[Jawed]

Standard Chord power supply have more then 15V and causing failure which Chord will not cover?

No. Read the conversation we were having.

 

[JazzAudioDog]

It's more common than you think, it's just not published. For instance, my Netgear modems and switches and my Intel NUCs all run on a range of voltages. I just wouldn't exceed the voltage of the power supply provided!

Thanks! As I’ve aged I have found there are many things I don’t know!

 

[Meridian7]

The Sotm sps-500 has a selectable output voltage. If ever used for another application. Very tempting but expensive

I've looked at the iFi too 12V/4A at 300euro, very small unit especially compared to the Sbooster BOTW 12V/3A that seems to have a lot more hardware inside at 350euro.
I might choose the latter one, it's a product with history and is upgraded over time...
Edit: ordered the Sbooster 12V to feed mscaler, we'l see...

 

[alekc]

The Sotm sps-500 has a selectable output voltage. If ever used for another application. Very tempting but expensive


I've looked at the iFi too 12V/4A at 300euro, very small unit especially compared to the Sbooster BOTW 12V/3A that seems to have a lot more hardware inside at 350euro.
I might choose the latter one, it's a product with history and is upgraded over time...
Edit: ordered the Sbooster 12V to feed mscaler, we'l see...

@Meridian7 if you are interested in ifi PSUs I'd advise to read some of @Thorsten Loesch posts in that matter. Very informative source considering that Mr. Loesch used to work for them and designed some of their products

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Edit: ordered the Sbooster 12V to feed mscaler, we'l see...

Good choice. The if SMPS are very well designed based on generic commodity Hardware and tricked out with every trick in the book and some not shown in books, to wring every last bit performance from the hardware.

But ultimately the Hardware cost is low, as should be price.

At a fair price (say 30-50 USD for the 15W model and 60-100 USD for the 60W model in a Basic black plastic case) these would be highly recommend.

At the prices charged there are many excellent options for linear power supplies. I personally would go with these over itdms that may be good, but heavily overpriced.

Thor

 

[Meridian7]

@Thorsten Loesch @alekc
Thank you, I will post about Sbooster vs stockSMPS, after a long time burning in (just to be sure).

 

[JazzAudioDog]

@Meridian7 My SBooster on a Qutest DAC sounded bad for the first 50 hours listening time. It was powered on 24x7, not shutdown. After 50 hours, it was barely acceptable in an audiophile sense but I could clearly hear it improving. Minimum of over 100 hours listening time to sound okay. Fully powered up 24x7 the whole time.

 

[Digital Enigma]

Wouldn’t a large capacity battery bank be a better option or can those be noisy as well?

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Wouldn’t a large capacity battery bank be a better option or can those be noisy as well?

They all use switching regulators and are pretty noisy.

Elsewhere I posted about adding super capacitors to power supplies. It also applies here:

Super (capacitor) charging your iFi Zen Can (and other zen products and possibly other manufacturers)

Using the right kind of super capacitor can substantially improve many power supplies.

If there is switching noise to worry about (it is with lot of switchers, one "well reviewed" one had 88mV peak-peak noise), adding a couple of inductors of substantial value and some big value low ESR electrolytic capacitors can help. Like so:

One area where most SMPS fail is coupling capacitance from mains. Adding a "supplementary earth" connection at barrel of the DC connector can help "bleed off" the noise current this coupling capacitance creates. There is a commercial product for that, but it's overpriced.

Using a mains plug with only the earth pin/connection retained and life/neutral pin removed and a wire from that earth with a suitable connector to the DC connector barrel will do the job nicely. And yes you can use an Audiophile Plug and cable for that, if you like. Personally I'd probably use commercial RG-316U teflon coax for the earth connection, it looks nice, is quite flexible and high quality.

Thor

 

[Digital Enigma]

They all use switching regulators and are pretty noisy.

Elsewhere I posted about adding super capacitors to power supplies. It also applies here:

Super (capacitor) charging your iFi Zen Can (and other zen products and possibly other manufacturers)

Using the right kind of super capacitor can substantially improve many power supplies.

If there is switching noise to worry about (it is with lot of switchers, one "well reviewed" one had 88mV peak-peak noise), adding a couple of inductors of substantial value and some big value low ESR electrolytic capacitors can help. Like so:



One area where most SMPS fail is coupling capacitance from mains. Adding a "supplementary earth" connection at barrel of the DC connector can help "bleed off" the noise current this coupling capacitance creates. There is a commercial product for that, but it's overpriced.

Using a mains plug with only the earth pin/connection retained and life/neutral pin removed and a wire from that earth with a suitable connector to the DC connector barrel will do the job nicely. And yes you can use an Audiophile Plug and cable for that, if you like. Personally I'd probably use commercial RG-316U teflon coax for the earth connection, it looks nice, is quite flexible and high quality.

Thor

Ah I see, are you the man responsible for designing the ipower 2/X power supplies? They seem to be good value for money and a nice upgrade for the Qutest for example. My only concern is do they leak back in to the mains?

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

Ah I see, are you the man responsible for designing the ipower 2/X power supplies? They seem to be good value for money and a nice upgrade for the Qutest for example. My only concern is do they leak back in to the mains?

I worked on the original units (iPower & iPower Plus).

The 2/X/Elite are mainly rework to replace imported IC's with mainland china made options, slightly larger value filter capacitors and fancy lights/cases etc, the core electronics are the same. I did provide some input on the redesign but I did not actually do it.

Compared to most common SMPS, the leakage of noise back into mains is relatively low. Additional filters can be employed. Especially, as there is no mains earth there will be common mode noise. Adding "Y" filtering and perhaps a supplementary earth connection to the DC connector Barrel (negative) can give substantial improvements.

There is a commercial iFi product I designed that is designed to significantly reduce switching supply noise on the mains, using a mix of active and passive circuitry. I suggested to start incorporating such tech into the larger ipower units, but S&M felt such functions are better separated so you can sell more little boxes to the customer for a lot of money, instead of spending a few bucks on fixing the problem at the source.

Thor

 

[Meridian7]

Feeling lika kid in toystore here

The extreme stable and cheap solution for 13V is like a LiFePO4 battery I'm using right now, 30Ah good for 15hours MS time but even during charging it's just as good sonic wise. 200 euro with charger, maybe more now, dunno. I lived for years using it on Chord stuff. Ideal in the garden next to a deck chair...

With this, one can eliminate both a dedicated PS plus Storm Wave cables in 1 go !

The Li batts usually have BMS control unit inbuilt, and cut off in time to avoid accidental depletion.
Gel types, hmm not so I guess. Going deep might hurt the batt.

I use this as a reference to compare powersuplies with, just change the jack on ms while listening, the 'halt' is short.

PS: Voltmeter = 13,2V but camera registers a part of display sequencing.
https://www.amazon.com/Lithium-Battery-Batteries-Off-grid-Applications/dp/B0B241L6FT
Roypow charger 30euro

 

[Thorsten Loesch]

The extreme stable and cheap solution for 13V is like a LiFePO4 battery I'm using right now, and even during charging it's just as good. 200 euro with charger, maybe more now, dunno.

Getting a true "Battery" is usually providing a good solution. I used to run a system where the power amp's +/- 48V came from stacks of 12V/50AH Gel Cells and the CD-Player had 4 Gel Cell batteries powering it. The charging system was epic.

Later I calmed down a little.

What I was referring to as "noisy" are the power banks like the "100Wh" small bricks I often use to power phones and laptops on the go.

These often can produce as much as 20V/5A (and have both 5/9/12/15/20V fixed options or a variable voltage option) and can be used with a small "trigger" PCB to get the desired voltage and current. Quite convenient, but relatively noisy.

Thor

 

[Meridian7]

After 50 hours, it was barely acceptable in an audiophile sense but I could clearly hear it improving. Minimum of over 100 hours listening time to sound okay. Fully powered up 24x7 the whole time.

Many thanks for this Sbooster hands on experience

@Thorsten Loesch
So you ran a mega scale battery setup, insane, but at least it gives you a point of reference which is totally unmatched.

 

[Meridian7]

All of the iFi Elite PSUs have the DC plug -ve/gnd part connected to mains earth internally, I checked 5v 12v 15v models with a multimeter. This caused me a problem adding the iFi powered M-Scaler to DAVE as it created a ground loop

Quoting Sbooster:
The output of the BOTW power supplies are 100% galvanic isolated from the mains, there is no (-) negative output à earth connection.

So I presume no need for Wave cables to remedy potential ground shizzle.
Unless they inherently sound better idk yet an expensive touch up.

Anyhow, gonna try DIY just for the hobbysake of it. Inspired by
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...fficial-thread.885042/page-1110#post-17361326
Using other parts though and not very soon.