[Triode User]

The name rings a bell. Aren't his PSUs in products by Innuos?

Correct.

A good bloke and his LPS for Dave seem to be well thought of.

 

[iFi audio]

A good bloke and his LPS

So I've heard, Innuos kinda exploded, didn't it ?

Enjoy!

 

[JazzAudioDog]

Hey friends,anyone using succesfully Sbooster with Qutest?

Any updates for fellow aftermarket PSU users?

I Recently purchased a Sbooster with the Ultra MkII addition. Out of the box I thought it was the most horrid sounding piece of audio equipment I’d ever heard. My dealer had warned me not to critcally listen for at least two days. He also said to keep streaming 24x7 with my tube integrated amp off when not listening. I was surprised that I could hear a slight improvement from this each evening when I started active listening.

After 4 days of this, combined with 8 to 12 hrs/day of music play, it’s sounding quite nice! The improvements I hear with the Sbooster compared to the Qutest without the Sbooster include more and better defined bass, more high-frequency detail, improved soundstage depth, and better imaging between the speakers.

 

[dac64]

I Recently purchased a Sbooster with the Ultra MkII addition. Out of the box I thought it was the most horrid sounding piece of audio equipment I’d ever heard. My dealer had warned me not to critcally listen for at least two days. He also said to keep streaming 24x7 with my tube integrated amp off when not listening. I was surprised that I could hear a slight improvement from this each evening when I started active listening.

After 4 days of this, combined with 8 to 12 hrs/day of music play, it’s sounding quite nice! The improvements I hear with the Sbooster compared to the Qutest without the Sbooster include more and better defined bass, more high-frequency detail, improved soundstage depth, and better imaging between the speakers.

Someone in Hugo mscaler has replaced it with a powerbank

Didn't work for HMS/TT2. Qutest maybe yes.

#13155
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hug...ectronics-the-official-thread.885042/page-877

 

[apmusson]

I know this is going to go down like a fart in a crowded elevator, but...

Fuses.

A few years ago I tried a few, anything containing silver sounded bad and I ended up going back to stock. Ones that remained were cheap generic ceramic fuses replacing the stock cheap glass fuses of the same rating. Plus the Furutech fuses stayed. The furutechs were rhodium plated copper.

Fast forward to today, with years of iterations, I’ve largely ignored fuses but now the top of the heap seem to be the Hi-Fi Tuning Gold/silver and the Synergistic Research Orange (also a gold/silver filament?). A few friends recommended I try the latest, plus the designer of the Farad3 is a fan of the SR orange, as is the designer of the Sonore power supplies.

Note right now that the SR Orange retails for USD $159, three quarters of the cost of the Shanti, so these are not for cheap power supplies, but for the Farads, the Jacobs, UpTone JS-2 and Hynes supplies. I am only half way through the 200-300 hour burnin time (yes 200-300), but there is something important happening here. What I hear is a far more natural and organic midrange, more contained highs. It’s almost like the power supplies I have had for years haven’t been performing at their optimal level.

Is it simply a matter of generic fuses having a tortured bit of mild steel, hot and vibrating freely like a light filament, a step away from physically snapping, being the weak link in an otherwise robust power delivery system? and replacing this with high quality conducting metals is all there is to it? Or does the gold content have some sort of mild high frequency filtering quality? (Ears I trust also rave about using gold/silver alloys for DC cables)

Whatever the explanation, the SR Orange is doing some good things to what I am hearing.

For those with high quality power supplies you must look into trialling some of these, as sound quality wise they have just as much effect on the sound as quality DC leads. Maybe it’s obvious when you think about it but there really is something important happening here. Synergistic Research are usually on my black list of snake oil merchants, but even the stopped clock tells the right time twice a day, and I have to give them credit here. Looks like 5 generations of their fuses really has let them empirically fine-tune their filament alloy.

Those with quality power supplies really should see if you can loan one, and at least try it.

It's crazy isn't it? It's not a small change in sound - even a sceptic could hear it. I know that many will say it's distortion of some kind. But I have been seriously impressed with the natural sound that this fuse ended up (post 200 hours) imparting to my system.

I'm not saying that I understand what it is doing. I haven't got a clue. I would seriously love someone to investigate (once they've heard the impact) as I'm at a total loss. Who'd have thought cables need burn in? Who'd have thought that different DC cables make a difference? Fuses? That's crazy...

I've got an SR Orange for my Stax Energiser and another on the way for my Paul Hynes Sr4T PSU.

 

[Clive101]

Want to know the best fuse......

NO FUSE

But you can tune your system with a fuse they do sound different.

Tried quite a few of them.

You need the fuses inside the equipment but in a UK plug "No Way" if you have a mains power supply because that fuse protects the whole HiFi system (if it all plugs into your power supply).

Guess this is why for example schuko plugs are used in the UK for Hifi

 

[jsawyer09]

I had initially used an Uptone UltraCap LPS-1.2 and really liked it. When I sold my eR, I kept it for a bit but ultimately sold it and got a Paul Hynes SR4, which I cannot say enough good things about when paired with the Qutest. Paul sent me their silver DC cable with micro-USB and I feel it sounds quite good compared to the copper, but it's VERY subtle if I'm to be honest. I have another SR4 I power my EE8 switch with. Of all the LPSs mentioned in this thread, I'd agree that the Sbooster BOTW ECO MK2 is quite good as well. I have one powering my modem. As one could conclude, my entire networking components are fitted with LPSs, along with several isolation techniques, including a transformer and double-conversion pure sine UPS. All of these have offered incremental improvements, some more obvious than others, that together are anything but subtle in my system.

 

[Oldbigears]

I still use my Qutest pretty much standard, except for the iPower X PS. I haven't compared it recently to the stock PS but when I first bought it I was satisfied it's slightly better. I choose to not send it back, after all. Aside from that, I'm feeding my Qutest through its USB drive via an OpticalRendu. The Qutest in turn feeds my Belles Aria, and then my Kudos Super 20's. It's a decent level of performance, but some recordings can occasionally sound slightly bright.

So I'm intrigued by the possibility of taking my Qutest to the next level with (a) an SBooster / Ultra PS and (b) Audiowise SRC DX Bridge, enabling double-BNC connection with my OpticalRendu. From all the various reports, this should be a nice upgrade for around $1000. But that begs the question....My Qutest becomes a $2700 DAC....should I sell and simply buy a new DAC such as a Denafrips Venus?

 

[dac64]

I still use my Qutest pretty much standard, except for the iPower X PS. I haven't compared it recently to the stock PS but when I first bought it I was satisfied it's slightly better. I choose to not send it back, after all. Aside from that, I'm feeding my Qutest through its USB drive via an OpticalRendu. The Qutest in turn feeds my Belles Aria, and then my Kudos Super 20's. It's a decent level of performance, but some recordings can occasionally sound slightly bright.

So I'm intrigued by the possibility of taking my Qutest to the next level with (a) an SBooster / Ultra PS and (b) Audiowise SRC DX Bridge, enabling double-BNC connection with my OpticalRendu. From all the various reports, this should be a nice upgrade for around $1000. But that begs the question....My Qutest becomes a $2700 DAC....should I sell and simply buy a new DAC such as a Denafrips Venus?

Get an isolated transformer from ebay

 

[The Jester]

Interesting reading some of the design philosophy behind the newest Antipodes music servers on their technology page, seems they feel while a linear PSU is cleaner and smoother it limits bandwidth and affects the life of the music, while smps has a wider bandwidth but slightly noisier …
Their solution is a hybrid PSU supplying wide bandwidth where it’s needed and smoother bandwidth limited power where it has the benefit…
Maybe why a native 5v battery is better option for SQ while being the worst for convenience ?

 

[Triode User]

Interesting reading some of the design philosophy behind the newest Antipodes music servers on their technology page, seems they feel while a linear PSU is cleaner and smoother it limits bandwidth and affects the life of the music, while smps has a wider bandwidth but slightly noisier …
Their solution is a hybrid PSU supplying wide bandwidth where it’s needed and smoother bandwidth limited power where it has the benefit…
Maybe why a native 5v battery is better option for SQ while being the worst for convenience ?

I personally found that a 5V battery was moderate for the Qutest, certainly not best sounding.

 

[HumanMedia]

I still use my Qutest pretty much standard, except for the iPower X PS. I haven't compared it recently to the stock PS but when I first bought it I was satisfied it's slightly better. I choose to not send it back, after all. Aside from that, I'm feeding my Qutest through its USB drive via an OpticalRendu. The Qutest in turn feeds my Belles Aria, and then my Kudos Super 20's. It's a decent level of performance, but some recordings can occasionally sound slightly bright.

So I'm intrigued by the possibility of taking my Qutest to the next level with (a) an SBooster / Ultra PS and (b) Audiowise SRC DX Bridge, enabling double-BNC connection with my OpticalRendu. From all the various reports, this should be a nice upgrade for around $1000. But that begs the question....My Qutest becomes a $2700 DAC....should I sell and simply buy a new DAC such as a Denafrips Venus?

My opinion for that amount of money, ditch that iPower immediately, forget battery just get a good power supply like a Sean Jacobs, Farad3 or Uptone JS-2. You are using an OpticalRendu, which are phenomenal with the right optical SFP connector. SFP are highly noisy laser devices sitting right inside your Player, in my experience they can make or break the sound quality of the OpticalRendu. Spend $50 on a good sounding pair, like the Finisar FTLF1321P1BTL-HW.
When you have done the above and let the power supply burn in and those SFP to burn in (they definitely need 2 weeks). Evaluate how things sound then you might find ypu don’t need to go any further, and before going the DX bridge (which would also need a good power supply, or fiddly batteries.

‘Further thoughts. You have an Optical Rendu and a Qutest. These are great pieces of kit. Giving them (both) good power supplies a great USB cable like a Sablon, and those SFP I mentioned and you are on another level. Avoid adding any more stuff in there and get your ears around what you really have there.

 

[Oldbigears]

My opinion for that amount of money, ditch that iPower immediately, forget battery just get a good power supply like a Sean Jacobs, Farad3 or Uptone JS-2. You are using an OpticalRendu, which are phenomenal with the right optical SFP connector. SFP are highly noisy laser devices sitting right inside your Player, in my experience they can make or break the sound quality of the OpticalRendu. Spend $50 on a good sounding pair, like the Finisar FTLF1321P1BTL-HW.
When you have done the above and let the power supply burn in and those SFP to burn in (they definitely need 2 weeks). Evaluate how things sound then you might find ypu don’t need to go any further, and before going the DX bridge (which would also need a good power supply, or fiddly batteries.

‘Further thoughts. You have an Optical Rendu and a Qutest. These are great pieces of kit. Giving them (both) good power supplies a great USB cable like a Sablon, and those SFP I mentioned and you are on another level. Avoid adding any more stuff in there and get your ears around what you really have there.

I agree on many points. I'm sure my iPower X could be improved but recently I re-compared it with the stock wall-wart that is supposed to be good enough according to many, such as Rob Watts - and I hear a distinct improvement in body and tone to my music. But I could probably improve it without spending a fortune. The Farad would be a contender. Yes, the OpticalRendu is super, especially when fed by an Etheregen. But my most surprising and impressive upgrade was just last week...I've long wondered if switching from USB to Optical input would be beneficial. For that purpose, the various Denafrips DDC's have been on my radar for months. However, after reading a strong recommendation, I took a flier and bought a cheap Douk Audio USB to SPDIF / Optical converter, which arrived on Friday. With a total cost of $55 including freight, my expectations were minimal and I was quite prepared to put it all down to a fun experiment. The amazing thing is that this little box has just transformed my Qutest. I obviously can't say how much further a more sophisticated DDC would improve my system's performance but I can say that this is the best value upgrade I've ever experienced. Qutest owners owe it to themselves to try the optical input, versus the USB.

 

[The Jester]

I personally found that a 5V battery was moderate for the Qutest, certainly not best sounding.

Probably not, but something like the DC4 you’ve used is way out of my budget, especially trying to power a Qutest and MScaler with high end linear PSU’s that cost more each than the Qutest/MScaler duo cost me..
I‘ll keep filling out those Lottery entries though …

 

[stevedlu]

I just got the iFi iPower Elite and I must say its the first PSU that made a change worth bragging about. The sub-bass is tighter and more impactful.