RME DPS-2 Linear Power Supply

[Matias]

Review in German but use a translator if needed. In the end there are noise floor measurements of the ADC with and without the filters.

RME DPS-2 und RME LNI-2 DC – Stromquellen nach Reinheitsgebot - LowBeats

Auch bei digitalen Audio-Komponenten schlummert mögliches Klangtuning-Potenzial vor allem in den ana

www.lowbeats.de

 

[DEF]

Considering in their Manuals RME states that a linear power supply or similar won't grant audible performance gains, this really feels like some PR stunt.

 

[antcollinet]

Considering in their Manuals RME states that a linear power supply or similar won't grant audible performance gains, this really feels like some PR stunt.

I'd say it is giving the customers (or at least some of them) what they want. Some fervently believe that linear supplies are better for audio. RME can either offer them, or grant that business to the competetiion. That they offer them while telling no lies about the benefit is to their credit.

 

[unpluggged]

Considering in their Manuals RME states that a linear power supply or similar won't grant audible performance gains, this really feels like some PR stunt.

RME explains their purpose honestly. If some audiophools don't read documentation and expect something that had not been promised, it's not RME to blame here.

 

[MaxBuck]

The problem, as I see it, is that by offering this product RME gives implied credence to the notion that buying such nonsensical equipment offers some sonic benefit, even as the company explicitly says it doesn't.

It's problematic for me.

 

[Randyman...]

You can buy from a company that (irresponsibly) claim these kinds of things make a difference, or you can buy from RME who will be honest and tell you it won't make any difference At least we can be sure these units are sensibly engineered by RME. I don't see much wrong with this direction - being clear up-front was an important prerequisite, and these products follow RME's trek down high-end DAC Land. I did see one measurement where a flavor of the ADI DAC measured with less noise on the Linear PSU and Filter than running on batteries (just barely measurable, but surely not audible).

I say better to give the money to RME and their honest engineering - but I would never buy anything remotely like this. If my power is bad enough to need something like this, I'll fix the power issue at the source and "cure" all connected gear instead of band-aiding a dirty-power "fix" for one unit.

 

[KSTR]

There are some technical reasons why it made sense for RME to create this supply (see my post on page 1), plus there are economic ones as well. The stock SMPS supply wall-wart does work just as well in the most basic sense but it has some disadavantages and shortcomong:
- the DC cable is of lowest possible quality and doesn't survive mechanical stress and when it breaks it is almost impossible to replace as the unit cannot be opened for service
- it is butt ugly
- there is no way easily to mount it, let alone in a portable install
- there is a lot of mains leakage current which can create issues in a limited set of scenarios
In other words, it is not on par with the units that it power in many regards. That doesn't go well especially with their newly gained audiophile clientele and like everybody else they need to make money.