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cheap class d amp

Alex S said:
That's what I thought. Not that I bought the Mini-1 as an investment.

Anyway, if you can keep the dial at 10 O'clock or below this amp doesn't put a foot wrong. It goes wrong very quickly after that but that's the ProAcs. But the ProAcs are very good in themselves. I know that cheap efficient bookshelves is not the answer and I'd rather listen quiet than spend a grand.

Enough people I trust advise using it as a power amp only asap and I hope for advice on biamping... Ditching the SMPS is now confirmed as making a big difference here.
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Alex
What Proacs are you using? I'm trying my Mini-1 with D28s
 
ItemAudio said:
it's only a matter of time before the old adage of 'linear good, switching bad' will finally be put to rest.
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Your optimism surprises me. Since when have facts and reality had any effect on audiophile folklore and superstition?
 
Julf, The one for the amp.

I just had a brief chat with Mr Amptastic. He was very helpful: Try a preamp (in my case the Sugden Headmaster) before any thoughts of another Mini-1. The pre on its own 'might well do it'. Then 'try the Temple BG & the Mini-1 [as per Tony's idea] and let me know how you get on'. He was actually genuinely interested to know and obviously knew his competition.

Back to the PSU - He, as everyone, knows that a good linear supply (or battery) will perform better (pending Item's discoveries) but there's a mountain of red tape and the SMPS has to be supplied with the unit. He also volunteered that anyone can call themselves an expert in making a PSU, so it was risky to make a blanket recommendation to plug in a linear supply. Mr Custom Hifi Cables knows what he's doing though.

Finally, it seems that Amptastic will soon release a DAC and their own linear PSU.
 
Julf said:
Your optimism surprises me. Since when have facts and reality had any effect on audiophile folklore and superstition?
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It gets there in the end; truth will out.

Ten years ago people imagined computers and USB cables all sounded the same, but such aberrant superstitions eventually wither before reality.
 
Alex S said:
Julf, The one for the amp.

I just had a brief chat with Mr Amptastic. He was very helpful: Try a preamp (in my case the Sugden Headmaster) before any thoughts of another Mini-1. The pre on its own 'might well do it'. Then 'try the Temple BG & the Mini-1 [as per Tony's idea] and let me know how you get on'. He was actually genuinely interested to know and obviously knew his competition.

Back to the PSU - He, as everyone, knows that a good linear supply (or battery) will perform better (pending Item's discoveries) but there's a mountain of red tape and the SMPS has to be supplied with the unit. He also volunteered that anyone can call themselves an expert in making a PSU, so it was risky to make a blanket recommendation to plug in a linear supply. Mr Custom Hifi Cables knows what he's doing though.

Finally, it seems that Amptastic will soon release a DAC and their own linear PSU.
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There's no need to reinvent the wheel: there are so many great off-the-shelf choices for clean, Tripath-compatible 12-14V power supplies.

KingRex has a matched preamp for the T20 that does endow it with greater drive, and it can be combined with a better PSU for the amp.

It's interesting to see a new UK enterprise following so closely in KingRex' footsteps: for as long as he operates as a one-man-band, the prices will be really attractive. Now is the time to buy, because if he's successful, VAT will instantly add 20% to the cost and the temptation will be to open the product up to resale, which will almost double the price. I'm really curious to see how this 'class of 2014' compares to the 'old school' (actually similar) hot properties of 2005-10: Trends, KingRex, et al.
 
ItemAudio said:
It gets there in the end; truth will out.

Ten years ago people imagined computers and USB cables all sounded the same, but such aberrant superstitions eventually wither before reality.[/QUOTE]

You never give up peddling your foo, do you?

Chris
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Julf said:
I assume this is a similar use of "everyone knows" as in "everyone knows the moon is made out of cheese".
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I'm not qualified to comment as you suggest so I'll rephrase: The SMPSs supplied with these devices (to satisfy gov regs) are far bettered by competently made but more expensive linear supplies. It may well be the case that a better and more expensive SMPS could be supplied with the unit but that is not the business model.
 
Alex S said:
I just had a brief chat with Mr Amptastic. He was very helpful: Try a preamp (in my case the Sugden Headmaster) before any thoughts of another Mini-1. The pre on its own 'might well do it'. Then 'try the Temple BG & the Mini-1 [as per Tony's idea] and let me know how you get on'. He was actually genuinely interested to know and obviously knew his competition.
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Off the back of this i just swapped the jumpers in the Amptastic and hooked it up to an Audiolab MDAC, to my ears the performance is on a par with the volume pot on the Mini-1
 
Alex S said:
I'm not qualified to comment as you suggest so I'll rephrase: The SMPSs supplied with these devices (to satisfy gov regs) are far bettered by competently made but more expensive linear supplies. It may well be the case that a better and more expensive SMPS could be supplied with the unit but that is not the business model.
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Thanks for the rephrasing - as everybody knows, a using a linear power supply with a class d amp negates most of the benefits of class d operation.
 
Bigbobby666 said:
Off the back of this i just swapped the jumpers in the Amptastic and hooked it up to an Audiolab MDAC, to my ears the performance is on a par with the volume pot on the Mini-1
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Can you get more gain, which would be my primary purpose, presuming the MDAC to be fairly conventional in its preamp behaviour.
 
Bigbobby666 said:
Off the back of this i just swapped the jumpers in the Amptastic and hooked it up to an Audiolab MDAC, to my ears the performance is on a par with the volume pot on the Mini-1
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That just means that the volume pot in the MDAC is crap (excuse my French), but that's consistent with what many MDAC users observe, that it's best to use the DAC at line out level and more suitable volume pot or pre to regulate volume.
 
ItemAudio said:
Time will come when folks won't argue about it: sure as the evolution of switch-mode power and PWM. Progress, innit?
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Linn have been using switched mode power supplies very succesfully for over a decade. Properly implemented, they are not & never have been a problem.

Foo USB cables are still and will remain, foo. But don't worry, there are folks out there who know even less about this kind of thing than you do who will continue to buy the snake oil you are peddling.

Chris

Chris
 
Peter Stockwell said:
And what would the benefits of class D operation be ?
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Efficiency (low power consumption, less cooling issues) and compact size are the "universal" benefits, pretty much independent of design. Class D also has the potential for high slew rate and linearity combined with high current capability / low output impedance and low noise, but that requires a good design to achieve in practice.
 
Linn have been using switched mode power supplies very succesfully for over a decade. Properly implemented, they are not & never have been a problem.
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They were a problem for me.

Efficiency (low power consumption, less cooling issues) and compact size are the "universal" benefits, pretty much independent of design.
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Phew, not audio reasons then, why a good linear supply is not optimal.
 
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