HDPLEX Linear Power Supply

[Nikhil]

Larry recently told me that his next batch of 100W linear PSU's will have 9V adjustable to 5V to cover the 7.5V requirement for the REGEN.

 

Just purchased a HDPlex LPS on Friday. Must check if my unit has this feature (unlikely though).

I was going to use the 9V to power the Regen.

[pl_svn]

In terms of the hum, Larry did send out another PSU, and the hum was exactly the same. So I am surmising that this is perhaps "normal" for the unit - though interesting to hear that others have not noticed a hum.

 

got an HD-Plex last thursday and can't hear any hum

though mine is customized to 12v/12v so... might this make the difference?

 

Great piece of gear, excellent performance and unbelievable customer care (must confess I nagged Larry "quite a bit" but nonetheless... )

 

I'm using it to power a NAS and ethernet switch (Mac mini and Regen already were powered by a JS-2) and the difference this makes is amazing indeed.

 

thank you so much Larry

[John769]

Here in the UK mains voltage can reach over 250 volts (at least it was when I last measured it a few years ago at a previous abode). In mainland EU, it should be around 230V and I noticed that the guy complaining about hum was located in Scotland.

[Norton]

I'm in England and got my HDPlex about a month ago. Seems absolutely silent to me.

[devs]

Absolutely no noise issues with mine as well. Only with my ears literally -on- the device I can hear the faintest hum. Something I consider normal for transformer based devices.

[Miracle1980]

I have purchased one as well 2 weeks ago. I can hear the ''gentle hum'' only if i place my ears very close to it and there is silence in the room. I also think that it's normal. And Larry confirmed that the small hum is due to the high power 160VA R-Core.

So there should be nothing to worry about.

 

Anyway i'm very very happy with the sonic results of this unit. I'm powering the mini-pc, the internal ssd with OS and the external HD box with music library at the same time.

The music is presented in a much more organic and analogic way and i'm able to catch details and micro-details that were not there before!

[extracampine]

Perhaps I am being particularly picky with the hum. Still waiting for longer cables so I can place it in a unit next to the equipment. I read somewhere that it's a good idea not to have it near the other equipment anyway.

 

On another note - is there any "warm up time" (I don't know what the proper term is) for the LPSU? I mean, can I turn it on and then immediately turn on a PC connected to it, or does it take some seconds to generate the power? The reason I ask is because I'm still having intittent SSD boot failure.

[sedest]

AVA HumDinger solved my issues with DC component present on AC power line and transformer mechanical noise. Not sure if it is your case, but...

 

http://sound.westhost.com/articles/xfmr-dc.htm

 

http://avahifi.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=270&Itemid=239

[YashN]

Mains DC and Transformers

 

Very cool article and design by Rod Elliott!

[JakovH]

On another note - is there any "warm up time" (I don't know what the proper term is) for the LPSU? I mean, can I turn it on and then immediately turn on a PC connected to it, or does it take some seconds to generate the power? The reason I ask is because I'm still having intittent SSD boot failure.

 

Once switched on, power is available to anything connected. It will go into standby when there is no draw.

Have you tried a std smps also in regards to the ssd issue? Unfortunately with all computers, sometimes it can take a bit of time/trial and error to find which component is at fault. It helps to have spare parts around.

[davide256]

Sold; 1 LPS to run my 12v NAS, 7.5v REGEN, and 5v Beaglebone streamer gets everything further away from traditional power supply grunge and fights wall wart "tribbles".

[rocl444]

Sold; 1 LPS to run my 12v NAS, 7.5v REGEN, and 5v Beaglebone streamer gets everything further away from traditional power supply grunge and fights wall wart "tribbles".

Can you run 3 things from this? I thought I read somewhere you could only run 2 at the same time.

[elcorso]

Can you run 3 things from this? I thought I read somewhere you could only run 2 at the same time.

 

It depends on the total amperage you are demanding. It could be 1 thing only if this one is demanding the total amperage capacity of the HDPLEX.

 

Roch

[Nikhil]

I have the HDPlex Linear PS ordered and it has been in transit for a little over 2 weeks now.

Hoping to get to hear some news of it someday.

 

Mean while I have also got a test machine built which I am using with stock SMPS right now. I have a question on the power configuration of the 250W DC-ATX.PSU which I plan to use to power the motherboard, chip and SSD. If the wattage of the Linear PSU is 100W (max 160W) how does it provide power to the 250W DC-ATX.PSU which has a wattage of 250 W (440W peak)? Does the capacitor bank on the 250W DC-TX.PSU take the 19V supply and bump it up to 250W?

 

Very basic question to those more experienced but I just need to check if I have all areas covered. The 19V rail of the LPSU will provide power for the PC and the 9V rail will power my Regen.

[completeluxury]

nikhil the 250 watt dc-atx is 250 watts max. you will still only have 160 watts max through your system.

[BobL]

It depends on the total amperage you are demanding. It could be 1 thing only if this one is demanding the total amperage capacity of the HDPLEX.

 

Roch

 

 

To be pedantic, it's the total wattage which limits you; in practise all three units together are very unlikely to be taking a total which comes anywhere near the 100w- see also the response to Nikhil. Nevertheless, for best audio results, it is as well to run any LPS at a small fraction of the rated output.

[Nikhil]

Thanks for the info completeluxury.

 

What is average power consumption on these computers?

I have been trying to find some software tools but can't find any.

[completeluxury]

could you give me a breakdown of whats in your computer? and what cpu do you run?

[Nikhil]

Found a freeware solution: HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

Gives real time numbers for your computer incl temperature and lot more.

 

 

Thanks completeluxury. My machine has a Gigabit motherboard (B85M-G), Intel Core i5 4440 CPU @ 3.10GHz, 128 GB SSD and 8 GB RAM. Using HWMONIOR it looks like I am using about 30W max at the moment. Will start monitoring to see how much power is used while using it for some heavy lifting like DSD conversions etc.

[completeluxury]

even if it never uses 100% power, your cpu is 84 watts tdp. on top of that you have 1 hard drive and not a full board of ram.

 

you wont come close to the 160 watt limit. i reckon at ful ball you will still hit around the 110 watt mark maximum!

[mourip]

The 19V rail of the LPSU will provide power for the PC and the 9V rail will power my Regen.

 

FYI. Units shipping now have the 9 volts outlet as variable from 5v to 9v.

 

Lots of flexibility there.

[fmak]

Here in the UK mains voltage can reach over 250 volts (at least it was when I last measured it a few years ago at a previous abode). In mainland EU, it should be around 230V and I noticed that the guy complaining about hum was located in Scotland.

 

that we cannot keep to the 230 +-6V standrad and made it +-10%

 

In Brighton the voltage is 257V and the distortion in North London is >6%.

[Nikhil]

even if it never uses 100% power, your cpu is 84 watts tdp. on top of that you have 1 hard drive and not a full board of ram.

 

you wont come close to the 160 watt limit. i reckon at ful ball you will still hit around the 110 watt mark maximum!

 

Thanks for the info again. Good to know what the power draw will be.

I might add another 8GB of RAM later.

 

 

FYI. Units shipping now have the 9 volts outlet as variable from 5v to 9v.

 

Lots of flexibility there.

 

I don't think my unit will have the variable 5v to 9v.

I think all units shipping this month on will have that feature.

[extracampine]

Completeluxury - aren't you forgetting the mobo draw?

 

Does it matter what kind of power is fed to the HPLEX? I.e. whether the power is straight from the wall, through some sort of filter, upgraded power cable, etc etc?

[completeluxury]

i think allowing about 30 - 40 watts is plenty for the motherboard. lets put it this way - even if he goes to 80 watts on the motherboard its not a problem. if he adds another SSD then you add more power, more ram - more power however it seems like a pretty minimal computer at this stage. doesnt sound like theres a ppa/jcat usb card in it either nor any other addons that add power to the system.

 

your second question im unsure how to answer because i dont know in what context you are asking.

 

do you mean will it affect the power draw? or the sound produced because of it, or will there be an opportunity for it to add emi to the computer?