Linear Power Supply for Brooklyn. Which one you've ever tried?

[exdmd]

8 hours ago, Leeuwarden said:

 

Love to hear your opinion about this set up!

 

@Leeuwarden I noted similar changes in SQ that @57gold had remarked using his Keces LPS. Switching from 12V to 13.2V on my Sbooster increased soundstage width and depth. I leave the Sbooster and DAC+ on all the time BTW.

[Leeuwarden]

Thanks!

[Pepa]

Hello everyone

longtime audiophile here, but in CA  just a few months-so you can call me noob 

I want to share my very positive experience with HDPLEX  lps which I bought a few weeks ago.At the moment,LPS feed  Brooklyn (12V) and mini PC (19V; plus 5V for SSD) with ease.

The biggest  SQ  shift I have noticed at DAC and at SSD (but I had only a short time to play with ).IMHO,that was by far the  best spent money.

And what specifically pleased me that I have lowered the temperature of the Brooklyn for several degrees (didn’t have time to measure, but I could if any interest)

 

Think it is  enough for the first post 

[agladstone]

On 1/26/2018 at 1:48 PM, exdmd said:

 

@Leeuwarden I noted similar changes in SQ that @57gold had remarked using his Keces LPS. Switching from 12V to 13.2V on my Sbooster increased soundstage width and depth. I leave the Sbooster and DAC+ on all the time BTW.

I will try 13.2V vs 12V just as an experiment! 

[mfin]

After a month of running an sBooster 12/13.2 on the Brooklyn Dac+ (at 12v, tried 13.2v too) I have now put in place of it a Fidelizer Nikola.

 

It would not be fair to compare them yet as the sBooster had been in place powered up for a month, and that got better for sure, whereas the Nikola is cold.

 

I'll report back as the Nikola it breaks in, and I'll then we able to swap back and forth to comapre as my sBooster is being kept warm by permanently running something else.

[agladstone]

On 2/24/2018 at 6:28 AM, mfin said:

After a month of running an sBooster 12/13.2 on the Brooklyn Dac+ (at 12v, tried 13.2v too) I have now put in place of it a Fidelizer Nikola.

 

It would not be fair to compare them yet as the sBooster had been in place powered up for a month, and that got better for sure, whereas the Nikola is cold.

 

I'll report back as the Nikola it breaks in, and I'll then we able to swap back and forth to comapre as my sBooster is being kept warm by permanently running something else.

Please report back with listening impressions!! I’m definitely still seeking the best PSU for the Brooklyn with as reasonable as possible cost. 

How much is the Nikola? 

[mfin]

In the UK the Nikola is £495 whereas the sBooster is £260

[agladstone]

6 hours ago, mfin said:

In the UK the Nikola is £495 whereas the sBooster is £260

Keep us posted !! 

[smile]

Hi From Sweden! my first post here.

What if you use a big carbatteri like 70amper in the 12 volt socket.

Have sombody test it?

Sorry for my bad english regards Markus

[mfin]

Ok, have been running the Nikola for 3 weeks, have also first run its supplied cable (I think this is over a metre, not measured it), then a 50cm Ghent one (Canare 4S6 and Oiyade jack). Have swapped back to sBooster tonight to verify impressions.

 

sBooster sounded great once broken in, big, warm, felt right. Moving to Nikola was leaner, colder, more detailed, a bit thinner and on poor recordings just a touch brash and it pretty much stayed that way. The Ghent cable changed things, enough to sound like you were listening to a third power supply really. The Ghent cable put meat back on the bones, warmed things up lower down, so moved it back towards the sBooster's sound but staying a little brash at times.

 

Interestingly the sBooster runs quite warm, whereas the Nikola does not.

 

The sBooster is a good bet I feel, but, watch this space, as now I know the difference that can be had with the power cable I will make a couple up for the Nikola with quality UP-OCC silver or copper and see what happens then. I think the chances are that the Nikola with the right cable will be very good.

 

So, to sum up in a different way. sBooster is giving a good scale of sound, very easy to live with on all material. The Nikola with current best cable (ghent) outshines the sBooster on good recordings but when recordings are poorer or thinner it brings in those doubts a little bit.

 

The one thing that is very clear at this point is that they sound different, and the Nikola which can take different DC cables sounded different again as soon as I changed the one that came with it.

 

I'll update in next few weeks when I have other DC cables.

[exdmd]

There is always something more expensive to try. My feeling is that if you want to spend $1000 on a LPS for your Brooklyn DAC+ you probably should have considered buying a Manhattan II which has separate digital and analog linear power supplies built in. I am content with the Sbooster I use with my DAC+. Very good value. My Sbooster is just warm to the touch does not run hot.

[mfin]

 

I'm only trying what I have around by the way, and the cost of either of them with a dac+ comes in at half the price of a Manhattan II.

My sBooster runs warm too, not hot.

[mfin]

Oh, in the meantime (whilst waiting for new materials to build cables) I will assess the sBooster 12-13.2, in 12.5v mode then 13.2v mode too. It's clear that things sound more lively when upping the voltage.

 

I'll come back with my favourites of these variants for anyone who's interested. Nikola with various cables vs sBooster at 3 different voltages, that will be a minimum of 6 possibilities if I just make one new DC cable.

[57gold]

Ghent DC cable connecting Keces LPS to B+ made a pretty big and positive impact versus stock molded cable from Keces. 

 

After a few hours service, noticed deeper imaging, deeper bass, more relaxed miss and clearer and more extended highs that resulted in me turning up the volume a bit to enjoy a bigger audio picture.    

[mfin]

Ok, as mentioned above, trying different DC cables from a Fidelizer Nikola feeding a Brooklyn Dac+.

 

Cable-a) The supplied cable

Cable-b) Ghent Audio cable, canare 4s6 (oyaide dc jack)

Cable-c) VH-audio V-Quad CU21 (elecaudio dc jack)

Cable-d) Duelund DCA16GA lightly twisted pair (elecaudio dc jack)

 

...firstly, do they sound different. Yes, absolutely, varying from a more forward brighter sound, to more relaxed in comparison. I only have cable-a and cable-b properly compared so far. Cable-b is the more relaxed, giving a fuller low end and natural sound, it edges the Nikola back towards the sBooster in warmth. The sBooster is great, but the Nikola with cable-b has all the good qualities of the sBooster but everything is clearer and always crisp and controlled yet full. The sBooster is really really good for the money though and I will swap back to it for sanity checking at some point.

 

So, so far, the one conclusion I have is that if I had not heard the Nikola with the cable-b, I would have probably preferred the sBooster and returned the Nikola, but cable-b meant the Nikola stays.

 

First gut listens on the others are that cable-c is quite forward too, but maybe a touch better than cable-a, and that cable-d sounds full but also a bit muddled, everything becomes less hifi.

 

Cable-d was just an off the cuff experiment, cable-c was on the recommendation of @auricgoldfinger

 

I will continue to give cable-c and cable-d more time, time to settle and have a really fair shot, as they haven't really had this yet. So these have only been initial hearings from quick tests over an evening for these two cables, not yet letting them settle and running them for a good while.

 

These differences are very clear by the way, like introducing a different cable or even separate, changing the presentation, the tone and the forwardness. I had read about expensive dc cables from the likes of SOtM for their SPS-500 so these experiments were also to initially confirm that there were differences or improvements to be had.

[so-no-mah]

I use the Uptone Audio JS-2 linear power supply to power the Mytek Brooklyn DAC+. The JS-2 brought a still lower noise floor, better dynamics and imaging, deeper bass and a richer overall tonality. Despite its cost, I believe the performance of the combo justifies the added expense.

[mfin]

Update on the above.

 

Cable b (the Ghent) was preferred. Nothing much changed on Cables c and d.

 

The Nikola stays at the moment, awaiting the release of the Sbooster Ultra2 filter.

 

The best results I have got from the Brooklyn Dac+ since last posting are when running it off a cheap battery, it beats the Nikola and the Sbooster quite clearly, more detailed, more control, blacker (I didn't realise how "noisy" things sounded until I heard something better, it sounds cleaner).

 

I am using a QC3.0/2.0 compliant USB Power Bank with qc test adapter to make it output 12v, and a Lindy USB to 5.5x2.5 power lead, that's all. 

 

The 24000mah power bank I am using has a percentage charge remaining display which for paranoia's sake I like as I know when it's about to run out (not sure of the effect of when power runs out and what the dac might send to the power amp and speakers, so it's nice to avoid). The display also gives me double confirmation that it's outputting 12v before I connect it.

 

It's probably £50 worth of stuff, or £35 if you don't want the display, so not a lot to hear how good the dac can be beyond an Sbooster or Nikola.

 

I will soon be trying a couple of Stammheim's 5A LT3045 boards connected in series to an HDPlex 200w LPSU to see how good that is. That's €400 cost of boards on top of the HDplex cost.

 

I will also try a 50,000mah USB power bank that has a female DC jack to negate needing the qc test adapter too, although that won't have a charge remaining display. I expect that to sound about the same but last twice as long (maybe it would get through a busy listening day).

 

I'd love to try a JS-2 and/or an LPS1.2 fed from something like the Nikola, but I can't buy everything just to try!

 

(Oh, I should add I am running from a Roon Rock Nuc, which is set to upscale to DSD256, into SOtM trifecta, most music from Tidal. I don't miss MQA from doing this upscaling, and it also allows me to turn the MQA off in the dac so I can pick a better sounding filter for my other sources which are mostly AV).

 

[buonassi]

18 hours ago, mfin said:

I am using a QC3.0/2.0 compliant USB Power Bank with qc test adapter to make it output 12v, and a Lindy USB to 5.5x2.5 power lead, that's all. 

is amperage a concern when using battery like this?  I see many USB power banks are rated for 12v/2.5amps and was thinking of getting one to play around with.  Also, 

 

19 hours ago, mfin said:

I will also try a 50,000mah USB power bank that has a female DC jack to negate needing the qc test adapter too

 

when you say "QC test adapter" I'm not sure what you mean.  I thought Quick Charge was a complaint standard that was part of power banks labeled as such?  Are you using a separate device "adapter"? 

[mfin]

12v/2.5a is fine for the brooklyn. With a mix of mainly 48/24 PCM and DSD256 the 24,000mah will work for about 7 hours. (I am not running headphones, just out to my poweramp).

 

You need a test adapter, because if you just plug in a lead it's just going to output 5v. The adapter lets you select other voltages. Most powerbanks that are QC are 3.0/2.0. The adapter lets you use either, 2.0 lets you choose 5/9/12v and 3.0 lets you step up in 0.2v increments from 5v upwards (multimeter needed to tell).

 

The adapter (from ebay) looks like this:

 

...three buttons on it, first one selects between 2.0 and 3.0 (it powers up as 2.0), second two buttons are up and down on voltage. Leds show what you're on for 2.0 or a ballpark when using 3.0. Of course it's only 2.0 mode you need to get 12v, all very simple, and the adapter starts in 2.0 mode so you just step up to 12v with a couple of button presses.

 

You can plug it into a power bank and do all the voltage selection before putting the dc jack into the Brooklyn (do you don't have to cycle through wrong voltages whilst connected).

 

If you are running a switch in a streaming setup that takes 5v like an AQvox, Linksys or older TPLink you can run from a power bank and just any old one will do, no need for QC2.0/3.0. Jackery ones are nicely made with good cells in them. (For running a Dac, I used a Mr Cool one that has a display, which tells me it is outputting 12v, double confirming what I see on the adapter). Running one on a switch is great, as is running the Brooklyn on one. 

 

Oh, my AQvox runs happily for about 3 days on a 20,000mah, so I just rotate between two of them. My brooklyn I run on battery if I'm really listening and if not I plug the Nikola back in.

 

I've got other items in my chain, SOtM and a Roon Rock NUC, but these I have not run on batteries, because of the current required (I am going to try other power related things on those even though they are already on good power supplies).

 

If anyone is running something like an Sbooster or Nikola on their Brooklyn and is happy trying the above then I would. Saying that if you are running a Brooklyn without any LPSU as you think one costs too much then I think you'll be seriously impressed.

[exdmd]

Interesting concept thanks for sharing. I am using an Sbooster and easily hear a difference between 12 V and 13.2 V on my DAC+ sound stage opens up.

[mfin]

I have an Sbooster too, have tried in 12v and 13.2v over a good few months, comparing it with a Fidelizer Nikola I have. Both are good.

 

If you can hear the difference clearly between Sbooster on 12v and 13.2v (which I agree is easy to hear) then you'll hear the difference running by battery, and it's better.

 

The Sbooster Ultra2 comes out soon apparently, so that will likely be worth buying, the Ultra"1" had a max of 1A if I remember rightly, so maybe they'll not have that restriction with the new one as well as it being even better. That will be worth trying too.

 

The problem with the battery is how long it lasts as I mentioned above. For me, it's worth the hassle as once I've heard the dac sounding better I don't want to hear it worse, and that's me talking about it compared to a £500 Nikola.

 

As I also mentioned, having a powerbank is handy anyway, you never know what you might try it on, if you use a network switch before a streamer then it's well worth using one there I have found.

[buonassi]

14 hours ago, mfin said:

You need a test adapter, because if you just plug in a lead it's just going to output 5v. The adapter lets you select other voltages.

 

I see now, thx.  What about something like this?  It allows you to manually select the output voltage - you could use this instead of QC3.0/2.0 + "trigger" adapter. Then again, it may be more expensive for less battery capacity.  

 

https://www.amazon.com/XTPower-MP-10000-External-10000mAh-included/dp/B00935L44E/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1525303082&sr=8-3&keywords=12v+DC+battery+power+bank

[mfin]

I think you've answered all points on that one yourself. I also think it's not worth it for the capacity.

[Monge]

Hi,

Here is some info on BOTW MKII and Ultra mk II coming summer 2018

 

https://www.sbooster.com/MKII-sneak-peak/

 

https://www.sbooster.com/sbooster-ultra-mkii

 

3. The transient response has improved 40-50% compared to the Ultra MKI by adding new parts and lowering the output impedance to a bare minimum. The output circuit is now equipped with an impedance correction filter to achieve improved performance over the full audio range.

 

5. Star-ground design: the Ultra MKII is a star-ground design. Almost every component has its own dedicated ground connection. This makes the electronic design more stable and brings ease in the music.

 And more.

 

I wonder how impedance correction filter In the Ultra mk. II work?

Also I wonder why there’s no mention on noise and ripple In the specifikations?

Which voldtage regs does the BOTW P&P ECO mk.II use?

 

[intensemojo]

On 7/8/2018 at 8:06 AM, Monge said:

Hi,

Here is some info on BOTW MKII and Ultra mk II coming summer 2018

 

https://www.sbooster.com/MKII-sneak-peak/

 

https://www.sbooster.com/sbooster-ultra-mkii

 

3. The transient response has improved 40-50% compared to the Ultra MKI by adding new parts and lowering the output impedance to a bare minimum. The output circuit is now equipped with an impedance correction filter to achieve improved performance over the full audio range.

 

5. Star-ground design: the Ultra MKII is a star-ground design. Almost every component has its own dedicated ground connection. This makes the electronic design more stable and brings ease in the music.

 And more.

 

I wonder how impedance correction filter In the Ultra mk. II work?

Also I wonder why there’s no mention on noise and ripple In the specifikations?

Which voldtage regs does the BOTW P&P ECO mk.II use?

 

Is this a replacement or an add-on?

 

"This summer Sbooster releases the Ultra MKII.

The Sbooster Ultra MKII is designed as an additional upgrade for our BOTW P&P ECO MKI and MKII power supplies. The Sbooster Ultra MKII has to be connected directly to the Sbooster split-current module of the BOTW P&P ECO."