It can, not because some audiophile magic, but lumped elements of the cables (it is a switching power supply): measure the PSU rails with the two cables.
Logic, SMPS are high frequency switching: consumes big transient currents that little wires can reduce by their resistances.
I suppose your SMPS is not regulated, so you should have higher voltages rails with the big diameter wire.
That is the unique reason why some snake oil audiophile vendors, playing with such differences, sell out-priced magic cables "adding transparency".
I suppose your SMPS is not regulated, so you should have higher voltages rails with the big diameter wire.
That is the unique reason why some snake oil audiophile vendors, playing with such differences, sell out-priced magic cables "adding transparency".
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Of course, -but first you need to double blind test it -level matching is essential here
Bad humor aside, what you experience could be a case of bad matching between the electrical parameters of the new power cord and your smps, where the new cable's capacitance and inductance (not so much the resistance) produce a larger amount of apparent power due to larger amounts of reactive power (power flows that does no work) compared to the real power (the power that does the work)...
from wiki:
"Practical loads have resistance, inductance, and capacitance, so both real and reactive power will flow to real loads. Power engineers measure apparent power as the magnitude of the vector sum of real and reactive power. Apparent power is the product of the root-mean-square of voltage and current.
Engineers care about apparent power, because even though the current associated with reactive power does no work at the load, it heats the wires, wasting energy. Conductors, transformers and generators must be sized to carry the total current, not just the current that does useful work.
[...]
The portion of power flow remaining, after being averaged over a complete AC waveform, is the real power; that is, energy that can be used to do work (for example overcome friction in a motor, or heat an element). On the other hand, the portion of power flow that is temporarily stored in the form of magnetic or electric fields, due to inductive and capacitive network elements, and then returned to source, is known as reactive power."
I don't think you should experience higher voltages in your smps, and that it should be the cause of the phenomena... After all a few meters of cable between the wall socket and the amp probably don't affects the amp that much concerning the added resistance of the cable. Rather it is likely due to extra inductance and/or capacitance of that cable. Lower resistance of the 8AWG might reduce the damping of the wasteful reactive power flows a bit, but I'd guess that the main cause is related to having these reactive power flows in the first place....
I'd probably stay clear of that new power cord if the temperature rise is significant. Not a health-sign...
best,
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Are any of you guys good with electronics? I've been trying to put together this standby circuit for the ncore but am not having much success and i'm not all that proficient with electronics.
So I bought a AC to DC converter. 80-250VAC input, 9VDC out.
Here is a screenshot of the manufacturer PDF and how they suggest you hook it up.
I have it hooked up like figure 1. I have a resistor instead of NTC, all the exact caps everywhere they recommend, but every time I turn the amp on, the fuse on my 120VAC main line blows, and i'm also using 1amp fuses instead of the 0.5 they recommend. I just cannot for the life of me figure out the problem. I have tested for shorts on the primary side of the rectifier/transformer and there is nothing. Does their diagram look like it should work? All I am trying to do with the 9V is power a led and the smps standby, there is no way that is drawing more than 1amp on the 120VAC side.
So I bought a AC to DC converter. 80-250VAC input, 9VDC out.
Here is a screenshot of the manufacturer PDF and how they suggest you hook it up.
I have it hooked up like figure 1. I have a resistor instead of NTC, all the exact caps everywhere they recommend, but every time I turn the amp on, the fuse on my 120VAC main line blows, and i'm also using 1amp fuses instead of the 0.5 they recommend. I just cannot for the life of me figure out the problem. I have tested for shorts on the primary side of the rectifier/transformer and there is nothing. Does their diagram look like it should work? All I am trying to do with the 9V is power a led and the smps standby, there is no way that is drawing more than 1amp on the 120VAC side.
Thought I had checked polarity of my electrolytic caps at least a dozen times before putting them in place but I obviously did not check well enough. Polarity on C3 was reversed which I quickly figured out after bypassing the fuse. Grabbed a new capped and installed it properly, now all is working well. Though now i'm short a cap for my other amp lol.
Ah, welcome to the exciting and spectacular world of Exploding Electrolytics
Fortunately the "wrong polarity" events tend to be less violent than the "overvoltage" ones.
I once had one go off in my face, after having already unplugged the power, as I was carrying the circuit board back to my lab desk...
I'm looking to build Nc400 and smps600 mono's. I'd like to keep the RFI/EMI as low as possible with using a sealed enclosure/s.
1. Does the Nc400 produce RFI itself. OR is it just the switching nature of the smps600 that does?
2. Would it be beneficial to isolate the smps600 in it's own enclosure? I've seen some mono's like Belcanto with separate power supply chassis.
Excited about the build!
1. Does the Nc400 produce RFI itself. OR is it just the switching nature of the smps600 that does?
2. Would it be beneficial to isolate the smps600 in it's own enclosure? I've seen some mono's like Belcanto with separate power supply chassis.
Excited about the build!
For me, it's hard to see the benefit of isolating the SMPS600 power supply if you're concerned about noise. In my setup, with the SMPS600 merely an inch or so away from the NC400, I cannot hear the slightest noise with the input shorted. It's dead silent with my ear pressed to the tweeter. Not sure why any additional isolation would be required. It may be "best practice" and useful for other designs; but seems superfluous here. My interconnects probably pick up 1000 times the noise that is produced by the SMPS600+NC400. Just my two cents--of course you're welcome to do whatever you want.
M-DAC is very good sounding DAC and preamp. However, apparently it outputs some HF artifacts.The M-DAC designer suggested to use input filter with 30khz cut-of frequency. He also said that there has been some problems with UCD modules in the past locking into HF freqs coming from a DAC, since the HF artifacts were too close to the pwm freq of the amp, which of course caused unwanted effects. He did not have much knowledge of nCore tho.
True or not, I had the parts ready, so I am giving it a try. So far, i am liking the mod. But time will tell...
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That...
sounds like a really strong filter though? With a corner frequency around 27K, of course, shallow slope...
Please let us know what your subjective observations of the differences are. I would also like to hear from anyone who has coupled the input of the nC400s with a good transformer. I have heard people often mention how some class D amplifiers are very sensitive to RF on their inputs. Considering the high input impedance of the module, a really good transformer at its input would have little downside, and if the nC400 is sensitive to HF hash, a transformer could be a good a thing.
sounds like a really strong filter though? With a corner frequency around 27K, of course, shallow slope...
Please let us know what your subjective observations of the differences are. I would also like to hear from anyone who has coupled the input of the nC400s with a good transformer. I have heard people often mention how some class D amplifiers are very sensitive to RF on their inputs. Considering the high input impedance of the module, a really good transformer at its input would have little downside, and if the nC400 is sensitive to HF hash, a transformer could be a good a thing.
Oh man, i'm going crazy, I don't even know how/where to start toubleshooting so i'm hoping you guys may be able to help me out.
Just tonight while listening to some music, my left channel cut out for a second, and then again. It started doing it quite regularly and at random. Sometimes it would just kick out for a half second, other times up to 4-5 seconds.
I have no idea if it is my dac pre or amp. Is there some way to measure voltage at the input to see if it is dropping before the amp or will putting a meter on the inputs shorts the inputs?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Just tonight while listening to some music, my left channel cut out for a second, and then again. It started doing it quite regularly and at random. Sometimes it would just kick out for a half second, other times up to 4-5 seconds.
I have no idea if it is my dac pre or amp. Is there some way to measure voltage at the input to see if it is dropping before the amp or will putting a meter on the inputs shorts the inputs?
Any advice would be much appreciated.
Put some caps in series with the inputs of the Ncore to rule out a dc problem from the preceding stage.
I use a AN DAC 4.1X to "drive" my NCores, so I have (really) good Transormers at the input of the NCores. The AN DAC is completely filterless and therefore puts out quite a bit of "high frequency rubbish", but I NEVER had any issues with my NCore's. They just play the music.
NCore Trouble shooting.
From the sounds of it, your power supply is or has gone bad. On the extreme side your speakers are dipping below 1 ohm or have a short.
1. Make sure all the cables are pushed in tight. Especially the control cable.
2. use clips or probes to monitor each of the voltages going to the Nc400 from the power supply. You can poke the probe into the top of the power supply socket to it will stay there and you can watch the voltage. Make sure to check the correct settings are on your meter. Do not measure the current across anything as this will short the voltages. For now you are not concerned about current.
2 - an alternative. Swap the power supply from the other channel to see if it travels. If it does, then it is the power supply. If it does not, then amp or speaker. Swap speaker - just in case. Then swap amp. Once you find it, if it is the NC400 or power supply, Hypex will help you out next.
Good luck Mr. Phelps.
From the sounds of it, your power supply is or has gone bad. On the extreme side your speakers are dipping below 1 ohm or have a short.
1. Make sure all the cables are pushed in tight. Especially the control cable.
2. use clips or probes to monitor each of the voltages going to the Nc400 from the power supply. You can poke the probe into the top of the power supply socket to it will stay there and you can watch the voltage. Make sure to check the correct settings are on your meter. Do not measure the current across anything as this will short the voltages. For now you are not concerned about current.
2 - an alternative. Swap the power supply from the other channel to see if it travels. If it does, then it is the power supply. If it does not, then amp or speaker. Swap speaker - just in case. Then swap amp. Once you find it, if it is the NC400 or power supply, Hypex will help you out next.
Good luck Mr. Phelps.
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