Ether Regen - first experience

You are correct it has 2 Sean Jacobs linear power supplies built inšŸ˜

You always have a starting point and a budget for these things. :slightly_smiling_face:
I have the ER now and LPS are essentially free for me as I have several available.

I did find it makes a larger difference than I expected. The ER gave a more precise detailed and focused presentation, but with its own bundled supply I felt it was somehow held-back.

The different LPS I tried each imparted their own character but were far better than the SM supply bundled with the ER - Iā€™d say the ER bundled supply is ā€˜adequateā€™ to experience the upgrade the ER gave, but does not allow you to get most or what it can give.
The LPS upgrade gave more freedom and easy dynamics and just a more open natural presentation - more easy-musical. I learned enough to realize there may be some ā€˜tuningā€™ or synergy between the LPS and the ER as one of my LPS sounded far better than what I initially had expected would be the better supply which was the larger more powerful supply - but a smaller neater supply has it over the larger supply so that is what I use.

DB.

DB, which PS have you settled on for your ER?

It is an old Coutant Electronics LQ 100/30 Power supply:
C LPS

I set it to between 10.5 and 11v to allow some room and it draws 0.7 Amps into ER when only two inputs (A and B) are being used.

I do have a few others to try, but this is sounding rather good so it tends to just stay there and I play music - inertia sometimes wins when it all sounds good.

The aim was to try a few different ones and decide what was best - but so far any LPS was better than the SMPS it shipped with - but even that SMPS was far better than the one Melco switch used which is awful.

DB.

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Many ways to skin a cat as they sayšŸ‘

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I think, personally, DBā€™s got it right. IMO, a good LPS on network components (I now have them for modem, router and switch) regardless of whether itā€™s ā€˜audiophileā€™ or not is far greater than none at all. I think increased dynamics and any number of perceived benefits are resultant of reducing noise in some form or another. As @Gazza states, thereā€™s more than one way to skin a cat.

But do bear in mind linear power supplies can create noise on the mains and nearby conductors, and more so the more efficient the transformer.
I donā€™t quite understand why people think linear power supplies are noise free compared to switch mode power suppliesā€¦ they are not.
Sure very cheap and nasty switch mode powersupplies in cheap wall warts etc can be noisyā€¦ but typically I suspect you donā€™t have such things near your audioā€¦ but similarly non optimally shielded linear power supplies can create electro magnetic interference.

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While you are correct, I would never imply (or was trying not to, I suppose) that LPSs are noise free, because they arenā€™t; I just think theyā€™re better at reducing noise by comparison. My modem and router had what youā€™re referring to as pretty bad switch-mode PSUs, so my fairly sound assumption is that getting rid of those and replacing them with any competently engineered LPS can really only benefit comparatively. I canā€™t speak to the EE8 switch adapter/PSU, as it is purported to be well-made and complement the switch. I simply removed it anyway since I had another Paul Hynes that wasnā€™t being used; it also made it consistent for my setup, as I would then have all LPSs going into an isolation transformer to further remove common- and normal-mode noise. IMO, all of these additive measures have benefitted my network, even if a bit overkill.

Ok, you sure your modem SMPS was noisy?.. modems are extremely sensitive to RF noise from switch mode harmonics, Iā€™d say more so than many audio applications, as that can interfere with the SNR of the xDSL lineā€¦ so typically such power supplies are carefully filtered.
The AM radio test is a good test to see if the powersupply ā€¦ linear or switched is noisy.

My modem (Ubiquiti) utilized POE, which as far as I understand is a bad idea having to have implemented in an audio-centric network. I didnā€™t measure this particular one, but have measured our last modemā€™s SMPS and it was quite bad. Admittedly, it had me soured on the idea of any cheap SMPS that comes with service-supplied routers and modems from the get-go, so I never gave them much chance or thought.

Ok, not sure if there is a typoā€¦ but PoE is a good thing to use in audio centric setupsā€¦as one is reducing propensity of otherwise small powersupplies.
PoE typically uses 48 volts DC over the Ethernet cable conductors once activated.

You might be thinking of so called ā€˜Ethernetā€™ over mains devicesā€¦ as these work by modulating many radio frequency carriers super imposed on the mains over a wide band width creating potentially phenomenal RFI, and are bad for sensitive electronics like radio and audio and sensitive computers.

No, no typo. Ours is/was 24VDC with an IEC that needs to be plugged in. See, I thought POE (or PoE), Power-over-Ethernet, injected serious RFI on the line in any circumstance. Is this not correct?

Ok that was an early method Ubiquiti used to use before they adopted standardised 802.3afā€¦ although their devices still can support this legacy mode.
You might be referring to their little injectors being noisyā€¦ they might beā€¦ but you wouldnā€™t use those in a proper standard PoE setupā€¦ I use 802.3af PoE and itā€™s cut down the number of PSUs I need which is a good thing. Typically you would use a switch to provide PoE powerā€¦

No power over Ethernet (PoE) injects no RFI itselfā€¦ itā€™s so called Ethernet over mains that creates RFIā€¦ they are very different things.

You are correct; theyā€™re the standard-issue injectors. I initially had no way of powering those with an LPS to at least try to mitigate what I had assumed to be a bad way of powering the modem. I had quite a lot to do in order to rectify the setup to the point where I am now. As it stands, the EE8 switch, as far as I know, isnā€™t capable of providing PoE power without having to utilize an injector anyway, so basically that makes me have to move back to square one.

Correct the EE8 canā€™t be powered by PoEā€¦ perhaps it might be a future advancement.
I see RPis can be PoE powered now removing potentially noisy USB wall wart power supplies.

That would be ideal, no doubt. At any rate, thanks for the discussion. I learned something new with regard to my bias of PoE. :grin:

No worries :grin:

Wow! Each to his own! unless I am missing something, I would never let this ugly-looking power supply to be anywhere near my living room, let alone close to my HIFI system, which is itself a fine piece of furniture.

A nice-looking ugly sounding expensive item - or a free ugly-looking nice-sounding item. I chose the latter option (what I had before looked better but was awful-sounding by comparison), but Iā€™ve never been overly bothered by things looking good over sounding good, but do accept it is important for most people.
An expensive nice-sounding item is also possible! :slightly_smiling_face:

Iā€™ve been playing with different items and while that is ongoing it is not a ā€˜finishedā€™ set-up.
At some point I can get it all tidied into a neat box if I like. :bear:

DB.

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I think itā€™s very nice looking especially if it sounds good. I hope itā€™s feelings arenā€™t hurtā€¦

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