LM2596 Regulators

Hi Guys
Was wondering if anyone have actually tried this for your audio
projects. Bought a couple ready made at dirt cheap price to play
with. Since voltage is adjustable would it be a good idea to use
it as a preceeding stage to a linear reg. My thinking is that noise
might be lower then with single stage of regulation but with no
scope don't really know if the Lm regulators are really low noise

Thanks
 
Well, two years later I happen to come across your post.


I was worried but nevertheless decided to experiment with one of those cheap step-down buck converters (LM2596) to feed a Cmoy headphone amp. And an old laptop power supply of 20V DC.






I hear no noise. Surprisingly, I hear no difference when I switch to a battery. It may be me but everything sounds ok.


Also there is no power on/off thump at all.



😕
 
That is very interesting, thanks.


Unfortunately I do not have a scope to check the switching frequency but I would expect a lot of rubbish in the audio signal of a fake 50Khz switching counterfeit. Unless it is a MP1584 which seem to switch at up to 1.5Mhz. I am ok with that.


I got mine for $2.54. I tried to magnify the one that I have:

but I must assume this also has a fake LM2596. Although most messages about these counterfeit converters are from a few years ago.
I will probably remove it to be sure.
 
Here we are 2 years later, and E-bay and Amazon still have them for almost nothing. As just the chip from Mouser is over $4, I suspect the 3 boards for $8 to still be crap.

But, maybe a cheap way to get the board and other components, just put in a real chip?
 
It's an adventure, buying stuff from China.
However, I still use these cheap modules being careful not to overstress them.
And use a fuse and PTC, switching the amplifier off when finished listening. ymmv.
 
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That's your choice, right?

I don't worry about getting counterfeit or "back door failed" parts from LCSC. That junk ends up on aliexpress and ebay. Huaguan Semicon isn't making counterfeit parts that say ONsemi. They make their own that say HGC.

So far I've made 5 parts orders for a total of thousands of parts from them - all worked and tested within spec. Their selection isn't as good, but they do have a lot of parts/brands.

Has anyone used an LM2596 to regulate 300V from 320V?
 
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I take that as a good reference. Not many other parts on my list though. Need a couple LT1085's and looks like I should reconsider my "generic" diodes. Old habit, 1N4004, 1N5408 etc. Though in Spice at least, the old school rectifiers produce less total ripple than the fast or Schottky. Surprising the "protection" diodes across a 3-terminal regulator do actually effect the noise so Schottky for that.
 
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