My aim is to find out which products get me closer to what the musicians and directors intended. The whole issue of Linear vs. A DC and power cable can make a huge difference and therefore give a different rating. It also important to stay away from battery management, even if you risk damaging the cells if overcharged or undercharged. Coming full circle, modern PC's, streamers etc whatever are full of local Switched Mode Supplies that power some part of the circuit, often they are even designed into chip's themselves. The ones in the review unit were SR Orange. Why, then, not use a Switching Power Supply every time? Great review, impeccable work, I found this LPS very interesting, maybe here I can get an answer if it will sound good in my setup: I use a neutral and half-warm sound DAC, with a bit of smoothness (Topping e30), a neutral and drier amp (Allo Volt+D) and an entry level speaker, also neutral half-warm (Pioneer SB22-LR), the midrange of E30 is a little bit thin (but with a little EQ I can ease it a little), did you say in this review that there is some grain in the midrange of this LPS and a cool tone, could this generate a bit of harshness and annoyance in the sound? I think youd enjoy hearing the impact of this + replacing the HDPlex 800W DC-ATX with the Taiko DC-ATX. at the same time, then their adoption will be rapid. But Ive created a table where you could sort by whats important to you. Ranking them was also very difficult. You were spot on about the hi hats and cymbals on the Nikola, just amazing. I then tested the Antipodes S60 vs the Hypsos with the EtherRegens and found them very similar with the Hypsos being half the price and offering the flexibility to vary the voltage and providing 3X the current. Learn how your comment data is processed. Amazing post Jay. Im open to giving it a shot! Thanks Jay great review, I need to bookmark this as a reference. Its amazing bang for your buck. The same generic power cord (one of the better ones) was used on all the power supplies. Amir measured several PSUs
I like the sound of my LiFePO4 batteries though, and LPS manufacturers often use batteries like those as reference to compare with (or so I have heard). Announces the Launch of PGGB.IO, JCAT Launches OPTIMO Nano PSU Upgrade Set. Complains about noise caused by PSUs are not uncommon. This also goes for resolution, soundstage, etc. operating frequency, good efficiency and low cost magnetics, prevent its use in high precision, very low noise circuits. and now several Farads Super3 in use. If your goal is to add more body and warm it up, sort by shape. The JCAT ones might be a good fit. (the mains supply in Europe for example) needs to be relatively large,
Would love to hear what your thoughts are in your experiment. Mr. Ive asked every single one of the recommended vendors to send in at least a 5V supply (12V optional) and 95% of them responded. We are almost there. players. How much better power supplies could be if they
Ive heard great things about the Taiko DC-ATXis there specific components people are pairing it with? Want to hear for yourself? Based on your evaluations to date, assuming cost was not a consideration, what upstream hardware signal path chain have you determined sounds best (per your liking) vis--vis network switches, power supplies, clocks and cables? I run my RME ADI-2 fs DAC and streamer on pure LiFePo4 cells (without any battery management electronics of course). It is A LOT more transparent and efficient than the HDPLex. In my case, I use it with an i9 9900k CPU / Gigabyte Designare Z390. The Audiophiles Short List The Best Digi Abyss AB-1266 Phi CC Lambskin Not Your Daddys Ear Pads, Parasound Halo JC 5 Stereo Amplifier Review A 400-Watt BEAST, Crosszone CZ-1 Headphone Review The Ultimate Crossfeed, https://shop.gwl.eu/LiFePO4-cells-3-2-V/LiFePO4-High-Power-Cell-3-2V-20Ah-Alu-case-CE.html, https://shop.gwl.eu/LiFeYPO4-batteries-12V-1-1/Lithium-Battery-LiFePO4-12V-20Ah.html, Chord Electronics Qutest (orange/red filter), Snake River Audio Cottonmouth Signature power cables, Iconoclast UPOCC XLR and RCA interconnects, Synergistic Research Tranquality Base UEF, The Linear Solution Reference Ethernet cables, Audio Art Cable Statement e SC Cryo Speaker Cable, Custom music server powered by a HDPLEX 400W (not part of review). Thanks again for taking the time to perform this outstanding LPS evaluation and shootout. Yeah, its a bit lean. And also really try to get your hands on a Hypsos to make this review complete. I am interested in just the regulator board. As you say in your review the DC4 is a master at revealing the texture of instruments but now the ARC6 version has a transient speed to go with that textural information. I understand that existing owners of the DC4 can have theirs upgraded to the ARC6 version by returning to Sean or to one of his agents in the USA or EU. In consumer electronics the art and manufacture of switching power
Hi Jay, Why the SOtM sPS-500 is not included in this review? SoI spent the last four months listening to the worlds best linear power supplies. a new kind of power supply: the switching power supply.
Finally got my Gershman Speakers so Im setting them up in a fresh room without an easy way to get a wired connection in. Hi Marcin, Any news about an OPTIMO ATX PSU price and release date? There are reasons why disabling power saving schemas is often recommended! Over time, I actually swapped between many of them and enjoyed them all for different reasons. Any audiophile knows: having high-performance linear power supplies is essential for an enthralling listening experience. So consequently, my Cons may be your Pros. And thats completely fine. I have good luck with Teddy Pardo units, one for a Chord 2Qute, and one for my Raspberry Pi / HifiBerry Digi + combo. The motivation for this massive survey is to guide you to a power supply that may work for you and your gear. What strikes me about your tests is that they play for a few days at most and then again to do the comparisons. Change the lean sounding stock Canare 4S6 with a custom, shorter Canare 4S8 (or better) and throw in a Synergistic Orange fuse, and the power supply is transformed. before that with IFI,S booster MK1 and MK2 and Paul Hynes SR4T. Constantly strives for perfection of sound. Required fields are marked *. Hi there, I know you cannot review everything under the sun, but Ill selfishly propose you review the ISOL-8 Prometheus LPSU. As for the Taiko DC-ATX, there is no specific recipe. These are switchers indeed (SMPS). They lasted 3 to 4 years. When playing music this is even worse. To my question now. Is the hot heat handled well?. I would be curious to hear the ARC6! Simple and effective upgrade. If reasonable then Im certain youll sell many and Ill be a customer. And leave a message on what you want to see in the next shootout. This is just one mans opinion and itd be interesting to hear what you think as well. Wonder how I generate such great content? It also took away precious time with friends and family. As I do with cables, Ill occasionally swap back for stock power supplies as a sanity check. I will send a unit to your location for review please drop me an email, will show you photos and the specifications. The bass is also deeper and more powerful and yet manages to more detail and information in it at the same time. Take for instance the EMU 0404 USB. So in many ways, much more time-consuming than the power cable shootout I did a while back. in the meantime, he himself may start to sound worse. The curious thing to me on this shoot out is that it didnt test where Ive experienced the biggest impact with LPS supplies powering the USB source server. Thanks for the rec! I am a builder of custom linear power supply in Hong Kong Glad to see your shootout of audiophile LPS would you have time to also review my creation? More often than not, the darker stuff will blanket the more nuanced gear. - Thorsten Loesch. Check out the reasons why here. All new things win in the market place when they have just sufficient
A few months ago I did my own private shoot out of power supplies powering the Qutest. And everyone connects to music in their own subjective way. high emissions. Jay, Just wanted to show utmost appreciation for the tests youve conducted! lately your site became a bit more silent and I figured your time is precious and after all you allready put out in the past years it was time to slow down. For each piece of gear, I write my impression of each power supply with quick, full-day listens, and staggered listening (waiting a few days to listen again). By their very design requirements to pass EMI SMPS's rarely conduct EMI/RFI across the power supply, most linear supplies may as well be transparent to anything above a few 100Hz. Those battery managements are filled with switched cheap electronic. And keep it on continuously. It is indeed 10dB lower than the blue trace, which was made off a discrete low-noise regulator. So I ordered their external stand-alone 12V hybrid version [S60 model] and found it too, to deliver a significant jump in SQ over my over-built, homemade LPSs using Bellison regulators powering Uptone Audio EtherRegens. I understand the DC could make a significant difference, but I try to focus on the elements that dont change between cables. functionality, and crucially, lower price. For example, linear supplies contain resonant systems formed by the mains transformers parasitic inductance, rectifiers capacitance and other parasitics. Can i use it with my hybrid PC (workstation/audiophile), 3950X + geforce 3080 motherboard asrock creator 64gb of ram 2 SSD 1 hard drive, Your email address will not be published. I do prioritize a warmer/darker tone, so my personal rankings will reflect that. And Im the only one crazy enough to make the comparisons. I guess you could say that about all of the Power supplies above, but it is a shame that the cable the JS-2 ships with limits it so. Of course, low end, "commodity" type SMPS often have filtering that is totally inadequate on both input and output and are noisy as heck, but that is not because they are SMPS per se, but simply because they are made as cheap as possible. My pleasure. Im only human so if you see any inconsistencies or errors, please let me know in the comments or via email. Some users think apparently the more expensive ones of $ 1000+ could/should last 10 to 20 years I was also told. circuity. The idea felt like a sort of first world solution/approach, where you just throw more money to fix a problem but ashamedly, I think it worked. Such SMPS's work in that they provide power and pass EMI Agency Requirements, but they do little else. These are literally just IEC inlet, transformer, LPS module, output. Also, you may want to try some of the newer unregulated power supplies that are storming the DIY community to power your server! Simply because my gear and goals might be different. I might add them to this list and in the sortable ranking table. You may be right and that the Farad needs more time to break in. These power supplies are in no particular order. Still great for the price, especially if you enjoy a full bodied and smooth sound. can be relatively high, particularly when the frequency at which they
If a PSU is such a troublesome beast, why not use a laptop. The reason why I ask is because I had tried using the JS-2 to power both my Jcat usb xe card and xe net card and while I really liked the sweet and nimble tone, having the JS-2 power both at the same time seemed to stretch the sound too thin. The only reviews that actually matter are comparative ones. Their power conditioners are great and I would be curious to see how their power supply compares with the others. The funny thing is that even if you supply 12V DC using a linear PSU , on the mobo there are all kind of voltage regulators as different components need a different voltage. Will put it on the list. I have not made the effort to substantiate this but Ive seen it executed in the Phoenix USB Regen and the Mutec Ref 10. Built to last, as we like things in JCAT. Antipodes Audio offered internal power supply upgrades for their legacy server/players changing out the existing LPS to their Hybrid-Linear/SMPS. Same with the Squeeze box. Generally, my opinions here were very consistent across the various pieces of gear I evaluated. Price and all the details will be announced in a newsletter. Many of these manufacturers like to boast about their power supply designs. Indeed they would be better: the
One thing becomes clear though: Most of them will sound much better than your stock power supply. Ill make my own case and with the right transformer. . Yeah fuses could make all the differencemaybe Ill test those at a later time. The faith in the benefits of a linear power supply are strong. Wondering if youve had a chance to to try the sbooster with the Ultra MKII add on? On the graph below, the green line shows output voltage. The JS-2 does have a sweeter tone (the JCAT stuff is darker). supply manages all three and its additional functionality is the ability
Foundations for his breakthroughs finds in areas that others ignore. I would recommend trying all the permutations. However all of that is about to change because Sean has been kind enough to loan me a prototype of his new ARC6 version of the DC4 power supply. It is using MOS FET transistors instead of diodes that are switched at zero points of AC waveform by special circuit. We do not plan on selling the linear regulator modules separately. , Glad you enjoyed it! ?Mine were in the $4-500 price range and I was told to expect this. As with all things audiophile, you cant have it all. Thank you! Personally, I enjoy a richer, warmer, and denser sound. Glad you enjoyed it! No, not because it is a portable but because sound quality improves when using the pure DC from a battery. Try tofu bacon instead.
I then have 18 awg OCC coppar cables with cotton sleeves as only insulation, soldered to a DC connector of copper. It is a quite uncanny combination. During the more recent PHD days Paul released larger SR7s with 12v/12a an 19v/10a railed with option for Turbo which was supposed to bring the production units more in line with the dual regulated supplies. Hi I sent you two emails in the last two days Did you receive them? The OPTIMO ATX PSU will be announced in March. heavy and expensive. GX16 sockets with custom cabling would be interesting. An open-minded electrical engineer and software developer by trade. for me here the SQ of the farad is unbeatable. I do randomize the order of the power supplies each time. Significant design margins. Will check again. I am about to buy a LPSU for my Anubis Dac and not sure how to go because there are so many. Beautiful work guys. I figured most people wont have fancy power cords they can hook up to each of their power supplies. Audio Bacon. Hence the commercial pressure to develop
Which specific ones would you like to see? For instance, I really liked the Paul Hynes SR4-12 and Fidelizer Nikola2 for their tone, the Sean Jacobs DC4 for its live molding, Mojo Audio Illuminati v3 for its spatial realism, and UpTone JS-2 for its fun energy and treble. Even if you are using a linear power supply to power the PC, the components are still powered by SMPS. Ill have to try that! SOtM tX-USBexp powered externally by Farad Super3 SOtM sCLK-EX externally powered via SOtM sPS-500 Display Samsung SyncMaster 225BW HDMI connected Samsung Portable SSD T5 500GB USB-C connected Standard USB mouse Apple USB Keyboard A1242 wired Does the OPTIMO ATX will. Im glad you enjoy the Farad Super3! Without further ado, check out the criteria and personal rankings here. Love the reviews. This comes from truly 100% linear design. Co-creator of the award-winning software, JPLAY. And some just pair better with specific equipment. Will the OPTIMO ATX be able to power such a system without any problems or overheating? Stock switching power supplies in consumer electronics are
Its calculated and tested extensively. Yes, it is. As far as the best power supply, I honestly couldnt settle on a specific one. I slightly prefer the SR4T due to the the more open and textured sound. Will let you know. So Id suggest trying these run-in times voor the Farad and leaving him on all the time and reviewing it again. Didnt you miss Teddy Pardo ? It seams promising, only dave the guy that sells them isnt up to date when it comes to customer relation. My impression of those two supplies is very similar to yours. Which LPS? Helping me grow my channel will help tremendously and make what Im doing more sustainable. Some of these power supplies will be more sensitive to power cords over another so if youre looking for power cable recommendations, check out my review here. It is a huge upgrade to the Dc4. You will gather that I like the ARC6 upgrade to the DC4 for the Dave. Do you need linear power supply for DACs? OPTIMO ATX worlds first truly linear ATX PSU for audiophiles heat management. How do you like it? I agree, the Farad Super3 is a great value, especially if you enjoy that more liquid and smooth sound. Another mammoth review. to operate from 115V to 250V without user intervention. Lots and lots of caffeine. The unit may be enclosed in a metal box, the IO may
And I have a reputation for taking them to extremes. And certainly didnt come close to the Antipodes or Ferrum Hypsos hybrid designs in terms of SQ. Buying a better (not necessary expensive) PSU solves these problems. But really both of these products should be applauded for the price performance ratio. With the Farad super3 I have quite a lot of experience in that area and with fuses etc. I have not tried any fuses and that could make an even bigger difference. Thank you! The OPTIMO ATX PSU complies with these safety regulations: directive 2014/35/UE EMC, 2014/30/UE RoHS 2, 2011/65/UE, EN 62368-1, EN 50419 and EN-61558-1. It would be great to hear your thoughts on those. I have more recently listened again to a DC4 powering the Qutest and although first time around I rejected the idea of a single rail 4,000 DC4 powering a 1.200 Qutest as being any where near a sensible decision I have now begun to wonder whether in fact it brings the 5,200 combination up to a level of similarly priced DACs and I think it might just do that.
Posted by Jay Luong | Aug 6, 2021 | Power Supplies, Reviews | 67 - LPSU, Shootout. Amazing amazing review; very well done! JCAT designed analog control circuit with so called floating ground which means that there is no ground connection for rectifier at any point that otherwise might be path for introducing noise into DC circuit. Thank you! Aussie seller very high quality supplies. The table of results especially. supplies is so advanced that rarely does a manufacturer bother to design
I found the upgrade to be a substantial improvement in sound quality at least a 15% expansion of soundstage. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. It gave me a sound that had body and density while still possessing the sweet tone of the JS-2. Sorry I havent heard this PSU! Im not very proactive on the forums so Im not always aware of whats out there. Depending on the power supply, driving two devices could result in a flatter, thinner sound. So much heart and soul (and money) go into the creation of this artistry. I believe the DC cable has a huge impact. I have the JS-2 going to the jcat net card and the Nikola 2 going to the Jcat usb. This is much more important with the Farad with orange fuse and furutech inlet and level2 copper DC cable than with all other power supplies Ive had in the house. Sadly, the
I would like to emphasize that Paul Hynes power supplies is closed. Get the Linear Power Supply Sound Pack: Recordings of 14 power supplies, 7 music snippets each. So, thanks once again for the huge undertaking and it is nice of course to see you still using my WAVE STREAM cables with your Dave. I can certainly agree with your observations, recognize that too, but leaving everything on for at least a month gives an even much better sq. Its interesting to hear about your preferences and what you have connected. That said, if you want to see measurements, Audio Bacon isnt for you. If there are LPSUs youd like to see here, please let me know and Ill add them at the bottom. I plan to focus primarily on videos from this point forward. 2021 : l'anne de l'alimentation ? Generally there is a tendency to go for "belly-feel, blackwhite" (see Orwell 1984) and uncritical duckspeak of "linear good, switched mode bad". JS-2 on one of the cards and Optimo on the other, etc. Not to mention photography, videography, and all the editing. Of course most SMPS start with a budget that is 1/10th or less of that which would be needed to produce a most basic and cheap linear supply. But it is NOT because "the evil SMPS has been removed", because it has not One might wonder if having a PSU working at 50 or 60 Hz is realy benificial. Classically, a power supply operating at 50Hz
Ive tried using up to 1KW toroids, 80,000uF of Mundorf electrolytics, 2A to 10A chokes after the rectifier and this level of overbuilding did not improve the sound in my setup. The Optimo 3 Duo had bass in spades, (sometimes even fatiguing amounts) as well as body and tonal density, but I found myself gravitating towards the JS-2 just slightly and I began to wonder if relegating both power supplies to power each card could result in the best of both worlds scenario. Hey Jon! So if youd like to support the work I do, here are a few ways. Its fairly simple to do so using their chart to size up the proper transformer specs. But they might not be your preference (I know many of you prefer transparency or soundstage over tonality). Of course they report great benefits on the audio forums. If you dont see a specific comparison here, then I probably didnt make them directly. Yes, it will power this config without a problem . There are DACs with battery power. So, farad 3 isnt that good? Since this is a power supply review, a lot of time is spent powering on and off these components. Hi Jay, Fantastic. The company was taken into liquidation now. Each of us has to decide on a balance that works for us. All of this is to ensure consistent impressions across a multitude of equipment and configurations. I will send you my CAD mock-up which you can then send to DIYAudio Store to have them CNC an enclosure for you. the noise will somehow break out and be detectable in the low noise
Some power supplies had a very similar level of bass so required more listening. Send us an email when done and we will pre-order it. My goal is to help point you in the right direction. This is an incredible review and many thanks for doing this for all of us. Eleven low impedance capacitors of total 110mF (110.000 uF) will ensure outstanding dynamic performance of OPTIMO ATX. Others have had luck with the newar z490/z590 based i7/i9 builds. My 200watt HDPlex isnt even close. In the context of what is the best sounding LPS (for your sonic preferences) on an audiophile network switch, have you evaluated and drawn your personal conclusion? You should include some of Gieslers power supplies. More shine? Such is the benefit of the DC4 with a Qutest. Is there a tonal color difference between DC4 and ARC6? It would be interesting to know how batteries like these compares to the better power supplies. Do you plan to release a more affordable version of this PSU later, perhaps an Initio ATX ? Listening was primarily done with the copper cable. Worked well on the Phoenix USB Regen [a very easy mod] as well as the Mutec Ref 10 SE120[a more challenging mod]. I have been told that one aspect to the best LPSs is using multiple smaller value caps to lower the impedance. radiates electro-magnetic noise in the vicinity and the high efficiency
Here is the ones I use: https://shop.gwl.eu/LiFePO4-cells-3-2-V/LiFePO4-High-Power-Cell-3-2V-20Ah-Alu-case-CE.html, Of if you want one ready made for RME DAC, this one works (its just 4 cells in series), should be similar available in NA if thats where you live: https://shop.gwl.eu/LiFeYPO4-batteries-12V-1-1/Lithium-Battery-LiFePO4-12V-20Ah.html. a well implemented film bypass on the main high voltage input cap) can reduce noise dramatically.