[phergus_25]

Any one ever used one for your audio gear?

 

[BushGuy]

Yes. Since my non-portable headphone use is computer soundcard sourced - I plug amp into UPS as well other computer-connected stuff.

 

[jpr703]

Very briefly until I realized just how badly it dorked the sound up.

 

[velingara]

I've seen battery sources for hi-fi equipment, on the low end the KingRex products. A UPS running on battery mode would not provide similar benefits?

 

[Tridacnid]

Another hobby I was into until recently was keeping a marine aquarium. Whenever the power would go out, I would always bite my nails and hope it would come back on (oxygen levels dropping, water temperature fluctuating, water movement at 0, etc.). So I got a UPS to hook up to one of my pumps to keep water moving if and when the power went out. Anyways, the power went out, and I look over at the pump, and it's behaving oddly (Shaking, and jiggling, like it was off balance). What I deduced from this is that the AC put out by the UPS isn't nearly as good as the wall's (WHAT A SHOCK!!!

).

I wouldn't put a UPS in my audio system, unless maybe it was before a really nice power conditioner.

 

[Ricey20]

I had my amp connected to my computer's UPS once since I use my computer as source but it was terrible. The amount of noise the computer generates when its doing something could be heard as static through my amp.

 

[MinotaurUK]

This surprises me. One would naturally expect a true inline UPS (with buck/boost) to have a "cleaning" effect on the power supply rather than a negative effect.

Has anyone tried their audio kit being the only devices plugged into a UPS? (i.e. no other kit connected to the UPS)

 

[LeonvB]

That because most of the cheap UPSes people buy are of the cheap stand-by type, which doesn't clean up ANYTHING but a voltage drop of at least ....% (with 5 and 10% being popular choices). The least I'd suggest is using line-interactive, as those have the buck/boost built-in. But from a pure audio performance perspective double conversion is best: all power is generated from the battery, and even the frequency is extremely stable. And while dual conversion UPSes are expensive, the APC Smart UPS RT series are at least much less expensive than the "audio" versions some companies offer. Not to mention one doesn't need a power conditioner at all with one of these babies. Do beware the efficiency is lower, so the power bill will rise.

 

[MinotaurUK]

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeonvB /img/forum/go_quote.gif And while dual conversion UPSes are expensive, the APC Smart UPS RT series are at least much less expensive than the "audio" versions some companies offer.

So, in your opinion, are you saying that a true online UPS will not have a negative effect (and might even have a positive effect) on audio quality?

All my audio stuff runs in a UPS'd environment (as does all my computer kit) - the power is so unstable where I live in rural Northamptonshire, I'd be reluctant to take the chance of equipment being damaged.

I've never really done any tests to see whether it benefits or detracts from sound quality though.

 

[s1rrah]

Just a two cents sort of thing ...

But I run my Pardisea DAC and Stello HP100 off of my OptiUPS 1100B UPS.

It's totally clean. Sounds indistinguishable from my wall outlet or APC power blocks.

I run my main computer off the same UPS.

My house is prone to voltage jumps/fluctuations/surges so I figured it would be best to have the source audio equipment behind a voltage regulated power supply.

Works fine for me.

 

[Golden Monkey]

I tried all of my stuff on a Belkin UPS, and after a few days took it out of the chain and switched to a power conditioner instead. You're not going to lose audio "data" if the power goes out (unless you're using PC as source, in which case it may make sense, obviously). Reason I took it out was that it was readily apparent that the dynamics and soundstage were much more compressed. I could also hear a lot more noise in the background, like a hissing in the quieter passages. The background was a lot less black. I was trying this UPS more for the "power conditioning" it was supposed to provide, but the negatives outweighed the positives, IMO.

 

[Dominat0r]

I use a UPS on my PC and tried it with my rig. I noticed NO audio differences at all between.

The only thing i did like, is it will power my rig for a few mins...which in case the power does go out, i can turn everything off without it popping off. Also, its nice that its a built in power surge protector.

 

[LeonvB]

Quote:

So, in your opinion, are you saying that a true online UPS will not have a negative effect (and might even have a positive effect) on audio quality?

What you're calling online, is actually the line-interactive type. To break things down:
1. Stand-by. Doesn't do anything, except when voltage/frequency drop/rise is out of the preset range. Cheap. Most APC Back-UPS models are stand-by types.
2. Line-interactive. Regulates voltage, does not regulate frequency, except when outside of the pre-set range. Reasonably priced. Most Smart-UPS types are line-interactive.
3. Dual conversion. Voltage and frequency stable. More parts, so expensive and more important: high cost of ownership, esp. for smaller UPSes. Smart-UPS RT is dual conversion.

A few things to take notice of:
- A properly sized UPS will never damage equipment. Some companies even offer free insurance for it (fi. one time, 25K max.). Even for undersized UPSes the chance of damage is slim. But an undersized UPS will sometimes try to give the power you need regardless of it's capacity and can then literally melt it's battery. Plus it's not smart to put fi. a 375W break onto a 625W transformer, even if the average load is only 100W.
- IMO The benefits of most UPSes are slim. The power supply in most equipment does a very good job in converting the AC to DC, and has a reasonable buffer. +/-10% voltage fluctuations should not be a problem.
- If your home is near an industrial zone, particularly one where HF welding equipment is used, HF noise will cause more problems than anything else. Only a good filter in front of the UPS will help, unless you're using a dual conversion type of course. If the noise/fluctuation is big, a line-interactive UPS will constantly switch on and off, wrecking the battery within a short time frame. And please note a filter is a CHEAP part. Most SurgeArrest blocks are fine, although they don't look as sexy as the "audio" grade counterpart.

 

[ast]

Some "online" (double conversion) UPS tend to be very noisy due to extremely strong cooling fans, e.g. TripLite. A good audiophile grade one will cost a arm and leg

 

[Ricey20]

so does this APC RT UPS with the double conversion have a lot of noise? I'm wondering since it may be a good alternative for me.