MicroSD Memory Card Transport Project

So much for collaboration huh?

I’d suggest trying a few electrolytics that are around 47uf 25v, that are low loss, low noise standard types, after the regulators anyways, but before, some lower esr types will work well.

BC 038 are good standard parts for digital, and Panasonic FM are great before the regulators.
Have to watch that the esr isn’t too low on the output of the regulators, won’t allow the regulators to be stable possibly, depending on what they are.
 
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I understand where Sumotan is coming from. There are things I do in builds today that I have told virtually noone because they are 'far out' there. Sometimes I share one and get a lot of pushback. AND this is often the board where that happens or I see it happen to someone else.

I got your back here, Sumotan!

Greg in Mississippi
 
Good & thank you both kindly for your understanding. Im not EE trained all through self thought & many a times asking silly questions in my early days.
My way of tweaking, tuning etc is almost totally outside of the books but I get the results that Im after simply because the curiosity part of me drives me to experiment alot. Simple stuff like caps that I’ve used & tried I can tell you what it’s sound signature is like. Speaking of which I once commented that Bi polar caps sounds better with Neg pin connected to the supply while positive goes to ground. Well I got poofed for that, someone even measured it on a scope & he says no difference. Good if that’s the case I shall reserve my findings for my own pleasure why bother to share.

Cheers
 
How very wrong you are Julf. It should be Oh really ??? Come lets go test it out & see if there’s any truth to this, after all it’s just 1 capacitor so easy to verify. That’s the spirit of diy Julf.

I have done that many, many times. As soon as I suggest a double-blind listening test, people immediately back out, or start coming up with excuses for why that kind of testing isn't valid somehow... :)
 
Sumotan,

I am sorry to hear you are nervous about specifying what you have done.

First thought is: why talk about it if you do not want to show it? Half of the reason for talking about findings is the hope that someone else will try it and give you some feedback.

It seems our dear friend Julf has returned with his badgerings. In defence of Julf i can say one should always have this doubt in play. He is not completely wrong. In the last year I have discovered many of my true beliefs to have been nothing more than placebo. As long as you believe in the placebo it works wonders but with the suspension of belief (which we do not want to get in the way of the suspension of disbelief otherwise we could not enjoy audio playback at all) one is humbled.

Concerning the death of expertise I would say it should be buried. Expertise is usually something one proclaims for themselves. By definition an expert is one who is paid for their knowledge. We see this most often in litigation where one can find an expert to say whatever one wants them to say.

As long as one retains a very healthy skepticism for what the experts say all is well. The good old trust but verify admonition is good to keep close at hand. When one starts believing the experts one is in trouble. Not any different than being swayed by advertisements. Both require the same level of skepticism. ALL requires the same level of skepticism. What they say is simply another source of information to be considered along with lots of other folks opinions and findings.

I am speaking from self-interest - I am getting around to finally putting my sdtrans back into service and I have no intention of returning to the batteries.

I do not doubt there is a better way. The batteries are very good but a pain in the long run. They are simple to implement initially and that is attractive. I think ac powered supplies can be better if done correctly and once settled you do not have to worry about them.

So if you are feeling courageous and charitable I know I would appreciate you telling us that you have found.

If you are met by the howls from the usual suspects: who cares? I feel sure there will plenty who will appreciate what you are doing and will more than make up for the bleatings from the "do nothing - everything is perfected" folk.

How wonderful it would be if it was true.
 
Concerning the death of expertise I would say it should be buried. Expertise is usually something one proclaims for themselves. By definition an expert is one who is paid for their knowledge. We see this most often in litigation where one can find an expert to say whatever one wants them to say.

That might be the case in law, where there are no absolute truths and it is all about how humans interpret things. It is less true in hard science, where there are actual truths (such as 2 + 2 = 4, the pythagorean theorem or, to pick an example that is relevant to audio, the shannon-nyquist sampling theorem. Science is based on evidence and verification, as well as peer review, and in academia you don't get away with self-proclaimed "expertise".
 
I am also inclined to invite others to go find their own way after being told I am imagining things.
Academia is more inclined to rely on established methods, and that’s the benefit for those with that background. It can also be a closed door for innovation, largely due to the expert syndrome.
Have seen it time and time again in industry.
In a perfect world one would only break the rules after having full knowledge of the rules, but sometimes things just don’t happen that way.

I would like to spend more time on the power supply for my sd card player, maybe the extra one I have here would be a good platform for some trials. It now has a pair of cascaded lm7805 as a pre regulators and 1117 3.3v regs after that.
The filter caps are some dubious looking(one is taller) elna general purpose parts, 2200uf 16v, and more of the same after the 7805 as well. The 1117 responded well to a 100uf 25v Nichicon vx from radio shack. Go figure.
I was going to try some solid polymer for the caps before any regulators to see if anything can be gained other than excessive loading of the rectifier diodes.
 
Hey Rickmcinnis, hows the going long time no chat. Lol Well I only mentioned that the SdTrans sounds much better if regs where to be powered individually but off course this has to be verified & tested by the individuals. What I do like to share is, do not keep focusing on the wrong stuff like ultra low low noise regs. What ,how & how much it's being fed is far more important then many have perceived it to be. To me I've always thought that digital is just digital just give them some quiet supplies & be done with it, that's why I kept my focus on analog side till one day my itchy fingers got the better of me & that's how I discovered the digital supplies are just as important as analog.
Mind you the regs that I use are from Ackol Labs which are nothing to sneeze at to begin with & the 5v low noise reg I bought it in Ebay from Guy who builds it in Dubai.
Oh btw there's no free lunch, many will think that battery power will end all evils that we're experiencing, pls go play with it find out for yourself. If your a good music listening & am exposed to lot's of life music, you'll understand what Im getting at.
Anyway we all listen differently & have differing preferences etc.


Cheers
 
Hi Phase you brought up a very good point. Problem with experts is that they're educated in this discipline & with fixed mindset it's against their logic that when we do things out of the box it just cannot or should not work but it does & it is only for those like myself whose got this compulsion to keep testing or fiddling that will make such discovery.
Example E caps would people believe me If I tell them that Nichicon Kz sounds much better in 50v versions over the 25v of the same uf value & will they be able to swallow if I say of all 50v Kz the best sounding of the lot is 22uf ? All caps regardless of brands, will sound different in same value but of different voltage ratings. Many a times I see discussion on E caps & I see brand or type has the lowest esr, lowest ripple etc all looking at data but does that equates to good sound ? Im afraid not.

Cheers
 
Example E caps would people believe me If I tell them that Nichicon Kz sounds much better in 50v versions over the 25v of the same uf value & will they be able to swallow if I say of all 50v Kz the best sounding of the lot is 22uf ?

The experts you despise have a simple answer - just provide evidence. It is easy to do, all it requires is a proper double-blind listening test.

There is that famous debate between Bill Nye ("the science guy") and creationist Ken Ham. At one point both were asked "what would it take to make you change your view". Bill Nye answered "evidence", while Ham basically said "Nothing, I believe (my view of) the Bible".
 
I am also inclined to invite others to go find their own way after being told I am imagining things.

I don't think they were simply telling you that you were imagining things. I think they were telling you that expectation bias and the placebo effect are very strong factors that need to be taken into account.

I guess you missed the very essential point Rick made that we should all heed:

In the last year I have discovered many of my true beliefs to have been nothing more than placebo. As long as you believe in the placebo it works wonders but with the suspension of belief (which we do not want to get in the way of the suspension of disbelief otherwise we could not enjoy audio playback at all) one is humbled.

Academia is more inclined to rely on established methods, and that’s the benefit for those with that background. It can also be a closed door for innovation, largely due to the expert syndrome.

Academia and science tends to rely on proven knowledge and methods, because it would be stupid not to build on the expertise and work of millions of people over hundreds of years. It is better to make new mistakes instead of making the same mistakes that others have already done. It does not limit innovation, quite the opposite - reinventing a square wheel for the umpteenth time is not innovation, just ignorance.