Confused about power conditioner linear power supply power cords etc.

[kyuu]

I was thinking of using upnp and looking at Fiio SR11 streamer but than again is there a need of streamer?

Depends on your setup. A streamer can act as a client to play the music via UPnP, but if you have something else that can do that then the streamer may be unnecessary.

 

[antcollinet]

Noisefloor is a hindrance to every set of amp or dac

Noise floor of any DAC measured here in the blue and green section of the chart is inaudible. Probably also in the orange and red sections.


Do you have audible noise in your system (noise you can hear at the listening position in the silence between tracks).

If so, you need to find the cause and eliminate it - you won't get rid of it using power exotic cables. And even if exotic power supples or power conditioners influence it there will be much much lower cost solutions possible (such as using toslink between source and DAC, or using balanced analogue connections from DAC to Amp.

 

[Chrispy]

Thank you all for your input.
Have been following some trusted audiophiles from youtube like iiwi or Joshua to name a few for quite sometime heard them mentioned linear psu or conditioner before even though they did reviewed S9C but never mentioned the need to use linear psu on this unit as I thought is a very basic thing in order to really enjoy the most your set, conditioner or linear psu is a must on all system or else you are missing what your set can deliver. Noisefloor is a hindrance to every set of amp or dac as I thought might appear on S9C especially im using macbook connect to external hdd to play flac or dsd music.

What makes those two "trusted"? If they come up with stuff like this....

 

[Satori]

I would imagine he has read on 90+ percent of audiophile sites that you don't get good sound until you have replaced all your power cords with expensive unobtainium. Have linear power supplies everywhere, and conditioned the mains until it is silky smooth like being washed in rain water.

This should not be a surprise to us - we see it all over the place. Nor is it a criticism of the OP - it is difficult to see past this stuff when it is everywhere. Impossible for most who don't have an engineering background.

I'm just glad he came here to get a dose of reality before wasting his money on expensive but useless audiophile jewellery.

The only member in this whole thread to reply without trying to bait or embarrass the OP.

 

[kyuu]

The only member in this whole thread to reply without trying to bait or embarrass the OP.

Excuse me, sir, but I don't recall trying to "bait" or embarrass the OP.

 

[RexrothPigeon]

Excuse me, sir, but I don't recall trying to "bait" or embarrass the OP.

me neither wtf

 

[Rubbersandal]

Noise floor of any DAC measured here in the blue and green section of the chart is inaudible. Probably also in the orange and red sections.


Do you have audible noise in your system (noise you can hear at the listening position in the silence between tracks).

If so, you need to find the cause and eliminate it - you won't get rid of it using power exotic cables. And even if exotic power supples or power conditioners influence it there will be much much lower cost solutions possible (such as using toslink between source and DAC, or using balanced analogue connections from DAC to Amp.

Thank you.

 

[Rubbersandal]

Depends on your setup. A streamer can act as a client to play the music via UPnP, but if you have something else that can do that then the streamer may be unnecessary.

Thank you.

 

[MaxxC]

Hi i just get into this rabbit hole and got myself Aune S9C Pro dac/amp.

As far as clean power, low noise floor concern. We turned to power conditioner linear power supply and even change to power cords. In order to get effective results does that mean we have to change everything starts from power conditioner down to linear power supply and power cords all at one time?

Among these 3 ways If i just get a good power conditioner while I still use back the generic free plugs from the gear will that be sufficient or even with a good conditioner I still need linear power supply whether if I'm using ifi purifier or allo shanti psu on top of power conditioner.

Can someone share your thoughts.

1). Power conditioners can help some areas and hurt others. If I did a blind test in a system Im unfamiliar I doubt I could hear any difference

2) Linear vs switching power supply I have heard no difference so far. It think it has more to do with the quality of the power supply

3) I have a $99 dollar power cord. I was loaned a $1000 power cord and couldn’t hear any difference. If I was buying a power cord for a DAC, CD player or Streamer. I would look for a Digital power cord They work with anything but have shielding so digitsl
Components reap the biggest benefits. But still the benefit is small.

 

[voodooless]

Digital power cord

 

[Keith_W]

3) I have a $99 dollar power cord. I was loaned a $1000 power cord and couldn’t hear any difference.

I have great news for you. I can loan you a $5 power cord and you won't be able to hear any difference either.

 

[RandomEar]

1). Power conditioners can help some areas and hurt others. If I did a blind test in a system Im unfamiliar I doubt I could hear any difference

Power conditioners make no difference at all to the sound, with one exception: If they are true isolation transformers - which most of them are not, because it's expensive to build one - they can cure ground loops and other rare ground noise problems.

Always remember: You do not listen to your mains power, you listen to signals generated from flattened, filtered DC.

2) Linear vs switching power supply I have heard no difference so far. It think it has more to do with the quality of the power supply

Again: You don't listen to your PSU. Apart from rare cases of different handling of ground loops and interference issues with multiple cheap SMPS without sufficient output filtering on a single outlet/circuit, there will be no audible difference between equally powerful PSUs.

3) I have a $99 dollar power cord. I was loaned a $1000 power cord and couldn’t hear any difference. If I was buying a power cord for a DAC, CD player or Streamer. I would look for a Digital power cord They work with anything but have shielding so digitsl
Components reap the biggest benefits. But still the benefit is small.

Power cords don't matter at all. The cabling in your walls is regular unshielded stuff from an industrial supplier. So are the kilometers of cables outside of your house in the ground and the dozens or even hundreds of kilometers of power lines from your town to the power plant. Just think about this for one second, it should be pretty obvious how the last 2 m from the outlet to your HiFi device absolutely do not matter anymore.

 

[MaxxC]

A digital power cord is just a power cord that shields against digital interference. Other then any its no different then any other cord.

The term digital interference Refers to the disruption of a digital signals, data or electrical devises by unwanted electro magnetic interference. This can lead to distortion of the sound a pixelation on monitors or tvs

Thats why you see shielding and other techniques used in everything from TV’s to Power cords

 

[MaxxC]

I have great news for you. I can loan you a $5 power cord and you won't be able to hear any difference either.

So you’ve tried a lot of different power cords or just something you’ve read on the forum?

 

[mhardy6647]

trusted audiophiles from youtube

Out of deference to the OP, I'll add, non-snarkily: Trusted by whom?

 

[Ropeburn]

 

[MaxxC]

Power conditioners make no difference at all to the sound, with one exception: If they are true isolation transformers - which most of them are not, because it's expensive to build one - they can cure ground loops and other rare ground noise problems.

Always remember: You do not listen to your mains power, you listen to signals generated from flattened, filtered DC.


Again: You don't listen to your PSU. Apart from rare cases of different handling of ground loops and interference issues with multiple cheap SMPS without sufficient output filtering on a single outlet/circuit, there will be no audible difference between equally powerful PSUs.


Power cords don't matter at all. The cabling in your walls is regular unshielded stuff from an industrial supplier. So are the kilometers of cables outside of your house in the ground and the dozens or even hundreds of kilometers of power lines from your town to the power plant. Just think about this for one second, it should be pretty obvious how the last 2 m from the outlet to your HiFi device absolutely do not matter anymore.

I’ve heard that argument before. If we have 100’s of miles of unsheielded cable The last few feet or yards don’t matter. You seem very knowledgeable. But you seriously believe that?

 

[MaxxC]

I’ve heard that argument before. If we have 100’s of miles of unsheielded cable The last few feet or yards don’t matter. Then why do they put shielding on interconnects, speaker cables, computers and TV’s if it does no matter?

 

[Keith_W]

So you’ve tried a lot of different power cords or just something you’ve read on the forum?

Look, I am a former paid up member of the subjectivist crowd. I still even own my $5000 speaker cable. Yes, I have been to power cord demos a long time ago. I couldn't hear a difference back then. I already thought it was a ridiculous idea. I could see the argument for a good speaker cable, I mean it actually sounded plausible. But a power cord plugged into the end of kilometers of the cheapest stuff available? That didn't make any sense.

 

[RandomEar]

I’ve heard that argument before. If we have 100’s of miles of unsheielded cable The last few feet or yards don’t matter. You seem very knowledgeable. But you seriously believe that?

Yes! Because it is logical.

Ignoring the idea that mains is inherently "dirty" and that AC is rectified inside your devices anyway, ask yourself: If the cable is unshielded behind the drywall, where the electric field is barely different from inside the room 5 cm away, how would the shielding inside the room provide any advantage at all? Also, what would you want to shield it from? Mains interference from... more mains? Like, what is there to interfere with in the room? Low voltage line level cables which carry signals at maybe 4 V_peak? Their electric field will be tiny and sizzle away just millimeters outside of the cable (maybe even inside the insulation itself), since it degrades with 1/r². There's just nothing there from which you would need to protect your power cable.

Also, check what mains power looks like (from [1]):

It's dirty as f***! What do you want to shield it from? Everything is already in there