TPA3116D2 Amp

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#6,102
My point is the 3116 sounds noticeably better at 24v vs 13.8v.
Case in point. I have one hd song that distorts with a very clean upgraded 13.8v linear power supply. But when I play it with the 24v switching psu It sounds amazing, with no distortion as it should. The 3116 prefers higher voltages imo.
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I just found this out for myself. I am getting distortion with my 13.8v Astron power supply at loud but not excessive volumes. You can really hear it with sustained horn and woodwind notes. I just tried the same songs with a 19v laptop brick (all I have at the moment) and the distortion disappears. So there is something to this, and I guess I should have listened to people earlier in this thread who said 19-22 volts is the sweet spot. I guess some who are using nice 13.8v power supplies have really efficient speakers, so maybe it doesn't come into play for them. My speakers are 95db.

However, though there is more distortion, the bottom end and soundstaging is much better with the Astron. So unless someone can recommend a PS in the 19-24volt range that has the best of the Astron but without the distortion, I may have to move back to my Marantz integrated😡
 
#6,103
It works!
 

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#6,106
Les H said:
WLX vs. SMSL amps

Thanks to the efficiency of the EPacket program from the China and U.S. Post Offices, I quickly received the Breeze Audio 3116 amp based on the WLX board. So I have been able to compare it to the SMSL SA-60 amp I already have on hand (a built amp based on the 3116).

As I've written here, I've been extremely impressed with the sound quality of the SMSL SA-60. Within its power limits (which are not always enough for hard-to-drive speakers), the SA-60 has qualities that I normally hear in high quality tube amps, including a naturalness in harmonic structure, excellent imaging, and a highly musical presentation. In addition, it has better control of the speaker than most tube amps, resulting in excellent transients and bass.

The SA-60 is the only 3116 amp I've heard up until this point, until the WLX-based amp arrived.

The WLX-based Breeze amp is not at all in the same league as the SMSL amp. It is not as good to my ears. It suffers from hardness and brashness in its overall character (noise contamination?), slowness in transient response, lack of bass, limited dynamics, and an overall less than natural musical character. Reviewing comments on this forum about the WLX board, it appears to be an incomplete implementation of the TI evaluation board for the 3116, lacking in particular parts that help limit noise contamination of the audio signal from the high frequency switching components. It probably also has a standard inexpensive pot in the audio path, that likely also limits the quality of the audio signal, which I plan to remove.

So my thought now is to mod the WLX board to see if it can be brought up to the level of the SMSL amp. I'll post again when that's done.


Sure has told me that they plan to come out with their own built amp, scheduled for January 2015. That should be an interesting comparison with the SMSL amp.

The great thing about these 3116 amps is that they are reasonably priced so that it's easy to purchase and compare them without a big loss if they are below par or some unfortunate fatal accident befalls them during the modding process.

My one reservation about the SMSL amp remains - that if used as a basic amp rather than an integrated amp, the automatic volume control reset function interferes, because upon each turn off the volume is reset to a very low level and must be manually turned up again for use. As good an idea as this may be for use as an integrated amp to protect one's speakers and ears, it makes it difficult to use several of these amps in a multichannel system.
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Les,

Thank you for the info. I almost order the WLX amp. Luckily, my brother forwarded some of the reviews from people who bought this amp on TB (in China) and similar noise issue was reported.

Regards,
 
#6,111
Doctor J said:
I just found this out for myself. I am getting distortion with my 13.8v Astron power supply at loud but not excessive volumes. You can really hear it with sustained horn and woodwind notes. I just tried the same songs with a 19v laptop brick (all I have at the moment) and the distortion disappears. So there is something to this, and I guess I should have listened to people earlier in this thread who said 19-22 volts is the sweet spot. I guess some who are using nice 13.8v power supplies have really efficient speakers, so maybe it doesn't come into play for them. My speakers are 95db.

However, though there is more distortion, the bottom end and soundstaging is much better with the Astron. So unless someone can recommend a PS in the 19-24volt range that has the best of the Astron but without the distortion, I may have to move back to my Marantz integrated😡
Click to expand...

***
Try a sealed lead acid battery at 18v nominal (actually 19.4v when fully charged). Hook up three 6v batteries in series. Fuse each battery for safety.

The best of both worlds soundwise.

The only downside is having to keep the battery charged.
 
#6,113
Hi there!
I bought a Yuang Jing 2.1 board (2x TPA3123D2).
The satellites are working fine but the sub output behave weirdly.
It will go in protection if the volume output is raised (above 15W input power). I have checked the chip-soldering they seems allright.
Should I check something else? What's weird, is that it quite work well under these 15W. but as soon as I go up to this it will shut down/reset while emitting this little "pop" sound and restart again.. to shut to shut down again...etc
This behaviour is only for the sub channel. the other works perfectly well.
I would really like to get this sorted 🙂 any hints?
cheers,
H.
 
#6,114
Doctor J said:
When or at what voltage level do you charge again? In theory, you could let it run down quite a bit, right? I have a nice 12v 5a SLA lying around. Should I just get a 6v and use the two together or is it better to have the three 6v in series?
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***

I try to recharge when the 3 pack of 6v SLA batteries hits 18v or lower. If the goal is maximum battery life, you don't want to let it run down much. But even with small 7AH batteries, this typically gives me 12 hours of play time with the very efficient 3116 amp.

I wouldn't suggest an old 12v and a new 6v in series. They would be unmatched in too many ways.

It's best to use perfectly matched batteries when in series, to avoid all kinds of problems, especially in recharging when the charging currents may not be equalized and one battery ends up hogging the charge. Of course, you could charge the 3 batteries separately, that becomes more complicated and time consuming. I bought 3 brand new 6v identical batteries and can charge them all together as a pack, saving time.

No other power supply of any kind that I've tried, analog or switching, sounds as good as the battery pack. Obviously they put out pure DC without any contamination whatsoever, and they are isolated from the noisy AC line.

You can buy 3 6v batteries at 7AH for under $30, and the 18v charger for about the same. The charger I use is designed for the Minomoto scooter (18v version, not 24v version).
 
#6,116
I feel like we're coming full-circle on the power supply debate. 🙂

Over on the concurrent AudioCircle TPA3110x thread, regulated linear power supplies (particularly the Astron ones (e.g. RS-12A) designed for HAM radio applications) seem to reign supreme. Until recently in this thread, I thought regulated linear was also the consensus. The proponents of these regulated linear supplies claim they beat batteries.

On my nearfield, low-power application, I've used cheap wall-wart SMPS, an Astron RS-12A, a 19V battery pack (from a string trimmer!), and now I've settled on the Sigma11 DIY. I couldn't really hear any difference between any of them. But, given how little power I'm actually using (I estimate less than 1 Watt/speaker), I'm guessing most (if not all) of the power for the actual amp IC comes from capacitors.

Honest question: if you have enough capacitance to meet all your power needs (i.e. caps are always filled faster then they are drained), does your power supply really make any difference? For someone like me who's background is in software, is it correct to think of a capacitor bank as a "power buffer"?

At any rate: I'm still waiting on someone to give the Astron LS-10A (or maybe LS-18A) a try. Stock voltage is 28V, but can be adjusted down to 22V. Seems to have all the stuff people like about the 13.8V Astrons (linear, tight regulation), but in a higher voltage.

I have on my wishlist a Connex SMPS300RS, hoping someone buys it for me. I used the dual-rail bigger brother SMPS800R in a Class D Audio SDS-470 amp a while ago, and noticed a definite improvement over the stock linear PS. But that was for a different application than I mentioned above; that was for a living room rig, with higher power requirements. (A possibly interesting side note, I've since replaced the 600WPC SDS470 with a tpa3116 (modified YJBlue) running off a 24V/5A SMPS. I'm not as critical of this rig as I am my desktop setup, but I perceive the tpa3116 being no worse in terms of performance, but uses less power, is smaller, and was significantly cheaper. Waiting on a chassis and SMPS300RS to finish my DUG-1 build for living room duty.)
 
#6,117
I have six 3116 boards where I tweaked this or that with a combo of different psu's.
For those who want a good sound with as "little tinkering as possible", but want good detail, bass extension, sound stage. I would suggest:

Sure 3116
Replace the six caps with the nichicon 330 uf 25v part RNU1E331MDN1PH Replace 4 inductors with coil craft SER2915L-103KL.
Little Bear P3
Little Bear P3 6N3 Tube Valve Preamp Amplifier Preamplifier Class A New Ver1 2 | eBay

Replace two stock tubes with 6N3P-EV

6N3P-EV / 2C51 / 5670 / 6CC42 tube (own box) - PREAMP / DRIVER tubes - Tubes-Store.com

Clean 22-24V 5A + , switching PSU
 
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#6,119
Do you have any other recommendations for these tubes?
Click to expand...

I use the same tubes in my three tube version and like them a lot but would like to do some tube rolling soon. I've read a lot on upgrades but have yet to see a consensus on what is the best. This is what someone posted on another site that I think many would agree with:

1st class,
WE396A (D getter)
WE2C51 (D getter)
Bendix 6385
Tesla 6CC42

2nd class,
WE396A/2C51 (O getter)
Tung-sol 2C51 (1950s, D getter)
Raytheon CK5670 (1950s, D getter)
* Raytheon CRP 5670 windmill getter
RCA 5670 (1950s, D/Plate 2 supporting rod getter)
* RCA Command Series 5670
GE 5670 (3 mica structure, mostly 5 stars tube)

3rd class, (after 1960s)
GE 5670
RCA 5670
Tung-sol 5670
Sylvania 2C51
Sylvania 5670 (sometimes marked Mullard)
RTC 5670
Philips 2C51

4th class,
Russian and Chinese 6N3P, -E, -EB, -EV

Just about to pull the trigger on a Maverick D1 w/upgrades - AudioKarma.org Home Audio Stereo Discussion Forums
 
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