The switcher that came with the SB3 was very poor. It radiated a lot of noise, AND sent a lot of noise back down into the AC main as well. There was some going into the SB3 as well, but my findings were that the radiated noise and the noise sent into the mains was usually far more of a problem.
The switcher that comes with the Touch is much better, it produces a lot less contamination of the environment. But its not perfect. A properly designed linear supply can still produce a lower noise environment. Note I'm not talking about the actual signal coming out of the Touch. My measurements show very little effect on the signal out from the PS quality. The Touch has a much better power supply immunity than the SB3. Unfortunately linear supplies are not created equal. Some can still produce radiated noise and send noise back into the mains. Its definitely possible to have a linear supply that will sound worse than the switcher that comes with the Touch. Because of this I'm not very hot on getting a cheap linear supply. While they probably can improve the sound of an SB3, (ANYTHING will improve the sound over that thing that came with the SB3) there is a good chance they would actually make the Touch sound worse. Price is not necessarily a good harbinger either. There are some expensive supplies that still send a fair amount of noise back into the mains. If you are going to get an expensive one make sure you can audition it first, or get a money back guarantee. Note that I build my own supplies so I have NOT bought commercially available ones, I cannot say which ones are good or not, don't ask. If you are a hard core audiophile and like to tweak things to get the absolute best sound possible, go ahead and try linear supplies. (I have a design for a really good one if you are interested in making your own.) If not, just use the supply that came with the Touch. John S. -- JohnSwenson ------------------------------------------------------------------------ JohnSwenson's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=5974 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=79977 _______________________________________________ Touch mailing list Touch@lists.slimdevices.com http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/touch
