best sounding 78XX/79XX drop in Regulator Replacements?

[ThorstenL]

Konnichiwa,

Up to now my take on "fixing up" 78XX/79XX regulators has always been to use LM1085 or LT1085/1033 fixed voltage regs, with suitable re-pinning. Does anyone know any particulary good sounding 7805/7815/7915 et al regualtor series that are a worthwhile upgrade over generic JRC ones?

And no, commercial drop in regulator PCB's like those from Audiocom are not an option here.

Any thoughts and experiences are very welcome.

Sayonara

[Peter Daniel]

It's not exactly that type, but Panasonic AN8005 sounds much better than LM7805 (even from National). It actually sounds better than Elso's discreet regulator in my DAC.

Recently, in ML38 preamp, I replaced 78XX/79XX regulators with low dropout type from National, LM2937ET and LM2990T, and those are much better sounding than the other ones. This was also a recommended upgrade from 38 to 380 version.

All those regulatos come in diffferent voltage ratings as well.

[tiroth]

I made some little boards to allow LT1762 / LT1964 to be used as drop in replacements (only up to 150mA). Pretty nice.

Any interest in trying these out Peter? I could send you a pair whenever the MOX order comes in. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

[Elso Kwak]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel
It's not exactly that type, but Panasonic AN8005 sounds much better than LM7805 (even from National). It actually sounds better than Elso's discreet regulator in my DAC.

Recently, in ML38 preamp, I replaced 78XX/79XX regulators with low dropout type from National, LM2937ET and LM2990T, and those are much better sounding than the other ones. This was also a recommended upgrade from 38 to 380 version.

All those regulatos come in diffferent voltage ratings as well.

Hello Peter, great but these AN8005's are rated 50mA, a bit low on the edge for a TDA1543 drawing 50mA typ. and 60mA max.
Could I buy one or two from you? I have nothing else to order from Digikey.
I presume "AN8005 sounds better" is meant for the TDA1543. It strongly depends on the application which regulator sounds better. For analog stages I am using a Kwak-Super-Regulator but that one is a disaster for the DAC chip....
Kusunoki is using the higher rated Toshiba TA78DL05S for the TDA1543.
I was always confused why Madrigal was using such simple regulators like 78xx....

[Rotellian]

I searched quite a bit for a decent swap and drew a blank. Except for the positive 5v fixed reg the LM323T, which seemed to offer a slightly better sound - cleaner. But this wasnt cheap and only a very slight improvement. Probably not much help.

[Peter Daniel]

Originally posted by tiroth
I made some little boards to allow LT1762 / LT1964 to be used as drop in replacements (only up to 150mA). Pretty nice.

Any interest in trying these out Peter? I could send you a pair whenever the MOX order comes in. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

I would be definitely interested. Thanks for the offer.

Originally posted by Elso Kwak

Hello Peter, great but these AN8005's are rated 50mA, a bit low on the edge for a TDA1543 drawing 50mA typ. and 60mA max.
Could I buy one or two from you? I have nothing else to order from Digikey.
I presume "AN8005 sounds better" is meant for the TDA1543. It strongly depends on the application which regulator sounds better. For analog stages I am using a Kwak-Super-Regulator but that one is a disaster for the DAC chip....
Kusunoki is using the higher rated Toshiba TA78DL05S for the TDA1543.
I was always confused why Madrigal was using such simple regulators like 78xx....

Yes, my observation was with regard to TDA1543 DAC only (as I compared them only there) , although I'm using those regulators in the receiver and input driver as well.

I noticed that Kusunoki is using different regulator on DAC chip, but I tried AN8008 and so far after at least 6 months of constant power on, I didn't experience any problems. It doesn't even get hot, it's only slightly warm. I'm using 8V type and don't exceed 12V at the input. To me that regulator sounds as good as they get and much better than generic 7808 and better than LM7808. Although Guido removes printing from his regulators, I suspect he is using LM type as the case looks exactly the same.

I also like this regulator with a Guido clock. BTW (I'm using Guido clock because I like the small package) I didn't really compared it to your clock.

I have no problem with getting them for you. Just tell me what value you need and ow many. They are so cheap that you don't even have to send me the money

Regardin ML upgrade, those new regulators brought improvement, more open and less compressed sound. I can't really say how much it was due to diodes rplacement and how much regulators changed things. However the biggest improvement came when I installe dnew electrolytics (with smaller capacitance). The sound change drastically and I prefer the preamp in the system now, than feeding amp directly. Pretty strange, huh? But I guess it's true when they say that you actually need a preamp for best sound.

What I'm getting into is that those new regulators (LM2937ET and LM2990T) sound very good in that preamp now, so they are probably worth a try.

[tbla]

The sound change drastically and I prefer the preamp in the system now, than feeding amp directly. Pretty strange, huh? But I guess it's true when they say that you actually need a preamp for best sound.

you need to tell us about the impedances from your source and the input of your amp.....i suspect that the source output impedance is a bit on the high side.........if the system is matched correctly, a TVC is imho pretty hard to beat....

[Peter Daniel]

I didn't say that I compared ML to S&B TVC, I still didn't. It's just that ML preamp is now better than passive attenuator (switching resistors) mounted directly on amp's input RCAs.

The source is TDA1543 with passive I/V (3k resistors used)

[fmak]

Originally posted by tiroth
I made some little boards to allow LT1762 / LT1964 to be used as drop in replacements (only up to 150mA). Pretty nice.

Any interest in trying these out Peter? I could send you a pair whenever the MOX order comes in. I'd be interested to hear your thoughts.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I have been using these on veroboard. Would be interested in buying adaptor boards from you.

Can you post some details?

[Elso Kwak]

Originally posted by Peter Daniel


I would be definitely interested. Thanks for the offer.




Yes, my observation was with regard to TDA1543 DAC only (as I compared them only there) , although I'm using those regulators in the receiver and input driver as well.

I noticed that Kusunoki is using different regulator on DAC chip, but I tried AN8008 and so far after at least 6 months of constant power on, I didn't experience any problems. It doesn't even get hot, it's only slightly warm. I'm using 8V type and don't exceed 12V at the input. To me that regulator sounds as good as they get and much better than generic 7808 and better than LM7808. Although Guido removes printing from his regulators, I suspect he is using LM type as the case looks exactly the same.

I also like this regulator with a Guido clock. BTW (I'm using Guido clock because I like the small package) I didn't really compared it to your clock.

I have no problem with getting them for you. Just tell me what value you need and ow many. They are so cheap that you don't even have to send me the money

Regardin ML upgrade, those new regulators brought improvement, more open and less compressed sound. I can't really say how much it was due to diodes rplacement and how much regulators changed things. However the biggest improvement came when I installe dnew electrolytics (with smaller capacitance). The sound change drastically and I prefer the preamp in the system now, than feeding amp directly. Pretty strange, huh? But I guess it's true when they say that you actually need a preamp for best sound.

What I'm getting into is that those new regulators (LM2937ET and LM2990T) sound very good in that preamp now, so they are probably worth a try.

Hi Peter,
Thanks for the very kind offer. I will you my address. My best guess is Guido is using a LM317 from Onsemi but the Wenzel circuit could change the sound. Can't say what is the best regulator for a clock.....
As you are using the AN8008 for such a long time I am confident it will keep healthy in my DAC.