some month ago we compared on my 108 db/w horns, and agreed the difference was minor and a little leaner overall character of SMPS, the horns presenting a eeeeasy load, and we never used more than 1 watt from the nCore for obvious reasons ;0)
2 weeks ago we did a comparison on some 91 db/w difficult and down to 2 Ohms impedance, this made the SMPS take the lead in every aspect and really made the nCore shine, faster, cleaner more control of the speakers and more dynamic, a match made in heaven, or by Bruno.
P:S: the "normal" PS is absolute top class
my ncore (only 2 channel) never got anywhere near warm, lukewarm at most.
I know ds23man has made a hypex standby print which will supply the 9V to the SMPS standby pins, and has a relay to switch the ampon at the same time. he set it up that it will work with both pushbutton or a switch
Well, a class A amp that could output 400 W per channel would heat up your house pretty nicely. But even with 93% efficiency (a remarkable number compared to a linear amp) you will still be dissipating 30 W per amp at full power. Add the power supply losses to that, and you realize 3 or more amps in one box will still produce a bit of heat.
The idle power of one amp is specified at 5W, and the same goes for the SMPS, so if you have even 2 nc400's and 2 SMPS's in one enclosure, you will have to dissipate 20 W at idle.
Compare that to what a 2 x 400 W analog amp would burn...
Don't take this the wrong way, but this is all based on basic stuff from the hypex data sheets. If you want to build a career on the Hypex products, I would suggest partnering up with somebody with a solid technical background.
Class-D amps are very efficient at full power, but their idle consumption can be suprisingly high. The switching signal is still running at 50% duty cycle at idle, and in a high power amp, the switching losses in the MOSFETs and the filter inductors are still there. If the output bridge been set for a low dead-time (to improve distortion), the losses may be higher still.
Considering all the stuff that is connected in parallel with your power mains (dishwashers, microwave ovens, power drills, light dimmers, computer SMPS's and you name it), I would be somewhat surprised if adding a small transformer would make any difference
The small DC supply robbbby linked to should do it, possibly coupled to a small relay if your power switch isn't AC level.
Is there a post where he shows how he did it? i'm a bit curious. Where did he get the 9V from?
don't kn he also posted it here, but on the Dutch DIY forum there is a thread: forum.zelfbouwaudio.nl • Toon onderwerp - Hypex standby stuurprint and a groupbuy forum.zelfbouwaudio.nl • Inloggen
on the print there is a small trafo
An externally hosted image should be here but it was not working when we last tested it.
O.K. thanks! I think I won't do the test with linear supply as I use 85 db/w @ 4 Ohms Magnepans. If there will be a difference in favour of the linear supply, it will be minor.
I am still quite speachless on the fact that the NCores in my system will show every small difference in the source for example. So no real need for upgrade.
oh wow, all done in a nice pcb. i'd definitely be interested in purchasing 2 of those rather than using my hack together method. Is he a poster here?
That's a pity - I would have loved to see that piece of audiophile folklore/mythology put to rest...
For me no "folklore/mythology" just listening with my own ears! But as I already mentioned before, there isn't much for me to wish for, so I'll leave my NCore mono's as they are for now. As long as they display EVERY (even the smallest) change I make to my source (DAC) they can't be that bad...
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