AC Filtering, Grounding Boxes, Linear PSU and Balanced Power.

[YashN]

On 4/5/2018 at 11:38 PM, jabbr said:

AFAIK Swenson’s Supply was an input choke filter on a relatively routine regulated supply 317? etc. Fine.

 

It's way, way more than that...

 

Build one.

 

Listen (especially if you can compare to a DAC which by default is USB-bus powered in a direct connection to a computer).

 

I did. I did use a 317 myself as this is what I had on hand, but his original reg is much better (and there are probably much better ones nowadays).

 

In my build I did several iterations post-reg until I was happy with the results - problem here is the 317 is not very good so you end up battling non-linearities because of capacitors and their interactions with that Reg.

[YashN]

5 minutes ago, sandyk said:

 

But they aren't using cheap generic Asian crap. It's mainly the PSU area that governs how a file will sound.

 In a few minutes I have to head for Sydney for the day, but can go into depth with you via a PM later if you like.

 

iPhones have been manufactured in Asia too, so there shouldn't be any definite conclusion as to the country of origin, it's more about the nature of the PSU itself.

 

I'll take a Simple Linear over an SMPS any day for audio, a Swenson Linear over any other Linears. Still haven't experimented with Salas-type PSUs though, that would be next on my list of things to do (too many to mention).

 

Hope Sydney's is great as Summer's here.

[YashN]

1 minute ago, Cornan said:

 

Allow me to interupt! Floating SMPS is a truly great feeder suppply for a linear regulator. It is not a great PSU on its own, but a floating SMPS is ONLY concured by a floating and balanced AC-AC feeder supply in my world. Nothing else is better.

 

That would be the output-grounding trick by John? Worth a try for sure.

 

Does it totally interrupt leakage currents? AC-side pollution, etc...?

[YashN]

1 minute ago, Cornan said:

 

Not sure what you mean by output-grounding trick by JS?

Anyway, the balanced toroidal ac-ac transformers into dual 5A LT3045s is surely better than into Gophert csp-3205II. But, not by much! Small diffetencies in the bass region and dynamics. That’s all! 

 

I thought that 'floating SMPS' was actually using John's output-grounding trick on an existing SMPS.

 

Doesn't seem like it is judging by your response? Would it be one where this grounding is already implemented? No idea, I don't care much about SMPSes anymore

 

I may still give the output-grounding a try and listen in my setup, especially at the DAC power side: this is where I have several configurations I can test and listen to.

 

However, it might be a while until I get time and will to do this.

[YashN]

On 6/21/2018 at 8:11 PM, Speedskater said:

My money stays on 'marce'. Digital circuitry is just a small part of his engineering knowledge.

 

Really, eh? Well, bet the farm then.

 

"To be totally correct"...

 

You lose.

 

Guess who corrected Speedskater on this very same subject years ago here.

 

[YashN]

On 6/21/2018 at 4:56 PM, Cornan said:

@YashN I forgot to tell you that I missed your presence here at CA, You're a bit like politics. You just hate when they are neutral! ?

 

Thanks man,

 

What's up? Many new audio experiments?

 

Been enjoying the fruits of my labour.

 

Can you believe much gear on the production side of music is badly designed as well? Crazy, huh?

[YashN]

On 6/29/2019 at 8:49 PM, Speedskater said:

Not a correction, just a clarification.

And your problem with either of our posts is what, exactly?

 

Oh really, huh? Face-saving now instead of focusing on the truth.

 

• What would Henry Ott say?
• What would Armstrong say?
• What would Brown say?
• What would Morrison say?
• What would Whitlock say?
• What would Giddings say?
• What would Muncy say?

 

I suppose it's easier to write lists of authors rather than actually understand elementary Physics, huh?

 

It's a good thing the Laws of Physics don't depend on you nor Marce for whom your misplaced sycophantic glee seems never-ending, and who, when given a venue to show all his knowledge here, exited fast tail between legs rather than "contribute" like a few other usual suspects.

[YashN]

On 6/21/2018 at 7:11 PM, sandyk said:

The main requirement for any PSU is a very low and FLAT output impedance from almost DC to the MHZ region.If the use of Low ESR electro's sees the impedance much lower at say 100khz than midrange, then there will be an apparent increase in HF detail.

This is especially obvious when using Voltage regulators such as the ultra low noise LT3045 etc.when powering BOTH Analogue or Digital devices.  USB Memory for example.

 

True, true.

 

What's up Alex?

 

There is a lot of cool new work I have been doing on regulation during these periods of lockdown here.

 

Results have been nothing short of astonishing, bringing even more detail and dynamics following the work on the original Linear Regulated PSU with the DAC and the custom USB connector and more.

 

I still have more work to do on that as I'd like to do some comparisons between topologies but it's all super promising.

 

Some other thoughts occupying my mind these days:

 

We have similar issues to solve - PSUs, interconnects, noise/interference, signal path optimisations - at the very source of much of our music.

 

By source here, I mean the actual electronic instruments and the means of production at all stages.

 

I have been doing some very fruitful work on these as well.

 

Anyway, good catching up.

 

What's new around here?

[YashN]

On 10/5/2020 at 5:25 PM, sandyk said:

Hi YashN

 The by far largest step forward that I have made recently, even with the use of low noise +12Vto +5V regulation using low noise JLH PSU addons with their <4uV noise and 2FARAD simulated capacitance to power both my OS SSD and Music SSD, has been to further improve my PC 's earthing, after one and a half suggested that I measure the voltage drop between the SSD and HDD metal cases and o volts of the internal SMPS PSU. Like Gary, I achieved a very worthwhile improvement in Soundstage and noise level.

 As SSDs and HDDs have their internal 0 volts (earth) lines connected to their metal cases , they should be securely earthed for best results, and in the case of SSDs , not left floating as they aren't really susceptible to vibration.

...

 

 

Hi Alex,

 

Great progress on really interesting things here. Noted. Will be cool for future personal experiments too: I have been considering getting a small DC-powered motherboard to be able to do a full Linear Reg PSU for the PC side one day. These avenues and results can come in handy for sure.

 

Doing some great progress on instrument signal paths as well these days.

 

Will keep at it but I also want to get back to the Power Supply Research as well as some new Research I am doing on Clocks. Early days still for the latter, but I think I have a good grasp so far and some cool ideas to build on.

 

All the best to you and Oz.