[piedpiper]

Using batteries in home brew micpres I have noticed a bit more effortlessness at higher voltages; also better sound from D cells. thoughts? experiences?

[hagtech]

Indeed.  But these results depend entirely on the design topology and do not apply across the board between products.  Your findings would apply to the BUGLE, but I don't think so for the PICCOLO. The main difference is that the latter's power supply input is regulated down to a lower voltage and is also filtered by a lot of RCs.  Hence, the higher voltage and lower impedance of the D batteries is all thrown away.  I had to do this on the PICCOLO in order for it to sound good using a wall-wart.  That is, it does not depend on the quality of the external power, it takes care of such internally.

jh

[piedpiper]

Thanks Jim. Do you find ANY advantage to batteries with the Piccolo. I would think that even removing the effect of the walwart on the rest of the system's AC would be a noticable advantage on a high rez system.

[hagtech]

The key was to deal with the wall-wart appropriately.  I used to poo-poo them until I realized that if used in the right fashion they could be fine.  And you have to use the right kind of wall-wart.  It has to be unregulated, just a transformer, diodes, and caps.  Beyond that I did some fancy filtering at the PICCOLO dc input to remove any additional noise.  As a result, I was able to remove all traces of ac induced hum from the PICCOLO.

The question is are the internal batteries any better?  Well, maybe, but only in the sense that there are now fewer external cables to route (and the potential for coupling).  One less gadget sucking power from the wall.  So, theoretically yes.  But I have not been able to hear it sonically.  Maybe someone else here has.

jh