Stuck a Linear Power Supply on My Switch - Blimey! 😱

[Blackmorec]

Here’s a picture of one SMPS I replaced in my network chain. This is 230V AC in, 5V DC out

[Peder]

@Blackmorec

Here’s a picture of one SMPS I replaced in my network chain. This is 230V AC in, 5V DC out

Enough said……

[PJL]

Yes I see. What are all those wires and tubes and things for?

[GraemeH]

What’s the small fried egg doing?

G

[Blackmorec]

One of the most surprising improvements to my system were the Mundorf Silver/Gold JSSG360 DC cables developed and built by a good friend. They made a profound difference in terms of imaging, transparency, dimensionality and purity. I was amazed that a DC cable to a switch and bridge could make such a huge difference.

As a consequence of this experience I really don’t like the idea of using a piece of BT supplied DC cable with your power supply. Given the hugely significant positive changes the Mundorf made, it’s certainly not beyond the realm of possibility that the BT cable is having exactly the opposite effect.
If I was in your situation I would get hold of Ghent Audio via email and discuss your need for a decent DC cable with the appropriate connector.

[Phystech]

@Blackmorec

I was amazed that a DC cable to a switch and bridge could make

Same for me with Plixir ps, I didn’t want to pay £200 for their upgraded dc cable but actually it worth the effort. Many report the same about Farad dc cables also.

[Fatcat]

Do you have a photo if the inside of the DC4, so we can what £5000 worth of capacitors, diodes, transistors and resistors looks like.

[DiggyGun]

@Peder

Enough said……

As with any piece of kit, you get good and bad examples, whether a LPS or SMPS.

Look at the R&D and investment that Linn do and, they’re using SMPS in their Hubs and Amps.

DG…

[Blackbird]

I think one can agree on that there is no single truth and that everyone is right and wrong. Happy hunting

[Peder]

@Blackbird

I think one can agree on that there is no single truth and that everyone is right and wrong. Happy hunting

I think that if you want to get a significant difference,.you also have to be prepared to pay what a really good linear powersupply costs.

People always try to get away cheaply,.but if you want to experience a difference, you also have to be prepared to pay…unfortunately.

[cb01]

My Plixir Elite BDC’s have been used on my Nucleus (and prior with my Chord Qutest). I started with Plixir Statement silver DC cables, but upgraded to Ghent JSSG360 Gotham GAC 4/1 UltraPro DC’s and whoa. No going back. DC cables matter.

[Blacknote]

Just wondering… instead of changing to an LPS, has anybody replaced the switch power cord with an audiophile one? If so, how did it go?

[Bart]

@JimDog

Two reasons they keep stumm and don’t get into this market:

1. It is so politicised between bit perfect digital sound quality deniers vs. people who can hear the difference that Naim would lose half their audience and get caught in the (pointless) crossfire.
2. The effects of various cables, switches and digital network gadgets is often hit and miss, system and electrical environment dependent, and also sometimes subtle in impact on SQ that Naim would get high product return rates and hurt their relationship with many customers.

I’d add:

3. Naim don’t have the desire nor staffing to address the issues that arise when home networks don’t operate as the homeowner expects. Once you start selling network hardware you have to support it and that means diagnosing why the network as a whole isn’t working right – is it your hardware or something else on the network? Too much support needed for too little revenue.

4. It’s a crowded field. There are already quite a few premium products in the market. Not to mention everything at the lower end.

[Nestor_Burma]

I removed all sps from my setup and placed ifi ipower elites for the fiber modem and the router, with great benefits

[jan]

I’m still using an old Cisco 2960 and changing to a better low noise clock (with a local LPS for the clock) made a decent improvement. Moving the whole router to an external low noise LPS less so.

With the Roon-server trying different SSD:s resulted in bigger improvement than trying external low-noise LPS. No idea why - maybe the type of the internal controller in the SSD makes difference.

The last tweak that made an improvement was moving back to nDAC/XPSDR via SPDIF.

[JimDog]

@Bart

Naim don’t have the desire nor staffing to address the issues that arise when home networks don’t operate as the homeowner expects.

Yes, and I bet Naim’s help desk people spend a vexing amount of time on home network issues that are not their fault already.

[Nestor_Burma]

@JimDog

Yes, and I bet Naim’s help desk people spend a vexing amount of time on home network issues that are not their fault alre

Everytime I changed a cable for an audiophile one it made a difference. Even those going into the power supplies…

[garyi]

So I guess as Audiophiles, we are saying for something to do its job well, there has to be lots of bits, and it has to look pretty?

[Wilfried]

Yes, I use a Vovox Sonorus Power Chord on the Cisco 3560 switch. The Cisco has a built-in power supply and no external power supply can be connected. The Vovox is not an expensive cable (230 euros) and has brought an immediately audible improvement. It is worth a try.
I use the Cisco in the house as the first central switch for the entire network, including heating and solar panels with IGMP snooping. In front of the streamer (ND5XS2) I also use a Silent Angel Bonn F8 switch with Forester LPS power supply. It was specially developed for the Bonn F8 and has brought about the same improvement as the switch alone. I have not tried any different power supply units on the F8, but trust the supplier Silent Angel. I also recently tried a Vovox excelsus power chord as a supply cable for the Forrester power supply. I didn’t notice any great improvement spontaneously.

[PJL]

@Blackmorec

I was amazed that a DC cable to a switch and bridge could make such a huge difference.

Yes DC cables have a profound effect. It surprised me too when I upgraded the DC power cable on my Plixir supply that feeds my Melco N100 from the standard one to the Plixir Statement cable. A huge improvement. Don’t quite know why this surprised me - every other cable makes a difference after all! Incidentally my Plixir Elite BDC PS is fed by a Naim Powerline, which in turn is fed from a Chord M6 block with a Cord Power Array plugged into it. The block is fed by a Chord Epic mains cable.

I agree the use of the cheap and nasty BT cable/plug assembly was far from ideal, but necessary since the correct size DC plug proved impossible to source. Believe me I tried very hard. I suspect that it’s a proprietary size plug comissioned by BT to prevent this very situation, ie. people meddling with power supplies on their routers! The plug is apparently 5.5mm OD x 3mm ID (confirmed on a BT forum). There is a British company who make this size but it has a centre pin and the BT plug does not so will not fit (the input socket on the router has a centre pin). Apparently a plug of 6.3mm OD x 3mm ID will work and is easily available but it’s a very tight fit so I don’t really like the idea of forcing the wrong size plug into the power socket on my router.