[mattpwill]

How do you run it off linear power supply?

 

[recca]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I never bothered with higher priced RME and Lynx because the switching power supply handicaps any internal soundcard. And since I'm a big believer in power quality, that is just a turnoff for me. I've run my emu on internal PC power, linear power supply and battery now and the internal PC power is just the worst of the 3. Not even close. Also using the Headroom Overture DAC. which is same DAC chip as on 1212m/1820m, I can finally hear this chip cleanly on battery power or a linear one. So in my experience, PCI cards are handicapped by lesser quality power and this is noticible even with using upgrade caps on my emus.

Thanks for the tip Ian. I like the fact that you've actually tried all arrangements, it makes it clear that the PS really makes a big difference.

 

[lan]

I have 1820m so I can wire it up to external power vs. internal one so I can compare easily. You can't with the PCI only cards.

 

[lcrim]

Ian:
Earlier in this thread I asked the question whether at this price point ($1500)the digital to analog conversion is best handled by a soundcard or off the PC by a separate DAC and you favor a separate DAC because of the relatively poor power supply inherent with a PC sound card.
I don't mean to pirate the thread but I was wondering if at a less exalted price point wouldn't a decent card like the emu0404 doing the d to a conversion provide a high value alternative to a budget CD player? The addition of a good power chord wouldn't raise the total price ridiculously. I also have a balanced power transformer which helps enormously with the switching power supply on my digital amp.
Larry

 

[10068]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I never bothered with higher priced RME and Lynx because the switching power supply handicaps any internal soundcard. And since I'm a big believer in power quality, that is just a turnoff for me.

Could you give me a quick rundown in why you believe switching power supplies are bad. As you can see i'm still trying to learn all this stuff

Quote:

I've run my emu on internal PC power, linear power supply and battery now and the internal PC power is just the worst of the 3. Not even close.

What power supply was your PC using at the time? If you believe in power, i'm sure the PSU you were using was top of the line, right? Generic or even brand name "good quality" PSUs like Antec are just awful.

Quote:

So in my experience, PCI cards are handicapped by lesser quality power and this is noticible even with using upgrade caps on my emus.

Glassman told me that the Lynx cards use much higher quality power filtering technology on all sections of the cards, just FYI.

 

[Scrith]

The combination of something like an 0404, DAC1, and a decent optical cable is probably going to beat any similarly priced CD player (mainly by virtue of the DAC1, which is going to do a better D/A conversion, and the optical connection which will overcome most power problems in the PC and should be almost or completely jitter free thanks to the DAC1).

A possible upgrade might be to use an externally-powered box to convert an asynchronous signal like USB or FireWire to s/pdif coax for the DAC1.

The ultimate sound is going to come when something that sounds as good as a DAC1 has an asynchronous digital interface (like USB, FireWire, or ethernet). I don't care how much you spend on a transport...it cannot guarantee to deliver the music to the DAC any better than this. And it will *never* match the simplicity, convenience, and wondrous utility of keeping losslessly-encoded music on hard drive(s).

Unfortunately, I don't know of such a DAC. Maybe the Benchmark DAC2 or the new PS Audio unit, whenever those are released?

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek Could you give me a quick rundown in why you believe switching power supplies are bad. What power supply was your PC using at the time? Glassman told me that the Lynx cards use much higher quality power filtering technology on all sections of the cards, just FYI.

Switching power supplies are just noisy. Sometimes it's ok to use if it was made for audio in mind but I don't believe the one in the computer falls under that category. My power supplies was a Fortron and now an Antec Phantom.

Lynx could be nice. 1820m is just more useful to me

 

[lan]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lcrim I was wondering if at a less exalted price point wouldn't a decent card like the emu0404 doing the d to a conversion provide a high value alternative to a budget CD player?

Yes it would because for a CD player you have to pay for the power supply and transport, remote, etc.. So $100 0404 would beat a $100 CD player. I do not know where it truly is competative though as I have no interest in regular transports.

 

[mikechai]

[size=medium]Is there even a forum member here that owns a LynxTWO/L22 card?[/size]

Please post a review/comparo here if you do.

 

[dwk]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I have 1820m so I can wire it up to external power vs. internal one so I can compare easily. You can't with the PCI only cards.

I was thinking of trying this on my 1820M as well - Did you wire the battery into the floppy header on the PCI card, or did you mod the dock for a power connector? Was battery power a step up from linear?

 

[10068]

lan - you're trying to lecture me on why PC power is dirty, and you're using ANTEC? Ha. If Antec makes hi-end PSUs, then the HD590 unamped w/stock cord is a hifi headphone.

 

[Daroid]

So you had an Antec PSU that went up in smoke ? No matter what you buy you can get faulty hardware. Easy as that.

The problem with switching power supplies is that from 50/60 Hz the input is rectified and then oscillated to around 100,000 Hz. Doing this causes a larger EMI and RFI. Now you can transform the power down to the required 3.3V, 5V, +/-12V at high current outputs without much heat dissipation. PSUs consist of less good components which add voltage ripple and line noise (e.g. transformers, oscilators not stable enough).

Switching PSUs should be avoided, but it's impossible to create a suitable regulated linear PSU for PCs... so there is no choice.... PCP&C claim that their PSU (510 series) is better in tese regards than all other PSUs on the market in stability, voltage ripple only 1% as opposed to 5%, heat dissipation is lower.... don't know if there's any truth to this.

 

[Fidelity]

PCP&C PSU's are superior to the rest, their rated power wattage is the actual minimum output under normal operating conditions, while pretty much all other rate their PSU's under the peak maximum output under ideal conditions.

A PCP&C 510w PSU will easily provide more power than 99% of all "600W" rated units, better voltage stability and cleaner power output.

 

[lan]

Speaking of smoke.... I've had a PCP&C before. But that went up in smoke.

I chose my current Antec power supply because it has zero audible noise. That's more important to me and I'm better off with this in my setup.

 

[ogewo]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sduibek lan - you're trying to lecture me on why PC power is dirty, and you're using ANTEC? Ha. If Antec makes hi-end PSUs, then the HD590 unamped w/stock cord is a hifi headphone.

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan I have 1820m so I can wire it up to external power...

the man's a pro