Add this to the mountain of evidence that digital cables, switches and their power supplies often have unpredictable effects due to the particulars of the system and the electrical environment of the building.
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How does this apply to, say, adding a Farad 3 to an EE8?
Most people find an improvement in SQ vs the stock psu.
Quite a few people on here (maybe around 30%?) find it makes their system sound worse.
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I donāt believe this is true.
If you consider a Naim power amp, 15 years old, in need of a service.
The main reservoir caps will need replacing, along with the feedback caps and signal coupling caps.
Replace the main reservoir caps, the SQ will improve, but the old feedback and coupling caps will be holding back the SQ.
Then replace the feedback caps, an improvement, but the SQ held back by the old coupling caps.
Then replace the coupling caps and it sounds like a two black box upgrade.
Reverse the order the capacitor are replaced with new ones, the new coupling caps sound OK , but the new main reservoir caps sounds like a two black box upgrade.
The same principle must apply to replacing network components.
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Iām not sure the words ābetterā or āworseā quite describe the differences I hear between the SMPS and LPSās I have tried. All of the LPSās have initially impressed me with their smoothness and what seems to be, a less complex and easy presentation. For a while I think, wow this is nice but then on well known songs I start to sense a lack of high frequency detail or sparkle, like something is missing that you canāt quite put your finger on. Then I notice a reduction in engagement and my foot tapping ability, which I put down to a change in the timing or speed that some of the LPSās seem to impart.
If I stick the SMPS back on everything gets a bit more frantic but for some reason more involving. I start to hear that high frequency interplay between notes, images become a tad more etched, bass actually becomes lighter but slightly more real. For me these effects are quite noticeable and definitely up my emotional involvement.
However, I appreciated that some systems and some tastes may appreciate that calmness and smoothness the LPS can bring, so I fully understand everyoneās comments. There really is no right or wrong or better of worse with these things itās back to what makes you āemotionally connectā with your music the most.
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Admittedly Iāve only tried one LPS and this was on my router. But my experience is identical to yours.
Iāve now focussed on reducing noise by other methods - see my new router thread if youāre interested.
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So as promised, I just switched from my MCRU linear PSU and the stock EE8 one. Iām actually very surprised by the improvement in sound. It is not a like for like comparison though as I have the MCRU PSU being fed from a Supra Lo block and I just plugged the EE8 PSU into my Ultra G3 which powers my system. I will keep on playing around with different combos, but for now the EE8 PSU is a better, more defined and punchy sound coming from my Ultra G3.
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It really has made a marked difference. I recently (and finally) managed to upgrade to a NAC252 and whilst it sounds great, I was a little disappointed it was not really great. Making this change has achieved that. Just goes to show itās all very unique to each household - mains supply, network strength and quality, potential interference from neighbours using WiFi extenders etc etc. Iām happy and can sell my linear PSU now too recoup a few quid 
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Welcome to the club. 
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This is definitely my experience too.
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Thatās what I did (standard G3), but then found keeping the EE8 PSU well away from the main system was a clear improvement. Worth a try?
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Well, about 18 hours ago I plugged two LPS into my system. One into my EE8, and one into my Virgin business modemā¦ Letās see what happens.
Iāve got the mcru one on mine so may do that swap too over Easter.
At the other end of the price spectrum and having read this thread, I decided it was far too long since I had tried a tweak. So I lashed out the whole cost of a pint and a half and invested in a twisted pair cable between the wall socket and the BT SH2 router. Bought 3m because it was cheaper than the 2m that I needed - how does that work?
Checked that the Broadband speed was still OK - it was which is just as well as it feeds all my work requirements. Download appeared unchanged and possibly a slight uplift on the upload. Stuffed the cable behind the desk and into the ratās nest. I then got distracted at work and completely forgot about it.
But several times recently I have been caught thinking the set up is sounding jolly good at the moment. Coincidence? - quite possibly; cognitive bias? Possible but I doubt it. It was a very low cost tweak for fun with no expectations at all (I reckoned, with 95% probablility, there would be zero change) and I certainly wasnāt listening for it as, by the time I next used the system, I had forgotten I had fitted it.
To fully check of course I need to refit the old piece of wire but it is such a pig to get at that I canāt be bothered.
Anyway fwiw I am happy and our local hostelry is down a pint and a half of sales.
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Hi PW, I did this few years ago, there are some forum posts from others about it.
In my case (also with BT SH2) I heard no difference, the old BT freebee gave 74/19 down/up bandwidth & the new cable is the same.
Some time later I converted to BT Digi Voice, that worked OK and no effects on SQ.
(I no longer have landline phones & Digi Voice).
I have my EE8 SMPS plugged into a Chord S6 block which is a clear improvement over the previous home-made affair. Main system is plugged into a Chord M6 with additional Power Array.
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Iāll be very interested. Did you notice any difference when you introduced them? My experience, with my BT HH2, was that it was initially a huge improvement but then after several days it had gone downhill badly to the point where the stock BT PSU ws easily superior.
Please do report back!
I used to own an Etherregen. I used it with its supplied switch mode supply. After more than a year, I once took it out and put back in a Netgear switch. I heard no difference, so I kept the Netgear. Maybe I should have tried the Ethherregen with a good linear power supply?
Anyway, I just ordered an Israel made power supply for the Netgear switch. One came up on the used market, so I bought it. I will report back if it makes any improvement. The Netgear is currently powered by its very cheap switch mode wall wart supply.
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I very much like a Netgear switch but that ps is unlistenable imho)
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Agreed. I currently am running Series Netgear switches for my NDX2 & Roon Nucleus. GS108 ā GS108E. Both on iFi iPower2 PSās. The iFiās transformed themā¦and Iām fully aware that iFi is not the ceiling for performance.
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I am happy to hear that! I will report back when I get the power supply.
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