Uptone Audio JS-2 Power Supply and Linear Fan Controller Installation (Experience, Pictures, Results)

[Superdad]

I had an Apple dealer install the kit yesterday and supplied him also with a 15V power supply. Today he called me and said that he didn`t dare to try the mac mini with this power supply since it is not a 12V ps.

 

Question: Can I use a 15V power supply or do I need a 12V?

 

Hi Chris:

 

Your dealer is correct, you most definitely can NOT use a 15V supply into a Mac mini. Please find a quality 12V supply capable of at least 4.5 amps (continuous rating).

 

Regards,

 

Alex C.

[3daudio]

Thanks for your reply, Alex.

 

I ordered a 12V, 7,5A ps. The apple ps reads 12V, 7,1A. So that should be okay, then.

 

Cheers

Chris

[alsterfan]

I've now been using the JS-2 all day, and the sound does seem better than before

October, 28th was the date of delivery of my JS-2. It had to replace the cheap but pleasing MeanWell power supply, that was in use for a few weeks after the MMK Kit was implemented in my Mac mini.

Alex Crespi told me in an email:

"For "burn-in" time I would say 12 hours will be enough before you can compare." (i.e. different power supplies).

From the very first moment I could hear an improvement in SQ. But the step forward was by no means that big that it was with the MMK Kit. After 12 hours of use things improved even more but still the sound was sort of inhomogenious with the bass sometimes too strong and certain tones (frequencies) from a piano kind of irritated my ears.

However having reached 50 hours of using JS-2, things began to turn for the better to such an extent that a grinning came back to my face. From now on it was clear that the JS-2 was the right way to go (for me).

- The background is even more silent now.

- The stage is deeper.

- The instruments are more fixed.

- A lot more details can be heard.

- The bass reaches deeper, sometimes revealing a bass drum that could not be heard when using the MeanWell power supply.

And I can say (with 110 hours of JS-2 use now) after having listened to music which is well implanted in my brain, that this process is still going on.

As I know from the burn-in time of my MFA Baby Reference Pre-Amp a long time ago and the MeanWell power supply it is good to be patient until one´s ears can no longer discern any differences pre and after, before final judgement can be made.

Nevertheless, while right after unpacking the JS-2 the question remained unanswered if it is a "bargain" just as the MMK Kit is, I can now say I want to recommend it to everybody with the reservation that it should match the rest of the gear in one´s chain.

 

Thanks a lot Alex and John Swenson.

 

Best wishes,

Uwe

[poseidonsvoice]

Hi fellas,

 

Just received the JS-2 power supply with custom umbilicals for my Regen "Amber" and Auralic Aries (upgraded one with Femto Clocks, etc...).

 

I'm not an amateur when it comes to power supply design, having designed quite a decent supply for my previous 2009 Mac Mini, as seen here. It used a Paul Hynes regulator, along with a Bybee MR. Served me very well, until I moved on...to the Aries.

 

I was quite ready to design a dual power supply unit for both the Aries and Regen, however, the diy'er in me gave me pause. I have a multitude of projects pending including reappropriating room treatments in my room, etc...so I looked at the cost break down of having to design, once again, a nice enclosure, choke based supply, shunt regulator, etc...It adds up as you might imagine.

 

I'll tell you this.

 

Uptown Audio isn't getting rich off of the JS-2 design knowing what goes into it. Soon enough, I will be purchasing the Auralic Aries Mini. I figured I could recycle the standard linear power supply that comes with my big Aries and use that with the Aries Mini, if I purchase the JS-2. Much of what Swenson has done is exactly what I would do if I were building my own anyway. At the end of the day, I probably spent about $200 more, but now I have a product that has a NAME and RESALE value!!! With DIY, you are lucky to have recouped what you put into the project even if it looks as good as my power supply build I linked above. And forget about labor costs!

 

Uptone Audio has been a class act. The shipping carton was well insulated against damage, essentially double boxed. The power supply chassis itself is gorgeous. I would love to know if this is their own design or if it is available elsewhere on the internet as the small form factor could work great for gain clones, etc...The silk screening is a wonderful touch. The damn thing is dense and just screams value. Essentially we are getting a small power amplifier at a bargain price folks!

 

Great work Alex and John! I'll report back on the sonics once I have my system all fired up!

 

Best,

Anand.

[t_ram]

Hi fellas,

 

Just received the JS-2 power supply with custom umbilicals for my Regen "Amber" and Auralic Aries (upgraded one with Femto Clocks, etc...).

 

I'm not an amateur when it comes to power supply design, having designed quite a decent supply for my previous 2009 Mac Mini, as seen here. It used a Paul Hynes regulator, along with a Bybee MR. Served me very well, until I moved on...to the Aries.

 

I was quite ready to design a dual power supply unit for both the Aries and Regen, however, the diy'er in me gave me pause. I have a multitude of projects pending including reappropriating room treatments in my room, etc...so I looked at the cost break down of having to design, once again, a nice enclosure, choke based supply, shunt regulator, etc...It adds up as you might imagine.

 

I'll tell you this.

 

Uptown Audio isn't getting rich off of the JS-2 design knowing what goes into it. Soon enough, I will be purchasing the Auralic Aries Mini. I figured I could recycle the standard linear power supply that comes with my big Aries and use that with the Aries Mini, if I purchase the JS-2. Much of what Swenson has done is exactly what I would do if I were building my own anyway. At the end of the day, I probably spent about $200 more, but now I have a product that has a NAME and RESALE value!!! With DIY, you are lucky to have recouped what you put into the project even if it looks as good as my power supply build I linked above. And forget about labor costs!

 

Uptone Audio has been a class act. The shipping carton was well insulated against damage, essentially double boxed. The power supply chassis itself is gorgeous. I would love to know if this is their own design or if it is available elsewhere on the internet as the small form factor could work great for gain clones, etc...The silk screening is a wonderful touch. The damn thing is dense and just screams value. Essentially we are getting a small power amplifier at a bargain price folks!

 

Great work Alex and John! I'll report back on the sonics once I have my system all fired up!

 

Best,

Anand.

 

Any update on how the JS-2 is performing with the Aries/Regen?

 

I have an Aries and have wondered if it would benefit from another PS.

[poseidonsvoice]

Any update on how the JS-2 is performing with the Aries/Regen?

 

I have an Aries and have wondered if it would benefit from another PS.

 

Hi!

 

Unfortunately, I recently had a room makeover so my system is not up and ready yet. The best person to ask to be honest would be jtwrace who also frequents this board.

 

Best,

Anand.

[jtwrace]

Hi!

 

Unfortunately, I recently had a room makeover so my system is not up and ready yet. The best person to ask to be honest would be jtwrace who also frequents this board.

 

Best,

Anand.

http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f27-uptone-audio-sponsored/javascript-2-power-supply-installed-21122/index3.html#post416602

[drsw]

Hello everybody,

 

I recently ordered a Mac mini DC-Conversion / Linear Fan Controller Kit (MMK) to eliminate the control pulses of the fan affecting sound quality. (I already use an USB Regen and I am very satisfied with it.) I hope I will receive it in Germany in the next few weeks. I am very curious what the sound differences will be compared to the currently installed power filter in my Mac mini containing 16 capacitors fed by an external higy quality power supply. In the description of the MMK is stated that "The MMK also provides a carefully chosen amount of filtering (a pile of filter caps after a regulated external supply is not good for performance)." I would very much like to understand why more than a few well selected and matched caps are counterproducitve. For any hints thank you in advance.

 

Best regards,

Stefan

[JohnSwenson]

Hello everybody,

 

I recently ordered a Mac mini DC-Conversion / Linear Fan Controller Kit (MMK) to eliminate the control pulses of the fan affecting sound quality. (I already use an USB Regen and I am very satisfied with it.) I hope I will receive it in Germany in the next few weeks. I am very curious what the sound differences will be compared to the currently installed power filter in my Mac mini containing 16 capacitors fed by an external higy quality power supply. In the description of the MMK is stated that "The MMK also provides a carefully chosen amount of filtering (a pile of filter caps after a regulated external supply is not good for performance)." I would very much like to understand why more than a few well selected and matched caps are counterproducitve. For any hints thank you in advance.

 

Best regards,

Stefan

 

Hi Stephan,

 

first off, why even use capacitors close to the load at all? The wiring between the PS and the load adds resistance and inductance which cause a voltage drop across the cable. For a simple load like a resistor this is not that big a deal. But a computer does not just draw a continuous current, it is fluctuating all over the place. This fluctuating current load produces voltage fluctuations (frequently referred to as noise) across the power supply and cable.

 

If you look at these current fluctuations in the frequency domain you see a very broad range of frequencies, from very low, to very high. The voltage noise developed across the cable due to the current noise varies with the impedance of the connection, the lower the impedance of the whole system the lower the voltage noise. This is our ultimate goal here, to lower the voltage noise at the computer.

 

The capacitor at the load (the ones actually in the Mac Mini) provide a local reservoir of charge, so when the computer increases its demand, it can come from the cap, rather than having to come from the cable, thus decreasing the noise. The higher the value of the cap the lower the frequency of noise it can affect. This sounds like a good thing, but there are problems.

 

Real world capacitors are not perfect, they contain their own inductance and resistance. The physically larger the cap the higher its inductance. Thus a large cap will have a large inductance which means it has no affect on high frequencies. So it winds up decreasing low frequency noise, but not high frequency noise.

 

Putting more than one cap in parallel can have an unintended bad consequence: the inductance and capacitance of the multiple devices interact with each other causing resonances at specific frequencies. These cause the impedance to rise dramatically at certain frequencies which actually makes the noise worse than without any capacitors at all.

 

Choosing the right load capacitance is a careful balancing act. The way to do this is to take everything into account. Start with the load and find out the characteristics of its current demand. A typical computer is about as bad as it gets, with high value components all over the frequency range. This needs a low impedance out of the power system over the whole frequency range in order to keep the noise low. Of course this is the hardest to achieve.

 

My take goes thusly:

 

most voltage regulators have very low impedance at low frequencies, but the impedance rises dramatically as the frequency increases. This tends to argue that you don't need large load capacitance because the power supply itself will take care of the low frequencies. This means focus on the high frequencies with the load capacitors, which means small caps.

 

But there is a fly in the ointment: the cable between the power supply and the computer. This can have enough inductance and resistance to raise the impedance at lower frequencies thus canceling out to some degree the low frequency impedance of its voltage regulator.

 

This is why I put the "Kelvin sense" circuit in the JS-2 and MMK. This essentially cancels out the impedance of the cable at lower frequencies. This is why I can get way with a very small capacitance at the load end that is optimized for very good high frequency performance, it doesn't have to deal with low frequency components, they are handled by the power supply.

 

Now if you are using an MMK without the JS-2 you don't get the advantage of the Kelvin sense circuit so you need to use a power supply with low impedance at low frequencies (which almost all decent linear supplies do) and pay careful attention to the cable between the PS and the MMK. This cable needs to be short and low impedance, that usually means thick wires. The closer the conductors are to each other the better. This is low voltage so thick insulation between wires is not necessary. You don't need exotic insulators like Teflon because the high frequency components are taken care of by the small load capacitors. The best is probably a star quad of heavy conductors with thin insulation, (VH Audio actually sells such a thing), but it will be impossible to get into any barrel connectors. The next best is a heavy gauge coax. The next is a twisted pair of heavy gauge magnet wire. After that comes heavy gauge zip cord.

 

I hope that answers the question without being TOO complex.

 

John S.

[Superdad]

Awesome post John. Another candidate for the "Swenson Explains" section of our web site.

 

Can't add a thing, except to point out that the Oyaide/Belden DC cables that I make (one comes "free" with the JS-2 and extras are $60; will soon put up a page for easy ordering) exactly fit the desired parameters you mention--not by accident of course.

 

The Belden 9418 we use is a shielded, star-quad. Four 18awg, tin-plated, stranded copper conductors. When the diagonally-opposed 18awg conductors are paired, they make two hefty 15awg wires. Then we tie the drain wire of the 100% foil shield (at just the PS end). And the only DC barrel plugs in the world that can be made to take that wire are the lovely Oyaide DC-2.5G and DC-2.1G from Japan (I think UpTone is their largest OEM customer for that model).

 

Here is how they turn out:

 

They are a bit of a bear to make. I made a couple hundred myself over the course of year, but was relieved to get back 20+ hours/month of my life when I found an aerospace cable assembly firm to do the labor for me. Same firm that custom produces the short, black, 4-wire, PicoEZ-mate connector cable for our Mac mini DC-conversion/Linear Fan Controller Kit (MMK).

[drsw]

Dear John,

 

Thank you very much for the extensive explanation, I understand the described interdependencies now better.

 

Best regards,

Stefan

[Tand]

Since the Sonore Signature Series power supply can be delivered with 2 x Synergistic Research Black fuses I was wondering, has anyone tried the Black fuse in JS-2?

 

Tommy

 

 

[pompon]

Hello Superdad,

 

How long to have a js-2 build actually ? I would like to order one for my Exasound E28.

[AlainGr]

...

The Belden 9418 we use is a shielded, star-quad. Four 18awg, tin-plated, stranded copper conductors. When the diagonally-opposed 18awg conductors are paired, they make two hefty 15awg wires. Then we tie the drain wire of the 100% foil shield (at just the PS end). And the only DC barrel plugs in the world that can be made to take that wire are the lovely Oyaide DC-2.5G and DC-2.1G from Japan (I think UpTone is their largest OEM customer for that model).

Hi Alex,

 

I am not sure I understand this part of your description ? Does this mean that the DC cable need to be connected to the PSU with a specific side ? And if it has to, how do we know ? I looked at the cables I have from you and I don't see a difference...

 

Thanks.

[Superdad]

Hello Superdad,

 

How long to have a js-2 build actually ? I would like to order one for my Exasound E28.

 

After shipping 13 units this week (that's 25 since the beginning of May, a record for us ), we have two left on the shelf. If you have not already done so, please send a private message via our web site. We can ship to you this coming Monday.

 

Thanks,

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

I am not sure I understand this part of your description ? Does this mean that the DC cable need to be connected to the PSU with a specific side ? And if it has to, how do we know ? I looked at the cables I have from you and I don't see a difference...

 

Hi Alain: Nice to hear from you after so long!

 

The grey/silver jacket of the heavy gauge, shielded Belden cable we use has printing along its length. If you hold the cable in your hands such that the printing reads left-to-right, then your left hand is holding the plug for the PS end (shield tied) and your right hand is holding the plug intended for the device end (shield floating).

 

Hope that helps.

[AlainGr]

Hi Alex,

 

It sure helps, I probably forgot that you told me...

 

I do not write often, I know you are very busy (and I respect that) But be assured that I follow you and John I am even trying to find a "niche" for your latest creation

 

Kind regards,

 

Alain

[pompon]

Done. Order JS-2 + Regen

 

After shipping 13 units this week (that's 25 since the beginning of May, a record for us ), we have two left on the shelf. If you have not already done so, please send a private message via our web site. We can ship to you this coming Monday.

 

Thanks,

--Alex C.

[tipunch]

Since the Sonore Signature Series power supply can be delivered with 2 x Synergistic Research Black fuses I was wondering, has anyone tried the Black fuse in JS-2?

 

Tommy

Yes, I hears an improvement... better treble and better bass... more natural...

[Tand]

Yes, I hears an improvement... better treble and better bass... more natural...

 

Did you notice an improvement after 70 hours +? What size fuse do you use?

[tipunch]

Did you notice an improvement after 70 hours +? What size fuse do you use?

 

I hear the difference after 5 min... But I tried with one 8A (just to try). But now I ordered one (0.5A/220V) by hoping to hear the same result...

Best regards

[savjam]

Just installed Uptone's DC conversion kit on a late 2014 base model Mac Mini powered by Uptone's gorgeous JS-2.  The combination of the ifixit's and Uptone's instructions and Artiflex pictures made this a very easy install.  The hardest part was reinstalling the antennae connector.  This set-up replaces a 2015 Macbook Pro which i am now using to run the mini headless. Too early to tell if its an improvement.  Both the Mac Mini, the JS-2 and associated cables are brand new so I will run in for at 100 hours before comparing.  Next I will use the Mini as a network bridge into the Ultrarendu for further improvement.

[savjam]

On 12/9/2017 at 8:22 PM, savjam said:

Just installed Uptone's DC conversion kit on a late 2014 base model Mac Mini powered by Uptone's gorgeous JS-2.  The combination of the ifixit's and Uptone's instructions and Artiflex pictures made this a very easy install.  The hardest part was reinstalling the antennae connector.  This set-up replaces a 2015 Macbook Pro which i am now using to run the mini headless. Too early to tell if its an improvement.  Both the Mac Mini, the JS-2 and associated cables are brand new so I will run in for at 100 hours before comparing.  Next I will use the Mini as a network bridge into the Ultrarendu for further improvement.

I found the Mac Mini to be sensitive to vibrations (much more than the MacBook Pro) which I addressed with a vibration control platform.   I also upgraded the stock power cord for additional improvement.   These changes were needed to extract the full potential of the upgrades.  

 

In short, the improvement over the MacBook Pro is significant.  It is more dynamic, more musical, more real.   The georgeous JS-2 and the MMK kit are an awesome combination.

 

I will try network bridging and the booting the operating system from an SD card.