Not comfortable sharing your views on SMPS for audio?
I think Sennheiser used it in their amplifier (by the looks of it), and it sounds pretty good, though definently not top shelf.
My views don't really matter that much as they are just my opinions based on what I value to be true.
Personally I have NO problems with using SMPS in audio equipment and no reservations about using linear power supplies.... as long as the circuits they feed are well designed and take these things into account.
PCB design becomes more important when using SMPS though.
This doesn't mean PCB/layout/grounding isn't important when designing stuff with linear power supplies, as chances are that linear stuff may well be connected
to other gear that is connected via SMPS OR SMPS stuff (TV, monitors, computers,DVD players, mediaplayers and whatnot) that is connected to the same mains.
If transistor needs to pass Mhz signal along with audio, isn't it just the kind of source for nonlinear distortion (influencing transistor work)?
Most transistors work well >100Mhz.
An audio circuit, however, doesn't really have to do anything >1MHz.
I would argue not even >100kHz so I see no reason to limit the BW of incoming signals above those frequencies and thus preventing amplification of those signals.
IF those signals are there anyway they come from poorly (or not) filtered DAC circuits such as NOS DAC's, NOT via mains through smoothing caps, regulators and local decoupling as these are common mode.
The amplitudes of these signals usually are very small to begin with.
The smaller a signal is the less it is affected by non-linearities of active components as for small signals the gain is quite linear.
I meant the kind of hard to measure why there is no hard proof (yet) why say Ragnarok is better amplifier than some (even very good) opamp based design. Also tube amps doesn't measure very good, etc.
It has been discussed elswhere, but measurement techniques for audio are lacking, i have gathered this is reasonably accepted view here.
Yes, it is a widely accepted view here by most pirates... but lets just say not by everyone...
I am convinced the discrepancy between subjective found 'sound' and measurements is NOT caused my insufficient measuring techniques but most pirates are convinced of quite the opposite, doesn't make either viewpoint more true.
That is when it comes to amplification and other aspects in the purely electrical/time domain.
As soon as electromechanical conversion is involved then measurement, recording and reproduction techniques are severely limited and incompetent.
A LOT of subjectively found 'good' tube amps indeed don't measure that well when compared to some other amps that may or may not be SS.
It is quite possible to make fairly wideband, very low distortion tube amps that measure well and sound well though, one doesn't exclude the other and it may measure well yet be perceived as less well sounding.
It is also quite possible
to design well measuring and good sounding SS amps or well measuring yet perceived as bad sounding amps, here too one doesn't exclude the other.
Also quite possible to make SS amplifiers that sound great but measure poorly, here too, one doesn't exclude the other..
There is no obvious relation between measurements and perceived sound, but some measurements can indicate bad signal fidelity of waveforms, yet that poor fidelity, in an electrical sense, may not be perceived as bad sounding by every one, in fact it may even be the opposite (vinyl vs digital type of thing).
Of course so many people, so many opinions and so many views.
To stay on topic, if someone hears improvement on some power cable (without placebo effect) it is because flawed electronics design?
I don't think if someone hears improvements with power cables that in that case electronics are flawed.
All one can do is take the persons word for it that it wasn't placebo as there is never any 'electrical hard evidence' just opinions that may be shared by others.
Some are prepared to take the observants word for truth, others may not be inclined to do so.
To me the real question is HOW was the placebo/confirmation bias/perception effect eliminated from that 'test' and was that 'placebo-elimination technique' sufficient to completely rule out ALL of the possible 'traps' before blaming perceieved differences on the 'electric' side ?