Group Buy for full ATX Linear PSU from Teradak

[Marcell]

Hi,

 

Can someone post robust SQ review of Teradak ? Now it looks like everyone concerned only about build quality, but not the sound.

 

Thanks

Kuni

 

 

If you can't wait for others to review, here is what i got currently. Initially out of the box, it sounded rather harsh, muddy etc. What i was using previously was Corsair AX860. I've been burn-in this Teradak for 130+ hours and still sounds a bit harsh and fatigue on my ears, i think this is why others has not give any proper reviews yet until they fully cook up their Teradak.

 

To sum up after 130+ hours burn-in, first impression was it really has a dynamic sound. Overall it does improves in everything, dynamic, sound stage, details, resolution/focus, better bass/treble/vocal. I can say this PSU has brought me to another level than using Corsair AX860.

 

My review may not be that interesting, of course linear PSU will win over SMPS PSU. It is almost an unfair comparison. This may also be the reason why nobody give review. Perhaps some other people will give more interesting review such as they previously using a linear PSU and how they compare to this Teradak.

[Kuni]

Thanks Marcel. Very honest review!

I am about to complete my PSU and it is similar schematics like Teradak. I am really keen to hear feedbacks. In first 2 demos I felt like treble were a little bit stripped, but as you say improvement everywhere else. I did not do though burn it and questions is how much it will change sound ?

[Ben-M]

Don't forget that tracking numbers don't necessarily go live at the same time as actual shipment. So if shit just shows up, don't be surprised. And don't count on the tracking too much. Sounds terrible, but it's the deal :-P

[Ben-M]

If you can't wait for others to review, here is what i got currently. Initially out of the box, it sounded rather harsh, muddy etc. What i was using previously was Corsair AX860. I've been burn-in this Teradak for 130+ hours and still sounds a bit harsh and fatigue on my ears, i think this is why others has not give any proper reviews yet until they fully cook up their Teradak.

 

To sum up after 130+ hours burn-in, first impression was it really has a dynamic sound. Overall it does improves in everything, dynamic, sound stage, details, resolution/focus, better bass/treble/vocal. I can say this PSU has brought me to another level than using Corsair AX860.

 

My review may not be that interesting, of course linear PSU will win over SMPS PSU. It is almost an unfair comparison. This may also be the reason why nobody give review. Perhaps some other people will give more interesting review such as they previously using a linear PSU and how they compare to this Teradak.

 

Thanks for the mini-review, Marcell. So far it sounds like better imaging, soundstage, and frequency extension come with the Teradak ATX Linear Supplies. Great news for me, PRaT is my thing :-)

 

When I get my PSUs back towards the end of March, my guess, I'm gonna run them in for my long ago decided upon 300 hours for any new component. I'm not sure about burn-in, but I don't mind settling in any new electronics right away in case it does exist, and also to settle in the electronics in case there's a fault and to catch it early. So I'll be doing that before I listen to them.

[Marcell]

Thanks Marcel. Very honest review!

I am about to complete my PSU and it is similar schematics like Teradak. I am really keen to hear feedbacks. In first 2 demos I felt like treble were a little bit stripped, but as you say improvement everywhere else. I did not do though burn it and questions is how much it will change sound ?

 

 

You mean you are building your own PSU like Teradak??? Woww.... That's very cool..... I am impressed for your effort!

 

Well as a matter of burn-in, I was once a non-believers to burn-in process, then i tried to hear/analyse to burn-in process each time i purchase audio parts. To analyse i hear at certain interval of time, first time, then 25 hours of burn-in, 50 hours, 75 hours, 100, 125, 150 till 250 hours. It does sounds very different, mostly the sound stabilize, won't change much after 200 hours. i have done these analyses with my speaker, headphone, DAC, amplifier, XLR cable, USB cable, speaker/headphone cable, power cable..... even my Corsair AX860 could not escape the necessity to burn-in process.

 

My advise is to complete 200 hours of burn-in before giving any final judgement. Don't try to keep on modifying your PSU before that, you are probably wasting your effort. From 0 hour to 200 hours of burn-in, i'd say it change a lot!

 

anyway, by dynamic sound i firstly notice, i mean it is really fluid. If you ever heard a tube amplifier, it sounded towards that in terms of fluid/easy hearing.

 

The lost in treble or high frequency may come as the sound get darker and lower white noise. That is because you now have a cleaner power supply. If you are using all copper cable, not a single silver cable in your system, you may experience this. It also depends on the nature of your DAC and amplifiers.... finding a balance equation is hard, that's why we sometimes end up in an endless tuning in audio... but that's also the fun part

[Ben-M]

Thanks Ben, I've added a note to my diary. Can you please PM me the best email address to use as I've seen several floating around.

 

After I resolve the last 2 units shipping I'll relinquish my strangle hold on communication for the Group Buy :-P But trust me, I do that with great sadness as I have loved hording questions and concerns for the past 6 months and emailing Michael at all hours of the night and day. I am sure he has come to fear my email address and is just waiting to block it. In fact, I wonder if they're really on holiday at all... It seems to have come just when more or less all the units have shipped... hahaha.

 

The 2 addresses you guys can use from now on for all warranty, trouble shooting, and whatever you need to contact teradak for are:

[email protected]

[email protected]

 

I generally use the hotmail one. Teradak and their engineering department have been great and have taken great care with all the issues I've brought to them. I've got confidence if any problems do arise.

 

I would say though, this group is damn good at helping and trouble shooting anyway, so if I were a concerned buyer I'd be firing my questions in here and working with people here first. ~50 people's thinking ability, experiences, and response time vs. 1.

[Kuni]

Marcell, I am only doing 12v,3.3V,5V which makes it easier. The only reason for this I want it to be in one enclosure with PC and specific components. Will post some pics when it is completed.

 

I am sure Teradak gives pleasure. Congratulations!

[MrSprout]

Many thanks for putting all of this together Ben, I'm really glad I participated in the group buy. It took a while to come through but my 210 is solid, silent and working like a charm.

[Elberoth]

I think the comparo everyone is waiting for is a single rail, linear PSU + pico vs Teradak linear ATX.

 

I cannot contribute with any feedback here, as I went from a generic, $20 ATX switcher to Teradak linear ATX. So that is quite a bigger step.

 

In my case, the improvement I got was quite obvious - the sound is smoother, more dimensional, with blacker background. 'Less noise' is the most obvious conclusion.

 

However, the interesting observation I have made is that adding a battery PSU to the SSD (and keeping the no-name ATX switcher) makes actually bigger difference than going with Teradak linear PSU. So if my budget was limited, I would rather go with battery SSD power first than Teradak linear ATX.

 

It may also be somehow system dependent though - in my case, the ATX switcher is powered from the separate, house utility powerline and does not pollute my dedicated audio lines (which are on a different electrical phase). If someone has the computer and the rest of the audio system on the same AC line, then using the switcher may give more negative effect, so introducing linear ATX PSU will bring bigger change.

 

In any case, if money is not an object, then of course, Teradak ATX + battery SSD power is the ultimate solution IMO. This combination gives the best sound I have ever had in my system.

[MrSprout]

Elberoth, are you running the SSD from the main loom or the separate 5v output on the Teradak?

[Elberoth]

Main loom for now. I have yet to try the separate 5v output from the Teradak PSU.

[Lowlands]

I unpacked mine. All seems ok. Will not be able to fire it up until I have built the CAS for it...

One minor glitch: one of the black cables has come off one of the plugs of the loom. Should be an easy fix once I know where to put it back. Has anyone studied the colour coding of the wires of the loom yet?

[Elberoth]

I believe all black cables are GND.

[Jiffi32]

Hi Ben,

My ATX275 has arrived at last!

Unfortunately it doesn't work,

red LED is lit up on switch, relays click when pc turned on and all 3 green led's light up. then one goes out straight away and other 2 just fade out. pc works with standard smps ATX.

Anybody have any ideas?

[Ben-M]

Hi Ben,

My ATX275 has arrived at last!

Unfortunately it doesn't work,

red LED is lit up on switch, relays click when pc turned on and all 3 green led's light up. then one goes out straight away and other 2 just fade out. pc works with standard smps ATX.

Anybody have any ideas?

 

Well, I'm happy yours showed up :-)

 

That's shitty it's not working right, though. Have you given it a shot on another motherboard? I also think it won't work, but it's not a bad idea to rule out incompatibility(though no one has yet to say they're having this problem).

[shahed99]

Try to connect the pin 16 and 17 of the 24 pin ATX socket. That should force Teradak PSU to power up. If the all the LEDs are not flushing, follow up with Michael from Teradak.

[Marcell]

Well, this is a disturbing news regarding quality control and reliability issue for all of us I hope everyone else PSU are working fine.

 

Anyways, i am updating info regarding fuse. Mine is Teradak 350, running 220V and i am now using 3A SLOW BLOW Fuse. It has been working fine for few days and i've been trying to turn on/off many times. Including Stressing out CPU/RAM/GPU to the max by running benchmark, various applications. No issue so far, it does work fine with 3A SLOW BLOW fuse.

 

I almost certain that Teradak gave us a 8A FAST BLOW fuse. I am not sure that is the correct fuse, usually all linear PSU use SLOW BLOW fuse due to the nature they consume high current at start up. That is why most or all of DAC and amplifiers use a SLOW BLOW fuse because they have Linear PSU built in.

 

Other who wants to change, i would suggest you need not more than 6A (110V) and 3A (220V) SLOW BLOW fuse. You might want to use even lower rating fuse for Teradak 210.

 

Well, this might not be such an important issue, but i am just sharing my experience and knowledge. it is not likely you would ever have a blown fuse playing audio in your lifetime! You'll be lucky (unlucky) to ever experience once. But i am following old people saying, "Safety first!!!" before i play

 

To other people, please share info as much as you can to this forum of whatever you find out regarding your Teradak. We are on the same boat after all. Your review regarding SQ is also much anticipated.

[Jiffi32]

Try to connect the pin 16 and 17 of the 24 pin ATX socket. That should force Teradak PSU to power up. If the all the LEDs are not flushing, follow up with Michael from Teradak.

 

Finally had chance to power up unit with, as you suggested, with pin 16-17 connected. 3.3v dims and goes off after 5-10 secs. 5v dims and goes off 10-20secs, 12v on other side stays on. soon as unit connected to motherboard (tried 2 pc's) 3.3v goes straight off when powered up and 5v and 12v dim down and go off. seems I will have to email Teradak when they re-open :-(

Thankyou shahed99 for the advice.

[shahed99]

Jiffi32, No problem. I had similar issue with Teradak PSU LED keep blinking and not powering my mobo. I later bought a regular ATX PSU from amazon to test. Still, my mobo was not powering on. Later I found out the issue was with my mobo. Not with Teradak PSU. So, I'm waiting for a replacement for my mobo.

 

I emailed Michael at Teradak with my issue. He suggested me to connect the the pin 16 n 17 to force ON the PSU; which worked for me. I'm sorry to hear you are having issues with your Teradak PSU. But, I suggest you to email Michael anyway. Because he was answering my emails when I last emailed him about a week ago.

[mitkey]

1. for best CAS listening, I wonder if dedicated linear Power supply such as by Teradak is the way to go and stay away from the LPS+DC rail ?

 

2. I believe Michael should come out a lower power LPS to make him marketable and reach a mass market for sustainable business model. why do we even need 210W when we can consider a 2 PC system.

[Marcell]

I believe in the beginning of this group project we... or some people requested 5VSB on a separate line so that enables us to build battery system to feed USB card (or other things else)

 

Can anyone share who have done this? I think some (or many) of us did not plan to build this battery system when we first ordered Teradak PSU nor we have knowledge / experience on how to do this.

 

I myself just simply plug it in on my PPA usb card.... How much the sound would be different when using battery system and how to do it?

[rurika]

Just got a tracking number from Teradak today but it can't be track yet. So, that's mean they just ship my unit.

Don't know why it takes so long than they promise.

 

It should arrives on next Monday if it shipped today.

[fmak]

Hi All,

 

Let me try to provide some information on the 'problem' and the 'fix'. In case you wonder I'm the guy raising the issue with Teradak after I received my unit.

 

First of all, the original unit works. After receiving it I setup it up and my PC boot without any issue. I ran it for a while and then I noticed that the 5V and 3.3V fluctuates a bit using the h/w monitor provided by my ASRock motherboard. I then proceeded to measure the ripple using my DMM and found that the 12V rail is fine but the 5V rail has ripple at ~100mV which IMO is higher than desirable. I didn't measure the 3.3V rail as I cannot find an easy measuring point with the PC running.

 

Teradak's engineer could not reproduce my observation but nonetheless they investigated further and did confirm that the 5V/3.3V ripples are higher than expected. After some more investigation Teradak developed a modification aimed to improve voltage stability and reduce ripple.

 

The modification involves replacing the voltage reference semiconductor (for each voltage rail) with a green LED (which has constant voltage drop so can serve as voltage reference). Teradak sent me the parts and I did the modification to my PSU. I measured the PSU's performance before and after the modification using a scope with the following results:

 

[12V Rail]

- Original ripple RMS: ~40mV

- LED-mod ripple RMS: ~40mV

 

 

[5V Rail]

- Original ripple RMS: ~110mV

- LED-mod ripple RMS: ~25mV

 

 

So it is clear that the 5V ripple performance improved significantly. Again I didn't measure the 3.3V rail but I believe it will have similar improvements. The voltage stability of all three rails are now very stable as well. I believe Teradak applied the mod to all unshipped units. If your unit has green glow inside the chassis then it has the LED mod.

 

Have fun with your new ATX-PSU.

 

Please read and see if you can help

[rurika]

Still no update from UPS. UPS still doesn't get the package after 2 days since Teradak create the shipping label.

Yep ... its already over a month since I got the 1st unit.

 

I got nervous from the tracking information. The weight for my 2nd unit(package) is 9kg but my 1st unit is 12kg. It shouldn't be different that much if all material is the same. (Hope it will update when the package come to UPS)

 

I just got an email back from Michael and he explain everything nice and clear. So, it look like their local shipping agent might do something wrong because Teradak actually pay for 13kg package.

[rurika]

Finally !!!! My 2nd unit arrive !!!

The package is about 13kg and no problem so far.

Oh, I almost forgot. My 2unit doesn't come with warranty seal so do I have to contact Teradak about this?

 

After a quick listen in my headphone system. Its not a big huge step between Teradak LPSU and 1 single rail LPSU 12v + pico but still I'm glad that I participant in this GB. (It's still better than 12v LPSU+pico but not night & day when compare to SMPS -> 12v LPSU + pico).

 

Time to rip my CD and burn in the LPSU !!