[TheShaman]

Hey all,

I'm planning to build a portable-ish M3 that won't cost me too much to build.

I already have a GOLD Ultimate Mini Regulator kit in my parts bin. I can use that for the PS since I'm going for 30V, which it can handle.
Would there be any benefit in using a Sigma11 instead?

Also, is the e12 necessary for an M3? What's the downside of not using one (do you have to plug and unplug headphones before power-on/off or something like that?)?

Thanks!

 

[Beefy]

I have no experience with that power supply, but I would stick with the S11 anyway purely because I know how well it is documented and supported.

The E12 is not necessary in my experience...... turn on/off transients and DC offset are both very, very small and stable.

 

[TheShaman]

Thanks mate.

The GOLD is not very "famous" but I think it is considered a good quality low-noise PSU.
In fact, we recently AB'ed a Buffalo 32S DAC running off GOLDs to another 32S running Twisted Pear Placids and we couldn't spot any significant difference in sound.
That's why I'm thinking it might be up to the task of powering my M3 after all.

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheShaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif In fact, we recently AB'ed a Buffalo 32S DAC running off GOLDs to another 32S running Twisted Pear Placids and we couldn't spot any significant difference in sound.

That DAC isn't a great comparison, considering it has on-board regulators anyway. Some people will swear black and blue that they can hear a difference anyway, but I remain very skeptical.

Quote:

That's why I'm thinking it might be up to the task of powering my M3 after all.

I would be most worried about heatsinking. For this application board mount heatsinks seems much more elegant.

 

[TheShaman]

Thanks Beefy. I'll look into it.

Btw, I did notice a significant change in sound when going from the LCBPS/LCDPS power supplies (which are LM317/337 based) to the Placid shunts for my 32S.
Downside of the shunts is, of course, heat.

I couldn't spot such a significant change between the Placids and GOLDs though.. I could tell there were minor differences in the sound but so small that it wasn't worth wasting time to try and pinpoint them. That is a win for the GOLDs if you ask me, since you don't have all those heat issues to deal with (esp. for applications with higher current requirements).

As far as I can tell, the GOLD is an implementation of the Walt-Jung super-regulator (and a good one from what I hear).

 

[Beefy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheShaman /img/forum/go_quote.gif Btw, I did notice a significant change in sound when going from the LCBPS/LCDPS power supplies (which are LM317/337 based) to the Placid shunts for my 32S. Downside of the shunts is, of course, heat.

Oh sure...... but I'll bet most of the difference was the analogue supplies that don't have local regulators, as opposed to the digital side that does

 

[TheShaman]

That's possible. I didn't experiment enough to see which ones affected the sound most.

 

[keyid]

im also using the Golds in my dac, very nice improvement from over default 5v regs in my zhoulo dac. The output caps can bring further improvements.

 

[joe_cool]

I've used a version of the GOLD regulator called mini113. The difference I see is the op-amp is powered from the unregulated side of the pass transistor. As far as the S11 it is discrete (no op-amps) and uses MOS-FETs for output.

 

[qusp]

yes the gold is quite nice, it is indeed a jung type reg, but without the option of sensing. I would pick the S11 if you didnt already have the gold, but since you do I would just say use that. Joe, was the 113 set up like that due to low output current needs that were below the common mode voltage requirements for the opamp used?

 

[joe_cool]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif Joe, was the 113 set up like that due to low output current needs that were below the common mode voltage requirements for the opamp used?

I think it was set up like that so it could be used for lower voltages like 5 and 9. It came with an OPA604AP which can work up to 48 volts. I have it set up for 15VDC but may change to 18VDC since I have a transformer with 18VAC secondaries that gives 29VDC under load of 200ma.

 

[qusp]

yes, well thats what I said, except its not the max voltage i'm talking about, the common mode voltage limits generally refer to the lowest stable voltage, so in this case (I havent looked up the datasheet) it is likely that if the supply for the opamp was taken from the output the current would not be enough to run it in a stable manner, so the supply is taken from before the voltage drop of the reg; trading slightly higher noise for lower voltage stability

 

[TheShaman]

Quote:

Originally Posted by qusp /img/forum/go_quote.gif I would pick the S11 if you didnt already have the gold, but since you do I would just say use that.

Thanks qusp.
It's not so much about the budget (If the S11 is any better then I have no problem buying it - I have so many projects in mind that I'm sure I'll find a use for my GOLDs.

) but the size of the board.
I'd rather have everything in the smallest possible case so that I can carry it around the house. This M3 is gonna be used both with my PC/office rig and my HiFi rig, until I build a better amp (B22 + EHHA combo or Aikido) for the main rig.