Any point to upgrade DAC power supply?

[aslan7]

Specifically thinking about a Teddy Pardo power supply for an RME ADI-2. Is this just hype or something that will make an audible improvement? Thanks.

 

[NTK]

I think the likelihood of a "power supply upgrade" will improve a competently designed product such as the RME ADI-2 is close to none. Anyway, given that its already superb performance with the stock power supply, any potential improvement will be of academic interest only as they will be far beyond the ability of humans to discern.

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...version-2-dac-and-headphone-amp-review.13379/

 

[aslan7]

That sounds like a solid, sensible answer. I was curious because some people swear that the upgrade is transformative. But then they believe in exotic power cords and interconnects also. Thanks. Rt

 

[Katji]

Maybe helpful/interesting:
Matthias of RME on external power supplies!

 

[aslan7]

My only experience with fancy power supplies is that the Exogal Comet offered one for $500 extra, making it the Comet Plus. When I made the huge mistake of buying Exogal it was the Plus model. I heard no audible difference with or without the power supply. I assumed something was wrong with me because all the pundits thought it was a huge improvement. I guess power supplies, like cables, get pulled and banged around a lot so the main idea is to be certain that such accessories aren't damaged. I wonder if as an experiment I could hook up the Exogal external power supply to the RME strictly as an experiment.

 

[Katji]

The usual/basic concept is that a linear power supply will not generate noise like a switching mode power supply. ("The devils are in the details.")

If you want to experiment like that, make sure that the Exogal power supply output voltage matches the RME input voltage.

 

[Shazb0t]

No.

 

[JSmith]

Teddy Pardo power supply for an RME ADI-2

I found something lacking with speakers but couldn't put my finger on it. I almost sent RME back. I added a 12v Teddy Pardo power supply and soundstage grew taller, wider and layered. Everything has a more natural tone, organic and real, I find it a game changer. I'm listening to it as I write this and very impressed with the change it made. I didn't want to give up on RME due to it being so open and clean without being harsh. I think the Teddy Pardo made it possible for me to keep RME a very long time.

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/rme-adi-2-dac-thread.868015/page-224

One can only imagine this person had 2 units, one with the stock, one with the "upgrade", was able to switch between the two and could reliably tell the difference between the two.



JSmith

 

[frogmeat69]

NO.

 

[aslan7]

I can see the attraction to an exotic Israeli small, well made box but that is pure psychology. I would do better to study the RME manual which is very daunting. But that thing sounds amazing. I never considered how audiophile consumers see gear as furniture. The Exogal is a beautifully made space age looking unit and the RME plain and utilitarian but incomparably better. It is really a pleasure to listen to things now. I guess most of you aren’t tube enthusiasts and with the RME digital is really lifelike.

 

[Dallas2122]

There are a very lot of very inexperienced Audiophiles out there to say upgrade power cords don’t make a Sonic improvement is pure ignorance ,as well as other cables. LPS power supplies if external good aftermarket ones are far better
Rule of thumb ,I owned a audio store for 10 years have seen every selling tactic out there. Mfg spend on average 25% of the cost of the product including
Packaging that’s it the rest R&D, overhead ,and markup . That’s why modding is so effective or after market Linesr power supplies ,some are better then other p
Sbooster Waay over priced , over $500 now , Teddy pardo much better
As well as Fared , both of these compare with higher priced gear ,
And BTW a upgraded DC cable, as well as AC cable like pangea sig - mk2, excellent upgrade for the $$ in New England we have a multi state audio club and get to compare Hundreds of items per year. In 40 years of audio I have spent 1,000 s of hours researching mods of all types as well as comparisons
Quality audio though does cost $$ ,
For example $1k a very good starting poin5 for a dac like the new Denafrips 12 th anniversary aries2, or $1800 for the New pontus
$5-7k for a true reference dac .
T&A dac 200, Holo springs May kte , New Denafrips 12th Terminator-2
I own the lower priced ,as well as more expensive ,there is a bunch of respectable audio even in the lower priced gear. That’s my observation and opinion only.

 

[Doodski]

 

[BDWoody]

There are a very lot of very inexperienced Audiophiles out there to say upgrade power cords don’t make a Sonic improvement is pure ignorance...

Uh huh.

 

[Gradius]

If you have the ultimate bionics ears, then yes, because is only on ultra range (well beyond human hearing).

 

[DVDdoug]

USB power from a computer is usually noisy. This is no problem for the digital data but SOMETIMES the noise leaks into the analog circuitry. It more often a problem with audio interfaces for recording (the ADC part) because microphone signals are weak and the preamp boosts any noise along with the signal. USB power supply noise is usually a high-pitch whine.

because some people swear that the upgrade is transformative.

90% (or more) of the "audiophile community" is nuts!!! This site and HydrogenAudio are a couple of exceptions. One clue is the words they often use. If they say the sound is "more detailed" or "analytical" or a thousand other nonsense words, that's a big clue. ...Tell me if it has noise or distortion or something with a scientific or engineering definition.

Noise is a "big one" and noise is mostly an analog issue... MOST "defects" are analog issues unless you have "telephone quality" digital, or something like that. Audiophoolery describes the 4 real characteristics that affect/describe audio quality... Noise, distortion, frequency response, and timing-related errors. The timing related stuff is mostly acoustical... i.e. Reverberation and standing waves and other effects of reflected sound in a room.

With electronics, the main thing is noise. Sometimes there is audible background noise (hum, hiss, or whine). Distortion and frequency response are usually better than human hearing, unless you over-drive an amplifier into clipping (distortion) or something like that.

With speakers & headphones the "big thing" is frequency response. Speakers have usually more distortion than electronics but it's usually not audible with music, again unless the speaker is over-driven.

Speakers or headphones (and room acoustics) make the biggest difference and every speaker sounds different, whereas "good" electronics neither degrades or (accidently) enhances the sound so there is usually little or no difference (except that one amplifier can be more powerful than another, etc.).

...Most of these things can be measured and quantified except with lossy digital compression (MP3 etc.) the noise & distortion changes from moment-to-moment depending on program content and that makes them difficult to measure. And it's often difficult to know when a measured difference makes an audible difference.

As a general rule, you can measure "better" than you can hear. Just for example, I have an oscilloscope on my bench at work that goes up to 100Mhz (that's "radio frequency" not audio frequency). But I don't work in audio and I don't have a good way to measure distortion.

 

[fpitas]

I'll add:

 

[Killingbeans]

There are a very lot of very inexperienced Audiophiles out there to say upgrade power cords don’t make a Sonic improvement is pure ignorance ,as well as other cables.

Guess I'm one of those. If by "Sonic improvement" you mean a removal of audible non-linearities that can't be explained by simple RCL parameters, or noise that can't be explained by bad shielding or ground loops.

If, on the other hand, you mean 'perceived sonic improvements', I agree that there's plenty to be had. But I have no problem assuming that they are all caused by placebo.

I'd call that healthy scepticism rather than ignorance. If non-anecdotal evidence should come to light and show my scepticism to be unwarranted, I'd gladly admit my "ignorance"

 

[aslan7]

90% (or more) of the "audiophile community" is nuts!!! T

AMEN!

 

[aslan7]

There are a very lot of very inexperienced Audiophiles out there to say upgrade power cords don’t make a Sonic improvement is pure ignorance ,as well as other cables. LPS power supplies if external good aftermarket ones are far better
Rule of thumb ,I owned a audio store for 10 years have seen every selling tactic out there. Mfg spend on average 25% of the cost of the product including
Packaging that’s it the rest R&D, overhead ,and markup . That’s why modding is so effective or after market Linesr power supplies ,some are better then other p
Sbooster Waay over priced , over $500 now , Teddy pardo much better
As well as Fared , both of these compare with higher priced gear ,
And BTW a upgraded DC cable, as well as AC cable like pangea sig - mk2, excellent upgrade for the $$ in New England we have a multi state audio club and get to compare Hundreds of items per year. In 40 years of audio I have spent 1,000 s of hours researching mods of all types as well as comparisons
Quality audio though does cost $$ ,
For example $1k a very good starting poin5 for a dac like the new Denafrips 12 th anniversary aries2, or $1800 for the New pontus
$5-7k for a true reference dac .
T&A dac 200, Holo springs May kte , New Denafrips 12th Terminator-2
I own the lower priced ,as well as more expensive ,there is a bunch of respectable audio even in the lower priced gear. That’s my observation and opinion only.

Did you mistakenly post here thinking you were on Audiogon?

 

[lateralous]

Did you mistakenly post here thinking you were on Audiogon?

I think someone got lost after a few too many beverages, at least based on the clear struggle to form a single sentence.