Hi @Collin_Bruce
Just curious if you ever compared the Plixir BDC to say the IFI Elite or SBooster for the Nucleus?
Thanks
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I have a Nucleus +, so the iFi Elite isnāt enough with a 2GB internal SSD and 32GB of RAM.
I have only compared the Sbooster on my old Lumin D2 to the Plixir Elite BDC. Large improvement with the Plixir. It wasnāt a fair comparison, TBH.
I used an iFi Elite on my Chord Qutest briefly. Also, an Allo Shanti and a borrowed SBooster. Same as with the Lumin D2; Plixir stole the show by a wide margin.
I came from a chinese 8A/19V R-Core LPS on my N+, preceded by the stock SMPS.
The Sino LPS was a nice step up. I tacked on a Ghent JSSG360 DC cable (Gotham GAC 4/1 UltraPro) for even more improvement. The Plixir Elite BDC with Statement DC was a fairly subtle improvement over that. But pleasing, so I was happy to keep it. All Plixirās are rated at their RMS, full time current ability. So the 4A/19V unit I have can deliver that at full duty cycle. The peak rating isnāt disclosed, but James Soh at Plixir hinted that I should consider any realistic peak reading for the Plixir to be at least twice the RMS rating.
Thank you! Thatās very helpful. Makes me think the Plixir is something to consider seriously. It is of course a good bit more expensive but sounds like the SQ benefit will make it worthwhile. Iām going to munch on this a bit.
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Hi again @Collin_Bruce , one more thing please if you can. Was the Sino LPS the HDPlex? Or something else?
Thanks a ton for the very helpful info.
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It was another brand. LHY Maybe?
I tested the Plixir on my Qutest against the Paul Hynes SR4 and SR4-T. Also, against an SR7-T. It bettered the SR4 & SR4-T. Traded blows with the SR7-T over a week. And the Plixir was still basically brand new.
I preferred it to the SR7-T, but that could be up to taste. Itās a high end supply. I would love to experiment with a Sean Jacobs 5v DC3 or DC4 supply but those are expensive and rare. Also, quite silly to pair a DC4 with a Qutest based on cost alone. Iām sure the DC3/4 would be better than the Plixir, but by how much, who knows.
But, Iāve not read of any SR7-Tās getting wholly outclassed by DC3ās, so, maybe Iām wrong.
Thank you once again! All very helpful info for what I am thinking of.
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I honestly canāt comment on the Plixir. It isnāt a model I have tried. I use a Farad Super3, I have a Ferrum Hypsos that I can potentially try. The Super3 works for me but wonāt power the rev. B Nucleus+ if it is made to work hard. The Hypsos can do it all and measures best. However, like the iFi it is not a linear PSU.
Thank you Henry, those are very helpful comparisons. I suppose that it would make sense to power a DAC with the very best PS and that the performance of a Nucleus would benefit less than that of a DAC? If so, I donāt need to go all out for the Nucleus? As I mentioned, I am just thinking of powering a Nucleus, but I could also power a pair of TPLink fiber media converters that I use for isolation.
For doing all three from one PS, I suppose I should consider the Uptone JS-2 or the HDPlex.
Does anyone know whether powering the TPLink fibre media converters would matter to SQ?
Thank you!
I just use iFi iPower Elite to power my StarTech FMC - Gigabit Ethernet Fiber Media Converter
Torben
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Thank you for your help Steve, @Collin_Bruce , Torben and others
Decided to go with the Uptone JS-2 as it has two outputs - one will be for the Nucleus and the other one for one of the two TP-Links. Alex from Uptone says I should use it for the TP-Link that connects to my DAC.
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Though you can power more than one device with the same PSU, thatās not optimal.
Understood, thanks. I will try it both ways to see which works better. I could continue to power both the TP-Links with the old IFI PSes that are powering them now if it sounds better.
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I have to report that the Uptone JS-2 has worked very well and well beyond my expectations for cleaning up the sound across the spectrum relative to the Nucleus stock SMPS. I got a further substantial clean-up when I used the second DC output from the JS-2 to eliminate the IFI iPower PS that was powering the second TP-Link MC200CM (the one which feeds ethernet signal directly to the DAC).
Maybe that will be of interest to somebody pondering the same question as I had been for some time.
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I donāt agree, our audio club took a stock 20 switch and replaced it with a UpTone Audio EtherREGEN, many very good reviews on it.
The Roon Nucleus+ stock 19v wall wart is crap, out of 9 people 100% heard a substantial increase on every level when the Excellent Linear Tube Audio - LPS power supply was connected and given an hour to fully warm up, but even cold a substantial upgrade in sonic quality.
Anyone that has been into audio knows that a 
crap $20 switch mode power supply is noisy and has horrible signal quality, it works but ā¦ many use Sbooster but the Linear Tube Audio Yesits $700 destroys that with ease. Buy if one is serious about streaming these are essential.
The Sonore Deluxe Ethernet to fiber optic is another way to eliminate noise further.
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And were any of those listening impressions carried out unsighted? If not, itās purely subjective opinion cluttered by human expectation biasā¦
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Do you really have to ask?!
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I always ask, just on the off-chance before making any assumptions.
I get tired of the ridiculous claims put forward by audiophiles around ethernet noise āmodulating the noise floor to audible effectā and similar outlandish claims from linear power supplies.
If either of these can really affect your system, you need a better DAC. And by better, I mean technically better, not more āhigh-endā or any other euphemism for expensive.
My Roon endpoints are humble RPi4Bs, most powered via PoE.
A few months ago made a 1kHz -120dBFS test track in REW and saved it to my local library. With the Benchmark DAC3HGC and HPA4, thereās enough gain to pull the tone into audibility.With real music, Iād have to be at >120dB SPL listening level before the tone hit the lowest threshold of audiibility. The equivalent of istening out for a pin dropping on carpet whilst your ears are bleeding.
No one else who has played the tone so far has been able to hear it, although Iām sure other members with Benchmark gear would be able to. If you canāt make the tone audible, then your system hasnāt enough gain to make the noise floor audible, so stop worrying about noise, because itās not a problem.
People waste money chasing the digital boogeyman and in doing so, line the pockets of snake-oil peddlers all the while being victim to human biases.
Time and again I hear the argument that science has not yet reached the point of being able to explain these āaudibleā yet unmeasurable changes.
It has. However, they donāt like the explanation and then the discussion then becomes emotive, heated and descends into name-callingā¦
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People do like the feeling of control, of being able to change something, ideally when it does not take any concerted effort (like doing proper room treatment) but involves shelling out some money, so you can boast later how your fancy directional fuse had changed the sound. And people do want to believe that they (unlike those poor plebs) actually do have golden ears and can hear those differences that some audiophile rag (i.e. bootlicking of the dear advertiser) told them should be there. And who would want to admit that theyāve spent thousand dollars on a wall socket that soundsā¦ just like any other wall socket? That would be embarrassing. So they convince themselves that there are vast differences.
These are all completely measurable phenomena. Just psychological rather than physical.
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Paul, this is an interesting club meeting you describe. I do have a few questions.
Whatās the thought process here? Why would you buy a Nucleus in the first place, if what theyāre giving you is ācrapā? Does it give you confidence in the rest of the components Roon Labs has selected? Logically, if replacing one component gives you such improvement, maybe you should also replace the motherboard on the inside, to get even more substantial increase? Did you try that? Or the case? Or the operating system?
But what Iām thinking is, itās a computer! Putting a linear power supply on a computer is a pointless waste of electricity. Letting it warm up for an hour is a pointless waste of electricity.
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Yup, Itās amazing what a good LPS can do.
First thing I would do with the nucleus is upgrade the power supply.
I just got a Farad Super 3 and itās smooth and sweet sounding. So much easier to listen to (than another LPS I was using).
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