And that should tell you something about those companies.
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Dirac HW room correction can be problematic. Itās been proven. You can learn about it here.
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Please enlighten meā¦
I think if you donāt mind, Iāll let you fill in the blanks for yourself.
I canāt parse this sentence. What do you mean?
+1. I realized this years ago after spending years upgrading digital sources, DACs and amplification, and trying tweaks. I came to the realization that the two things that truly and substantially improve audio reproduction are speakers and room acoustics. I have fairly decent speakers, so I invested heavily in room acoustic treatments and incorporated room correction in DSP (first in Audirvana, now in Roon).
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And here (hear) in lies the other problems, most engineers are not musicians nor trained in acoustics so their listening (or even if it is done by someone who is), is not using your ears or room or other gear in the process so what you get in your home/office or wherever you are listening to is what possibly sounded the most all round ābestā in their situation.
Measurements are some place to start or end but ultimately itās about what you think, with your ears, your room, your gear and for that matter your music sources.
As for the topic at hand and getting back on trackā¦
A good clean stable power certainly wonāt hurt. You choices might have to be budget or space constrained but my bet is anything rated for the correct output is probably going to be fine, and LMPS is likely to introduce less noise to the surroundings than SMPS.
One brand I use (I wont name names) as an example uses a $10 SMPS in their lower end units that they replace with an LMPS in their higher spec unitsā¦a difference of several thousand dollars mind you. Im pretty sure this not just done for the money or the sake of having an LMPS, but lots of people use an LMPS in place of the original SMPS - even kits exist from multiple brands to allow this to be retrofitted on models without external SMPS options. Does it sound better to me, I canāt honestly say I prefer one over the other but I rather not have the SMPS electrical interference thats IMHO less desirable.
PSU āupgradesā by manufacturers are done mostly for purely marketing reasons. The bean counters also like the idea of replacing a ten dollar PSU with a fifty dollar PSU and upping the retail by several thousand dollars. I donāt recall seeing any measurements from the manufacturer to justify such upgrades (or the associated costs). They rely heavily on the usual misinformation put out by certain audiophile web sites to drive demand.
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Is there any truth to a linear power supply improving the performance of the Nucleus, if so which one?
Hmm. Do linear power supplies improve a computerās calculations? I donāt believe they do.
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You need to ask this somewhere other than the Roon forum as the bits are bits crowd is strong here. I wonāt say if it does or doesnāt not knowing your system topography (i.e. is the Nucleus used as an endpoint and/or plugged in the same circuit with your hifi?), but for some it does, some it doesnāt. Which one of course depends on your budget. Best to try one you can either move on or return if it doesnāt make a difference.
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Bits are bits. And magic rocks are magic rocks. And somewhere in the middle is whatās actually going on. Donāt be lazyā¦
I have to agree with this. If bits where not bits then you would not get Roon streaming over the network as it would not get through error correction. However that is not what the whole issue is about its about those free loaders carried into the analogue chain piggy backing on the analogue transport mechanism that is cabling.
The problem is, until you actually try it, you are just going off of somebody elseās words/theory that it wonāt make any change (or that it makes a huge change which it might not to you). So would be nice to hear from somebody who has tried a good linear supply on their Nucleus, for better or no change at all. If one says it absolutely wonāt because - science, measurements, etc - lets hear about your real life trial first. Because often those who do are told that it canāt by persons who have never actually tried, and thatās just patently unfair.
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I can say that I heard a slight uplift on the NuC I use as endpoint into my RME DAC with an LPSā¦ But itās not massive.
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And I think thatās where some people get hung up. Weāre mostly talking about subtle changes here. Adding an LPS isnāt going to magically turn your Denon into a Devialet. But enact enough subtle changes on the network side, cabling, power etc and it all adds up, so if/when one does make a big change like say speakers, and those tweaks that ride along may even be more noticeable. Whether it is good VFM is up to the user. Best to be realistic about it. IMO the Nucleus is great VFM for some, and way overpriced for others (Iām comfortable with a screwdriver, thermal paste and basic IT so wasnāt for me). Itās all in the ear of the beholder.
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Yup! Unfortunately. It is what it is 
Which I find rather ironic 
What Linear supply unit goes best with a nucleus? Needed?
Hi Richard,
the Keces Powersuplies are a good choice.
There are some options how to configure them, either with one or two AC outlets and different voltages.
Tunable further with better fuses and DC Cables.
Cheers
Ernst
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