Talk:Gainclone
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According to me the whole "gainclone project" is simply sucessful for the sole reason that it is easily built by DIY-techniques.
- I have never seen a serious double blind test revealing that the gainclone amplifier has indeed high end properties.
- The feedback loop is NOT exeptionally shorter than other designs, and the length of a feedback loop is not necessarily important for the quality of an (audio) amplifier
- Small power supply caps in combination with a mains power supply is absolutely not beneficial. It due to the good power supply rejection ratio of the chip that there is no severe distortion in the signal at low levels. Although at high output levels distortion will definately occur and this is not an opinion, it is a fact. If it were in any case beneficial for the amplifier to use small power supply capacitors, then a (50-60Hz) mains transformer can not directly be used as a power supply (or you happen to like a 50-60 Hz modulation of the audio signal).
- The properties found in the datasheet of the chip are not exeptionally good, which is of course not a proof that it can not sound good. Nevertheless it is an indication for the quality of the chip, and this is just as good as a standard (low cost) amplifier.
- Own-made design always sound good, because the makers are greatly biased.
While I don't particularly disagree with any of what you say, take a look at an article I wrote which helps justify the gainclone's "high quality" position. It addresses all the points you raise above.
http://www.adx.co.nz/techinfo/audio/gainclone1.htm
In fact, since part of the Wikipedia article seems to have been lifted from my site (for which I hereby give my permission in this instance - in the spirit of "gaincloning"), I will add this link to the Wikipedia article. I have avoided doing it thus far because it could constitute original research and self-promotion. But since;
- it addresses the questions posted above so comprehensively,
- no one else has done it in over 4 years (save lifting some copy from my site),
- I don't actually sell (let alone make a profit from) gainclones or indeed any audio products (yet),
- and I'm not actually altering the article body to reference my linked article (as a source),
then I think it is going to be ok. If someone else feels the need to chime in and ratify this (or otherwise) please do so. If someone wants to independently verify the permission given above then contact me via my site. While I can guarantee my article is my original work, if someone can show I based my bullet list on theirs (which is remotely possible - I can't remember) then leave a note here.
It would be a good idea if someone could reference claims in the article body to my article, or various posts on DIYaudio.com. Otherwise claims like "Many others, however, are astonished by what these amplifiers are capable of." do sound like someone just made it up.