Hi there all and especially Anthony of course !
It looks like we're 2.5 years from the start of this subject and forum topic;
Right from the start I was involved but I never granted myself the time to really work on it, except for this one occasion where someone else was going to make an example for me, which up to date never got working (but I never hunted down the bloke who so-called could do it).
The last thing you heard from me regarding this was that I bought a Teradak on behalf of a customer - that it sounded better (which I already the next day equalled by means of other tricks), that it was going to be modded in Switzerland by yet another bloke who could do it, and while this is now, I think almost 5 months ago, two weeks ago I was notified that the PSU would be on its way back to me in two weeks of time.
In parallel Anthony took a lot of effort in trying out things, tinkering on how to make "a best", that ending up in a design and even physical pinted circuit boards, which btw is also from 5 months ago by now.
Also in parallel, but maybe not known (I forgot) is that our Juan wanted to set up a linear supply (by an acquaintance of him) which back at the time I thought was dangerous because nobody really knew what to expect and certainly not me. But, I should guide and test it. So I said No to that project and/but let Anthony proceed with his (how and why to stop him anyway).
Oh, that Teradak is of course still not back and when it finally is back it has to sound better than it did or otherwise that project (actually not mine, but that customer's) has failed massively.
Now guys, I don't know what it is, but if you all really take such a long time with it then it is only the wait for me to have actually quite
other ideas and, say, outsmart all of "it". Not you (I wouldn't dare) but "it" as in : how we can approach all a little differently, sort of start over and find yourself with such few puzzle pieces that things start to work automatically.
Before I forget it, let me say this (in all honesty !) :
Anthony, I don't know whether something went wrong, or that you just "take your time" like all of this world around LPSU's seem to do (in the end including myself), but this is your last chance. I mean, if you don't have something ready for production (but say listening trials) Tomorrow, then I have something for that Yesterday.
And what a
F*CKING GOOD SOUND comes from that.
And what a mess it looks like.
What you see in the front contains the LPSU but only two parts in the upper left and upper right corner plus the larger trafo. I can tell you that all fits in the PC you see in the back.
I can also tell you that the temperature of the "regulation" is 23.8C / 74.8F with an ambient temperature of 22C / 71.6F. And it is even playing !
But didn't I apply such trickery before ?
So you see, it *really* will fit in that PC, because it won't even get warm.
It looks like I got very smart and could work this out on a Sunday morning. But this is not true. It is the evolution of time and how week by week one can see things coming, try a thing, take a next step, try another thing, think a little, and decide for a final step (and now think this took years, say like Anthony's project also is (or seems) not finished yet for reasons).
The fun of this is also, that it requires references again. Thus, like the "sound" of the Teradak could already be superceded a next day with something else, there will also be merit in how that Teradak is overkill and therefore sounds "worse". I mean, I arrived where I am now by "steps" and each step showed its own nature of sound. Some weren't even the best and this is merely because of all ending up so totally black(ground) that there's too much "rest" as we say over here. One may like that, but that too implies a stuffed ear feeling. So it is a balance of black background and some "bite".
Furthermore I can tell you that power supplies to computers are as important to the sound as a D/A converter is and how software is. Possibly the PSU to the PC is even more important (says he who couldn't believe much of this in the first place).
The fun (for me) is that it is not the PSU on its own. It is a whole super big pile of all working together, in that PC housing. If one bit of it hadn't worked out, the LPSU in its current form would not have existed. If another part would not have worked out, the first part could not have been applied.
If XTweaks (which is software) would not have been created by me, we wouldn't even have been able to start thinking about what is happening today. Oh, Minimizes OS was ahead of it all, wasn't it ? Or maybe even Windows 10 is playing its little but crucial role.
ALL. Realy really ALL is required to let this work.
And yesterday it did.
It was even exciting, because at first nothing wanted to work, at the first attempt yesterday. No lights anywhere.
Found out that the voltage was 0.3V under par so that should be the culprit, but after changing that still nothing. This was a surprise because with a slightly (but 100 times more rough) different setup, all worked up to a couple of hours before. So what's up then ?
Remeasuring learned that no Voltage came from anywhere. Ah, ohh, oops, newbie mistake; the fuses in that general box had blown, which is a tiny little bit logical when they are 0.5A.
After they were replaced booting worked as before, but stopped when the display really had to do some work. This is how the video card ended up on the frame of the chassis (see picture).
Now it worked (and still does, now 14 hours later).
So, not 100% finished yet, as something was dimensioned just a little bit too tight. This is a pity because making "that" larger will again change the sound (yep, that's how it appears to work). But maybe I can be smart in some other direction; I already dreamt about a few things.
Peter