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General audio topics that don't fit into specific categories.

Lower electrical noise, for one thing.

Power amp power supplies also have an important role to play in amp stability and output impedance control, but that is a little more technical.

Your question regarding switching versus linear power supplies is a good one. Switching supplies use very rapid switching, in the radio frequency range, to allow them to get away with smaller and cheaper magnetic components. Along with the specified DC, they produce residues of the internal switching frequency as noise. This noise gets onto your household AC wiring through the AC input to the switching supply. From there it goes to your other audio components and degrades the audio performance.

Linear supplies can also be noisy if the rectifiers cause the power transformers to ring, but this is easier to fix than the RF noise from switching supplies.

Many non-audio appliances have switching supplies these days, since they are cheaper and lighter than linear supplies. These appliances also degrade the performance of audio systems, even if they are on different AC circuits.


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  • Lower electrical noise, for one thing. - Al Sekela 15:48:27 05/14/07 (0)

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