[cdacosta]

I know this thread is a few years old but I thought I would mention my recent experience with the Elfidelity PC fan filters and SATA filter. I installed the filters in stages approx. 3 weeks apart. This did allow me to see if there were any difference that these filters made. The PC I installed these filters in were my main PC which is also being used as a source for a pretty good headphone system. My PC has three fans, 2 Antec case fans and a Intel brand CPU fan. Also to note that all mechanical contacts were first cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and then applied Furutech Nano Liquid (contact enhancer).

* I first installed a filter on each of the 2 case fans. What I heard was a bit lower noise floor which allowed a bit more micro detail to emerge.
* Then 3 weeks later another fan filter on the CPU fan. What I heard was like with the other fan filters except now a bit more air and soundstage opened up.
* 2 days later installed the SATA filter on my main SSD drive. This took about 30 hours burn-in to sound right. But after the 30 hours even more micro detail across the frequency spectrum. It is obvious there is more nuance to everything that is heard. Also quicker transients and improved instrument decay.

Seems the more of these filters are installed the better the effect. These filters are very inexpensive, especially if ordered from Aliexpress. All 4 filters shipped costed me $62.14, well worth every cent for performance enhancement gained.

 

[Logistics]

I know this thread is a few years old but I thought I would mention my recent experience with the Elfidelity PC fan filters and SATA filter. I installed the filters in stages approx. 3 weeks apart. This did allow me to see if there were any difference that these filters made. The PC I installed these filters in were my main PC which is also being used as a source for a pretty good headphone system. My PC has three fans, 2 Antec case fans and a Intel brand CPU fan. Also to note that all mechanical contacts were first cleaned with isopropyl alcohol and then applied Furutech Nano Liquid (contact enhancer).

* I first installed a filter on each of the 2 case fans. What I heard was a bit lower noise floor which allowed a bit more micro detail to emerge.
* Then 3 weeks later another fan filter on the CPU fan. What I heard was like with the other fan filters except now a bit more air and soundstage opened up.
* 2 days later installed the SATA filter on my main SSD drive. This took about 30 hours burn-in to sound right. But after the 30 hours even more micro detail across the frequency spectrum. It is obvious there is more nuance to everything that is heard. Also quicker transients and improved instrument decay.

Seems the more of these filters are installed the better the effect. These filters are very inexpensive, especially if ordered from Aliexpress. All 4 filters shipped costed me $62.14, well worth every cent for performance enhancement gained.

It's great to hear these products are working for you cdacosta! Can give us a rundown on your PC's parts list? What power supply and motherboard are you using?

 

[cdacosta]

It's great to hear these products are working for you cdacosta! Can give us a rundown on your PC's parts list? What power supply and motherboard are you using?

Motherboard is Asus Z87M-Plus
Power Supply is Cooler Master RS-550-PCAR-E3
Fans: 2 Antec 120mm case fans and the CPU fan is Intel Brand
Hard drives are 2 1T SSD drives, 1 Corsair (main SSD with the filter) and 1 Hynix
2 identical video cards: AMD Radeon HD 7700

When I mentioned the Elfidelity filters having a positive sonic impact what I did not mention about my headphone setup is that it is highly tweaked. Including using 2 custom isolation PLCs to separate digital gear from analog. Experimenting and using some high end audiophile cabling and "a lot of tweaks" throughout entire system to improve sonics and tune. My system is very sensitive to any changes. Since the amp and DAC is internally tweaked, I also started to treat and tweak the PC as a real source audio component. What I mean is all caps are damped, "all mechanical contacts" treated with the Furutech Nano Liquid contact enhancer, almost all vibration within PC removed. For the nominal cost of the 4 Elfidelity filters I saw a very worthwhile improvement. YMMV

 

[Logistics]

Motherboard is Asus Z87M-Plus
Power Supply is Cooler Master RS-550-PCAR-E3
Fans: 2 Antec 120mm case fans and the CPU fan is Intel Brand
Hard drives are 2 1T SSD drives, 1 Corsair (main SSD with the filter) and 1 Hynix
2 identical video cards: AMD Radeon HD 7700

When I mentioned the Elfidelity filters having a positive sonic impact what I did not mention about my headphone setup is that it is highly tweaked. Including using 2 custom isolation PLCs to separate digital gear from analog. Experimenting and using some high end audiophile cabling and "a lot of tweaks" throughout entire system to improve sonics and tune. My system is very sensitive to any changes. Since the amp and DAC is internally tweaked, I also started to treat and tweak the PC as a real source audio component. What I mean is all caps are damped, "all mechanical contacts" treated with the Furutech Nano Liquid contact enhancer, almost all vibration within PC removed. For the nominal cost of the 4 Elfidelity filters I saw a very worthwhile improvement. YMMV

The gains yielded could be due to your power supply being a weak link. On another forum it was regarded as a poor quality supply, and the user even had a link to a site which did a thorough examination of said supply, but unfortunately the link has since become defunct:

It's a relabeled 500W unit with overall bad performance, poor efficiency, and poor internals, that burns up if you try to pull 550W:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Power-Plus-550-W-Power-Supply-Review/969/9

The supply is allegedly filled with Su'scon capacitors made by Kuan Kun who is a Chinese manufacturer with offices in Taiwan. If you ever get the opportunity to put a top tier supply in your PC I'd like to hear your experience with and without the Elfidelity products in that scenario to see if the supply quality made a difference for you.

 

[cdacosta]

I believe you or anyone else that says there are better power supplies available for audio use. From the pics you can see I am at least serious about headphone audio reproduction. I was already thinking of replacing the PC power supply but did not know where to look or research?

I would be very appreciative If you could point me in the right direction to look or research? Thanks!

 

[cdacosta]

The gains yielded could be due to your power supply being a weak link. On another forum it was regarded as a poor quality supply, and the user even had a link to a site which did a thorough examination of said supply, but unfortunately the link has since become defunct:

It's a relabeled 500W unit with overall bad performance, poor efficiency, and poor internals, that burns up if you try to pull 550W:
http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/article/Cooler-Master-eXtreme-Power-Plus-550-W-Power-Supply-Review/969/9

The supply is allegedly filled with Su'scon capacitors made by Kuan Kun who is a Chinese manufacturer with offices in Taiwan. If you ever get the opportunity to put a top tier supply in your PC I'd like to hear your experience with and without the Elfidelity products in that scenario to see if the supply quality made a difference for you.

I also have a Thermaltake TR2 TR-600 which is a 600W power supply laying around. But this is most likely not a audio grade power supply.

 

[cdacosta]

Logistics, I appreciate the reminder to look at the power supply in my PC. In regards to replacing the PC power supply, the dilemma I have is I do not know the actual value I would get by replacing the power supply? What I mean is my system now sounds absolutely stunning. I have been around high end home audio for 25+ years. My current headphone system sounds mind blowing for the money compared to what a nice home setup costs to achieve this level of sonic reproduction. So the question I asked myself previously and still am asking is how much do I spend on another power supply and how much of a sonic upgrade I would get?

 

[dougms3]

I have the pci card, fan filters and sata filter.

I installed everything at once so its hard to tell which made the biggest improvement but there was definitely a significant improvement in the sound quality.

 

[Logistics]

Logistics, I appreciate the reminder to look at the power supply in my PC. In regards to replacing the PC power supply, the dilemma I have is I do not know the actual value I would get by replacing the power supply? What I mean is my system now sounds absolutely stunning. I have been around high end home audio for 25+ years. My current headphone system sounds mind blowing for the money compared to what a nice home setup costs to achieve this level of sonic reproduction. So the question I asked myself previously and still am asking is how much do I spend on another power supply and how much of a sonic upgrade I would get?

I have no idea. I suppose there is no need. If the rig sounds great then the swapping of parts would be more academic. But then again audio is always trial and error. I have reached points where I couldn't imagine things sounding better, but then I would experiment and *boom* an increase in fidelity. It's very possible that with the Elfidelity card you have the equivalent of a good PSU. *shrug*

 

[Logistics]

I believe you or anyone else that says there are better power supplies available for audio use. From the pics you can see I am at least serious about headphone audio reproduction. I was already thinking of replacing the PC power supply but did not know where to look or research?

I would be very appreciative If you could point me in the right direction to look or research? Thanks!

Wow, that's an awesome listening rig! If you ever decide to dive into another PSU then manufacturers such as Fortron (FSP), Seasonic, Sparkle and even server supplies such as Supermicro can be a tremendous upgrade.

 

[dougms3]

I would never buy another cooler master power supply again.

I had a gold level efficiency ps and had to warranty it, then the warranty replacement died within 3 months.

Not sure about noise but the microcenter psus are pretty rock solid, I'm told that they are rebranded corsair units.

Haven't had a problem with mine for 3 years now.

 

[cdacosta]

Wow, that's an awesome listening rig! If you ever decide to dive into another PSU then manufacturers such as Fortron (FSP), Seasonic, Sparkle and even server supplies such as Supermicro can be a tremendous upgrade.

Thanks, it sounds sick. As you can see I understand the importance of power to overall sonic reproduction of a system. I love tweaking audio systems, it is a hobby I enjoy.

Hmmm those power supplies are not expensive. For kicks and grins I would be willing to change out the power supply. But there are so many to choose from. Is there anywhere online I can research specs like ripple at power output, etc? So I can decide on a model to purchase.

 

[cdacosta]

I would never buy another cooler master power supply again.

I had a gold level efficiency ps and had to warranty it, then the warranty replacement died within 3 months.

Not sure about noise but the microcenter psus are pretty rock solid, I'm told that they are rebranded corsair units.

Haven't had a problem with mine for 3 years now.

Mine works, never had a problem. You already know my PC has been on 24/7 for months burning in cables, never a problem. But getting a better power supply for the PC, one that is an audio grade quality can't hurt. Should improve PC (as a source component) performance. I have been thinking of doing this for awhile anyway. Worse case scenario is the one I have now will be a backup.

 

[cdacosta]

Wow, that's an awesome listening rig! If you ever decide to dive into another PSU then manufacturers such as Fortron (FSP), Seasonic, Sparkle and even server supplies such as Supermicro can be a tremendous upgrade.

After some research looking for the best non-linear SMPS with the best ripple and reliability it seems Super Flower Leadex Gold or Platinum and Seasonic (but not sure if Focus or Prime model is best for my use). Based on several power calculators I could find online noted at full power draw my system will be 230 - 270 watts. At Idle like 70 watts. To keep ripple down and power supply stable what power size should I get? Choices I saw were 650, 750 and 850 that made the most sense. I also read or saw a video that noted if the power supply was to big that system stability could be an issue? No idea this was even a thing.

 

[Logistics]

If you want to find great information on the best power supplies head over to badcaps.net where this is discussed at length. I have never heard anyone mention the ripple handling of a power supply. But the ripple handling of the capacitors in the supply is definitely important. The brand and type of capacitors used will always come up as well as design choices and screenshots of internals. There are entire threads there dedicated to picking apart specific models as well as threads dedicated to the most shameful designs.