language used by real hobbyists on forums".

Don't sell the steak (S/N, THD), sell the sizzle.

I thought they simply copied it from OLED displays advertising

 

[Ruediger]

If it doesn't enhance timbre, air, stage, insert-puff-here I'm not interested.

Fosi has to do better with the texts.

 

[bungle]

I worked in the pro audio business for more then 30 years and never heard of a "blacker background".

Maybe some time in a future we can eliminate that annoying cosmic microwave background, and raise SINAD to new heights. Devices operating with dark energy or producing dark energy shields. Is it audible, no, but likely measurable.

 

[Geert]

Maybe some time in a future we can eliminate that annoying cosmic microwave background, and raise SINAD to new heights. Devices operating with dark energy or producing dark energy shields.

There are a few people I follow an another forum who constantly 'upgrade' their equipment and report blacker backgrounds with each change. I always imagine that some day, their listening room will get swallowed by a black hole There must be a limit to blackness, no?

 

[respice finem]

There are a few people I follow an another forum who constantly 'upgrade' their equipment and report blacker backgrounds with each change. I always imagine that some day, their listening room will get swallowed by a black hole There must be a limit to blackness, no?

The limit is the noise in the room, the noises our body makes, etc. But people want to trust their senses 100%, so they will. At least it boosts sales and the "eternal" growth...

 

[Roland68]

Looks like a fairly useful design/function/cost mix...PSU 20.

Fan inside, hopefully a quiet one.

Hope they send one into Amir for testing!

A lot of people have expressed discontent with the various switching power bricks...I personally have no problem with them, the ones from Fosi and Aiyima seem fine.

But Fosi sees customer comments and decided to "fill the void"...

Over the past few years, we have listened to and compared many devices and power supplies specifically in the context of music reproduction. In some instances, we even modified units—swapping linear power supplies for SMPSs and vice versa—to compare the exact same device with different power supplies.

The conclusion is quite simple:
- We did not encounter a single case where a linear power supply held an advantage over an SMPS (provided the SMPS was of sufficient quality and featured proper filtering).
- In no instance did an SMPS perform worse than a linear power supply.
- In most cases, the SMPSs actually performed significantly better, despite requiring less effort and lower cost.

For this test, I also borrowed so-called "audiophile" linear power supplies, some costing over €1,000 (5/12/15 volts at 1.5–3A).

My personal favorite? "Wall-wart filters" from the DIYAudio forum paired with a suitable Mean Well power supply. These filters can also be cascaded or connected in parallel.

 

[Redacted]

Just the the sound of blood pumping in your ears is far louder than noise from modern kit.
Unless you are a vampire or zombie audiophile.
I have tried the jack output from all my PSUs in my ears and confirm no noise, only a slight tingle.

 

[respice finem]

... In no instance did an SMPS perform worse than a linear power supply...

I take this opportunity to ask: Are switching power supplies really more prone to failure / shorter lifespan, or is this just another "fairytale"?

 

[KSTR]

They also have this:

Low Noise Isolating DC Filter, 12 Volt 2 Ampere, DC Input and Output - RME Audio Interfaces | Format Converters | Preamps | Network Audio & MADI Solutions

RME Audio Professional Live, Studio, Recording and Broadcast Solutions. Unrivalled Quality, Performance & Stability MADI Interfaces, Converters & Preamps.

rme-audio.de

That one was probably inspired by yours truly. Very early on, I've been using a medical DC/DC converter with ultra-low leakage current to supply my ADI-2 Pro with input fed from the stock supply (a simple wall-wart with high leakage current). Together with USB galvanic isolation this makes the device behave like it were a battery-powered standalone device, which is required for certain precision measurements (the ADI-2 Pro was advertised from the beginning to be usable as a measurement interface).
They added a good output regulator with Kelvin sensing to have a precision low noise output voltage to feed sensitive circuits (their own stuff might not actually improve from that, though).

 

[mhardy6647]

Waste is the biggest sin, so instead of throwing these away, a lot of people keep and use them.

I didn't realize you live in New England!


The Yankee Credo:

Make it last.
Use it up.
Make it do.
Or do without.

 

[mhardy6647]

I take this opportunity to ask: Are switching power supplies really more prone to failure / shorter lifespan, or is this just another "fairytale"?

I think the problem is always going to be the robustness of the parts specified (e.g., electrolytics being asked to work very close to their maximum rated working voltage) and/or how tight-packed or well-ventilated those parts are.

The race to the bottom in product quality (which manifests itself as a race to provide more performance for less money) seems, from my perspective, to drive this.

Nope, no hard data to share -- just lots of anecdotes.

 

[respice finem]

I think the problem is always going to be the robustness of the parts specified (e.g., electrolytics being asked to work very close to their maximum rated working voltage) and/or how tight-packed or well-ventilated those parts are.

The race to the bottom in product quality (which manifests itself as a race to provide more performance for less money) seems, from my perspective, to drive this.

Nope, no hard data to share -- just lots of anecdotes.

OK that's logical... And if 5 switching power supplies fail in a household that has 15 of them, and the only linear PSU in that household "lives" a year longer, the perception is obvious...

 

[Roland68]

I take this opportunity to ask: Are switching power supplies really more prone to failure / shorter lifespan, or is this just another "fairytale"?

I can answer that with a definite "yes and no."
The components in switched-mode power supplies (SMPS)—especially capacitors—age differently than those in linear power supplies; specifically, they are affected by the stress caused by the switching frequency.
It is therefore crucial that these capacitors are correctly specified and optimized for this type of application. Many power supplies used in industrial and IT sectors now boast lifespans of 10 to 20 years or more—often under 24/7 operating conditions.
Furthermore, most switched-mode power supplies are significantly smaller and less expensive.

These rumors largely stem from the era around the year 2000, when computer power supplies, motherboards, and a wide range of SMPS-equipped devices were failing en masse—often while still under warranty, or sometimes after just six months. The culprits were substandard circuits and capacitors used in switching regulator applications; the telltale signs were capacitors that had bulged or burst.

However, those days are long gone, and there is no longer any reason why switched-mode power supplies should have a shorter lifespan than linear power supplies.

 

[RScheckmate]

That's probably true, but as we stand, there would be shipping to UK, taxes and tariffs, so more like £300.....
But they they mad it £1300 they'd double their sales (so long as it had a "special sauce" sticker on it....
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with the code I posted , one can still get it for 192 USD delivered = 143 pounds = 168 Eur ...delivered to UK... plus any card currency conversion you may have (2.5% is a norm)
...you're welcome...deals are cool.

I agree it still may be pricey vs one's views...but I like the matching box, connectivity and aesthetics vs what I have now.

The so called "key advertised" internals for what they are ..

• 80 W torroidal transformer
• Nippon Chemi-Con Capacitors
• GBU806 rectifier bridge rated at 600V/8A
• three LM1085IT and one ST78M05 linear regulators from Texas Instruments
• some voltage slider switches and included cables blah blah

...googling rudimentarly price for this I add up to 50-100 CAD$ raw (mostly torroidal price variance) . Everyone knows it's much more than the adversised parts to make the power chain cool for audio like the design development, board , and many internals for variable voltage for the prime 2 DC outlets. I will listen in coming weeks after delivery and see if all is still sounding great or at least similar to me . That is the my measure.

Yes the original ZH3 measured very well. I hope this one performs equally great for us Fosi desktop setup owners with a ZH3 and/or ZD3 and a streamer looking for some better looks and flexible features to power our externals neatly

 

[mhardy6647]

OK that's logical... And if 5 switching power supplies fail in a household that has 15 of them, and the only linear PSU in that household "lives" a year longer, the perception is obvious...

exactly so.