Power supply questions

[toddrhodes]

I've tried searching but this topic is a bit difficult to narrow down, at least for me. I do not have any external power supplies at this point but I'm adding equipment that would purportedly benefit from external power, namely a PPA V2 USB card and the Uptone Regen. Additionally, I'd like to move my music onto a 512Gb or 1Tb SSD drive, installed in my Audio PC as opposed to my music being "streamed" from a HDD in the upstairs HTPC.

 

My Audio PC is a single PC setup at this point, and it's based on an Asrock Z77 ATX motherboard with an i5 CPU and basically nothing else to speak of in the case aside from a few cooling fans and two SSDs (one is an OS drive for Win7, the other is for 2012R2).

 

So, assuming I just want to power the Regen, PPA V2, and an SSD music drive, what would a good option be? I see options like the JS-2, HDPlex 100W, Teradaks, etc... but I don't know how many devices can run from each lead, nor do I fully understand which devices require what voltage. I believe the PPA V2 needs 5V, Regen needs anywhere from 5-9V, and no idea on the SSD. I don't believe I'll be able to power this motherboard and CPU with an outboard PSU. I am using a Seasonic fanless ATX PSU in the Audio PC so I don't know how big a jump I'll get in noise reduction as this is reputed to be a pretty "quiet" PSU, electrically speaking.

 

Is there any sort of primer I can read on how these external power supplies work? Using the HDPLEX as a starting point (and I don't want to spend much more than $500 to power all three devices above), it seems like it uses either BNC or XLR connectors with pigtails that power various devices based on their expected voltage requirements. Is that accurate? If two devices can run off one lead, how does that work, custom wiring?

 

Just trying to get my bearings as this is all new to me. I'm not afraid of PCs, electronics, soldering, or tearing an engine out of a car and putting in a new one, so I don't need a 1st grade education here, but perhaps a master's degree is a bit too much at this point

 

Thanks for any input!

 

Todd

[sandyk]

Todd

The SSD needs +5V. They perform better for audio when using an improved PSU.

Perhaps even a cheap low noise 1A or higher,(adjustable to +5V out) regulated PCB from ebay that can utilise the existing +12V internal supply ?

The Regen would be best powered by an external Linear PSU, or perhaps using the supplied SMPS plugpack in conjunction with the new J.S. "mystery" 1A PSU.

Do do know the current drain of the PPA V2 USB card ?

My MB is an Asus P8Z77M with an i7 processor.

 

Alex

[toddrhodes]

Thank you Alex, I need to digest most of what you wrote but the specs for the PPA V2 card are listed on highend-pc as:

 

This card needs +5V/1A (min.)

 

I've seen posts about the "mystery" 1A PSU, perhaps I'll have to investigate further or wait for Uptone's release of a power add-on for the Regen.

[sandyk]

Todd

Something like the module at the link should give a worthwhile improvement with a music SSD if you have room to mount it, perhaps at the bottom of the case ? You could use a 4 pin molex to SATA power cable cut in half to do this.

One of those may even work with the USB card as well , but I haven't tried that. This particular module has a larger heatsink than the majority of the ebay offerings too. If this module didn't give much of an improvement , you wouldn't be too much out of pocket either.

 

Regards

Alex

 

low Noise Adjustable Voltage Regulator Module | eBay