Switch Mode Power Supplies in amplifiers

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@andrewfurst5711 7 ай бұрын

This is one of the many things that is so great about Paul. He's well-informed about audio and he'll tell it to you straight. A lesser man would have said "No, switching power supplies aren't good for audio, and if they were good we would have them in our products". But no, if there's something good from someone else, Paul will give his honest opinion. Thanks so much Paul for your integrity, and for your friendly and informative videos.

@tomw7043 7 ай бұрын

Emotiva has been building SMPS class-AB amplifiers for several years, and they sound awesome! I have their XPA-DR2 Differential Reference amp with 550 WPC and am very happy with its performance! Emotiva still has a long way to go with their pre-amplifiers though.

@rayl6599 7 ай бұрын

I was skeptical 6 years ago, but after seeing the stuff coming out of Mola Mola the past few years, I switched to a Perca this year when I upgraded speakers and needed a bigger amp . It is wonderful and I feel good about adopting a more efficient solution in terms of both the power supply and of no more class AB.

@richardboyce4921 7 ай бұрын

Thanks Paul, informative as usual.

@paulroscelli2545 7 ай бұрын

Linear tube audio uses them and their stuff is wonderful

@darrellross8609 7 ай бұрын

Hey Paul, My Matrix spidf 3 is in the mail. You mentioned that you use these, so I was inspired to look into it. My 12V power supply, is the ifi Power X. Best, D. From Stl.

@JohnHarnick 7 ай бұрын

Surprised how long it's taking....in the late 90s, Carver, Rowland, Linn and Chord were using SMPS. Goes to show the level of skill in audio, it varies widely...

@spacemissing 7 ай бұрын

Somehow it seems that inefficient technologies often perform to a more appealing level.

@maidsandmuses 7 ай бұрын

It makes sense; in inefficient technologies you are only diverting a small percentage of the total flow of energy to do what you want it to do, therefore presenting less of a modulating effect on the total flow of energy.

@AllboroLCD 7 ай бұрын

Just as Marantz proved way back when, quality components make most of what your hearing!! Its all it boils down to every time. Ive been tearing electronics apart and piecing them back together for decades, you can tell a product is decent without even using it just taking a quick poke around inside.

@joepostle3561 7 ай бұрын

Linn haven’t used linear power supplies for a long while according to their website but switched over and looks like they design (manufacture?) their own SMPS modules for their products.

@marcusbrsp 7 ай бұрын

I think that they only use Linnear power supplies.

@babubabu12345 7 ай бұрын

Good information about power supply from Pual Sir.

@Ashen2501 7 ай бұрын

Answer is - ordinary power transformer is WAY cheaper and easier to make than SMPS. A good SMPS required engineering, while transformer needs a simple calculations, an iron core, copper wire and a tool to wound it up. If you see a transformer in a device that's a sign that a company doesn't have a good engineers in their team and don't care to hire one. Properly built SMPS will give a good boost to an amp. ^_^

@leekennedy8451 7 ай бұрын

Benchmark ahb2, doesn't get any better.

@janinapalmer8368 7 ай бұрын

I'm still tempted to try an SMPS with a regular class AB amplifier... using huge mass storage capacitors...

@biketech60 7 ай бұрын

Benchmark D/A converters now use SMPS's and have much lower noise than their previous linear power supplies .This is at line level , where it's most critical , not power level .

@mikej9174 7 ай бұрын

I have never had a linear power supply fail. I've had numerous switch modes fail. Computers, ham radio, etc.

@superidyt 7 ай бұрын

I have seen a recent discussion about the use of GaN power supply in Class D amplifiers. Some users are expressing a noticeable change especially in the bass frequencies when "upgrading" to this technology's power supply. Is it possible for changing a 48V/5A power supply to noticeably affect the sound?

@chuckmaddison2924 7 ай бұрын

I do have a kit amp with a switching supply and it does create some noise. They are cheap , they don't need a big expensive transformer and capacitors.

@Alexandra-Rex 7 ай бұрын

I don't know about electronics, so I have no idea what it is, but the first time I heard of switched power supplies was about the Carver True Subwoofer, which apparently was how they could have such huge amount of power in such a small box.

@wswsn7396 7 ай бұрын

Are toroid power supplies more reliable? You never hear that a toroid power supply failed in an amp.

@user-od9iz9cv1w 7 ай бұрын

I think you mean linear power supply. Toroid refers to the type of transformer which could be used in either. I agree, it is typically associated with a linear supply but could also be used in a switch mode supply.

@karledwards2319 7 ай бұрын

The reason is marketing. SMPS (and class d amps) are lightweight, many people judge audio gear quality by weight and toroidal's, same with heatsinks, are heavy. SMPS are much more difficult to design and if done poorly are unreliable. Many smaller companies do not have engineers with SMPS experience and it's only as high quality prebuilt modules have become more available their popularity has grown.

@Fromega001 7 ай бұрын

So what about a batery ?

@robertmoi8400 7 ай бұрын

From my experience with cheap parts, switch mode power supply is way audibly noisier than linear PS. With my limited knowledge in electronics, I managed to build a regulated linear PS that turned the noise of my DIY assembled DAC from being audible from one foot away to only the noise of the tweeter being audible at ear against the driver distance. The IC regulator though limited the current to 1 amp reducing the overall system bass and dynamics despite internal components requiring less than 1 amp current. I am still using the cheap switch mode PS due it''s 3 amps current which improves bass and dynamics until I find quality filter capacitors and low noise, high current regulators. NB, my experience is with cheap PS, there must be some well-designed switch mode PS whose noise is as low as linear power supplies.

@tacofortgens3471 7 ай бұрын

What about the noise generated from a switch mode power supply?

@JohnHarnick 7 ай бұрын

Higher-frequency devices create less audible noise. It's a big lie about SMPS...has been for decades...

@RectifiedMetals 7 ай бұрын

Isn’t the AC regenerator nothing but a giant switch mode? In simplistic terms anyway. I know it’s more than a basic mosfet pulsing a transformer. Everything has its limitations, so you have to pick which. Toroids run out of gas faster than an e coil, lose their magnetic field quicker, but generate the field faster, and switch modes are noisy.

@paulstubbs7678 7 ай бұрын

For ages one of the biggest problems with switch mode supplies is that they tend to require a fairly constant load. drop the load too far and they lose regulation, the volts shoot up and the smoke comes out. Unfortunately an audio amp's supply load is all over the place, from all but zero, to many amps. Often the poor voltage control feedback loop will be having kittens trying to keep up. Many early supplies used a cheap-ass, very wasteful solution of a big resistor across the output to ensure a load, even if most of the time it was just heating the cabinet needlessly. How things have changed..... most are now way better that the dinosaurs listed above.

@L2.Lagrange 7 ай бұрын

I like this topic. Too bad my PC that I just designed a linear power supply and class AB driver fried itself 2 days ago. I just ordered the boards from JLCPCB and they should arrive soon. Its going to be a pain to assemble without my schematics if my SSD's were destroyed as well, but it shouldn't be too bad. I do love me some properly specified power supplies though

@dakata2416 7 ай бұрын

The thing that makes SMPS bad is their design. A good design can outperform any linear PS. That why a lot of DIY people prefer linear power supplies as they are very easy to make (in contrast with SMPS).