Cheap (chinese) Linear psu. Are they worth buying?

[Stemcor]

you would have to pay on top of the price, VAT and import & handling taxes that would bump up the price considerably?

I was not asked to pay any extra costs. I’m not sure that something of that value would attract vat etc.

 

[sq225917]

Even if you regged every rail in that 5$ dac there's still no need for anything bigger than a 25va traffo, a big psu just isn't needed.

 

[mercalia]

I was not asked to pay any extra costs. I’m not sure that something of that value would attract vat etc.

They wouldnt as the extra costs are nothing to do with the seller but the UK import regulations. You used to be able to import items for free if they had a total value ( incl post I think ) of approx £15 or so. I dont know what the rules are now. Certainly £50 would attract the lot and the costs are cumulative I think VAT on top of the item incl the customs import charges etc I used to import US region dvds and had to be very careful to avoid charges.

 

[notevenclose]

I did say that it was going to be an enormous psu.

Neither did I. My point was that if NVA had already had a UK-built DAC on the market they wouldn't have been touting a fiver's worth of Chinese junk quite so enthusiastically.

And if they did decide to market it, it wouldn't have been for anywhere near £50 regardless of the size, cost, weight, colour or odour of the PSU.

 

[Thetiminator]

Be careful. I had an HDPlex (not particularly cheap) 6 or 7 years ago, which decided one day that instead of outputting 5v & 12V respectively, thought better of it to output 20V on both outputs. This fried both of the (quite expensive) pieces of equipment it was powering.

Now I have an Uptone LPS-2 which is a). better sounding and b). is much better built and so far, has behaved impeccably.

 

[Heckyman]

With that budget I would probably go for a better SMPS such as industrial / medical grade or perhaps iFi. For example I’ve found the SMPS bricks supplied with Ciunas SuperPS or Uptone EtherREGEN are already a lot better than what you get with typical consumer electronics.

Just because it’s linear doesn’t mean it will automatically sound great. A good LPS still needs good parts and these aren’t dirt cheap regardless of where the units are manufactured.

 

[sq225917]

Cost of parts has very little to do with psu quality. A Jung superreg can be built for £15, none of the parts more than a couple of quid.

The traffo and case are the cost items.

These no reason why a well designed Chinese psu cant do a great job, just choose a circuit where a failed voltage reference doesnt result in full voltage output.

 

[Stemcor]

Neither did I. My point was that if NVA had already had a UK-built DAC on the market they wouldn't have been touting a fiver's worth of Chinese junk quite so enthusiastically.

And if they did decide to market it, it wouldn't have been for anywhere near £50 regardless of the size, cost, weight, colour or odour of the PSU.

I think we both know that a UK built psu for £50 is impossible. RD was not afraid to praise other manufacturers products when he liked them even if they were competitors.

You called the dac “Chinese junk” so you must have heard one to form your opinion. Was that with the wall wart psu or a linear psu ?

 

[Donivey]

I've had two Uptone LPS (1st gen.) PSU's, and both have stopped working. I also have a LPS-2 which is still working, but is newer. Based on my sample of three, I don't think I'll buy any more of their power supplies. I will say that while they are working, they improved the sound of the Sonore Microrendu and Ultrarendu being powered by them.

 

[Stemcor]

Even if you regged every rail in that 5$ dac there's still no need for anything bigger than a 25va traffo, a big psu just isn't needed.

My knowledge of electronics is negligible so I cannot argue with you on this point. However, I have experienced the improvements a “bigger” power supply can make to a phono stage. I can’t help thinking that the same principle might apply to a dac.

 

[sq225917]

Bigger can be better if it removes some insufficiency in a sub optimal psu. But past a certain point adds nothing.

 

[mega lord]

My dac chip has three psu's of between 3VA and 5VA. The transformers are pcb mount EI jobbies from broken combi boiler control boards. Sounds amazing to me. I remember swapping in some 200VA toroids and it was no better. Power amps are a different matter though.

When I get round to modding my nva phono amp I will have a play with different sized transformers and see what happens.

 

[sq225917]

I should have snapped up Meldano's Jung based supercap replacement when it was available. Half a dozen rails in a box...