ifi ipower X

[Wps998]

I have had LPUs that made no difference sonically. But then again dac amps these days have better internal power supplies already probably. The funny thing is despite having no luck with LPUs, i have some quite surprising differences from swapping power cords, unexpectedly.

 

[Veri]

I have had LPUs that made no difference sonically. But then again dac amps these days have better internal power supplies already probably. The funny thing is despite having no luck with LPUs, i have some quite surprising differences from swapping power cords, unexpectedly.

 

[Katji]

- shielded [context : particular noise situation]

- substandard "generic" [iow, when you cut it open , you find insufficient strands of copper wire. as in, obviously insufficient. iow, would not meet standards authority specification.]

Otherwise psychology.

 

[Wps998]

- shielded [context : particular noise situation]

- substandard "generic" [iow, when you cut it open , you find insufficient strands of copper wire. as in, obviously insufficient. iow, would not meet standards authority specification.]

Otherwise psychology.

Nobody likes a skinny wire..though i do love my psychology . I am a real sucker for my eardrum/eyes/wallet to brain neuron sparkies.

 

[trl]

Not saying that iPower-X is not a great small PSU for a DAC, after all it really has a very low AC ripple & noise, but I thought the effects of improving the USB's 5V DC for powering DACs has been already measured here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...-measurements-of-schiit-wyrd-usb-filter.5717/.

Unless @amirm will "adjust" his measurements and tests to be in line with other "testers" from around the world (e.g: https://www.audioreviews.org/ifi-audio-ipower-ipower-x-review-jk/#Test_Results) the following verdicts will most likely be ignored here on ASR:

• "The sonic image was much more organized, more balanced"
• "The corners were rounded, the sound was smoother, more relaxed, more contained and rather homogenous"
• "Holistically speaking, the listening experience was much nicer and rounder sounding. Much nicer…"

I understand that a more holistic approach might be helpful for some of us, but this still needs to be backup by a little bit of science, otherwise the claims are voided from the start. JK has enough studio ADCs around to play with, I wonder why he haven't done couple of tests (1kHz, jitter, maybe a DeltaWave compare too).

 

[pedrob]

I often wonder how crucial is a clean path, and if it has become an obsession, when other factors are probably more important?

 

[trl]

Inside an external DAC there are several other power regulators, so if the design is good then the USB noise is filtered and definitely inaudible. We're not speaking about GPU/RAM noise or the noise when moving the mouse on the pad, this has a different cause and it's not related to DAC's power supply.

 

[pedrob]

Voltage regulators and filters can vary wildly in performance. A clean source is always going to be beneficial because no matter how good they are, they can only do so much to clean up a dirty input.

The ALTAIR G1 has a massive power supply and internal shielding. It's hard to know if it's necessary or obsessive.

 

[Koeitje]

Voltage regulators and filters can vary wildly in performance. A clean source is always going to be beneficial because no matter how good they are, they can only do so much to clean up a dirty input.

That is simply not true, we've seen top of the line DACs tested on dirty USB power from a desktop PC versus a dedicated power supply and that made 0 difference.

 

[Jackpine]

That is simply not true, we've seen top of the line DACs tested on dirty USB power from a desktop PC versus a dedicated power supply and that made 0 difference.

Wouldn't an entry level DAC be more likely to benefit from clean power? There's a lot of we didn't find anything in this instance so therefore it doesn't exist around here. Not exactly good scientific practice.

 

[Jinjuku]

But wouldn't such a measurements depend on the DAC used?

Then that means you only need to know the DAC's ifi used to validate their design with, what they measured, and what the test setup was like.

THEN:

You can avoid that/those DAC/DACS

You can recreate their test setup for any other DAC.

 

[Koeitje]

Wouldn't an entry level DAC be more likely to benefit from clean power? There's a lot of we didn't find anything in this instance so therefore it doesn't exist around here. Not exactly good scientific practice.

No, because its super cheap to remove all these issues. Maybe for absolute entry level for DACs under $50.... Just spend $100 and buy something that doesn't have these issues.

 

[Jackpine]

Well that's logical but not scientific. I have an older DAC that's is probably equivalent to a current entry level model. One of the reasons I bought it and still like it is because it has three filters that can be changed and make an audible difference. Most current DACs seem to have just one or seven different filters neither of which is as appealing to me. I'm curious to know if my DAC (Cambridge DacMagic) might benefit from an upgraded power supply?

 

[Ryan200]

I betcha in real world non-lab conditions these things can make a difference. That is what they are designed for after all. It's not the exact same thing but watch this guy demonstrate an iFi AC iPurifier in his honest-to-goodness real life system:

As fun as it is to call everything snake oil so one can feel smart and objective- the biases about audio equipment work both ways. I think arguing that the OP's thingy would only work on cheap DACs is moving the goal post. Amir-Almighty has established there is not always a strong correlation between price and design/parts quality.

 

[Mutsu]

I betcha in real world non-lab conditions these things can make a difference. That is what they are designed for after all. It's not the exact same thing but watch this guy demonstrate an iFi AC iPurifier in his honest-to-goodness real life system:

As fun as it is to call everything snake oil so one can feel smart and objective- the biases about audio equipment work both ways. I think arguing that the OP's thingy would only work on cheap DACs is moving the goal post. Amir-Almighty has established there is not always a strong correlation between price and design/parts quality.

I experienced similar issues to the guy in the video years ago when using powerline networking. They also emitted a very high frequency noise that was barely noticeable until it was the dead of night. At the time I couldn't really find much information about the issue (this must have been almost 10 years ago), so my solution was to disconnect the network when it wasn't required, which luckily was only needed occasionally.

I've not seen Amir's previous tests which lead to the claim of the ifi products being 'ineffective' and a 'waste of money'. But I do believe that 'scientific' conclusions are limited to the test conditions, and there could be situations outside of those conditions that do cause a measurable difference.

 

[Jinjuku]

I betcha in real world non-lab conditions these things can make a difference. That is what they are designed for after all. It's not the exact same thing but watch this guy demonstrate an iFi AC iPurifier in his honest-to-goodness real life system:

As fun as it is to call everything snake oil so one can feel smart and objective- the biases about audio equipment work both ways. I think arguing that the OP's thingy would only work on cheap DACs is moving the goal post. Amir-Almighty has established there is not always a strong correlation between price and design/parts quality.

Part way through the video I was wondering if his setup was balanced or unbalanced. Then he reveals that the CMNR side of his setup doesn't exhibit this behavior.

So this leads me to me next few points/questions:

Did he ever purchase an outlet tester? That would have been my first ask.
Is the outlet he plugged the Ethernet PLA to on the same circuit?
Does the Ethernet PLA introduce any noise plugged in by itself?

If it only makes noise when the Ethernet cable is plugged in, then I would be willing to place a small wager that the cable is shield tied. And that's a no no.

This is another example of my frustration with 'audiophiles' because they are confident in their ignorance.

 

[Mutsu]

This is another example of my frustration with 'audiophiles' because they are confident in their ignorance.

To be fair, he likely experienced the issue, searched Google about it and then found the iFi product that claimed to fix it.

It's unfortunate that search didn't surface a thread on ASR that could help diagnose and potentially fix the issue in some other way.

 

[RDKA]

Why are you only talking about the ifi ipower x on a dac? What do you think what will happen when you use the ipower x on a standard tp link switch! Well I can assure you, this will be a big improvement!

 

[pkane]

Why are you only talking about the ifi ipower x on a dac? What do you think what will happen when you use the ipower x on a standard tp link switch! Well I can assure you, this will be a big improvement!

Forget that! Wait until you try it on an electric tea kettle! The purity, the depth, the microdynamics, the 3-D effect on tea taste is something you just have to try to believe!

 

[RDKA]

Forget that! Wait until you try it on an electric tea kettle! The purity, the depth, the microdynamics, the 3-D effect on tea taste is something you just have to try to believe!

This kind of reaction means;

1) Your set up is so crap you indeed hear no difference.

2) Never tried it.

I replaced the power supply of my switch and in 10 blind tests I could tell which time the power supply was changed. Why, because of the sound improvement. So I see this funny answers a lot and its ok. Keep all your standard cables, power supplies etc. But know that you set up never will use the full performance capacity.