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High
Frequency
Response
Probably, from the sonic quality point of view, the most important improvemen
t
is the power MOSFETs vastly superior high frequency response. A larg
e
proportion of the power transistors used in modern hi-fi amplifiers start to sho
w
a decline in efficiency from 10kHz upwards. The efficiency of the powe
r
MOSFET does not start to decline until about 2MHz and is only down 3dB a
t
30MHz. This is due to the energy transfer being accomplished with minorit
y
charged carriers in the power MOSFET as opposed to majority charged carriers
within the transistor, and results in hole storage at high frequencies causing th
e
transistor to dissipate increasing amounts of energy within itself as the frequenc
y
increases.
Further sonic degradation of the transistor power amplifier occurs due to hol
e
storage of the output transistors. As the output distortion increases wit
h
increasing signal frequency, it is obvious that the distortion products in th
e
negative feedback path also increase.
Because the negative feedback system is employed to reduce distortion b
y
cancellation, at high frequencies it causes even more power to be consume
d
within the output transistor just to cancel out the distortion.
Transient intermodulation (TIM) is also more prevalent in transistor powe
r
amplifiers because the signal transition in time is relatively slow. This means
the distortion products in the signal of, say, a fast transient will not trave
l
through the negative feedback system into the output stage fast enough to cance
l
at exactly 180 degrees out of phase – resulting in the amplifier being overloaded.
This is not possible in power MOSFET amplifiers.
Other
Advantages
Further sonic improvement is achieved in power MOSFET amplifiers due to
reduced crossover distortion, as power MOSFETs have a sharper “knee” tha
n
transistors at cut-off and provide a greater linearity when crossing over from on
e
device to the other. Because crossover distortion is a major cause of odd orde
r
harmonic distortion in transistor amplifiers (be it small, i.e. 0.05% total) they ar
e
usually considered to sound more harsh than valve amplifiers which generall
y
have large amounts of even order harmonic distortion up to 5% and are though
t
to sound more pleasant and musical.
However, which is more accurate? The valve amplifier at 5% THD with
a
pleasant sound and even order harmonics; the transistor amplifier with 0.05%
THD with relatively unpleasant sound with even and odd harmonic output, or
a
power MOSFET amplifier with 0.02% THD and relatively pleasant even orde
r
harmonic distortion? In our opinion, the power MOSFET amplifier because th
e
THD generated is virtually all second or even order harmonic distortion tota
l
0.02% or less at 20kHz and down to 0.004% or less at 1kHz.
It can be seen that power MOSFETs are here to stay and that there are major soni
c
and electrical improvements to be had over other output devices.