2. amps-preamps
  3. 124847-369

Can SMPS based preamps/amps sound organic ?

Lately I have been reading about some well known companies who make amps and preamps based on switch mode (digital) power supply. Nagra, David Berning, Linn, Crayon Audio comes to mind. I have heard a couple of their products but I always seem to hear some kind of switching noise which comes through as "digital" sounding. The organic quality is somewhat robbed and replaced with some hash. I wonder if there are any designs using SMPS that can actually sound natural and organic ?

To me it seems mostly a matter of convenience to use SMPS but I would love to discuss.
pani
bombaywalla's avatar
bombaywalla
1,958 posts
 
SMPS is basically a power regenerator.

I'm sorry this is not a correct statement.

You take in the AC & convert it to a high(ish) ripple DC & then feed that into a SMPS & you get a tightly regulated DC power supply.

For a linear power supply you do exactly the same - You take in the AC & convert it to a high(ish) ripple DC & then feed that into a LPS & you get a tightly regulated DC power supply.

So, if SMPS is a power regenerator then so is the LPS.

A SMPS is a DC-DC converter (& so is the LPS).

When you speak of a power regenerator then you take in the AC from the wall outlet, convert it to DC & convert it back to AC (say, like the PS Audio P300/P600/P1200  power regenerators).

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renan60's avatar
renan60
5 posts
 
I think Benchmark Media can help with their explanation and demonstration of smps advantage against linear power supply.

https://benchmarkmedia.com/blogs/application_notes/152143111-audio-myth-switching-power-supplies-are...
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