Linear vs Switched mode PSU

[walpurgis]

Not heard any for ages, but I recall thinking similar about the mid from Impulse H2 speakers. There was a lucidity that was very appealing.

[struth]

For me and I'd imagine most people, the midrange Is the most Important part of the frequency range. I can enjoy listening to a portable radio If I like the music that's playing. The best mids I've heard were from Jerrys MBLs and some mega expensive horn speakers I heard at Scalford. It's the kind of thing you wouldn't understand unless you heard It for yourself. Vocals were eerily 3d like and hung In mid air between the speakers. Was It accurate? I don't know but It sounded good. And as a wise man once said "If It sounds good, It Is good".

sure, i agree. mid range is most important although just by self it isnt perfect. one of the reasons i use the fullrange drivers is for their mid range magic.
i would also add folk are creatures of habit and like what they know as their ears are attuned to it

[anthonyTD]

Jez,
Your quote below explains the reason quite clearly why people perceive different systems to sound more right to them, than others, I will take your quote further by saying this; if you were the sound engineer, responsible for recording a particular album, with as you say' a more sensitive perception of one particular frequency range for eg, Then surely you can understand that you would then record that album to sound right to you, but anyone else listening to that album may not have your hearing perception difference, and in fact, may have the opposite, which to them that recording would sound quite different to you, therefore HI FI in its simplest term can only relate to accurately reproducing what the sound engineer perceived as accurate to him on the day, and thats fine if everyone hears things the way he does, but you know as well as I that we dont all hear sound the same, there are too many variants that make it impossibly so, hence the reason we all strive to create a system that plays music that sounds right, or should I say enjoyable to us, sometimes that system may also sound right or enjoyable in the same way to many others too, but also' it may not, for the same reasons I have outlined above.
We dont live in a perfect world Jez, and therefore we do not hear or perceive things in the same way as each other, and that is why people will continue to put together systems that may sound right to that person, but very different to someone else..

Lets say I hear sounds around 3KHz louder than you do. That's going to happen whether live or recorded so I'd still be equally able to compare the two..

[PalsHuffMor]

I don't listen to my music in an anechoic chamber, or through an oscilloscope, so I don't care so much how my hifi 'performs' against those criteria. A well designed component will sound musical without any unnatural emphasis or distortion.

I'm most concerned about losing as little musical information as possible along the journey from source to speaker. I trust my ears.

Components that have been over engineered in the pursuit of 'perfect measurements' do not interest me. Components that have been deliberately 'flavoured' don't interest me either.

If HiFi is not all about enjoyment then you might as well never turn it on again!

[Marco]

Jez,
Your quote below explains the reason quite clearly why people perceive different systems to sound more right to them, than others, I will take your quote further by saying this; if you were the sound engineer, responsible for recording a particular album, with as you say' a more sensitive perception of one particular frequency range for eg, Then surely you can understand that you would then record that album to sound right to you, but anyone else listening to that album may not have your hearing perception difference, and in fact, may have the opposite, which to them that recording would sound quite different to you, therefore HI FI in its simplest term can only relate to accurately reproducing what the sound engineer perceived as accurate to him on the day, and thats fine if everyone hears things the way he does, but you know as well as I that we dont all hear sound the same, there are too many variants that make it impossibly so, hence the reason we all strive to create a system that plays music that sounds right, or should I say enjoyable to us, sometimes that system may also sound right or enjoyable in the same way to many others too, but also' it may not, for the same reasons I have outlined above.
We dont live in a perfect world Jez, and therefore we do not hear or perceive things in the same way as each other, and that is why people will continue to put together systems that may sound right to that person, but very different to someone else..

Spot on, or as I wrote earlier:

Ultimately, it's all about experiencing my notion of musical realism, and therefore what's heard, in that respect, can only ever be judged subjectively by me, or perhaps also by others whose notion of such is similar.

Therefore, the enjoyment I derive from my hi-fi system is directly proportional to how well it achieves the above.

Marco.

[Arkless Electronics]

Jez,
Your quote below explains the reason quite clearly why people perceive different systems to sound more right to them, than others, I will take your quote further by saying this; if you were the sound engineer, responsible for recording a particular album, with as you say' a more sensitive perception of one particular frequency range for eg, Then surely you can understand that you would then record that album to sound right to you, but anyone else listening to that album may not have your hearing perception difference, and in fact, may have the opposite, which to them that recording would sound quite different to you, therefore HI FI in its simplest term can only relate to accurately reproducing what the sound engineer perceived as accurate to him on the day, and thats fine if everyone hears things the way he does, but you know as well as I that we dont all hear sound the same, there are too many variants that make it impossibly so, hence the reason we all strive to create a system that plays music that sounds right, or should I say enjoyable to us, sometimes that system may also sound right or enjoyable in the same way to many others too, but also' it may not, for the same reasons I have outlined above.
We dont live in a perfect world Jez, and therefore we do not hear or perceive things in the same way as each other, and that is why people will continue to put together systems that may sound right to that person, but very different to someone else..

I utterly disagree and for exactly the reason in my earlier post which you quote. In that scenario too much around 3KHz would be normal to me as it's what I would always hear. Therefore I wouldn't be adjusting anything to compensate for it! That's the point!

[JohnJo]

It's completely obvious that we all appreciate systems with different attributes based on our senses, music taste and how components interact with each other. To argue that there's only one correct voicing for, say, an amplifier strikes me as bizarre.

If this was the case the Japs would have made it in the 70s, it would be the accepted reference and only amp in production and the hifi industry would be dead.

[anthonyTD]

You might not compensate for it, but the sound engineer might, because he may not be aware of his own frequency deficiencies, which is my point!
Sometimes Jez I think you just want to argue for the sake of it, and you end up not seeing the wood for the trees.

I utterly disagree and for exactly the reason in my earlier post which you quote. In that scenario too much around 3KHz would be normal to me as it's what I would always hear. Therefore I wouldn't be adjusting anything to compensate for it! That's the point!

[montesquieu]

So, anyone with any experience between switched and linear PSUs? Before and after? Or even after and before?

By the way whilst I mull over a linear PSU does anyone have a recommendation for a 5v (2a) switched PSU (wallmart type is fine) I can use for my USB card? Something that has voltage protection as I don't want to fry my Paul Pang USB card.

@Jez, looking forward to your new thread of "The true world of HiFi - by Jez".

I have quite a useful box - an Esoteric Re-Equalizer to give it its name - that takes the output from a phono stage (or passing through a tape loop which is how I prefer to use it, rather than having it permanently in the signal path) that 're-equalises' the signal to correct for the variety of equalisation curves before the RIAA standard became commonplace (introduced in 1956 but not universal till into the 60s). This enables older mono and 78s to sound far more modern and correct.

It's quite a cheap device from new and is powered by a wall wart. About 5-6 years ago Nick Gorham built me a linear PSU for it, and also upgraded all the opamps inside (replacing 5p ones with £2 ones). The difference was immense - though I suspect the main improvement (if not all) was from the opamps. Was it worth going for the linear PSU? For me, yes, I only intended to do this once and not having a wall wart attached to my power supply board brought (possibly irrational but nevertheless real) peace of mind. It's job done, forget about it. I'm not sure I would necessarily spend thousands on one though. Perhaps, Jez, you should take people's motivation into account before telling them they are wasting their money.

As for the musical position on the wider question as it has developed, I feel stuck in the middle of the debate here. I'm well past believing that 'detail' and 'clarity' are the infallible path to musical nirvana. I have a system in my study (Tannoy DC6's, Garrard 401 with a Shure SC35C, original Cyrus One - all high up sharing the one bookshelf!) that's fabulously enjoyable and singalong, that I know lacks many hifi attributes - though it reminds me of how enjoyable records used to sound when I was a penniless student listening only for the music and the words, and not how it reproduced the hall acoustic or the timbre of a viola da gamba vs a cello.

I have aimed to keep the main system musical and enjoyable too, rather than a slave to 'accuracy'. Yet my experience overwhelmingly (with amplification at least) is that what measures best sounds best. The main system does all that hifi stuff really well (if that's what you are looking for), but what I have aimed for is musical synergy, not accuracy. 'Accuracy' for me is a by-product, not the object.

[RothwellAudio]

To argue that there's only one correct voicing for, say, an amplifier strikes me as bizarre.

To argue that a hi-fi amp should even have a voice strikes me as bizarre. Sure, musical instruments are voiced to create a particular sound - and so are guitar amps (though they really belong in the musical instrument category) - but hi-fi amps should be devoid of their own "voice" and simply reproduce what's fed into them.
Shouldn't they?