Yes Iāve serched everywhere. I was ready to give up but @NigelB has one so they obviously exist. But extremely rare it seems.
I also use an iFi Power X psu on my BT Smart Hub 2 iirc.
I bought an adapter for it from ebay.
I did this years ago.
Like for Nigel, it seemed to make a small positive difference to SQ - but so small, it could easily be within the margin of error of kidding myself.
After having it there for about a year, I think I took it out for a week or two, and then put it back in again and left it there ever since.
After my disistrous experience with the MCRU LPS that I tried Iām now wary of substituting the BT supplied SMPS for anything. I canāt explain the results from this. Why should there be a gradual deterioration after a huge initial improvement?
Perhaps my LPS is faulty? Possible I suppose. Out of warranty now anyway I think - I just canāt be bothered with the thing - Iāve tried it twice with exactly the same results.
Iāve read from two manufacturers that LPSās are not fast enough for network components. My experience bears this out. But why the initial huge improvement then? Itās bizarre. Then again some here have reported excellent results with LPSās - @NigelB with this thread for one. So whatās the truth? I donāt know and Iām almost past caring!
I canāt afford to embark on expensive experimentation - already wasted Ā£300 on a piece of cr*p. And itās just that - it was sold specifically for the BT SH2 and so is not fit for purpose. I should have sent it back. Stupid of me.
The iFi supply is cheap and maybe worth a punt. I can always return it if necessary. And if it did give even a marginal improvement then I would try the more expensive iFi Elite or even the SMPS from Russ Andrews since I believe that is on a try and return basis.
Iām a bit concerend about the iFi supplies on-board filters. I once, in a moment of madness, tried an iFi plug in mains filter and it was just awful. Also how will it interact with my Chord block and Power aray? The same applies to the Russ Andrews SMPS.
None of this is going to happen anyway if I canāt source an adapter.
Itās all sounding so good at the moment that Iām not sure that I want to bother. But thereās always that nagging feeling that if only I did things might be so much better.
My cup is always half empty!
My situation is similar.
Iāve got IFI iPower2 on my Netgear switch and Gigaclear router, upgrading the stock PS. On the Mesh Node, I use an iFI iPowerX.
However, on the EE8, Iāve tried IFi iPower2 and iPower Elite, but preferred the stock SMPS.
I then tried a Farad Super3 LPS, initially I thought it sounded better. But then I thought Iād try the stock SMPS and, again I preferred the stock SMPS.
Iāve now decided to use the stock PS that come with the EE8 and, off course the Linn Selekt has the wonderful Utopik SMPS power supply.
One benefit from all of this is that I no longer have any humming transformers.
DGā¦
Iām minded to just stick with the manufacturer supplied SMPSās with everything. Lifeās too short and I could just be enjoying music instead af messing about with all this!
Did @NigelB say that he had excellent results in terms of SQ improvement by putting a linear power supply on his Internet router?
Slight bit of thread drift I know but as previously reported Iāve been playing with both the Chord EE1 and a Chord RJ46 Ground Array that I have on loan. As already mentioned results with the Ground Array have been somewhat disappointing. Iāve tried it on the router and on the EE8 switch and neither showed me any significant improvement. If anything I thought it sounded worse, so had the wife confirm this with her ābat likeā hearing and lack of hifi knowledge, so really quite an objective test. I also had my son listen last night and he too agreed it was definitely worse with the Ground Array in situ.
Trying to describe the audible difference is hard because it really is so subtle but to me itās almost like a slight masking of some audio frequencies that when present paint a more realistic picture of musical instruments. Iād liken it to hearing someone, at a distance, playing an instrument. You know instantly that itās a real instrument and that it live and not recorded, even though you might be a couple of hundred metres away! At the moment my system seems to be creating this ālivenessā with recorded music. When I put something in the chain that doesnāt quite work it seems to upset this very delicate balance. The Chord Ground Array Iām afraid, for me, is just one of those things.
Not much success with the EE1 either. Tried it after the switch and before the switch and could hear no appreciable difference or effect other than what might have been the introduction of another Catsnake patch lead. I still have an old Amazon purchased DLoc galvanic isolator and that has little/no effect with the ND555 but made a massive difference when I was using a Node/Ndac, so it definitely has to be equipment related thing. This is also something my dealer said. Theyāve sold loads of EE1ās to customers with small/mid-fi systems but very few to big system customers!
At least itās been a cheap week as this little selection of toys will be making the journey back to my dealer.
I donāt think I have said that, exactly.
I got a modest uplift from putting the iFI iPower X on my BT Smart Hub 2 router, and a significant uplift in SQ from putting the Farad Super3 on my EtherREGEN switch
Apologies - forgive me. From your opening post I assumed that the EtherREGEN was some kind of internet router!
Put me back in my box and lock the lid!
The plug size may indeed be proprietary. I ran into the same issues trying to match the right tip size for a Verizon G3100 router, I bought one of those adapter sets on Amazon and none of them matched correctly. In the end, I sent the original DC plug to Ghent Audio, which they lobbed off and fashioned into the DC cable I ordered. I used a Farad Super3 with the G3100 for a few months and reverted back to the original SMPS; I found no difference whatsoever and sold off the Super3.
Maybe ask MCRU UK. they proposed me once to make a special dc plug for my router.
Similar experience here too when we powered our ER via a Paul Hynes SR4T linear power supply. More musical goodness all around. Why? No idea.
Enjoy!
Best regards, BF
On this forum Jim, that makes it a ānight & dayā difference
Best regards, BF
Yes itās the correct size - but it doesnāt say whether itās got a centre pin. The BT plug doesnāt have one.
I bought the LPS that I tried from them. They said that nobody made the correct size DC plug for my BT router so I had to buy a spare BT SMPS, cut off the cable/plug assembly and send it to MCRU to use on the LPS!
These things are so very subjective and impossible to quantify in any meaningful way that this may very well be true in some cases. With exactly the same performance difference some will describe it as 'night and day, others as a minor difference. Both are equally valid.
Not convinced - it becomes meaningless narrative unless there is faulty equipment involved or some other interfering element in which case the statement is only relevant in the context of the individuals personal environment. Therefore I feel it needs to be qualified. It is valid to say there is a degree of difference and equally valid to say there is a degree of preference.
But so called ānight and dayā is significant and not the same as minor or subtle - and therefore to be valid has to be applied to an individualās preference rather than the difference itself.
The qualitative assessment is whether you prefer it or not - and you many marginally prefer a subtle difference - or you may significantly prefer a subtle difference. The difference itself has to be quantitive, that is measurable, the preference is qualitative and is entirely subjective.
Without these principles this just all becomes gobbledygook, in my opinion.
Maybe you should stop bothering about it. I have a linear ps from Audiophonics on my router and the improvement was very very minor.
Do you have a linear ps on your Melco ?
A good power cable on it?
A high quality powerblock ?
A high quantity usb cable?
ā¦ā¦
Just to say other upgrades will have certainly a bigger impact.
Yes, I have a Plixir Elite BDC on it which is excellent. This is fed from a Naim Powerline and the DC cable is the Plixir Statement cable rather than the standard one. So all good.
Power block is a Chord M6.
My USB cable is a Chord C USB, so inexpensive. I was considering upgrading to a cable higher up in the Chord range, or indeed elsewhere, but the reviews of the C USB are excellent and seem to suggest that it betters the Ā£1K Chord Signature USB for musical coherence. So not sure if itās a good idea to change. More expensive doesnāt always equal better.