Best linear power supply for Nucleus now?

Hi Indranil, very nice to hear you more or less have the same results with this Farad PSU. Can imagine this is hard to believe for many among us but those upgrades can make a difference.

I don’t wanna start another topic here but here I have heard real differences between internet UTP cables. Impossible according a lot of people… bits are bits! Happily invited to those which says it can’t be a difference.
Wednesday a swap of my Amplifier, the Dan D’Agostino Progression to the latest version S350. Even just cold, out of it’s box, wonderful sound. Very curious of breaking in will improve a lot as I am already so happy with it’s sound.

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Hello Jeff,
Yes that is my experience as well, everything matters in 2 channel audio. It really depends on your taste and budget where you set your acceptable level of performance. I have used a few different brands of Ethernet cable like Furutech, Audioquest and finally settled on this Canadian AudioSensibility company for most of cables including their newly introduced Ethernet cable. Their signature power cable beats Nordost Frey-II power cable, I have sold a Frey-II power cables and replaced it by AudioSensibility power cables. Now coming to the Ethernet cable, yes it does change the signature of your sound significantly and so far the AudioSensibility Ethernet cable in my system beats all other cables that I tried…
Your Dan D’Agostino Progression Model S350 looks majestic and like every D’Agostino amplifier I am sure that it sounds great. It makes a great pair with your Magic M2 speakers. Are you using the mono block amplifiers in the Progression range?
Another item that got me possibly one of the best improvements in the sound performance is the Townshend seismic speaker podiums. Once I put the Aerials on the podium and recalibrated the speaker position the speakers got completely moved out of the way. The entire presentation went back behind the speakers and the soundstage opened up like never before. That’s why I say that everything matters in this 2 channel madness…

Good afternoon Jeff, Did you try Entreq Grounding products? I have the Super3 PS for my switch and Roon Nucleus, brilliant and all your observations about the copper cable etc. are spot on. Recently I connected a Entreq Silver Minimus and Earth cable to the Roon Nucleus. Very interesting and big difference. Then another Entreq Minimus to the switch…big big difference and finally an other Entreq box to my DAC…You should try Entreq!

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Hiya all, when I bought my Nucleus+ I also ordered a Fidelity Audio power supply (UK company). I really don’t know if it made any difference to sound as I connected it to the Nucleus as I`d got them both at the same time but I am loving the sound I’m getting from my system as a whole. Pretty amazing stuff.

I was fortunate to have a friend with a linear power supply to try before spending money on a one.

Personally to my ears it didn’t really make much difference in the sound compared to the supplied switch mode wall wort.

My Nucleus is connect by USB to a Chord Qutest and sounds great, saving up for a Dave.

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I am awaiting delivery of a Hypsos power supply, which I will be testing with my Nucleus. The dealer tells me it will make a very obvious difference and knowing what difference power cables and supplies made in my Linn system, I am prepared to accept his offer of a 7 day home trial to see whether it makes the difference he says it will.

Things that “shouldn’t” make a difference in my system certainly have. For example, my streamer (Linn Selekt in pre-amp configuration) is connected to an Exaktbox-I by Exaktlink - using an ethernet cable. We did listening tests using a bog standard cable and a Supra cable and the difference was marked, even though only digital traffic uses that cable.

Switching my Core from my iMac to a Nucleus also made a worthwhile and audible difference. No idea why - but it did.

The power supply for the Nucleus is a bit disappointingly budget compared with the rest. I am not sure whether a NZ$1999 Hypsos will improve anything or not - but I will certainly give it a try and see.

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If you get a 7 day trial at least you can hear the difference if it exists. I bought an Sbooster LPSU for my Nuc, because I could and it seemed cool, but I did not hear any difference.

Maybe my system is not resolving enough, but really there should not be anything in the digital domain that changes the sound, especially if you streaming over Ethernet.

Still I have kept mine in situ so it clearly didn’t make anything worse and it looks cool.

Hopefully the trial works out for you. Please post your feedback

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Thanks for the video. In my opinion, the original supply is adequate for all purposes. I have my DAC connected directly to the Nucleus, yes, on purpose ! The DAC is designed to separate all the digital noise generated right in the DAC from the FPGA, USB chipset, and other elements. Design methods of decoupling, split ground planes, separate PS, etc., result in noise levels so low I know my old ears could never detect it. See it in the measurements. Whatever noise may be present from a USB connection to the Nucleus is negligible. I used to design this stuff, but that probably makes me a less reliable source here. Whatever causes you to believe your music experience is improved is probably worth the investment. It’s all about enjoyment.

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Ok. The Hypsos has arrived.

Short version: buy it now!!

Longer version:

This is not a cheap power supply but certainly neither is it an expensive one as power supplies go. Of course, it doesn’t supply 240v output, which the really expensive ones do.

I hooked it up to the Nucleus and it’s petty Much plug and play. My unit was already set to Nucleus in the device list, but it would only take a minute or two to do that if yours wasn’t.

What does it do for the sound? Well, I wasn’t really expecting the answer to that to be much at all. It’s the power supply for a server that has no part in the music, right?

Well. Boy was I wrong.

It’s the sort of change you hear normally when upgrading a significant component in a system like a DAC or amp. My DAC is in the hifi system and not connected to the Nucleus at all.

The old adage of a veil being removed holds true here. Clarity and separation are greatly improved. Timing is more accurate. Overall drive is tighter and better defined.

I can’t explain it - any more than I can explain why the Nucleus sounds better than the core running on my iMac did.

If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say it has to do with both a cleaner supply of power with less interference in it as well as a more accurately regulated supply with far less variation.

However, to some extent the why is irrelevant. Does it work? Yes it does.

Is it worth the money? In my view yes. That and more. It’s cheaper than a major component upgrade but gives a similar step change in performance, in my system at least and to my ears.

If you can try it, I highly recommend doing so.

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Thank you for the report and congratulations on the sonic benefits it is providing you. I’m a big believer in the benefits of an LPS. That said, my Nucleus is only using the Ethernet connection with no components directly connected (my Nucleus is not located in my listening room) and I’ve been curious about whether something like an SBooster LPS would provide any benefit over the stock power supply in my situation. Do you have devices directly connected to your Nucleus?

I wouldn’t compare the sBooster to the more precious PSUs. The sBooster may well be an improvement to the stock switching one’s but they are hardly the dogs bollocks…
If you want real improvement, try Ferrum, Farad, Paul Hynes, Sean Jacobs etc. On some equipment the improvement is jaw dropping, on some minor.

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No none at all.

There’s a NAS connected elsewhere on the network. The DAC is part of Linn’s Exakt system in another room with no connection directly at all.

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Thanks for the clarification Marcus - exactly the information I needed.

Mikael - thank you as well. The sBooster was just the first thing that came to mind. I’m using Teddy Pardo LPSs currently on other devices and have been happy with them.

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It’s really an impressive improvement. If you can arrange a demo, or buy from somewhere that will let you return it, I’d advise giving it a go.

I was skeptical myself but I suppose clean power for every component in the chain makes more difference than we think it will.

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You guys realize the first thing your linear power supply sees in a NUC is a switch mode power power supply. Nothing in a NUC runs on 19V.

I’m not saying that people aren’t hearing a difference, certainly there is a lot of anecdotal evidence supporting the change.

I’m just trying to understand the mechanisms involved.

Is it leakage current from poorly designed offline switchers?

Does the output impedance of the power supply have any bearing on the sound quality?

The above items are generally not specified by power supply manufacturers.

Anything else?

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One point of clarification…the hypsos is not a linear power supply…it is a hybrid. I had one before powering a chord TT2 very impressive unit. I’m sure I’ll get another one at some point, once I have the need.

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I do belive this to be true, and it actually speaks for most switching PSUs and against the slower linear one’s. My best experience is had with a Farad Super 3 with it’s supercaps.

The problem is not the fact an SMPS is used but how. There are very good SMPS’s but because their entire USP is around low cost, there is very little demand for them to be built to the best performing standards. Noise is also additive so it is perfectly feasible to reduce overall noise by replacing one PSU with a quieter one. It’s type is not relevant, it’s performance is.

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This is a true statement, but fact is, the “power supply” is on board, and you can’t bypass it. Any upstream changes are largely irrelevant as long as the input voltage/current specification is met.

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That demonstrates a misunderstanding of how noise works in electrical systems. Two power supplies are used in series. Both produce 10 dBm of noise. Total noise 20dBm. Replace the first in the series with a supply that only produces 5dBm. Total system noise would then be 15dBm. There is a logical and reasonable discussion around wether these changes make a difference in performance dependent on what the system is doing. But it cannot be argued that changing one has no measurable impact.

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