Dear @orpheus10 : I live in México and I noted nothing about in these times. I own nothing at the level of @mikelavigne system power generator but a humble dedicated power line fully regulated with noise filters ( -100db. ) and my electronic designs are fully regulated input to output.
Anyway, the quality of AC makes a difference and exist different alternatives to deal with.
Btw, battery power supply for electronics is more marketing that true real advantage because battery power supply has its own problems and even needs capacitance and the like.
Problem is that electronics power supplys are not designed in the rigth and " perfect " way but when we have a good ( really good ) design is shows up its superiority to a battery one. It’s not an easy task to design a normal power supply as we can think.
A good example of a power supply was and is the one designed for the Levinson Reference 33 that even generates its own signal. No battery design can beats it and certainly no battery supply can gives us more dynamic than a good power supply design. One of the best electronic power supply designers I know is D.Reich founder of Classë Audio. Design and execution to that power supply is the name of the game and believe me there are only a few designers that are up to the task. State of the art power supply are only a few and are really state of the art and are so good that a battery can’t compete on noise levels.
The other issue is that transistors or tubes are not looking for battery power supply: marketing that's all.
We make those tests with our self designed and manufactured phonolinepreamp that even today competes with Dartzeel, CH or any other SS units.
Regards and enjoy the MUSIC NOT DISTORTIONS,
R. |
The "jivest" power supply is on the computer. I tried to figure out a way to improve that, but there just isn't enough room, can't be done.
That power supply has been improved by the improved incoming AC. I also down-load my LP's to hard drive. in this process, there is a "wall wart" to that device which has been improved by the cleaner AC.
I'm down-loading identical LP's with the same equipment I used before and getting big improvements on the new playback. When you think about all the industrial equipment; such as high voltage electric welders that can cause an instant drain on your grid, which would result in a blip on your AC line, that are now silent, you can begin to understand how your AC is better. It's only when all this noise is gone can you tell the difference.
When I referred to the Jacintha CD and the Dinah Washington LP, I was comparing the totally noiseless black background on both, and the "holographic" effect that's usually reserved for the upgraded analog and not the CD, but I had that on both CD and LP.
I could think of a lot better ways to spend my time than to down-load the same identical LP's with the same identical equipment, if I wasn't getting a remarkable improvement.
Think about it, those who can afford it got a low level power conditioner, a high level power conditioner, and another one specifically for the computer. Now that the AC from the wall is improved, you have them all from the wall.
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@orpheus10 The Nature article linked above points out this:
"A noise reduction of this magnitude is usually only experienced briefly around Christmas, says Thomas Lecocq, a seismologist the Royal Observatory of Belgium in Brussels,"
I’d expect other widely observed and region specific religious and secular holidays to track or exhibit similar patterns. |
Battery power is the best.
I first wrote about this in March; that means your rig was improved at that time, by now you've gotten accustomed to the improvements.
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This subject has been talked about many times in the past.
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Why are many of the most expensive preamps 2 box units? Do they have two boxes just to impress you? Of course not, they have one box exclusively devoted to turning AC into DC for the signal section.
i have 2 preamps. my darTZeel pre has a main chassis, and a power unit; the power unit is really a charger since it's battery powered. my CS Port phono is also battery powered. so A/C power is bypassed for all my pre-amp functions. turns out that battery power has advantages for low noise AND dynamics. |
This occurred with absolutely no change in anything else. You are begging the question. You're assuming your conclusion from the posited variables in the hypothesis. Maybe the recordings are the same but you are getting more rest. Maybe the recordings are the same but an unknown variable is at play. Maybe they are different because the AC voltage was higher then. The point is that you are trying to make some sort of theory without enough evidence. |
Thank you David, you are also one of the few who know why the high end is so high, and why the word "Minutiae" is so big.
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Why are many of the most expensive preamps 2 box units? Do they have two boxes just to impress you? Of course not, they have one box exclusively devoted to turning AC into DC for the signal section.
Why do those who understand these things pay so much for capacitors that are involved in turning AC into DC? Audiophiles who don't even know Ohms Law, have observed that their rigs sounded the very best at times like "New Years Eve" night.
While your rig is sounding better, there are a number of reasons you haven't noticed this. My neighborhood is not the only one on "lock-down"; this is fairly universal.
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It’s an interesting theory and might even be true in some cases but like a lot that goes into being an “audiophile” that is all it is.
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Quite possibly, the only people who can tell this difference is those
of us who recorded music before this COVID 19 thing and know what before
and after sound like.
You said you cannot hear the difference between Jacintha on CD and Dinah Washington on LP. I would want to change the subject as well. All the same, you did. Awful hard to take your word on how anything sounds until we clear that one up. |
@orpheus10 Improvements in air quality ( / a reduction in airborne particulates) and a reduction in seismic activity were also widely reported and studied. I would expect transmission of radio frequencies (etc.) to have also dropped during the lockdown, especially due to the cessation of business based activity. If you are under flight paths, then airborne resonances as well. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-00965-x (this one re. seismic activity) |
On the serious side of this equation, I was listening to some recordings I had made on reel long before this COVID 19 thing, and compared them to some recent recording using the same identical records and equipment, and I noticed the recent recordings were more musical in every way.
This occurred with absolutely no change in anything else. Stop and think, all audio equipment has to change AC to DC, and if the AC is better today than it was before, "All" of your audio will be better. Quite possibly, the only people who can tell this difference is those of us who recorded music before this COVID 19 thing and know what before and after sound like.
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HI,
Some thoughts are that rhese are completely different recordings and its not a fair comparison.
Even on a perfect day digital and analogue should have some differences.
Is there any possibility that normally you have some DC enteting your system and Nowdays this has vanished so things are more clear?
Last one have you tried something else than Teles?
Propably silly thoughts but still.
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Since audio equipment is dependent on AC that must be turned to DC in order to operate, the quality of the AC is a very important factor.
Many "observant" people have noticed that on holidays, and late night their rigs sounded better. They observed this without giving any qualifying reason. However, those of us who understand that AC has to be turned into DC for audio equipment, know that the only variable, if all else is constant, is the AC that you plug into.
At no time in the history of this country have so many commercial activities been shut down at one time. If anyone can think of another time this has occurred, please share it with me.
Personally, I think this "lock-down", plus recent news events have affected some of us very adversely, and we have become totally hostile, but I understand, it's OK to feel hostile during these trying times.
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Millercarbon, it’s primarily commercial activity that causes wild AC. What exactly is "wild AC"? Born Free wild? Into the Wild wild? Wild child wild? Please explain. I’m thinking AC being turned to DC for audio equipment, and I know exactly how it works. Really? Do tell. Seriously. Interested to hear. On the edge of my chair. Leaning forward. Since you’re comparing it to purifying water, maybe you’re the one who doesn’t know how it works. Actually I said that is the way you’re thinking of it. Which you are. Otherwise you’d understand.
Since when do power cords purify AC?
Since when did I say that’s what they do? As usual Millercarbon, you’re getting totally ludicrous. I see. So you made the comparisons and heard something different? No. You’re just trying to deride an idea you don’t understand without taking even five minutes to try and see if its true. Now who’s being ludicrous? |
Nobody has any evidence the power is any different than before so it’s all speculation.
Of course some will claim to know just because. |
Millercarbon, it's primarily commercial activity that causes wild AC. I'm thinking AC being turned to DC for audio equipment, and I know exactly how it works. Since you're comparing it to purifying water, maybe you're the one who doesn't know how it works.
Since when do power cords purify AC?
As usual Millercarbon, you're getting totally ludicrous.
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What may surprise you, is the fact that I attribute these outstanding results from the "lock-down" which has given us the quietest "grid" ever in history. That means those of us with lesser means have the same AC power as the richest who can afford expensive AC power "clean uppers". Nothing here surprises me any more. And no, it doesn’t work like that. You’re thinking power is like water, and we who have the better purifiers drink perfectly pure water- but now everyone’s water is pure the filters are of no benefit. Does not work like that. But hey, don’t take my word for it. If you’re right then the power is clean and nothing now can make it any better. So power cords and conditioners can’t do anything. So get some and see. You will find they all work exactly as before, improve everything just as much as before, only now starting from a higher base. Or try this one. If the power is so clean it can’t get any better then flip off your circuit breakers and listen again. The massive improvement you are hearing is telling you there is plenty of room for improvement even now. Oh and the comparison that started this whole thing? What you said, you listened to one recording on CD, then you listened to another completely different recording on LP. Not even the same singer! Yet they sounded just the same. If you really did listen to Jacintha and Dinah Washington and "couldn’t tell the two apart" we really do have to wonder: ear wax build up? |
agree with @noromance i have an Equi=tech 10WQ 10kva balanced whole system power regenerator. https://www.equitech.com/products/wall/wall.html so my power is not time of day or outside noise dependent. but it does not make solid state sound like tubes, or push digital to sound like vinyl. i know that Jacintha recording on vinyl and digital and agree that digital is very good, and that the digital is more like the vinyl, as is typical for Groove Note, but not sure the Diana Washington one you refer to. OTOH individual system changes, such as making tubes or solid state (or digital or vinyl) better from time of day or power grid activity are real, but are anecdotal and cannot be applied generally. if you are seeking a general viewpoint, it’s more that lower noise power is better for sound. but where and to what degree it affects things would be dependent on lots of things. it is helpful to know which power supplies in your system are most impacted by power grid noise. and there is useful information in that discovery by you. it may allow you to treat that piece of gear specifically for your best ROI going forward. so at minimal investment you can get as close to 'COVID-19' lower noise as possible, all the time. |
What may surprise you, is the fact that I attribute these outstanding results from the COVID 19 "lock-down" which has given us the quietest "grid" ever in history. It’s not surprising that you attribute an improvement to something but it hardly makes it a fact. How do you know the grid is the quietest in history? Could it be in fact worse as everyone is inside all day? That means those of us with lesser means have the same AC power as the richest who can afford expensive AC power "clean uppers". This is not true. Instead of saying "the richest," assume those who are willing to spend more. A ’cleaner grid’ is not the same as redenerated AC. You cannot assume everyone is getting a quieter grid. Could it be that the dominant factor when comparing tube and SS when they both are of comparable quality is "The quality of the AC"? Clean AC is critical. All things being equal on the power end, it’s still likely that differences in the design and implementation of either topology is more responsible than the quality of the AC. |
While I was thinking "Tube versus SS" it should be "Analog versus Digital".
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