You can use a Farad super 3 or a sBooster, that kind of powersupplys give very good resultsđ§
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I use an HDPlex with my Nucleus. I didnât get it with expectation of improved sound quality. I got it because I donât like wall warts. I hear absolutely no difference with the LPS on any of the four systems the Nucleus streams to. YMMV.
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I had a HDPLEX 200 powering my Nucleus. No difference. Then a Paul Hynes SR4. It cleaned things up - more air.
Enter the Paul Hynes SR7 powering the Nucleus and my NAS (sr4 on Etherregen). Holy â â â â â Speakers disappear. Everything sounds more organic, real and in its proper space.
Good isolation equipment also makes a
Difference here but not like the ST7.
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First I tried the Keces P8 and I was quite disappointed, wondering wether I preferred the sound without it. Then I tried the Farad super 3 and it was an awesome improvement. More expensive with options but itâs a really great upgrade. Moreover Mattijs Vries is very sympathetic and reactive
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Same here with my Teddy Pardo on N+
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I built a NUC, initially running ROCK and transplanted it into a fanless Akasa Plato case, so conceptually very similar to a Nucleus albeit not as aesthetically pleasing.
I bought the Keces P8 19v/12v PSU and like Vianney was actually underwhelmed by the improvement. Iâve always been a fan of good quality PSUs as way of improving sound quality. I did actually get a much bettter improvement using an ISO REGEN with LPS-1.2 PSU on the USB output of the NUC as I directly connected my DAC via USB.
That led me to believe that the NUC was an electrically noisy device in its own right (it is after all a relatively low cost generic computer in a small footprint with a correspondingly high component density) and even though youâve fed it clean power its added in a lot of EMI / RFI of its own.
However I too have purchased a Farad Super3 (for a Chord M Scaler) and its made a significant improvement. So if I went back to a NUC or Nucleus solution for Roon I would invest in a 19V Farad PSU.
I now run Roon on an Innuos Zenith Mk.3 and one of its key features is a built in linear PSU designed by Dr Sean Jacobs. So overall good, clean, stable power is always a good idea but a NUC fed by the Keces was not as noticeable improvement as I had hoped for given the price.
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I have Sean Jacobs/Custom HiFi Cables DC3+ power suply for my Nucleus which brought a solid peformance improvement in all areas. I have been very pleased with it.
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I use a Teddy Pardo 19v power supply. I do hear a difference with the LPS but admit it is an incremental improvement and not a dramatic change. I connect via USB to the DAC (PS Audio Direct Stream) so the Nucleus and power supply are close to my other components. This may effect the outcome. If the nucleus was in another room and connected via ethernet it may not have had the same effect.
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I added a Teddy Pardo LPS. After it burned in, I noticed the soundstage was suddenly so wide the neighbors on both sides called the police. And it was so deep I thought it was behind me. The bass was so present I got a bloody nose.
But seriously, no difference in SQ. However, I like the peace of mind having a well built stable power unit for a device I leave on 24/7âŚ
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@BigAIMc. I read somewhere that you void the warranty by using a different power supply, I just canât find it. So, the following quote is from an article in Hi-Fi+ about the Chord Huei phonostageâŚ"Finally, thereâs the power supply. In fact, Huei has a secondary switching power supply internally to create the operating voltages from the external supply, so whether you use linear or switch mode external it doesnât matter; although changing the power supply will void the warranty! Not many people realise, and itâs not clear anywhere, really, that the main power supply is inside the unit and Chord just uses the external brick to feed ârawâ power into the product; the external power supply doesnât directly power any of the audio electronics. However, the fact remains that audiophiles are allergic to âwall-wartsâ and I hope this doesnât put people off what is a stunning phono stage. " Manufactures on this planet do specify that any other power supply will void a warranty. Does not matter whether they can enforce it, they do it.
Well put @Patrick_Hatten. Iâve got wall wart aversion as do others; and a good LPS, particularly a dual rail version, can help with that. I am less sanguine about the SQ effects of an LPS on a server sitting on my network in a different part of the house. Still, I have a Keces P8 on the Roon Nucleus+, and it also happens to power an EtherRegen, and a GigaFOIL 4, using Ghent Audio cables. I sleep better knowing that these devices have solid power 24/7. While others here may not have had wonderful experience with the Keces, Iâve had nothing but good results. I own three of them for various uses in my stereo and HT systems.
With my Nucleus+ on the network, I am unable to discern an SQ change by using the Keces, nor did I expect one. But when I tried a USB connection with my MSB DAC, I thought there might be a slight improvement in blackness and/or noise reduction. I didnât do a lot of listening that way though, as I am not a USB fan. I think the Nucleus+ sounds better over network into both my MSB and my Vivaldi. With or without an LPS.
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My understanding is that the point of a linear power supply is to prevent spurious noise from going into the device and affecting the digital-to-analog conversion process in the DAC. Although based on the articles Iâve read with measurements, this generally has no significant effect because, unless youâre dealing with a horribly designed DAC, the noise produced is still so low itâs below the human threshold of hearing. But⌠technically, there is still some level of measurable positive effect - whether you can hear it or not.
But in the case of NUC and Nucleus, unless youâre actually outputting music from the analog outs, itâs just a server and everything stays in the digital realm. From a digital perspective a linear power supply will add no benefit because the power supply has no affect on the data. If it did, this would turn the whole world of computers on its head and the world as we know it would be in trouble.
If youâre using the NUC/Nucleas as a server, youâll probably want to look further down stream to where the digital-to-analog conversion process is happening (dedicated DAC, streamer with DAC, etc.) and maybe there consider if you think doing a LPS upgrade is worth it or not.
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Unlike the common misconception a high component density leads to lower emi/rfi. The largest part of any interference does not come from the components themselves but from the interconection between them. To keep emi/rfi low you need to optimize the pcb traces and groundplane. The shorter the traces the less parasitic inductance and capacitance they have and so the less emi/rfi interference. High component density is a good sign, not a bad one.
Clean power only counts on one place, directly at the power supply pins of the active components. In a good designed computer/audio device the external supply is nothing more than an energy supplier that needs to be up to spec offcoarse but there is no need to go overboard with ultralow noise super regulators. In a good design that part is done on the pcb close to the active components.
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So true, any decent design will have regulation and filtering right at the critical chips. And decoupling and filtering all over the place within the circuit board.
This also leads to the realization that if your power cord makes a difference, your power supply design sucks. Donât buy an expensive power cord, fix your power supplies in your components.
The real interesting part of a linear supply on the Nucleus is that NOTHING inside that box runs on the 19v. That power comes in and immediately goes to the DC-DC converters to produce the various much lower voltages needed. So no matter what you hang off the outside of that box, all the workings inside the box are fed with a switching supply.
Sheldon
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Yes but a SMPS is noisier than an LMPS so less noise in the room/system is still an advantage IMHO
A recent YT on the subject tooâŚ
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Mmm, we need to put all our kit in a faraday cage, and tempest proof the listening room then 
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You canât generally say that. There is no such thing as SMPS is noise, linear is silence. That totally nonsense, it all depends on the design. I have seen many LPS supplies that are far noisier than a decent smps, specially under a transient load like a computer.
A LPS does not only generate 100 Hz noise, it has many harmonics of that,evenwit a resistive load. Capacitors are not loaded linear, they are loaded in 100Hz transient burtst which generates higher harmonics. Diodes can have switching harmonics into the 100 khz range. Transformers have harmonics and are ringing in to the khz range. Under transient loads things get worse. Linear regulator have a hard time with transients on input and output at the same time, which is what happens with something like a computer as a load. My advice, stay away from âjust a lpsâ for computer use because you think it will be better. It has to be specifically made for it otherwise your better off with a decent smps.
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Ok let me be a tad more specificâŚIMHO from what I have seen the basic SMPS that ships with most lower end systems is going to be noisier than decent custom made LMPS for a given replacement. High end SMPS can be well designed and compete at similar levels to a decent LMPS.
Of course you can have a badly designed LMPS as well.
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