[n4k33n]

I just bought the headroom ultra microdac, the new $700 upsampling dac box. It sounds great, but I hear it might be better with a better power supply. Headroom offers this astrodyne power supply, but it seems a little bit spendy.

Would it be possible to adapt a STEPS box or something similar for my dac? Would this even be a good idea?

 

[heatmizer]

Looks like it has a din connector for power. So would need two steps or treads plus transformer, enclosure, wiring connectors etc.
at this point you might be real to $100.00

 

[n4k33n]

Would that be better than the astrodyne though?

 

[n_maher]

The Headroom gear requires a +/- power supply, trying to do that with a STEPS is not a practical idea. You would be better off using something like amb's sigma22. Of course that's going to cost more than the Astrodyne but is a significantly better power supply so it should.

And there's no way to predict if either will make the DAC sound better to your ears.

 

[00940]

With 5 internal voltages regulators, I wouldn't go crazy on the power supply. I'd get a cheap case, a 40VA transformer, a basic diode bridge, around 3x1000uf per side, two capacitance multipliers to get rid of any high frequency noise (configured for a short startup), and finish by a pair of LM78**/LM79**. It shouldn't cost arm and leg and be of perfectly sufficient quality.

Of course, if you're crazy, you can replace the internal analog regs for ALW's super regs... Which could not be such a good deal if the pcb layout is really optimized (that doesn't happen in lots of gear but I'm willing to trust Headroom).

 

[balou]

Quote:

The Headroom gear requires a +/- power supply, trying to do that with a STEPS is not a practical idea.

why not? wiring it up is easy (tangent has a description on his site). and if you take perfboard instead of etched pcbs it's also not that pricey

 

[MASantos]

Quote:

Originally Posted by balou /img/forum/go_quote.gif why not? wiring it up is easy (tangent has a description on his site). and if you take perfboard instead of etched pcbs it's also not that pricey

because a STEPS doesn't provide a +/- power supply. it is a positive regulator only. So it won't work in this case.

 

[n4k33n]

I've been told the sigma 22 would be better in this case. Any thoughts?

 

[00940]

Well, it is better. Easier to work with (already a dual supply) and certainly a better regulator. The question is : isn't it overkill ? There are other power supplies in the world than the TREAD, STEPS or Sigma22.

BTW, is it your first serious DIY project ? I wouldn't start by something involving 110V from the wall.

 

[MisterX]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MASantos /img/forum/go_quote.gif because a STEPS doesn't provide a +/- power supply. it is a positive regulator only. So it won't work in this case.

This is what he was referring to--------->

http://tangentsoft.net/elec/tread/bi...ual-supply.png