Do bear in mind that at this level most changes are actually minor, despite the use of superlatives… and whether change is positive is a matter of personal taste. I actually cannot imagine anything better or more natural to my ears than Dave with its stock PS, and over-the-top superlative raving by a reviewer doesn’t impress me - I would certainly have to hear for myself through my system before even considering any modification to Dave or parting with money.
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You would hope that spending £8400 on a power supply would vastly inpove it but we all know the difference will only really be slight, and you can even then spend another £2500 on that power supply to upgrade that.
For me i would put my money into another dac rather than this power supply as you really will get a different sound doing that.
But that for me goes with all the power supply upgrades, especially when they start to cost more than £500 let alone thousands or more than the actual bit off gear they are running.
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So the PSU on our DAC cost 4x the device (inc service)!
Maybe we should have gone straight to a Dave 
To be fair the original intent was to use the PSU on NDX2.
Dissagree the power supply to dac is supercritical…ie. the ND555 is transformed by a second supply…and by all avounts the Dave is no different. Yes the Sean Jacobs supply is expensive…but if you want the best…for that matter the 555psdr is not exactly cheap…dont get me wrong I am not suggesting the std supply is no good…its just the Dave is able to deliver more if you want that goodness. Again I would not recommend voiding warranties…I would only ever do this tp a pre loved unit…
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A fundamental difference of course is that the ND555 was designed to give its best with the pair of PSs, in traditional Naim fashion, when it will give the sound the designer intended, whereas IIUC Dave’s standard PS was chosen to be the best for Dave, giving the sound the designer intended. Change may or may not be beneficial depending how close to the designer’s sound preference yours is…
a lot of members relate how transformative the DC4 is on the Dave, elsewhere. I am not surprised. The 555 dr is transformative for the Ndx2 . The problem with the Sean Jacobs is that you can’t try and send back if not satisfied.
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I have heard the DAVE with the SJ DC4-ARC power supply used with the MScalar with its own SJ
DC4 power supply. Close to $20k on just the two power supplies.
It would be very hard to revert to the stock supplies of those two pieces after you hear what they accomplish.
I would suggest that the full benefits of the LPS are not evident until they are used on BOTH the DAVE and the MScalar.
The lingering question is…is there a better way to put close to $40k on a DAC? I suspect the answer is a very strong ‘YES’.
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I never thought about the m scaler…cripes…
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Happy Xmas😂
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Well we can all spend our money which ever way we want. But for me i think you must be mad to spend this much on a power supply.
I say much better to spend the money on the actual dac side if you don’t like what it does. As a good friend once told me " if you want a fast car, buy one. Dont waste your money trying to make a slow car go fast" i feel that statement is quite fitting in this thread.
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A good powersupply is crucial to taking the soundquality to the next level.
In the picture below Sean Jacobs DC3 linear powersupply in its best version.
This costs including the cables in the picture £2593.
This DC3 feeds incoming fiberbox and router,.and has completely transformed my music-system.
It’s like a house,.a music-system must rest on a good foundation.
The one in the picture is during the evaluation phase,.now Sean Jacobs DC3 is on an AudioTech wall shelf.
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The smps in Dave is designed to cope with the sophisticated processors and the noise on ground planes generated by it
The linear PSU by design may not necessarily have the filters needed so it might sound a bit brighter or not but there’s no way I would change the PSU on my Dave!
Mscalers for me personally is how I upgrade my Dave
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In the development of ever more expensive boutique power supplies, I am puzzled as to why for relatively low power devices and low voltage requirements (i.e. excluding power amps) the concept of a battery PS seems to have been ignored, other than in a few cases like the stock Chord Hugo. Designed appropriately it could easily be switched between charge and play, physically isolating the mains suppy completely when playing (could even be unplugged. (If desired an option could be provided to have a ‘standby’ setting, charging and providing power at the same time.) No mains-borne interference, ground plane modulation, ripple etc etc, just pure clean power with masses of reserve at potentially huge currents. For example a 100AH Lithium battery, of the type used in place of lead acid battery in the leisure industry, plus a suitable smart charger would be of the order of perhaps £5-600. Battery life realistically perhaps 7 years or so, and something like £350 to replace when capacity drops. (Of course there are bigger batteries, at greater cost, but I doubt any benefit if used just for a few hours play and then recharged every day.
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Check out Boenicke Audio, they make battery powered preamps,amps,Dacs etc.
Not to mention speakers, there is currently a thread running about their new flagship speakers, with a link to an interview with the designer.
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I tried a battery on my mscaler and on my TT2, couldn’t hear a difference and it was fiddly to use
Do batteries really have the full audio bandwith? I experimented with batteries a long time ago and the batteries seemed to have some secret life, god knows what went on in those chemicals inside. At least be prepared you will be needing a big capacitor bank and connect a scope to see the outputs.
Have you never done so in your Naim past Dunc?
How about clocks on dcs?
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I agree with you. The power draw on a dac is very low probably no more than 25 watts probably. So it doesn’t need huge transformers to run it. It just needs a very clean quite power supply.
Ryder 35,
Yes i have tried many different power supplies on my NDS years ago, and very much so got caught up in this merry go round. Ultimately i sold the lot and just got something that got me away from it all.
Clocks, i guess they start to fall into the same area, but a clock is very different to what a power supply does, especially when you start using said clock on many devices in the same loop.
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I was just kiddin ya. This hobby is total bonkers and it is easy to get caught up in it all. Also I think adding a ps to Naim kit, or a clock to DCs is very much what the designers intended… performing internal surgery on a chord Dac, less so
It certainly is, and we could all agree or argue all day long on just about it all.
As said many choices, many different way’s to spend your money, and many different way’s manufacturers try to get your money off you.
Just got to try and be sensible (laughing right now at that statement) and try and see the real value in these things, as most off it is a complete waste off time, but very clever marketing.
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