No, I don't have any photos. if I kept photos for all the repairs and MODs that I've done it would have been a full time job being a photographer.
-
WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!
Linear power supply for DAC, switch/router improve SQ?
- Thread starter Ducnguyen2k10
- Start date
-
- Tags
- linear power supply
If you search, you can find youtube chanels but if you search.
Of course they don't want to provide evidence...they can't.
You may like it here. It's an oasis in the desert of misinformation.
Killingbeans
Major Contributor
I don't see the necessity of Duelund components in anything. It's just jewelry and nothing else.
OP
Ducnguyen2k10
Member
- Joined
- Sep 21, 2021
- Messages
- 66
- Likes
- 46
- Thread Starter
- #25
It does not make sense to me at all. Why people paying for this kind of product? And why people insist to hear differences when using this such product!? Is there any chance that something wrong within their systems?
DonR
Major Contributor
"Audio grade", especially the ones that use a gold-coloured foil wrapping on the capacitor, appeal to the jewellery aspect of high-end audio. If you pay a lot of money for something you should at least expect it to look the part, even if the sound is not much better or worse in many cases. That is clearly evident from the first picture you posted. If you can make something look expensive and then charge a ludicrously high fee for it, many people will convince themselves it sounds better, "it has to, I paid 10x more for it than the mainstream version".
Bobo77
Member
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2021
- Messages
- 78
- Likes
- 58
Could a linear power supply make a difference on a high-quality raspberry-pi based streamer sending signal to a high-end DAC using an I2S connection?
DVDdoug
Major Contributor
- Joined
- May 27, 2021
- Messages
- 3,038
- Likes
- 4,005
Almost anything could make a difference but not because it's switching, linear, or a battery.
A power supply just has to put-out a DC voltage and it has to be capable of supplying the necessary current. In most cases we want a reliable-regulated voltage that doesn't have noise* and that doesn't vary with the load or with normal variations in power line voltage.
Analog audio (and your ears) are very sensitive to noise.
But digital electronics are highly immune to noise. Most computer power supplies are too noisy for analog audio but with billions of bytes being moved around and processed in the computer "random errors" almost never happen. If the data gets "damaged' your digital audio will be damaged but that almost never happens.
The most common issue on the digital side is if the audio gets interrupted and you get a glitch in the sound. That's most-often related to multitasking and unrelated to the power supply. (If you are not working with real-time audio or video an interruption or delay isn't a problem.)
* Electrical noise is high frequency variations (higher than DC which is zero Hz) and the noise rides on top of the DC. With a regular linear supply it's usually 100 or 120Hz (double the line frequency) and with switching supplies it's usually well-above the audio range. Being beyond the audio range can be an advantage in case any noise gets past the power supply's filters.
In computers all of the logic-data switching feeds noise back-into the power supply and you can get lots of noise in the audio range. That is sometimes a problem with UDB powered audio interfaces if the noise from the USB power gets into the analog circuitry.
Killingbeans
Major Contributor
The clever thing about digital signals is that logic levels don't rely on absolute voltages to be read as '1' or '0'. There's a tolerance for both in- and outputs and they overlap, meaning that you get a so called "noise margin". With a 5v TTL system made to spec, for instance, you get a margin of 0.7v even if your '1' is at the minimum of 2.7v.
In other words: If the SMPS in a streamer causes enough noise to give constant bit flips, that streamer has been designed by a 3-year-old, and it most definitely doesn't deserve the label "high-quality".
Well designed electronics don't need crutches.
Waxx
Major Contributor
The only place where i think a linear has an advantage technically is with high voltage amps (cfr tube amps). But even there there are some designs that cracked the code and make a good SMPS for high voltage tube amps. Bruno Putzeys made one for Manley Labs (used in their hifi and studio tube gear) and there are some more. It's just not that easy to do, and a linear is often easier to make it right and cheaper in parts (even with the big transfo) as high voltage smps parts tend to be vey expensive.
But for the rest a well designed SMPS that can give enough current and voltage is always more stable than a linear one. And the switching noise that was an issue in the past, is resolved by going up in frequency and better filtering. The problem with many SMPS's are that they are too light in specs to give the juice the system needs so the amp can't deliver the power that it promised.
But for a dac or a streamer or a switch, that should not be an issue as those in general don't use much power.
But for the rest a well designed SMPS that can give enough current and voltage is always more stable than a linear one. And the switching noise that was an issue in the past, is resolved by going up in frequency and better filtering. The problem with many SMPS's are that they are too light in specs to give the juice the system needs so the amp can't deliver the power that it promised.
But for a dac or a streamer or a switch, that should not be an issue as those in general don't use much power.
