You are correct it has 2 Sean Jacobs linear power supplies built inš
You always have a starting point and a budget for these things.
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 - Iād say the ER bundled supply is āadequateā 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 ātuningā 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:
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.
Many ways to skin a cat as they sayš
I think, personally, DBās got it right. IMO, a good LPS on network components (I now have them for modem, router and switch) regardless of whether itās āaudiophileā 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, thereās 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 donāt 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 donāt have such things near your audioā¦ but similarly non optimally shielded linear power supplies can create electro magnetic interference.
While you are correct, I would never imply (or was trying not to, I suppose) that LPSs are noise free, because they arenāt; I just think theyāre better at reducing noise by comparison. My modem and router had what youāre 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 canāt 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 wasnāt 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, Iād 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 didnāt measure this particular one, but have measured our last modemās 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 āEthernetā 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 wouldnāt use those in a proper standard PoE setupā¦ I use 802.3af PoE and itās 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¦ itās so called Ethernet over mains that creates RFIā¦ they are very different things.
You are correct; theyāre 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, isnāt 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 canāt 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.
No worries
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 Iāve 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!
Iāve been playing with different items and while that is ongoing it is not a āfinishedā set-up.
At some point I can get it all tidied into a neat box if I like.
DB.
I think itās very nice looking especially if it sounds good. I hope itās feelings arenāt hurtā¦