REVIEW (in progress) - Nuforce HDP 24/96 USB-Optical 24/192 Coax DAC Preamp and Headphone Amp - Page 105

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmstrmbn 

Will the LPS make an impact on the HDP if it is only being used as a DAC?  Also will this impact be worth the asking price of the LPS plus the selling price of the HDP?  My current setup has the HDP outputting to a bottlehead Crack and I feel a new DAC is appropriate but I don't want to dump money into an LPS if it is a marginal upgrade, when I could take that money, sell the HDP and get something like the gungir for a little more money.

As I understand it the benefits brought by a linear power supply in a unit like the HDP is only to the solid state nature of the amplifier by giving the op amps a good, clean power input to help them reach their optimal voltage rails. So you probably wont notice any improvement if all youre using is the DAC from the HDP. That being said why are you unhappy with that setup? I was planning on using the HDP DAC to a Crack myself.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Armaegis 

I think there's a slight improvement, but very very small for the dollar invested. I'd spend some money on a Speedball upgrade instead. The gungnir doesn't really make sense unless you have a balanced amp as well.

Oh yea, definitely get the Speedball first over a linear power supply.

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben_r_ 

As I understand it the benefits brought by a linear power supply in a unit like the HDP is only to the solid state nature of the amplifier by giving the op amps a good, clean power input to help them reach their optimal voltage rails. So you probably wont notice any improvement if all youre using is the DAC from the HDP. That being said why are you unhappy with that setup? I was planning on using the HDP DAC to a Crack myself.

Oh yea, definitely get the Speedball first over a linear power supply.

I'm not unhappy with the HDP DAC at all merely looking down the road at what I should be putting money towards.  The Speedball is definitely first on my list, then some upgraded tubes.  Once this is done I'll be looking for a new DAC.  I recently acquired an M2Tech Hiface 2 and while  most of the harsh "sss" characteristic is gone there is a little left which is, IMO, the single biggest factor from making this my endgame system.  Would new tubes or the speedball cure this problem or is it simply a digital artifact I must live with?

Quote:

Originally Posted by ben_r_ 
Oh yea, definitely get the Speedball first over a linear power supply.

Sorry if this has been asked/explained before, but what is a Speedball?

The speedball is a circuit upgrade for the bottlehead crack and not related to the HDP at all, please ignore that part haha

Quote:

Originally Posted by gPope 

 

Sorry if this has been asked/explained before, but what is a Speedball?

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmstrmbn 

The speedball is a circuit upgrade for the bottlehead crack and not related to the HDP at all, please ignore that part haha

Yea just a little off topic convo. :)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jmstrmbn 

I'm not unhappy with the HDP DAC at all merely looking down the road at what I should be putting money towards.  The Speedball is definitely first on my list, then some upgraded tubes.  Once this is done I'll be looking for a new DAC.  I recently acquired an M2Tech Hiface 2 and while  most of the harsh "sss" characteristic is gone there is a little left which is, IMO, the single biggest factor from making this my endgame system.  Would new tubes or the speedball cure this problem or is it simply a digital artifact I must live with?

Hard to say without really knowing more specifically what this "sss" is.

I'll PM you to keep the thread on track

Ok, it took me a while to actually do it, but I got the Toshiba PA2450U power supply. The connector was too large, however, so I got a friend to change it. It did nothing.

Also, here's a YouTube video showing how my HDP provides less juice than my uDAC, which uses internal USB power:

This is ridiculous. Hopefully NuForce can cover return shipping, because this was a fresh RMAed unit.

Why go through the trouble of trying the Toshiba supply? Did you suspect that the HDP one was defective?

Yes. I thought the HDP power supply wasn't giving enough voltage, but the multimeter read 14.8V. The Toshiba was actually exactly 15.0V but it didn't provide additional amplification.

Such a tiny difference in voltage should make no difference at all. A power supply that is providing insufficient voltage or current would most likely cause the amp to clip or drop out. In your case the gain is very low.

And I'm not sure I understand your video... it seems like the HDP is louder than the udac, or am I not hearing it correctly? 

Quote:

Originally Posted by colgatetotal 

Ok, it took me a while to actually do it, but I got the Toshiba PA2450U power supply. The connector was too large, however, so I got a friend to change it. It did nothing.

 

Also, here's a YouTube video showing how my HDP provides less juice than my uDAC, which uses internal USB power:

 

 

This is ridiculous. Hopefully NuForce can cover return shipping, because this was a fresh RMAed unit.

Something is QUITE wrong. Get a new unit, sell it and I'll give you a good deal on my NFB-11 if you want a good amp. Huge amounts of clean power and a great DAC.

I e-mailed NuForce yesterday and am still waiting for a reply. Is there a way to contact jasonl so that this issue gets remedied faster?

You waited another two weeks before emailing them?