25-08-2019, 02:48 PM
Only they're not cheap - they are many times the price of a name-brand LM317T, let along a Chinese clone.
As for Gainclones, please do some basic research before making such a proclamation: https://lmgtfy.com/?q=gainclone
The reason for the name comes from the commercial product that inspired it - the Gaincard. At the time, it was a hugely radical thing. To appreciate that, you would need to understand the hi-fi scene at the time, and think a bit wider than just the engineering, which I appreciate might not be easy (I aim that at engineers in general, not anyone specifically).
What the Gainclone craze provided was a route into DIY audio that previously wasn't available to people with limited experience - until that point, IC power amps had mediocre specs and were not considered suitable for anything beyond TV sets and music centres. But if you took the time to investigate what an LM3875 or LM3886 can do, you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it - with attention to detail, 1kHz THD+N of less than 0.003% at 50 watts is easily attainable, and that is pretty impressive by any reference. And by no means guaranteed with discrete circuitry. Put them in parallel/bridge arrangements and you can easily do 150 watts or more. I've lost count of the number of them that I've implemented, and I've lost count of the number of commercial hi-fi and pro-audio products that use them. They measure great, sound good, never fail IME, and are cheap. What's not to like?
Unfortunately, the people who look down on Gainclones are usually the "grumpy old man" crowd who didn't have access to such high performance chips when they were new to audio electronics. But this sort of attitude does nothing to encourage the next generation of engineers, and really isn't something we'd want to encourage on this forum. We've had similar problems in the past when discussing things like Raspberry Pis, where we saw comments like "it's just another SBC". Yes, but look wider than the immediate engineering. Few products are a success because of the engineering alone.
As for Gainclones, please do some basic research before making such a proclamation: https://lmgtfy.com/?q=gainclone
The reason for the name comes from the commercial product that inspired it - the Gaincard. At the time, it was a hugely radical thing. To appreciate that, you would need to understand the hi-fi scene at the time, and think a bit wider than just the engineering, which I appreciate might not be easy (I aim that at engineers in general, not anyone specifically).
What the Gainclone craze provided was a route into DIY audio that previously wasn't available to people with limited experience - until that point, IC power amps had mediocre specs and were not considered suitable for anything beyond TV sets and music centres. But if you took the time to investigate what an LM3875 or LM3886 can do, you wouldn't be so quick to dismiss it - with attention to detail, 1kHz THD+N of less than 0.003% at 50 watts is easily attainable, and that is pretty impressive by any reference. And by no means guaranteed with discrete circuitry. Put them in parallel/bridge arrangements and you can easily do 150 watts or more. I've lost count of the number of them that I've implemented, and I've lost count of the number of commercial hi-fi and pro-audio products that use them. They measure great, sound good, never fail IME, and are cheap. What's not to like?
Unfortunately, the people who look down on Gainclones are usually the "grumpy old man" crowd who didn't have access to such high performance chips when they were new to audio electronics. But this sort of attitude does nothing to encourage the next generation of engineers, and really isn't something we'd want to encourage on this forum. We've had similar problems in the past when discussing things like Raspberry Pis, where we saw comments like "it's just another SBC". Yes, but look wider than the immediate engineering. Few products are a success because of the engineering alone.
