Was browsing and found this. Trying to determine what volatile to get. Info I’ve found online says 12-19v. Should I be the 18v to be safe?
Why are you bothering with that?
The way to solve this problem (if there is in fact a problem) is to:
a) use a DAC that properly isolates noise from the system bus*, or
b) use a network streamer with roon bridge
- this may already be the case with your current DAC, this is not a hard problem to solve
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15v or 18v. It won’t really matter which.
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Thanks for your replies. I guess I should have mentioned my setup beforehand. PS Audio Direct Stream DAC with Bridge ll adaptor connected via ethernet cable to router. Room NUC is connected via ethernet cable to router. I’ve been hearing both sides. Use a linear power supply and it doesn’t matter because it’s connected through Ethernet. Lol
I am happy to admit there are circumstances where I wouldn’t bother with a Linear supply but the best way to figure out if your circumstances justify the effort and expense is to try it.
50w might be a little on the low side. I would push for 65w at 18v is fine
I wouldn’tbother with any cheap power supply on Ali-express. Over 90% of them are total crap. They look nice in the pictures but are full with fake components, some of which are even very dangerous in use. Not everything from China is crap but if the price is less then half of what you would pay for a similar quality item you can be sure it is crap. I would not spend a dime on the one in your link. Chances of better sound quality are also lower then zero
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The first thing the input voltage see’s on a NUC board is a DC to DC converter (switch mode), so I’m not convinced a linear power supply is going to make any difference, particularly a cheap Chinese one.
If you are connected via ethernet, there is zero chance that a linear psu for your NUC is going to improve things for you. This is not a two sided debate. Don’t waste your money.
If you want to improve things buy a better dac. Sorry to say this to you, but the PS Audio Direct Stream DAC is a massively overpriced piece of junk.
See review here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-and-measurements-of-ps-audio-perfectwave-directstream-dac.9100/
The good news is the current state of technology has brought quality up and prices down on dacs to the point where you can buy something exceptional for very little cost. That review site is your friend. Trust what they say on there. You will be rewarded. I listened; I was.
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Another corner of the internet ruined. He asked a question, but you didn’t answer. Ugh. You are allowed to have your own opinion…thats fine. But if someone asks a question, provide an answer. Opine somewhere else.
Or maybe we all come over to your house and opine negatively on everything you own?
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It’s not an opinion. It’s an objectively measured fact. Read the review. The PS is one of the worst performing dacs that have been reviewed on that site. OP is seeking to improve his sound. I offered a better alternative to throwing money down the drain on a linear PSU on a device that has zero chance of improving his sound.
No, he asked about a power supply for his NUC. What did you think of the PS Audio unit when you heard it…just curious. I have not heard it but would like to. Until then, I have no opinion.
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Yeah, it’s like saying “do I need new tires?”, and getting “no, your car’s crap, you wasted your money, replace it”. Not helpful, and certainly not courteous.
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No, he asked about a power supply for his NUC.
I answered that question.
What did you think of the PS Audio unit when you heard it…just curious. I have not heard it but would like to. Until then, I have no opinion.
Yes I’ve heard it and that dac is broken enough to be noticeably different from other dacs. The SINAD (Signal over noise and distortion) is only around 70db. That can be heard. You can get any number of dacs now with SINAD over 120db. They are a commodity.
The reason my comment is relevant is OP was proposing to spend money on something for the purpose of improving his sound. He also provided information about his equipment. I was aware of the issues with that DAC. His money would be vastly better spent on replacing the broken DAC.
I realise it’s a bitter pill to swallow when someone tells you your multi thousand dollar piece of equipment does not perform to a technically competent standard. I’m sure we have all been down the rabbit-hole of wasting money on audio gear based on glowing subjective reviews. Nobody wants to hear they made a mistake. But the sooner that OP realises that there are objectively measurable standards upon which to base his purchasing decisions, the better off he will be.
Again, my intention is not to offend but to educate.
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Your comment was good and you answered his question. You then went on to give him your personal opinion in what he should do to improve his system. There is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t be too hard on the trashing of someone’s DAC.
Your comment was good and you answered his question. You then went on to give him your personal opinion in what he should do to improve his system. There is nothing wrong with that. Just don’t be too hard on the trashing of someone’s DAC.
Fair enough. I did use the words ‘massively overpriced piece of junk’. That may have been a tad insensitive. I apologise for that.
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Well… I surely wasn’t expecting this. LOL Thank you all for responding! I hear everyone’s side and yes my goal is to improve the sound of my system. I didn’t take offense to him trashing my DAC. I actually love it! Bad measurements and all. One thing I’ve come to realize is that things that measure crappy don’t always sound bad. Measurements are only part of the story. I could care less about them. It’s all about how it performs in my setup and the PSA DSD sounds damn good.
That being said I’m always open the opinions of others. Particularly those that have really listened to the PS Audio dac vs just reading what someone else wrote. @Nathan_Scrivener What other DACs have you compared it to and what would you recommend?
As for the linear power supply… I’m gonna hold off on buying a cheap one. I’ll do a bit more research and post some options when I have some better ones.
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I think the antibodies are revved up in this group. 
I’d suggest just using the power supply that came with your NUC. LPSs don’t make much sense on digital hardware, according to science. Not sure how doing more research could affect that.
One thing I’ve come to realize is that things that measure crappy don’t always sound bad. Measurements are only part of the story.
One thing I’ve come to realise is that the human hearing system is very fallible. Expectation bias plays a huge part in what you hear. It causes people to literally imagine large differences from all kinds of snake-oil. There is an entire industry built around marketing to this phenomenon.
The way to get around this is blinded, level matched tests. You cannot know what device you are listening to and levels need to be matched to 0.1db as even small variations in volume will be perceived as sounding better. Setting up tests properly is not necessary that easy but it can be done.
As for measurements, I’d urge you to reconsider whether they are truly only part of the story. There is an entire pro-audio industry out there that knows the value of measurements. Read some of the dac reviews on AudioScienceReview.com and you will start to gain an appreciation for the types of tests that are done when assessing a dac.
As for recommendations, I own and hold a high level of regard for the RME ADI-2 Dac. RME have their roots in pro audio so it’s all no-nonsense for them. The dac has an exceptional headphone amplifier and uses a combination of digital attenuation and analog steps to provide exceptionally accurate volume control with minimal signal degradation. It also has features such as parametric EQ and an adjustable loudness control which actually performs very well, especially if you are using volume levelling in Roon. It also has XLR out which is convenient as my Hypex Ncore-250 based amp has XLR inputs on it.
I also have two cheap chinese dacs from Topping - the D50 and the D50s. Both are very well engineered although I am unsure about what longevity I will get from them. Sound quality wise they are completely indistinguishable from the RME but really all they do is digital to analog conversion. It’s the other added features that make the RME worth the difference but if all I wanted was top quality digital to analog conversion I’d see no point in spending the extra money. From memory both were around USD$250.
There’s plenty of other good choices, all have been thoroughly reviewed on the above site. Look up ‘master SINAD list’ for a graph showing how they all performed in testing.
Preferably 19V. No less than 3.5A.