[Berdugo]

Would the 9v iPower feeding my iUSB power supply make any improvement?

 
In my experience, yes it made an improvement in sound clarity (cleaner background).

 

[iFi audio]

 
In my experience, yes it made an improvement in sound clarity (cleaner background).

 


Hi,

Yes that works but better still would be the iPurifier2 + iUSB = USB3.0 (something close to that).

 

[talan7]

Here is my setup. I have the ipower that came with the Ican. I use the ipurifier with the iUsb and Gemini cable. This setup is phenomenal. I have the old ipurifier and iUsb 2.0. Would swapping to the iUsb 3.0 and new ipurifier be much of an improvement.

 

[koven]

i tried both ipower and dc ipurifier in my chain, i kept the ipurifier 

 

[gr8soundz]

  i tried both ipower and dc ipurifier in my chain, i kept the ipurifier 

+1
 
I also have both and the DC iPurifier gave a much a larger improvement than the iPower.
 
With the DC iP, the background became so much darker that I initially thought something was wrong. After rechecking the dac, buffer, and amp to make sure they were all turned on I still thought I had an issue. Only after pressing play in Foobar and hearing the music could I tell that it was ok. Now my setup sounds a little brighter because of that initially inaudible noise reduction.

 

[gr8soundz]

My 12v iPower just died again for the 2nd time.
 
Still no issues with the 9v iPower that came with my iTube (I bought the 12v one separately for a non-iFi amp).
 
Recommend anyone trying to decide between the iPower and DC iPurifier go for the DC iP. It costs more but has a greater impact on audio quality, can handle up to 24v (unlike having to choose one of the 4 iPower versions) so it will work will more devices over time, and seems a lot more robust (all metal instead of plastic).
 
NOTE: I had to pay to ship the dead iPower to iFi but the one I received back was in the exact same box and packaging (down to the same serial number; as though they just replaced the 12v wall-wart (or possibly just changed the old one's non-user serviceable fuse; serials are not on any the iPowers themselves). Don't understand why they didn't just ship a new, unopened one instead of 'refurbishing' a $49 plastic wall wart.

 

[KC33]

Mine just fried too. I created a ticket and I'll take it from there. 
 
ETA: I just bought a 15v from Adoroma, I'm pretty sure it works better with the Ican SE

 

[davehg]

Following this thread and decided to get an iPower to upgrade the iPhono stage. I did hear improvements, not dramatic but noticeable. Mainly more detail and clarity. For $49, it will stay. I will add that the quality of iFi's phono stage is outstanding.

 

[KC33]

  Following this thread and decided to get an iPower to upgrade the iPhono stage. I did hear improvements, not dramatic but noticeable. Mainly more detail and clarity. For $49, it will stay. I will add that the quality of iFi's phono stage is outstanding.

Did you get it in the States? If so where? I ordered one from B&H but they wound up being out of stock. (15 Volt)

 

[davehg]

I bought it from Music Direct. It took them a few weeks to get it ordered and shipped.

 

[KC33]

Thx 

 

[music_man]

correct me if i am wrong. ifi is saying they did not get good test results because they used their ac power in their building? if so you will need a pretty good power conditioner to plug this into. preferably then plugged into an online ups. such as i do anyways. the thing is this is nowhere near a mere $49 then. also, serious equipment does not even have wall warts. if it does have an outboard psu which is often good that has a linear supply and an iec receptacle for your choice of power cord. you must understand ifi is entry level equipment as i understand it. that is fine there is certainly a place for that. however i would not expect miracles from any wallwart. perhaps a moderate improvement at best which is better than nothing i suppose.not flaming this is just reality. a $49 wallwart will not turn the ifi into $50,000 equipment. of course any improvement at all for the small price is certainly welcome. it is not like this is overpriced. the price is very fair. quite frankly barring it dying i see nothing to lose with it's purchase.it baffles me there are 13 pages about it. just go get it if you want it. i am sure it is better than nothing.

 

[iFi audio]

  correct me if i am wrong. ifi is saying they did not get good test results because they used their ac power in their building? if so you will need a pretty good power conditioner to plug this into. preferably then plugged into an online ups. such as i do anyways. the thing is this is nowhere near a mere $49 then. also, serious equipment does not even have wall warts. if it does have an outboard psu which is often good that has a linear supply and an iec receptacle for your choice of power cord. you must understand ifi is entry level equipment as i understand it. that is fine there is certainly a place for that. however i would not expect miracles from any wallwart. perhaps a moderate improvement at best which is better than nothing i suppose.not flaming this is just reality. a $49 wallwart will not turn the ifi into $50,000 equipment. of course any improvement at all for the small price is certainly welcome. it is not like this is overpriced. the price is very fair. quite frankly barring it dying i see nothing to lose with it's purchase.it baffles me there are 13 pages about it. just go get it if you want it. i am sure it is better than nothing.

 
These are quite distant relations because the showroom runs on UK mains for AMR equipment. The iFi gear cannot power the AMR equipment. What we discussed is how we setup our own main circuit that works (v. well) yet does not conflict with the law on UK building insurance/regulations.
 
The iPOWER is for low-voltage gear. The AMR is high-voltage gear.
 

 

 

 
Just to be clear, the iPOWER cannot be used for the AMR gear.
 
What we did with the mains there needs a page of its own!

 

[music_man]

yes, i understand. the point is if you dump dirty power into anything other than a good power conditioner you are going to get dirty power out. you tested your product under perfect conditions. in most places in the us if someone just plugs it in the wall or cheap power strip they are not going to get the performance you measured. it is converting 120vac into 12vdc. if you plug it into a dirty power source it should still send dirty power out as 12vdc. i highly recommend people get at least a decent power conditioner. you can start with the tripp lite isobar. it is like 50 bucks us. btw, where did the amr system come from? is that your brand as well? obviously that is higher end than ifi. I run an online ups into a very high quality power conitioner. i understand people buying ifi are not in that market segment. it is all very good gear for it's price point. i see no reason not to get the ipower if one needs it for the price. it certainly will not make anything worse and probably a little better. as i said though higher end equipment is off of ac mains just as your amr. either way people really need a power conditioner to make the best of anything. plus as you said no one should ever break any building codes for their own safety

 

[iFi audio]

  yes, i understand. the point is if you dump dirty power into anything other than a good power conditioner you are going to get dirty power out. you tested your product under perfect conditions.

 
Not quite. Bear with us as we elaborate.
 
We tested our product in isolation, meaning we test it by itself, to confirm what it does, in itself. 
 
Any other test is meaningless to confirm the performance of the product itself, it confirms the performance of a complete setup, which may or may not have been assembled competently and hence is outside the control of the product manufacturer.
 
Under our testing (long before testing the iPower) we identified weaknesses in the test gear/setup (e.g. earthing of AP2), we took steps to eliminate these so-called 'instrument ghosts' (yes, they are really called that among the pro's) to ensure we measure the performance of the device being tested and not some unwanted garbage that is a result of ground loops etc. Naturally we use the same corrected test-setup for testing the iPower.
 
Further reading here: (hope this does not offend the mods bu C-A and H-F are good friends.
 
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f30-abbingdon-music-research-ifi-audio-sponsored/measuring-ipower-much-ado-about-nothing-part-4-uploaded-and-complete-28982/
 
 
If one tests and gets a lot of mains frequency related noise in one's measurement, one knows there is an earth loop or missing earth or similar problem. Even if one lacks experience, the AP2 test-set manual tells one to try different grounding options in this case. 
 
So if resolve this problem is not resolved ,and the results are published, all one did was prove is that one did not know how to operate test equipment and/or how to read manuals and the subsequent test results are meaningless. 
 
We tested specifically audio band noise, as this is where many power supplies (SMPS or others) fall down and as this is what various others tested. We fully expect our results to be 100% replicable using a similar test setup and care to eliminate test-equipment related issues. For what it is worth, a leading USA publication asked to look into our setup and we sent the instructions and they seemed quite satisfied!
 
Incidentally we also have a RF Test Setup with a 1.5GHz Digital Spectrum Analyser and an Artificial Mains Network (aka LISN) according to CISPR 16-1-2 and other related stuff, so we can do our own EMC testing. The accountants threw a hissy fit when they saw the bill for that setup. RF test gear makes you appreciate how cheap high-end audio really is.
 
While we have not specifically published the results of these RF tests, the iPower does not only steer well clear of any legal emission limits but again is significantly better than common SMPS, both in terms of noise on the mains side and on the output. And surprisingly (or perhaps not), linear off-mains supplies have surprising amounts of noise themselves, even at high frequencies.