Do you need linear power supply for DACs?

[MRC01]

Yeah, I've found bunch of tracks from my library where 3 dB headroom is not enough... I think Wolfson was first DAC chip that offered configuration option for -2 dB headroom, but it was disabled by default...

There's an alternative solution that doesn't require attenuation and loss of resolution. Internally, use a number format that has more bits than the data stream being decoded. Align the decoded sample values to occupy the LSBs so you have a few unused MSB in each sample. Then when you convert, it will not go over full scale. You'd only need maybe 2 extra bits.

Regarding the OP question, from what I read, a DAC can be sensitive to the quality of the power supply. Here's an example from a few years ago:

WM8741 vs. ESS9023 | It's only Audio

That doesn't necessarily mean DACs benefit from an external PS, only that DAC implementers need to give the PS proper attention in the design.

 

[MLaranjeiras]

T

É uma pena que você não tenha começado fazendo o dever de casa de verdade, em vez de acreditar que comprar coisas é dever de casa. Comprar é o que você faz depois de fazer sua lição de casa e aprender o suficiente para saber quando alguém está se aproveitando de sua falta de conhecimento básico.

Então, vamos voltar ao tópico aqui, por favor. Um dos fios de cabo ou catch-all seria mais apropriado.

Try and error. Rock the boat, Woody!

 

[SIY]

T

Try and error. Rock the boat, Woody!

Brad's Portuguese is better than I suspected!

 

[pseudoid]

Brad's Portuguese is better than I suspected!

Involvement by Bard/ChatGPT or google/bing should also be suspected!

 

[BDWoody]

Brad's Portuguese is better than I suspected!

I even surprise myself sometimes.

 

[pseudoid]

I even surprise myself sometimes.

I take back my suspects and apologize!
ADD: I had to use one of my above suspects, to translate back to English!

 

[Ornette]

What do you mean?

You have to go to school for years to get a Dr. of Chiropractic degree, at least in Canada. There's a college that regulates the profession. You can't just bullshit your way through, you have to learn Chiropractors' specific brand of bullshit and be able to pass tests on that bullshit to get your degree. And yet, chiropractic is still 90% nonsense and bullshit. So I fail to see how this is proving your point - just like sommeliers, chiropractors have to pass tests, and you actually have to learn your stuff to pass those tests. It's just that the stuff you learn, in both cases, is mostly bullshit.

There are some audiophile products that do stand up to blind testing scrutiny. Not everything is cables and DACs where there's no difference at all. But audiophilia and oenophilia are still both mostly nonsensical bullshit aimed at separating pretentious, self-important rubes from their money.

You're conflating the (entirely legitimate) art and science of winemaking with the behaviors of a (wealthy) segment of wine drinkers who are more interested in status or investment returns than the actual quality of what's in the bottle. Likewise, the science and engineering required to design SOTA audio gear is entirely legitimate, and that isn't diminished one iota by the fact that the hobby is rife with shameless hucksters peddling insanely overpriced (and under-performing) gear to the willfully clueless.

 

[SuicideSquid]

You're conflating the (entirely legitimate) art and science of winemaking with the behaviors of a (wealthy) segment of wine drinkers who are more interested in status or investment returns than the actual quality of what's in the bottle. Likewise, the science and engineering required to design SOTA audio gear is entirely legitimate, and that isn't diminished one iota by the fact that the hobby is rife with shameless hucksters peddling insanely overpriced (and under-performing) gear to the willfully clueless.

I don't think I have - if I was unclear and it came off that way, I apologize. My comments have consistently been addressed to the culture of oenophilia and wine tasting and the hucksters who leach off of them. SIY was defending the oenophile community by arguing that master wine-tasters have to actually be able to do some of what they claim in order to receive accreditation, I was arguing that notwithstanding that, most of that community (including those master wine-tasters, who can often be fooled by changing labels, changing the temperatures of wine by a degree, and other very simple tricks that undercut their many outlandish claims) remains rife with nonsense, and that it is a fairly good analogue to the audiophile community - as with the audiophile community, where there is some truth and reality and audibility mixed into a toxic community of mostly bullshit. None of that touched on the making of wine (though, as with the making of amplifiers and speakers, I understand rather a lot of bullshit can pop up on that side of the equation as well).

 

[SIY]

SIY was defending the oenophile community by arguing that master wine-tasters have to actually be able to do some of what they claim in order to receive accreditation, I was arguing that notwithstanding that, most of that community (including those master wine-tasters, who can often be fooled by changing labels, changing the temperatures of wine by a degree, and other very simple tricks that undercut their many outlandish claims)

You seem to be unfamiliar with the wine tasting certifications and process and their relationship with oenology departments at top schools. But then, I specifically called out the segments of "the community" (your term) who don't go through that process and have turned a large segment of the high end market into a money/status game and you skated right by that.

 

[tuga]

-120 db is the threshold for unwanted noise which the stock PSU exceeds greatly compared to both linear PSUs. If you fix the minor niggles with either PSU they would be vastly better, I think the P50 should be given the benefit of the doubt until proven otherwise.

From my own experience, each time I upgrade my DAC closer to the coveted 120db SINAD, bass is always the main upgrade I notice immediately, followed by dynamics.

For £50 per powered device in the stack and a billet aluminium shell I don't see any reason to dismiss it. Even if it simply solves niche RFI/EMI issues for specific setups. I think it's mostly applicable to desktop users in that regard.

Most people are noting a slight/mild audible improvement, which is supported by the amazon reviews vs it's peers.

It would be interesting to visualise this measurement with Logarithmic scale for the Frequency Response.
It looks like the SMPS noise is less than -100dB FS below 1kHz.

 

[Killingbeans]

It looks like the SMPS noise is less than -100dB FS below 1kHz.

Yes, but those are measurements of the raw PSU outputs. Not DAC outputs.