Gallium Nitride (GaN) Power Supplies

Audio Gear Talk
1

Will Gallium Nitride (GaN) switching mode power supplies be a game changer in the world of audio?

The way I understand things, Gallium Nitride (GaN), when used in a switching mode power supply, moves the RFI noise into the ultra high frequency range and thus out of the range of normal human hearing, but of course not outside of the super human range of hearing possessed by audiophiles. By moving the RFI into the ultra high frequency range a GaN switching power supply would then behave more like a linear power supply.

So will GaN switching mode power supplies become more common in audio devices, and will they become less expensive than linear power supplies and and thus competitive with linear power supplies?

What are your thoughts?

I’ve picked up a few GaN USB power supplies to use with some of audio devices that are powered via a USB connection but I can’t say that I hear much of a difference.

2

Interesting! Do you mean you hear no difference from the original power supply or from a linear power supply ?

3

From the original cheapo USB power supply. However, to be fair, these devices are mostly being used in inexpensive, secondary audio systems like the one in my garage, so not very resolving.

4

Thanks for the note. Have you tried comparing the GaN to an LPS ?

5

Yes, as numberphiles may be impressed by gaining yet another order of magnitude or more.

Regulations regarding EMI do cover the range of non-ionizing radiation up to 300 GHz already, so nothing new under the sun here.

It will enable the design of even smaller, more efficient, and higher power switching amplifiers and power supplies though.

No, as any audible interference should be taken care of by said regulations.

Move on people, please, nothing to see here :sweat_smile:

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6

The principle advantage of GaN is the size to power ratio. I have a smart* GaN PSU that came with an up market micro PC that has 20v, 12v and 5v all at 5 amp delivery that isn’t any bigger than any of my phone chargers. As far as I’m aware they don’t work any differently to a standard half decent SPS, they are simply smaller and more powerful.

*It senses the power requirements of the device and switches appropriately.

7

Just maybe, you are a normal music loving human being :rofl:

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8

Standard SMPS are also out of the range of perfect human hearing, i.e., hundreds of kHz to MHz.

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9

That was never the issue with them. The issue was they injected noise back into the mains if poorly designed. In some instances that noise was in the audible spectrum and some audio devices picked that up. One specific example was the PSU that came with the Logitech Squeezebox Touch which had a clean output but did inject noise back into the mains. An enterprising individual did identify the problem and fed indirectly back to Logitech who then changed the PSU supplied.

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