No surprise, the preamp measures spectacularly according to JA in the April Stereophile issue. Says it's sounds every bit as good as the Ayre.
Mr. Measurement reviews the XP-30
- Thread starter rockitman
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Bruce B
WBF Founding Member, Pro Audio Production Member
It will be interesting to see what level of improvement the XS Pre will deliver for twice the price....hmmmm
Wow. I haven't kept up with Ayre prices and didn't know they had a more expensive preamp than Pass Labs.
only as good as the ayre...?
i am quite disappointed to hear that the xp30 is only as good as the 1-box ayre.
this thing is a 3-box unit...!
i am quite disappointed to hear that the xp30 is only as good as the 1-box ayre.
this thing is a 3-box unit...!
of course his comparo was from a distant memory from a 2008 review. Head to head today, who knows what sounds better. They are both completely different designs. All things held constant, a multi box solution should be better.
It is fact that keeping the power supply in a separate unit away from the analog gain stages is preferable from a noise standpoint/distortion standpoint than a single box unit containing both.
Is that what the spectacular measurements referred to in the opening post of this thread say? Because if it is a fact, and if it is about noise, it should be clearly measurable and demonstrable.
Tim
I don't see that this follows - perhaps I'm missing something. Seems to ignore the fact that when a power supply is separate it needs cabling to connect it to the gain stages, and that cabling is unavoidably prone to noise pickup. Also having higher series impedance in the power supply (due to more copper in between source and sink) means its regulation is less good. If the power supply radiates magnetic flux then I might be able to buy it, but then that's only an argument for a distant transformer, not for the whole PSU in a separate container.
A power supply is intrinsically a source of noise. Many of its components radiate noise, coming from the mains or due to their operation - the mains filter, the transformer, the rectification diodes. Surely designers prepare their circuits to reject this noise, putting filters and creating circuits that attenuate noise that manages to arrive at the amplification sections. However if the power supply is separated, the noise levels can be much lower and a much broader range of circuits can be considered for amplification, may be some of them sounding better in the view of their designers, e.g. some single ended topologies. In electronic design everything has a price!
Since the power supply is connected to the amplification stages its powering, its those power wires which are the primary means of conveying the noise a PSU generates into the circuitry it powers. Hence physical separation has more downsides than up, as I've already pointed out. Indeed its true that everything has a price - spending money on a separate box, additional cabling and connectors detracts from spending money where it can provide audible benefit.
Being the primary does not mean it is the unique. You can clean the noise from the wires, but at some point only the physical separation manages to reduce interference.
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