ginetto61
1000+ Head-Fier
Hi !
I am presently playing with some usb soundcards.
In particular i have now 3 models using all 12VDC power supplies.
I understand that these soundcards use on board dc to dc converters to provide the different chips with all the needed voltages.
As they were all delivered with cheap wall warts, I was curious to see for any instrumental difference using better psus.
As I am very limited in knowledge and testing equipment I am just checking their noise floor using a software called Arta that I am finding really excellent. I love it.
To cut the story short,
between a very cheap 10 USD smsp wall wart (usually they have ripple around 100 mV) and a more expensive bench power supply (with ripple of some mV) i cannot see any significant change in the noise floor level or look
As an example one of the three (the poorest one) has a very pronounced noise peak above 30 kHz ...
and this peak is always there in level and Hz also after swapping power supply.
I am attaching below the noise floor graph obtained with Arta.
As at least two of these units are very good indeed I would be willing to try some better psu.
But I start to wonder if even a very top psu will give me any real benefit (i.e. lower noise floor).
As I say looking at the noise floor it does not change in a perceptible way.
Anyway the plan is to try other psu and see
I am clearly interested in a very good 12V/2A power solution.
Thanks a lot indeed.
Kind regards, gino
I am presently playing with some usb soundcards.
In particular i have now 3 models using all 12VDC power supplies.
I understand that these soundcards use on board dc to dc converters to provide the different chips with all the needed voltages.
As they were all delivered with cheap wall warts, I was curious to see for any instrumental difference using better psus.
As I am very limited in knowledge and testing equipment I am just checking their noise floor using a software called Arta that I am finding really excellent. I love it.
To cut the story short,
between a very cheap 10 USD smsp wall wart (usually they have ripple around 100 mV) and a more expensive bench power supply (with ripple of some mV) i cannot see any significant change in the noise floor level or look
As an example one of the three (the poorest one) has a very pronounced noise peak above 30 kHz ...
and this peak is always there in level and Hz also after swapping power supply.
I am attaching below the noise floor graph obtained with Arta.
As at least two of these units are very good indeed I would be willing to try some better psu.
But I start to wonder if even a very top psu will give me any real benefit (i.e. lower noise floor).
As I say looking at the noise floor it does not change in a perceptible way.
Anyway the plan is to try other psu and see
I am clearly interested in a very good 12V/2A power solution.
Thanks a lot indeed.
Kind regards, gino
