2. amps-preamps
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battery-based SS amps

right or wrong (i do not know which as yet), i'm increasingly of the mind that part of the typical flaws assoc w/ SS amps (midrange glare, aggressive treble, discontinuousness) relative to tube gear is a function of their power supplies coupling noise from the incoming AC to the output devices. torroids remove a lot of noise, but they also couple it, and amplifiers amplify everything.

(i'm not sure if tube based power supplies act like torroids do in this regard, or if the tube gain stages have a natural roll-off for AC-related spuriae)

point being, i'm wondering if SS amps w/ battery based power at various stages (input, driver, output) can overcome typical SS weakness and give tube-like sound without the tube.

insofar as products i know of, rowland 8/9 TI, ASR emitter, but thats about it. anyone know of add'l products? and can anyone speak to experience on this matter?
rhyno

Showing 1 response by paulfolbrecht

paulfolbrecht
603 posts
 
Some of you guys are missing part of the point of battery power: it's not just to improve the signal/noise ratio, but to give overall better sonics by keeping the signal free of AC hash. No rectification/regulation scheme in the world is perfect. This has nothing to do with S/N and nothing to do with whether one's power is dirty or not either.

That said, I've also owned some battery-powered gear and found it not so revolutionary. But one cannot deny at least the theoretical advantage of pure DC power.

More food for thought: the one-box, tubed, AC-powered Shindo Monbrison preamp is as quiet as preamps come, period, at 122 dB S/N.
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