I don't believe there is something like 'dirty power', not in it's source!
Regular “clean” power enters homes, buildings, and offices at 50-60 Hz. The increased use of electrical power overloads electrical grid base, which distributes the power. Power is “dirty” or polluted when it contains the high frequency signals flowing through overloaded wires, and not just clean 50-60 Hz power.
You better invest in a good power filter conditioner and do not run to many gears at the moment when you run one little board/amplifier and the source of music. Replace inductors for a better ones, or you will never end up modifying
and spending bags of money for fancy caps (that will do nothing to 'clean' the power!) 😉
Good Deal
Here is the pudding proof.
Amazon.com: SMSL SA-36A PRO 2* 20W TPA3118D2DAP Amp Stereo Digital Amplifier + Power Adapter, by Gemini Doctor: Electronics
This is the 3118.
Been listening to it for about 30 minutes in the place of my YJ red 2.0 amp, with a 20vdc smps brick (not the 12v one that came with it). Speakers are my beloved EL70 Microtowers with a very high passed mylar tweeter suck on the back.
First impression is that I can hear significantly more detail with this amp. Possibly a smidgen brighter than the YJ red 2.0, but that may be because I just turned it up louder. I know, bad testing. 😀 I'm also guessing that the smsl 3118 is set at a higher gain than the stock YJ red.
So far I am very happy with this amp. Thanks for calling attention to it, xrk!
Here is the pudding proof.
Amazon.com: SMSL SA-36A PRO 2* 20W TPA3118D2DAP Amp Stereo Digital Amplifier + Power Adapter, by Gemini Doctor: Electronics
This is the 3118.
Been listening to it for about 30 minutes in the place of my YJ red 2.0 amp, with a 20vdc smps brick (not the 12v one that came with it). Speakers are my beloved EL70 Microtowers with a very high passed mylar tweeter suck on the back.
First impression is that I can hear significantly more detail with this amp. Possibly a smidgen brighter than the YJ red 2.0, but that may be because I just turned it up louder. I know, bad testing. 😀 I'm also guessing that the smsl 3118 is set at a higher gain than the stock YJ red.
So far I am very happy with this amp. Thanks for calling attention to it, xrk!
Attachments
Here is the pudding proof.
Amazon.com: SMSL SA-36A PRO 2* 20W TPA3118D2DAP Amp Stereo Digital Amplifier + Power Adapter, by Gemini Doctor: Electronics
This is the 3118.
Been listening to it for about 30 minutes in the place of my YJ red 2.0 amp, with a 20vdc smps brick (not the 12v one that came with it). Speakers are my beloved EL70 Microtowers with a very high passed mylar tweeter suck on the back.
First impression is that I can hear significantly more detail with this amp. Possibly a smidgen brighter than the YJ red 2.0, but that may be because I just turned it up louder. I know, bad testing. 😀 I'm also guessing that the smsl 3118 is set at a higher gain than the stock YJ red.
So far I am very happy with this amp. Thanks for calling attention to it, xrk!
Sweet! It looks like it comes standard with OSCON ultra-low ESR power rail caps even. Very cool - I believe this is the best deal in a hifi TPA31xx out there that probably won't need hardly any modding at all. Glad it is working out for you. I want one now 😀 thanks for the update. Man, Amazon is fast.
Von Ah,
Do you have a YJ blue/black with the latest set of mods like power caps, input caps, bootstrap caps, bootstrap snubber, upgraded inductors, etc.? It would be good to have a listening comparison between a heavily modded blue/black and your SMSL amp. It is like comparing a factory Audi R10 to a backyard V8 hotrod 🙂
Do you have a YJ blue/black with the latest set of mods like power caps, input caps, bootstrap caps, bootstrap snubber, upgraded inductors, etc.? It would be good to have a listening comparison between a heavily modded blue/black and your SMSL amp. It is like comparing a factory Audi R10 to a backyard V8 hotrod 🙂
No V8 crate motor hotrod for me. I just have a stock YJ blue/black (still in plastic wrap) and a stock red 2.0 in a chassis. I have no opportunity for real DIY audio these days. Scraping an hour to take apart the SMSL, take pictures, and post was lucky enough. My car is in the shop so I'm working from home for a couple days. 😀
Not an Audi or a hotrod, but a chic turbo Saab 9-5 Wagon. 😛
Not an Audi or a hotrod, but a chic turbo Saab 9-5 Wagon. 😛
Yesterday I got an idea about removing noise from the output side of the amp. I'am considering encasing the area between the chip and the inductors in a iron powder epoxi resin. I bought the powder(Fe3O4) on ebay and I belive its the same as used in inductors.
My big question is will the iron powder affect the amp in anyway negative?
My big question is will the iron powder affect the amp in anyway negative?
I think the ferrite powder in epoxy may be electrically conductive so you probably want to put a layer of plain epoxy around pins and wires first to cover it before potting the thing in ferrite. The powder is just iron and interacts magnetically. Not sure if it will absorb RF waves. For that you want a faraday cage. Easier to make a PCB with inductors and output on one side and analog inputs on other side with ground plane in between.
So perhaps a sheet of copper over the outputs then? And solder it to the ground on the board?
I have one of the SMSL SA-36A Pro amps too. Those 47uF/25V caps are not Panasonic OSCONs. I installed 330uF/25V Panasonic SEPF OSCONs on my amp.
Those might be the Panasonic hybrid caps. In any case, the OSCONs in place sound better than the stock caps. This is a very nice sounding amp, but I still prefer my modified Yuan Jing TPA3116 blue amp.
Last Saturday, I brought my modified Yuan Jing amp along with my upgraded Astron RS-12A regulated power supply to a friend's home for him to compare it to his 300B Direct Reactance Drive (DRD) SET monoblock amplifiers. We used his EF86 tube line stage and Audio Note CD player with a 12AU7-based tube output stage. His 300B monoblocks sounded really nice with a smooth midrange and defined bass.
When we put the TPA3116 amp in between his line stage amp and his modified Klipsch Forte II's, my friend's jaw dropped as we listened to Dead Can Dance's "Spiritchaser", Patricia Barber's "Café Blue" and Stravinski's "The Firebird Suite" and Rimsky-Korsakov's "Scheherazade" performed by Myung-Whun Chung and the Orchestre De L'Opera Bastille (Deutsche Grampohone Virtuoso). On the last two pieces, the recording venue acoustics came through clearly along with very subtle details and musician interplay. We actually clapped at the end of the recording as if we were at a real concert, the sound was that convincing.
Needless to say, my friend asked me if he could keep the TPA3116 amp for a couple weeks as he was so impressed with it. Even his wife remarked how good the sound was. In a couple weeks, I will have some friends over for an audio get together and we'll hook up this amp and my Enhanced Fixed Bias (EFB) modified Dynakit Stereo 35 tube amp to my turntable and Audio Research phono stage and line stage amps for some more audio fun.
Interestingly, I haven't felt a need to do any more modifications to the amp. I am very pleased with how it performs in its current state.
- 330uF/25V Panasonic SEPF OSCON caps
- 220nF/250V TDK multi-later ceramic caps
- 10uH Coilcraft SR2915L-103KL inductors
Rhing,
Thanks for the nice account of your listening session at your friend's place. When they ask to keep the amp for a few weeks, it means it is really good. 😀
Nicely done!
Thanks for the nice account of your listening session at your friend's place. When they ask to keep the amp for a few weeks, it means it is really good. 😀
Nicely done!
I can report a similar experience. In my setup the modded YJ board (different 1uF input caps/ 1000uF Silmic II/ Kemet 220nF bootstraps/ CC inductors like in rhing's case) with Meanwell PS at 25V was pitched against a Transcendent Sound 80W OTL with the same company's GG preamp. Source: curryman-dac/PSU with WaveIO feed from Linux.
The result: I am still picking up my jaw. Compared to the OTLs the YJ is like a thoroughly cleaned (!) window wjich means more details of a recording are coming through - or exampe in Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain (1st track) I noticed some very soft brushes on the drum set for the very first time - and, contrary to my expectation, there doesn't seem to be any harshness/ringing. Speakers are currently Tannoy Arden - and those can be a bit shouty if driven poorly.
Next it'll be interesting to hear:
What's going to happen with Lundal input transformers?
And how will the setup sound in the longer run? - After all flaws (unless very obvious) often only reveal themselves after some time.
Anyway, so far - so good!
The result: I am still picking up my jaw. Compared to the OTLs the YJ is like a thoroughly cleaned (!) window wjich means more details of a recording are coming through - or exampe in Miles Davis' Sketches of Spain (1st track) I noticed some very soft brushes on the drum set for the very first time - and, contrary to my expectation, there doesn't seem to be any harshness/ringing. Speakers are currently Tannoy Arden - and those can be a bit shouty if driven poorly.
Next it'll be interesting to hear:
What's going to happen with Lundal input transformers?
And how will the setup sound in the longer run? - After all flaws (unless very obvious) often only reveal themselves after some time.
Anyway, so far - so good!
That is very good to hear. 🙂 I have always wanted to play a prank by taking a big beefy metal case with fins like those used on class A amps, and putting the tiny TPA3116D2 (fully-hopped up version, of course) and adding some resistive heaters to keep the external cooling fins nice and warm. Bring it to your favorite audiophile for a showdown and then see their jaw drop a second time when you remove the cover to reveal. 😀
Here is the pudding proof.
Amazon.com: SMSL SA-36A PRO 2* 20W TPA3118D2DAP Amp Stereo Digital Amplifier + Power Adapter, by Gemini Doctor: Electronics
This is the 3118.
Good For You Von! Glad you got the TPA
Amazon.com: SMSL SA-36A PRO 2* 20W TPA3118D2DAP Amp Stereo Digital Amplifier + Power Adapter, by Gemini Doctor: Electronics
This is the 3118.
Good For You Von! Glad you got the TPA
This 3118 amp is definitely performing better than the stock YJ Red 2.0 3116. I highly recommend this as a ready-to-go option.
Well, I've done that a couple of weeks ago. About 10 audiophiles where visiting and I had my 300b fired up, together with my 6SN7 pre. What nobody knew, was that the 300b's where not playing, but the TPA3116D2 hidden somewhere.
At the end, I off course told them and everybody was really surprised.
I would not go that far, that the TPA plays nicer that my 300b's, but it comes close.