Linear Power Supply for Hard Drives

[rickmcinnis]

The msata 1.8 SSDs only use 3.3 volts.

[jrling]

Hm, how about something like this? Just so darn convenient.

http://www.batteryspace.com/lifepo41865 ... witch.aspx

yea its the battery management pcb in those that negate some- most of the benefit of using lifepo4

just to convenient to be audiophile i guess

Ok, bought some more A123 22650s. Going to try them out with my TPA amp first. I have the bench supply hooked
up to the hard drives, sounds better than sata but with a very slight high frequency hash on some tracks.

I have a very noisy mains supply in London and I think that A123 26650s can do no wrong (worshipping as I do at the altar of nige2000) and am looking for a good quality amp that could be powered by them.
Wondered what you think of your Wiener TPA amp?

[nige2000]

to get the best out of the amp on lifepo4 will be wise to test without the electrolytics direct from cell
i think you will find that they cause a slowing of the speed of the amp as they act as a power sponge
the difference in speed will affect lots of aspects detail/resolution, clarity, bass definition etc etc

even with the electrolytics still on there should be a decent improvement over linear

[wushuliu]

to get the best out of the amp on lifepo4 will be wise to test without the electrolytics direct from cell
i think you will find that they cause a slowing of the speed of the amp as they act as a power sponge
the difference in speed will affect lots of aspects detail/resolution, clarity, bass definition etc etc

even with the electrolytics still on there should be a decent improvement over linear

Hmm, interesting. Will have to use test that on one of the cheap tpa boards I have lying around.

[nige2000]

to get the best out of the amp on lifepo4 will be wise to test without the electrolytics direct from cell
i think you will find that they cause a slowing of the speed of the amp as they act as a power sponge
the difference in speed will affect lots of aspects detail/resolution, clarity, bass definition etc etc

even with the electrolytics still on there should be a decent improvement over linear

Hmm, interesting. Will have to use test that on one of the cheap tpa boards I have lying around.

forgive my lack of reading....
but whats special about this amp?

[wushuliu]

to get the best out of the amp on lifepo4 will be wise to test without the electrolytics direct from cell
i think you will find that they cause a slowing of the speed of the amp as they act as a power sponge
the difference in speed will affect lots of aspects detail/resolution, clarity, bass definition etc etc

even with the electrolytics still on there should be a decent improvement over linear

Hmm, interesting. Will have to use test that on one of the cheap tpa boards I have lying around.

forgive my lack of reading....
but whats special about this amp?

The Wiener is a custom amp by gmarsh based on the TPA3116 chip, it's available through group buys on diyaudio.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-bu ... types.html

[jrling]

forgive my lack of reading....
but whats special about this amp?

The Wiener is a custom amp by gmarsh based on the TPA3116 chip, it's available through group buys on diyaudio.

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/group-bu ... types.html

I'm interested in this amp too, especially its ability to be driven (well) by 12V series A123 26650s.

Reading the link, it is clear gmarsh the designer has taken a very professional approach and given the ability to tune parameters of the chip to the user for adjusting amp gain and speaker impedance for instance.
It has all the hallmarks of an excellent GB for the DIYer at reasonable cost. However, it appears that the GB is now closed?

It would be good to hear from wushuliu if it lives up to SQ expectations?

[nige2000]

Nice piece of work alright
Not sure if I see the audiophile advantage though
Has anyone compared it to a gainclone?

I did try a philips btl amp before thought it was lacking the detail black background and decay reverb that the lm3875 had

[wushuliu]

Sorry I wasn't more though in my description, just about all the forums I visit are familiar with the TPA amps to some degree but I guess not this one!

If the core question is whether this is an audiophile amp, I would say most definitely. I do not have as much experience with high end gear as some of you guys but enough to feel comfortable in that opinion. Luckily there are lots of other TPA amp owners with more experience who can attest to that. Between diyaudio, audiocircle and audiokarma there are several years worth of feedback on different TPA chips. This partially started with the TBI Millenia Amp reviews from TNT Audio and Positivefeedback.

http://www.positive-feedback.com/Issue62/millenia.htm

Got a lot of buzz, so I got one, cracked it open and found it used a TPA3100D2 Class D chip. Tiny and low-powered but sounds amazing. Since then different TPA chips have hit the scene and once diyaudio threads took off with them, ebay became flooded with all manner of iterations. The favorite of these chips is the TPA3116/8, upon which the wiener is based. The many ebay boards are largely poorly implemented and require modding. I believe the Sure versions are considered decent. If you want a taste for super cheap and have efficient speakers I recommend the TPA3100D2 boards as they have fewer parts and are very inexpensive but low power.

As for sound quality, what I would say is that the presentation is clean and clear, not quite tubelike but leans more that way than solid state. Super responsive to downstream components. Micro detail as much as your gear will allow but in a very natural way. Of course a lot depends on the board quality and matching impedance requirements and, yes, power supply. There are plenty of posts in other forums of TPA amps sounding as good as high priced gear through the years. Tastes differ of course, yes some folks do prefer chip amps for instance. I could go on but given how cheaply you can try one out, it’s well worth giving a listen yourself.

Cheap low power TPA here:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-X-8W-Class-D- ... SwZetXOsW9

TPA3116

http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-50-Watt-4-O ... 1473006484

The wiener group buy is closed yes, but he may have boards left over; he is just starting to ship them out now.

[wushuliu]

Random recent comparison from a diyaudio member I respect a lot on his Wiener monos:

Surprisingly, it holds up well to my latest toy, a near-mint condition McIntosh MC240 6L6 push-pull amplifier that is in original stock form. The Weiner amp can produce a large and deep, room-filling soundstage just like the Mac and trumps it in terms of bass response. Where the Mac amp surpasses it is in the mids and highs.