The Paul Hynes SR7

[Johnseye]

 

I am going to cut to the chase for all those with an opening tl:dr.  The Paul Hynes SR7 has a positive impact to sound quality.  Its design, engineering, components and quality are second to none.  It is probably the best power supply made for audio equipment that I know of.  There are competitors coming to market or already there that I have not tried and may be just as good.  Some of these competitors take different approaches to their power design so may not be an exact comparison, but the bottom line in this hobby is whether and how good it improves sound quality.  The name of the game is to reduce noise as much as possible.  The intent is to lower the noise floor, reveal more of the recorded music and possibly allow the DAC and other processing components to perform better.  The last statement is "possibly" because I don't know if it's ever been validated.

 

While the SR7 is an excellent performing LPSU, it comes at a price.  To be fair I must put the cards on the table so people know what they're getting into when deciding to buy an SR7.  It's no secret that there are delays and communication challenges in working with Paul.  This is not a slight.  He warns you up front there could be delays.  He may take a few weeks or a few months to respond to emails.  He lives on an island in Scotland so there are challenges in the amount of time it takes him to get parts should any equipment break.  My order took 5 months to fulfill.  He will adjust the position in which he works on people's orders.  Just because you placed an order before someone else, it doesn't mean you'll get before them.  This type of information will not be communicated to you.  Be prepared for this.

 

The price can be high, but you also have options in your component choices.  Obviously higher quality components mean a higher price.  I selected the highest quality components offered.  The model I have is kind of a hybrid as I am using DR on one rail. DR stands for Double Regulation.  DR requires two regulator modules operating in cascade.  Regulator 1 is the pre-regulator (input regulator) and regulator 2 is the post regulator (output regulator).  According to Paul, the benefits of DR provide a much higher supply line rejection and rectification artifact rejection than a single regulator alone (approx 150 db from DC to 100KHz with a gradual reduction at higher frequencies).  My model is an SR7MR2XL with DR on rail 1 only.  The XL has ultra low impedance (< 1 milliohm) connectors and fine silver internal wiring between capacitor banks, regulator modules and the output connectors.  The leads, or cables, I selected were also XL.

 

This is my cost.

 

SR7MR2XL audio power supply with DR on rail 1                            $1760 USD  (£1335)

DC10FSXL lead terminated with 2.5mm DC Plug                            $356 USD   (£270)

DC6FSXL lead terminated with 2.1mm DC Plug                              $245 USD (£186)
Insured tracked carriage and packing                                                $168 (£128)

Bank transfer Barclays handling fee                                                   $8     (£6)

UPS import fees                                                                                     $27 (£35)

Total                                                                                                          $2,573 (£1952)

 

I attached what I received from Paul which includes a description of his offerings and associated costs.  His PSUs come with a 3 year transferable warranty.  It covers parts and labor.

 

I am going to keep my opinion of the benefits to sound quality brief.  It is opinion and subject to the devices it powers as well as other equipment in the audio chain.  I was using an HDPlex 160W AC-DC to power my server.  The main driver behind purchasing the SR7 was to introduce a clean, low noise power source for my server.  I also elected to have another rail which could be used for an endpoint, reclocker or switch.  I will be commenting on the second rail in a following post.  This first one is specific to the rail powering the server.

 

Rail 1 has the ability to be used at 19v without DR or 12v with DR.  The difference between the HDPlex and SR7 is significant.  I would compare it to the difference between 1080p to 4k, but not from 480i to 1080p (standard to hi def).  There is a clarity to the music's presentation which to me screams hi def if it were visual.  The instruments have more separation from each other and their character is truer to their actual sound.  A cymbal for instance, presents a resonance where it may have been muted and blended before.  The sound is more vivid.  When changing between 19v and 12v DR there is a difference, but right now that's the best I can say.  I don't think either sounds any worse than the other.  They are different.  My opinion on this may change as I do more A-B testing.  It may be dependent on how the motherboard responds to 19v vs. 12v and any benefit gained by the DR.  At this point I honestly don't know.

 

The bottom line is that this is a very good improvement to server sound quality over the HDPlex. One needs to keep in mind the comparison is between the two as I have not used other PSUs in a comparison.  Is it worth $2500?  In my opinion it is only worth that much if you already have a few other components where you want them.  Your speakers (or headphones) should be your primary focus.  If you have exactly what you want in those, then it should be your preamp if you use one, then your DAC, then your amp.  Your $2500 will be better invested in those items.  If you've already got all those things where you want them, put your money into this LPSU.  You can also do it for less.  You may not want the XL in the supply itself or the leads.  That should reduce the cost.  You may not need multiple rails or the SR7.  Maybe the SR3 or SR5 is enough.

 

The SR7 never gets close to what I would consider hot.  It doesn't even feel warm most of the time.  The leads are well constructed and stiff.  The lead connection to the SR7 is a Jaeger and screws on.  Only the bag the lead came in was labeled so I wrote on the lead to differentiate between the two as they are different.  The rails are adjustable but one needs to open up the chassis and adjust the potentiometer while using a volt meter to measure the output voltage.  These are 22 turn precision potentiometers.  Because I have 2 outputs on a single rail, which is essentially 2 rails with only one being able to be used at a time, I need to decrease the voltage on one before increasing it on the other.

 

Rail (supply) 1 (DR pre regulator) is adjustable from 12v to 19v (set to 19v)
Rail (supply) 2 (DR post regulator) is adjustable from 4v to 14v (set to 12v)
Rail (supply) 3 is adjustable from 4v to 14v (set to 9v)

 

More to come.  Comparison of Rail (supply) 3 adjustable from 4v to 14v (set to 9v) to the LPS-1 on an sMS-200 after I decrease the voltage to match the LPS-1.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

  

 

 

The SR Power supply range 200117.doc

[Johnseye]

37 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

Thank for thîs very interesting review. I also have ordered an sr7 from Paul to power my dual PC set-up. 

 

I have one question when you say that you compared 12vDR and 19v rail powering your server . How are you powering your server for 12 and 19v , is it through a pico psu or do you have a specific mother board which can accept 12 por 19 v dc input ?

 

Direct to the board.  It has a DC in.  No pico or HDPlex converter.  I was informed going that route would diminish the benefits of the SR7.  That is the only option I am aware of to power a 24pin ATX board however.

 

 My current mobo is an ASUS Q170T/CSM.  It has no PCI slot and the DC plug is 7.4 x 5.1 which is a difficult plug to match.  I need to use an adapter with it.  I have another mobo I'm going to get modified, the Jetway NF591.  Even lower power requirements with this board.

 

By the way, he could also make it full DR, but this was an after thought for me.  Had I asked him to do it for all it would have been an even longer wait.

[Johnseye]

I finally got around to changing the voltage of my second rail from 9v to 7v so I could directly compare it to the LPS-1.  My comments are subjective based on what I hear from my system.  I pretty much use the same audio tracks for all my comparisons so am extremely familiar with the subtleties in each song, not to mention how they sound holistically.  I've been using the 9v SR7 to power my sMS-200 and the LPS-1 to power the ISO Regen.  My server is powered by the SR7's 12v DR rail and that stayed constant.  To compare the SR7 with LPS-1 I had to remove the ISO Regen from the picture and power the sMS-200 with 7v.  What I heard was not subtle.  I wouldn't call it a macro change either, but there is a significant difference in sound.  Using the SR7, the two adjectives to best describe what I heard was more air and energy.  There was better separation across the image and more depth.  Instrument location was better defined in the image and the music sounded exciting.  With the LPS-1 by comparison the music was flatter.  It still sounded great, but by comparison felt slower and the image was flatter.  It was more difficult to pick out exactly where the instrument was.

 

I hadn't listened to the SOtM sMS-200 by itself in a while as I've had the ISO Regen after it in the chain.  I also had never used it with the SR7 alone.  I was very surprised by what I heard when compared to using the ISO Regen.  I have not used the IR directly connected to my server, powered by the SR7, without the sMS-200.  I don't know if this is possible yet because of the quirkiness in using the IR, but I may give it a try.  The sMS-200 powered by the SR7 alone compared to the IR after it is also significantly different.  The sMS-200, while open, airy, with more stage depth still has a harshness to it.  At loud volumes it can be fatiguing.  There's something in the high frequency that bites.  Putting the IR after it smooths or removes all that HF harshness.  It also provides a more balanced warmer tone, but at a cost of less air and depth.  Pick your poison.

 

I compared the SR7 powering the sMS-200 with LPS-1 powering the ISO Regen and swapped power so the SR7 powered the IR and LPS-1 powered the sMS-200. There was an impact, but it was very slight by comparison to the other tests.  Powering the IR with SR7 brought out a bit more clarity and energy  The HF harshness I heard from the sMS-200 alone was still gone.  I don't think I lost anything by powering the sMS-200 with the LPS-1 followed by the IR with SR7, only gained.  There is one major caveat to this test by contrast with the sMS-200 only test.  When I was powering my sMS-200 with SR7 I would connect the LPS-1 powered IR with Uptone's USPCB.  Because of how short that adapter is, I could not use it when powering the IR with the SR7.  I had to instead use the Curious Cable 200mm Regen link.  I don't know how this impacts the sound because I can't compare it with the USPCB in that configuration.

[Johnseye]

Here are wattage and amp ratings.

 

Rail 1 set to 19v – 190W
Rail 1 set to 12v – 60W
Rail 2 set to 12v – 36W
Rail 2 set to 9v – 27W
Rail 2 set to 5v – 15W

Rail 1 – 19v @ 10A

Rail 1 - 12v @ 5A
Rail 2 – 4v to 14v @ 3A

[Johnseye]

21 minutes ago, jean-michel6 said:

You may also want to try the sotm SPS 500 . 

I have one in my system and also an LPS-1 

I have found this sps 500 to be extremely good , i heard the same differences between sps 500 and LPS-1 as you did between SR7 and LPS-1.  

 

I use those to power à tx USB exp card and dx USB hd interface. 

 

I've considered the sPS-500.  It's the 100mv ripple I can't get over.  I know SOtM has excellent filtering, but I want to see what else Uptone releases next before I buy another LPSU.

 

The sPS-500 goes from 7 to 19v while the LPS-1 is only up to 7v.  When you compared the two did you have the sPS-500 set to 7v?

 

Also, the sPS-500 only outputs 50w.  This still has some applicability for my server as I know it doesn't draw half that.  The SR7 has 190w at 19v so it's much more capable if necessary.

[Johnseye]

4 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

There is much we don’t quite understand in this domain. Both of the following statements are true:

 

1. For a given PSU (of sufficiently high quality), improving the clock (lowering phase noise), improves SQ.

 

2. For a given clock (of sufficiently high quality), improving the PSU quality improves SQ.

 

Where this gets interesting is the conjecture that everything is ultimately dependent on the PSU quality. Over on head-fi, Roy has reported some potentially interesting findings with the Zenith SE server, that suggests that an extraordinarily good set of PSUs can perhaps close the gap between components with and without Ref 10 level clocking.

 

I’m still puzzling over these latest results.

 

Rajiv, would you please link those findings from Head-Fi?

[Johnseye]

6 minutes ago, ElviaCaprice said:

I don't disagree with this.  Just when you add in biggest bang for the buck, my suggestion to the OP in question would be the sCLK-EX for their sms-200 and LPS-1.

 

Were you referring to me as the OP, or another poster's reply?  If me, I will no longer be using my sMS-200 in my primary listening system.  I will move it to my main PC on another floor where I can now enjoy better sounding music when listening to it in that room.

[Johnseye]

1 hour ago, octaviars said:

Paul is offering his new SR4 now just made the payment for it today. 

 

 

"A new product introduction available November 2017 is the SR4 power supply. This is a scaled down version of the SR7 single rail supply with voltage selection switch covering the range 5v, 7v, 9v 12v with an output current rating of 2A continuous 20A transient. It uses the same components and energy storage capacitance as the SR7 and it is ideal for powering most of the digital interface equipment currently available like the microRendu, SOtM sMS200, etc."

 

How much was it?  Is there a pricing structure?

[Johnseye]

6 minutes ago, austinpop said:

An update from Paul that I received today:

 

I am still waiting for the shipment of rear panels for the SR4 to arrive. This has been a rather annoying issue as in the past my chassis manufacturer has provided SR3 rear panels (same size but different hole pattern) within a week of ordering by punching pre-anodised aluminium panels. This time, without telling me, they have changed the way they produce the panels. They now punch raw aluminium panels then send them away for anodising. I ordered them over a month ago but they still have not arrived. The manufacturer is checking tracking for me to find out where they are.

The SR4 power supplies for the November batch have already been constructed by my helper, and the lack of rear panels is holding up progress. Once they arrive I can have them fitted to the power supplies and they can then be tested and then shipped out.

I will let you know when the panels arrive.

 

Another piece of info I received from Paul was in regards to grounding. Paul confirmed that the SR4 supply is floating, i.e. the DC -ve is not connected to AC ground. This has been his long-standing practice to avoid creating ground loops. He mentioned that he has seen the discussions on leakage currents, and understands the rationale, but cautions that you also need to be careful not to create ground loops in the process of shunting leakage.

 

Based on that, I agree with his rationale to ship the units floating (and I didn't ask him to ground mine). I'll just use a JSG gizmo to test both ways to see what sounds better.

 

Thanks, I didn't realize this was his long standing practice.  If so, I suspect it is also done with the SR7.  I do see the power input ground connected to the output and chassis of my second 12v rail.  I wonder if this was done to ground the chassis, what impact it has and if that is considered floating.

[Johnseye]

1 minute ago, austinpop said:

 

Well, I would expect the chassis to be connected to AC ground for obvious safety reasons. It's just the DC -ve is not.

 

What is "-ve" ?

[Johnseye]

1 minute ago, austinpop said:

 

Yes, my thoughts exactly.

 

I had bought a Groundhog to try grounding my DAC or amp using the RCA plug. I then ended up building a shunt using the "flying toaster" screw terminal RCA plugs I described the SMPS grounding thread.  

 

But instead of returning the Groundhog, I'm keeping it around precisely to use on the SR4 and the silver cable.

 

How does the Groundhog compare, functionally speaking, to the Synergistic Research Ground Block, Entreq Ground Box or Nordost QKore?

[Johnseye]

Just now, austinpop said:

 

That's a whole thread right there! I don't really know. 

 

My use of the Groundhog was in the context of John Swenson's recent findings wrt SMPS noise. See: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/37034-smps-and-grounding/ 

 

 

Agreed, I don't want to derail the conversation from the Hynes PSUs.  The pictures of the Groundhog don't do it justice.  I'll keep digging to try and understand how it connects the devices to ground.  iFi's site shows the various adapters but I haven't seen what those connect to and how they get to ground.

[Johnseye]

1 minute ago, austinpop said:

 

Oh I can explain that. I answered a PM from someone a few days ago, so I can just cut and paste it here. Pardon some of the Captain Obvious wording.

 

Here is how you shunt a DC barrel with the Groudhog:

• you need to supply a power cord - it's not included
• plug the power cord IEC end (the opposite of the wall plug end) into the IEC plug of the groundhog (A in the picture)
• plug the RCA male C into RCA female D
• snap the spade B on to the outer barrel of the DC cable

 

So a full power cable per shunt, or am I still missing something?  That's a bit impractical if you want to ground a lot of equipment.  I think I like the other solutions I mentioned as they allow multiple devices to be connected to a single grounding source.  Same principle as John's shunt.  Multiple ground cables to one plug.

[Johnseye]

Just now, austinpop said:

 

Agreed. It does not scale. I have heard only good things about the Synergistic Ground Block, but cheap it ain't!

 

For DIY, I've built "hydra" JSG shunts, with 3 devices grounded to the same AC plug. Getting 3 x 14AWG  silver cables connected to the ground prong wasn't easy, but I got it done, Less of an issue if you use thinner cable.

 

LOL, Hydra it is. Good description.The Ground Block isn't cheap, but the QKore is even more.  I think you can try before you buy from The Cable Co.  Lot's of power related goodness here.

[Johnseye]

4 hours ago, Ralf11 said:

John, did you ever do anything re the impedance matching (on p.1) with the LPS-1 and re-test?

 

(I may have missed something in the last 5 pages...)

 

I matched voltages and tested.  The SR7 was clearly better.

[Johnseye]

1 hour ago, Ralf11 said:

that's too bad...

 

Yes, from an availability and cost perspective it is too bad.

[Johnseye]

7 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

maybe Brexit will crush their pound so much I can snap one up...

 

 

 

That boat has sailed. Any decline of the pound has happened already. 

 

The SR4 is comparable in price to the LPS-1. I'm looking forward to those comparisons. I also suspect we'll see an improved LPS-1 in the next month or two. 

[Johnseye]

11 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Paul shared a fascinating glimpse of how remote his home and workplace (the Isle of South Uist in the Outer Hebrides) are with me - and to others who asked too, I'm sure. The shipping path is tortuous, even in this modern day!

 

I had intended to use the Royal Mail International tracked and signed service for the SR4 as it is relatively low cost and it is the only service from the island that goes to the mainland via a mail plane daily (barring sea fog of hurricane conditions). Transit is usually 3 to 6 working days to most destinations. Unfortunately the packed weight of the SR4 parcel turned out to be over 2Kg limit so this service cannot be used for the SR4.

Instead all SR4 power supplies from November production have been shipped out via the UPS express service.

Service wise we are located on the outer rim of the universe here and all the carriers who service the Western Isles designate the area as a sparsely populated remote location and they do not have offices on the islands. Instead they use local forwarding agents who traverse the island several times a week. The collections then go to North Uist  (three islands away) for ferry transit to the Isle of Skye. They then proceed via road to Inverness where they are then sent to an International Hub, where the carriers are located. This is where tracking starts, once UPS have the parcel from their forwarding agent. Transit from here to a Hub can take between 3 to 6 working days depending on weather conditions. Ferries can be cancelled in winter if the weather is bad, as they cannot birth during storm conditions.

Once tracking begins, transit should be speedy, as I use the express service to avoid additional delays once in the main system.

 

In my case, it took a whole week for the package to reach from his island to UPS in Inverness on Monday. It is now in Philadelphia (as per the UPS tracking), and scheduled for delivery (in TX) tomorrow.

 

I think he left out the highland goat and waterway seal segments of the delivery journey.

 

Please let us know when it arrives and how it sounds compared to your other PSUs.

[Johnseye]

4 hours ago, ALRAINBOW said:

A few questions plesee 

the main board can use 19 or 12 volts ?

it only needs this voltage input ? 

Then the Main bOard must have its own regulated psu output for 

chip set 

usb buss 

cpu voltage 

ram buss 

so how is this better than the same 19 volts into a hdplex 400 watt dc to atx onto mainboard through atx plug and cpu plug ? Confused ? 

 

If you're asking about my mainboard, yes it can use 19v or 12v.  Either of those voltages input.  The board does regulate that power.  The difference is in the noise input from the source 19v/12v PSU.  

 

These 2 posts will help you understand.

 

 

 

 

[Johnseye]

26 minutes ago, auricgoldfinger said:

Respectfully, I am not the OP,  but this thread is ostensibly about the SR7, not DIY power supply enhancements.

 

Thank you. I don't mind talking about other Hynes products, or comparing others with Hynes as long as we stay focused on Hynes. 

[Johnseye]

I thought I'd respond as the discussion has unfortunately devolved into valid complaints about delays.  I made a comment the other day in another thread about the delays I've read about here.  Paul emailed me directly with a lengthy response and a copy of the letter he's emailed to most of you.  He is reading this thread, as well as others so he is aware of everyone's concern.  As to what is a best business practice, that is up to all of us personally to decide.  I personally agree with @auricgoldfinger 's comments.  However we do not have to do business with anyone we don't want to.  Obviously if you sent money under certain expectations, those should be addressed, as well as the opportunity for your money back.  Otherwise I suggest everyone be patient and expect your PSU to be delivered 6-9 months from placing the order.  You can always ask Paul for a firm date, or a date which you can agree upon, after which money is to be refunded.  There are many paths to compromise.

 

Here was one of the things he said:

 

"Your statement regarding delays with the SR4 is misleading as the only person with any significant delay has been Octaviars and this has been due to UPS having lost his shipment. I have set aside a replacement unit from the next available SR4 batch for Octaviars to avoid the long wait while UPS decide whether they can find his power supply or not."

 

I replied back, stating the following:

 

"It's good to know you've read my thread. Lately it appears to be full of complaints instead of reviews.  I don't think I was being misleading based on people have posted, although I can only go by what they've written as I did not place an order for an SR4 myself.  As you know I was planning on doing so, but waited for feedback from others.

 

Hopefully you're able to get production on track to meet stated delivery dates and keep up with customer communication.  Not an easy task.  Feel free to respond to people in my CA thread."

 

Hopefully we can put this all to rest and go back to discussing the positive impact the SR7 has on sound quality, and how it compares to the newer supplies hitting the market.

 

[Johnseye]

4 hours ago, mozes said:

I initially enjoyed reading about the performance of the SR7, but this thread drifted now to shipping/logistics issues. Since these issues dominate the discussion of PH, maybe they need a dedicated thread.

 

If they need a thread at all, valid or not.  Complaints should not be part of a review thread. I'll need to be a little more firm in the future. 

[Johnseye]

I've asked Chris to remove the previous post from @amir57bs.  This will not be a delivery complaint or refund request thread.

[Johnseye]

3 hours ago, amir57bs said:

 

I think You and some peoples like you in this forum are trying to help Paul to continue to his business without delivering customer orders.

If Chris do not help me but i could ask him to let me write about My experience with Paul Hynes.

 

I think you're mistaken. I have no interest in helping his business. My review is only to share my experience with others in this forum. If you've read any of my posts you'd know that. 

 

You should take your grievances up with Paul. That's all I will say on that subject. 

[Johnseye]

2 hours ago, amir57bs said:

 

Haha

paul do not answer emails quicker than 1 week , i wonder how you got your order .

 

Please stop posting here. You obviously have not used one of these PSUs so have nothing constructive to contribute. I do not want to read your complaints. Go start your own QQ thread.