Working on cleaning my chompers this morning on the electric toothbrush, I noticed its inductive charger. Hmmmm. Just like my phone charger.
No physical connection.
Almost magic.
It occured to me this is a really good way to help folks understand galvanic isolation—a subject we jump up and down about quite a lot. Connection without benefit of wires is one of the reasons why the AirLens and the MK2 DAC perform so well.
Both of these products are galvanically isolated.
Like my electric toothbrush that receives its energy through the process of magnetic induction—a simple electro magnet generating a magnetic field in the base unit, passing that pulsating magnetic energy through the air to a coil of wire in the toothbrush where it is converted to electrical energy and then on to its battery—this process of transferring energy over the air and without any physical connection is the very definition of galvanic isolation.
Why does it matter? In a toothbrush it matters because it helps with safety concerns. 120/230 volt outlets connecting directly to bathroom appliances near people in bare feet and pajamas is a recipe for a shocking experience.
In a similar manner, direct connection of power supplies and digital streams in an audio device cannot help passing along unwanted noise and garbage. There is simply no way to decouple the good from the bad—unless you decouple everything and then pass only what you want.
Which is what we do.
