Would the mRendu benefit from a good power supply?

Audio Gear Talk Sonore
21

Those in the know, how long is the “break-in” for the LPS-1? Or how long did it take for it to reach its full potential?

22

I would say immediately the green light comes on.

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23

I didn’t notice any changes over time with mine. If there were any they must have been subtle.

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24

I can’t wait until tonight to have a listen! The microRendu sounds so good in my system currently I can’t wait to have it sound even better. Hoping to get some improvement in SoundStaging and a little more clarity.

25

I don’t have an opinion, since I don’t have any experience with the LPS-1 other than listening to it hooked up to a microRendu for a short time at the last RMAF. Personally, I’m headed in the direction of one or two TeddyPardo LPSes for my exaSound gear. I’ve looked at the hype and specs for a lot of different power supplies, and frankly, it’s bewildering to someone with no formal background in this stuff. At least TP has been around for a while and has a solid reputation. (Uptone doesn’t currently make anything that meets my voltage requirements other than the JS-2. I’m sure that’s great, but it’s a little rich for my blood.)

26

President Trump said I had to “buy American” so I went with the LPS-1 :wink: Just kidding. TP makes fantastic power supplies. Based on my needs the LPS-1 fits perfectly for me.

27

Right now, my system is all US and Canadian, so I figure I’ve earned the right to go crazy with some UK-sourced power supplies … before the protective tariffs kick in. :innocent: (Plus, my wife is UK sourced and I’ve had very good luck with her.)

28

There’s a lot of discussion of alternative wall warts for the LPS-1 on the CA UpTone forums, with specific answers from the UpTone folks. Bottom line, they think that their default wall wart, the Meanwell, is all you need and anything more is overkill and may even be detrimental.

29

TP and LPS-1 have very different electrical designs and thus meet different requirements. TP is focused on great filtering and voltage stability. LPS-1 on breaking leakage currents, and since its output comes from ultracap banks, filtering AC ripple is irrelevant, there’s no AC ripple to filter. The microRendu does not need perfect voltage stability, as it has its own internal regulation. I’m not saying the LPS-1 is unstable, just that TP and LPS-1 have different design goals. Depending on your application, one or the other may be better. For the microRendu, the LPS-1 seems perfect, and to my ears it improves SQ slightly.

30

Thanks. That’s informative … although maybe I should give the JS-2 a harder look — It seems like I could power both my e32 and the PlayPoint off the same JS-2, which would bring the price more into line with two TP units. Just when I think I have things figured out….

31

I believe the JS-2 has been discontinued. This http://www.vinnierossi.com/mini/ looks really interesting, although I think it might not have enough juice for PlayPoint + e32, which according to their specs can draw as much as 4.5A @ 12V together (depends on whether that’s peak or steady, the MINI PURE-DC-4EVR is 2.5A steady, 5A peak.

When I was looking at PlayPoint + e32, I couldn’t help noticing that they connect with USB. Really? Why use a complicated, noisy protocol to connect between two units from the same expensive source, instead of I2S or a least AES/EBU? Baffling.

32

It’s still on the Uptone website but listed as follows:

THE JS-2 IS BUILT IN LIMITED BATCHES EACH MONTH. PLEASE CONTACT US FOR AVAILABILITY AND A CUSTOM SHIPPING QUOTATION.

I guess I’ll get in touch with Alex and see what the story is.

exa seems to think they have both jitter and galvanic isolation taken care of (see, e.g., here). FWIW, the combo has been well reviewed (e.g, here, here with e22 DAC, and here with e28 DAC). Subjectively, I think the e32/PlayPoint combo sounds very good (I use the PP as either a Roon endpoint or an HQP NAA and forgo the WiFi for Ethernet), but I’ve noticed that everyone thinks whatever they own is best in class. :wink:

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33

JS-2 still is in production. think they only make about 10-12 a month
got one for my Mac mini two/three years ago and never looked elsewhere :slight_smile:

only Vinnie Rossi’s Mini Pure-DC-4EVR has done best when powering my Aries

34

I think there are two camps, one camp think their own gear is on the top of everything else, the other camp thinks everyone else’s gear is the best. Right now I am listening to Steve Strauss album “Just like love” on headphones Sennheiser HD800S, through Mircrorendu (IFI Power) and Chord Mojo. Right now I think this setup is hard to beat. Tomorrow is another day :slight_smile:

35

Thanks. I guess I need to re-evaluate. Sorry for any thread hijacking.

36

So did you. ? :wink:

37

It’s not stop spreading false rumors.
At least you should look at Uptone Audio webpage.

38

Yes. I did.

I already told you I ordered one over at CA forums.

Happy?

39

Whoa! Got up the wrong side of the bed today? I said “I believe” based on a recent discussion discussion in CA, but either I misremembered or things have changed. It was already corrected here. Why go ballistic?

40

I don’t think so: https://uptoneaudio.com/products/js-2-linear-power-supply

I use this with the mmk on a mini. Great. When I got my mR I powered it from the 2nd output but then got an LPS-1 for the mR, which I power with it’s Meanwell SMPS. The advantage of powering the LPS-1 with the Meanwell is also the avoidance of ground loops.