advertisement


To leave on or not to leave on!!!

darrenyeats said:
I too think audiophile ethernet cables are hokum Keith. But the phase noise measurement we have to assume isn't fabricated - maybe I should switch on the DAC the day before! Thanks Radamel.
Click to expand...
Yes. if you
a) trust audioquest's measurement. let's park that one
b) think you can hear hear 5ps of jitter
c) ignore the frequency of the jitter (hint consider the location and amplitude of the resulting jitter sidebands, frequency masking)-
look at the difference over 20hz -nada.

nothing to see here from what I can see. (even ignoring the fact that it's come up beofre).
 
I realise that I may have completely misled the significance of the jitter spectrum though. So happy to be corrected.
 
adamdea said:
Yes. if you
a) trust audioquest's measurement. let's park that one
b) think you can hear hear 5ps of jitter
c) ignore the frequency of the jitter (hint consider the location and amplitude of the resulting jitter sidebands, frequency masking)-
look at the difference over 20hz -nada.

nothing to see here from what I can see. (even ignoring the fact that it's come up beofre).
Click to expand...

About b) IMO the question is not about the audibility of 5ps of jitter but the audibility of the effects of 5ps of jitter.
 
As my kit has a 20 year warranty I am not really fussed about reducing life of it by keeping it on. After 20 years I will probably want to try something new anyway.

In winter any excess heat helps to heat the house. I am more likely to switch it off in summer between listening sessions in hot weather.
 
I remember an electronics designer telling me that temperature increase greatly reduced component life, something like a 5 degree rise in junction temp halved the device lifespan (sorry I can't remember the exact figure).

While I don't doubt leaving amplifiers switched on ensures the best performance (where there is a difference), the possible reduction in life is too much for me. If I'd continued to leave my Linn Kairn switched on it would have died many years ago because Linn underspecified the temperature rating of the power supply caps. On the other hand units that have a standby function are probably best left on standby as operating the power switch will send a surge through the psu each time (as well as wear the switch out) I lost a video that way. I now use a Linn 5103 that runs the psu quite warm while in use but cools down when in standby.
 
radamel said:
About b) IMO the question is not about the audibility of 5ps of jitter but the audibility of the effects of 5ps of jitter.
Click to expand...
The direct effect of jitter on signals is mathematically calculable and well understood. We've been here before and it's covered in c) see the Dunn material I linked to last time you posted this if you are interested.

The indirect effects? Well you can say or believe whatever you like about that stuff as long as you are selling stuff to believers.

5ps is over 1000 times lower than anything anyone has demonstrated to be detectable.

But seriously why the jitter thing? I get it people buy expensive stuff and then gain a temporary spike in their enjoyment of recorded music but why decide it's jitter that causes these fluctuations? It's only because it seems like a plausible explanation. is there any evidence that it's correlated with the fluctuations in people's listening enjoyment? You might as well say subspot activity or UFOs or electrostatic quantum thingummy

As far as I can see from the measured figures turntables are around 1 million times less stable in speed than audioquest's clock. Do musical instruments make pure enough tones for the effect of a picosecond of jitter to be meaningful? Picoseconds are tiny tiny tiny things. Measurements without a sense of proportion are basically meaningless. We can measure all kinds of stuff we can't hear.

OK that's it really.
 
You are right as I have no way to prove that the sq differences that I hear are directly connected with different jitter levels.

That being said, to suggest that it's as good a guess as thinking it is related to UFOs and than finishing with "OK that's it really" is quite funny, I'll give you that. :D
 
radamel said:
You are right as I have no way to prove that the sq differences that I hear are directly connected with different jitter levels.

That being said, to suggest that it's as good a guess as thinking it is related to UFOs and than finishing with "OK that's it really" is quite funny, I'll give you that. :D
Click to expand...
I detect a regrettably closed mind towards the importance of UFOs on audio.
 
On one hand I doubt the jitter variation is audible.

OTOH I'm impressed there is ANY measurement showing clock instability past warm up period (30 minutes or less). I don't know why it happens.
 
Always on.

Densen amplifier DM10MK2 15 years me and you just practice a recap. Perfect!

Densen reader B400XS almost 15 years with me and always on.

regards
 
BTW

Mytek Brooklyn DAC on standby/ LPSU always on;
Fanless SSD Netbook on hibernation mode;
Primare I21 amp on standby;
The pair of REL R528 SE subs off;
Chromecast Audio/ iFi SPDIF purifier always on.
 
Anybody wanna buy second hand amp left on 24/7? Me neither.

No sign of capacitor problems with my 1974 Jap kit. I know it's Jap crap :) but it was only switched on when used.

BTW good equipment tends to have relays and circuits which power up properly.
 
Different classic brands behave very differently.
Cool running boxes like Naim seem to survive being left on, but have an expensive re-capping business.
Some like Linn have consistently got it wrong and fail early, mainly due to poor smps design

Others like my old Cambridge C70, adopted toroidal transformers in a rush and blew up on switch on due to tantalum capacitor surges - these are likely the origin of the leave switched on theory
 
I turn everything off until about half an hour before I want to use it, but I have also found that the sound seems to get a lot better after playing one side of an album, even if my kit had been on an hour before I used it (valve amp/valve phono stage).
 
Orbe Chaser said:
I turn everything off until about half an hour before I want to use it, but I have also found that the sound seems to get a lot better after playing one side of an album, even if my kit had been on an hour before I used it (valve amp/valve phono stage).
Click to expand...

You wouldn't keep a valve amp. on when not in use; nor class A s/s. Unlike s/s class B amplification the valve life and much greater energy consumption leave no controversy re. powering.

Your findings of improvement after playing a side probably relates to the cartridge and vinyl chain rather than the amp's.
 
I turn everything off at the wall when not being used but mainly as I'm concerned about not wasting electricity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top