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Refreshing take on external power supplies.

I agree, I feel that if a device requires a ‘better’ power supply then intrinsically it is not a good design.
Keith
 
too many buy additional psus. there is a slight advantage in having the psu away from the circuits . the majority of the units all low current. the power supply should be designed to full fill the needs .period . The notion that the number of black boxes is apart of audio is overkill . psus costing 1000s to run a streamer is a joke
 
Purité Audio said:
I agree, I feel that if a device requires a ‘better’ power supply then intrinsically it is not a good design.
Keith
Click to expand...

It is a product built to a price point, not necesarily a poor design.

As a manufacturer/designer for 30 years albeit in in a different field I know.

Take the Audiolab MDAC a great DAC which has sold in the tens of thousands.

Cost £ 600, with a regulated 5 rail PSU it becomes a whole new beast,(the aftermarket supplies fail miserably to capture the potential though) though to supply such a PSU would add some £ 400 at a guess, and require a bigger or seperate case.
Then it would not have sold in tens of thousands, but thousands.
This might have then pushed up the base price.
 
misterdog said:
It is a product built to a price point, not necesarily a poor design.

As a manufacturer/designer for 30 years albeit in in a different field I know.

Take the Audiolab MDAC a great DAC which has sold in the tens of thousands.

Cost £ 600, with a regulated 5 rail PSU it becomes a whole new beast,(the aftermarket supplies fail miserably to capture the potential though) though to supply such a PSU would add some £ 400 at a guess, and require a bigger or seperate case.
Then it would not have sold in tens of thousands, but thousands.
This might have then pushed up the base price.
Click to expand...

Hi Misterdog - I can start a new thread for this if that's the right thing to do but, I was just about to post a question to MDAC owners about the PSU and ask who has gained an improvement by swapping out the OEM PSU for a different one. I certainly don't want to spend some £400 quids on one !

BTW I did a quick search and couldn't find any current experiences out there and the MDAC thread is HUGE !!!!!!!!!

cheers, richard
 
A power supply is the most expensive part of an electronic device, that and a case. It follows that many manufacturers will lower the spec of a PSU to reduce costs, because they can and it saves more money. A smaller trafo will be a lot cheaper than a bigger one, as will PSU smoothing caps, a lot of consumers won't notice, and you can't make similar savings by lowering the pec of resistors and capacitors on boards.
 
bbbiker800 said:
Hi Misterdog - I can start a new thread for this if that's the right thing to do but, I was just about to post a question to MDAC owners about the PSU and ask who has gained an improvement by swapping out the OEM PSU for a different one. I certainly don't want to spend some £400 quids on one !

BTW I did a quick search and couldn't find any current experiences out there and the MDAC thread is HUGE !!!!!!!!!

cheers, richard
Click to expand...

The search engine on PFM is still useless.
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/m-dac-psu.201918/

PM me for further info.
 
misterdog said:
The search engine on PFM is still useless.
https://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/threads/m-dac-psu.201918/

PM me for further info.
Click to expand...
Thanks Misterdog for helping out there but I think that thread tells me there's not much point in bothering with psu's for the mdac as I'd still need to mod the internals and I don't have the skill set. Also reading just a few of the posts on the mdac thread it seems Mr JW can't manage the demand he's created so it seems there's no point in going there! Cheers Richard
 
Purité Audio said:
If a component is improved by an external power supply it is intrinsically a poor design.
Keith
Click to expand...

By and large yes. For ultimate results in a phono stage it's always better to have the PSU separate as signal levels are tiny and gain high. For pretty much all other applications a seperate supply is a waste of money. For the vast majority of things where people seek a "better" supply it's a total waste of time and money and there is zero chance of any improvement... How the power is dealt with once it's inside the unit being powered is the important bit! But I'm a mere electronic engineer and designer of such things and obviously hi fi mag journalists, hi fi dealers and brick layers/used car dealers/butchers/taxi drivers who start forum posts "I know nothing about electronics bu....t" know infinitely more than I do...:D
 
Purité Audio said:
If a component is improved by an external power supply it is intrinsically a poor design.
Keith
Click to expand...

I disagree,see my post #5 above.

The MDAC is not a poor design,had it been supplied with the ultimate power supply at RRP C. £1100 rather than the £ 600 I paid,I would not have bought one at that time.

Indeed with the system I had at the time the increased performance would not have been apparent !
Not everyone has the luxury of being able to purchase with cost no object.

Mr Arkless could have included the power supply for his new phono stage within one case thereby reducing the cost considerably.
This would impact on the perfomance of the stage with all the EMI wafting around,but would not mean that it is a 'poor design' on the contrary it is a superb performer.
 
My Honda Civic performs better in winter weather with 'winter' tyres, so why are they not provided as standard ?

Could it be the Honda Civic is a poor design..
 
No power supply is perfect. The Paradise certainly sounds better with the full dual mono choke regged supply than without.
 
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