12v power supply for Exasound E20

[Matteo Turotti]

I just bought an Exasound E20 mkIII with the 0,82fs master clock and i'm very happy with it, it sound great in my setup, but I want to change the 12v power supply with a better one.

I can't build it by myself, so what power supply do you advise for me?

[hifial]

I use, with my exaSound MK III .082, and highly recommend the Paul Hynes Power Supply. You can find it on Audio Circle

 

Paul Hynes, Paul Hynes Design

[haujobb]

I use, with my exaSound MK III .082, and highly recommend the Paul Hynes Power Supply. You can find it on Audio Circle

 

Paul Hynes, Paul Hynes Design

 

I recommend Best of Two Worlds, acceptable price and huge leapfrog in terms of quality. Using a 12v version for my Wadia i170. It offers several power adapters.

 

Squeeze-upgrade | BOTWS | Lineaire MF V-DAC adapter upgrade met SBooster

[mav52]

I use, with my exaSound MK III .082, and highly recommend the Paul Hynes Power Supply. You can find it on Audio Circle

 

Paul Hynes, Paul Hynes Design

 

I thought about adding Paul's power supply, but it takes so long to get something from him.

[jtwrace]

Get a Teddy Pardo!

[Matteo Turotti]

Get a Teddy Pardo!

 

In the end i've buyed a Teddy Pardo 12V/2A.

The Paul Hynes have a too long waiting time.

[ginetto61]

In the end i've buyed a Teddy Pardo 12V/2A.

The Paul Hynes have a too long waiting time.

 

Hi !

may I ask you from where did you purchase it ?

could you describe the improvements after changing the power supply ?

I have a similar issue here. My unit is delivered with a cheap AC adapter.

Thanks and regards, gino

[shahed99]

I use a Teddy Pardo PSU with my Exasound E22 dac. It sounds glorious and the improvement using the linear psu was worthwhile. However, I have put them both on sale for my future dac upgrade..

[ginetto61]

Hi and thanks a lot for the kind reply.

I am still in an info gathering phase.

I have a huge respect for the Exasound brand and designers of course.

I have been astonished in particular by this graph here ...

 

 

I have a personal obsession for low noise and low distortion.

I wonder with which power supply has been obtained. It is not clear on the site.

Maybe they have used an high end lab grade power supply I do not know.

However i understand that they deliver their products with good quality smps.

I have searched but not found their opinion about swapping power supply being beneficial or not.

That suggests me that often the limiting factor is not the power supply but the dac/interface itself.

As an example I have here a usb soundcard that exhibits a noise peak at about 35 kHz no matter which power supply I use, from a 10 USD smps to a clearly better linear power supply.

Anyway thank you very much for your advice and offer.

Kind regards, gino

[johndoe21ro]

Gino, the power supply is very beneficial for any DAC with non-linear power supply. As for exaSound, the sound has more body, deeper bass, it lifts a veil or two, the soundstage is more precise, the speed and dynamics increases... I use audiophile grade AC power cable, isolation feet and audiophile grade fuse for the Paul Hynes LPS! Highly recommended!

[ginetto61]

Gino, the power supply is very beneficial for any DAC with non-linear power supply.

As for exaSound, the sound has more body, deeper bass, it lifts a veil or two, the soundstage is more precise, the speed and dynamics increases...

I use audiophile grade AC power cable, isolation feet and audiophile grade fuse for the Paul Hynes LPS! Highly recommended!

 

Hi ! thanks a lot for the very helpful reply.

I used to think the same but now, as I said above, I am not so sure anymore.

I have at hand a decent linear psu bought from ebay. And also many 12VDC switching mode power supplies also decent (the so called "genuine", branded Lenovo, Dell, Murata and so on).

Looking at the usb soundcard noise floor with Arta software they look almost exactly the same.

The soundcard has on-board dc/dc converters like in the case of the Exasound I guess.

I am hearing in my low rez system, based on headphones, almost an identical sound.

The fact that a brand like Exasound provide a smps for their dacs has made me think.

I looked all around to find the opinion of the Exasound designer. When I see an exceptional product for me its designer becomes immediately a prophet whose words I trust completely, 120%.

Just look at this graph ... It must be a record .. never seen something this low. Amazing !

 

So I would be extremely interest to know:

1) has this graph been obtained with the stock smps ?

2) a better (i.e. lower ripple) psu could really be beneficial ? (by the way ... I cannot imagine how it could. This noise floor looks like the noise floor of the spectrum analyzer itself... again amazing achievement indeed).

 

If a linear power supply could give a real benefit I think the designer of the dac would be the 1st to recommend a specific model.

As I said I get almost exactly the same noise floor even with 10USD smps.

However I do not know anything about the distortion. Maybe that is the problem ?

maybe a much better linear psu will give less distortion ?

Am I looking at just one side of the story ?

Thanks a lot again, gino

[johndoe21ro]

I am talking about obvious differences in sound... I judge with my ears and I'm sure you can find a lot of forum members with similar experiences as well. Not all DAC designers recommend power supplies and some of them don't do it because they develop their own PS at a certain moment.

[ginetto61]

I am talking about obvious differences in sound... I judge with my ears and I'm sure you can find a lot of forum members with similar experiences as well. Not all DAC designers recommend power supplies and some of them don't do it because they develop their own PS at a certain moment.

 

Hi and thanks a lot again for the helpful advice.

I think I am little biased against listening tests because I had my earing system checked and I was not able to listen above 14kHz.

An instrument can listen way above that limit.

Honestly I like when listening tests are backed with subjective measurements. And this is indeed what I am looking for.

I am 120% confident that in Exasound they have tested many and many different psu with their dacs.

If I were a Exasound dac owner I would be extremely interested to know their position on the issue.

Nevertheless before asking in this thread I had already placed an order for what I think is a decent linear psu and it is arrived yesterday.

This one here ...

 

2016 Super PSU 30VA DC12V 2A Linear Power Supply LPS for Audio Sources L1511 25 | eBay

 

it should be a step up from the stock and cheap smps. And I like the sound for now.

I will be doing some THD+Noise spectra as soon as I will receive the needed cables.

As I said subjective evidences are for me extremely important.

To explain I am looking for something like this article here ...

 

http://www.cliftonlaboratories.com/power_supply_noise.htm

 

and graphs like this one here

 

http://www.cliftonlaboratories.com/userimages/Wall%20wart%20overlay%20ver%202.gif

 

I searched for noise spectra of the unit you mention but I did not find anything.

Thanks a lot again, gino