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

[mozes]

Thanks for sharing this review, looking forward to your comparison with LPS-1.

[limniscate]

I've been waiting for mine since the end of May.

[ismewor]

With PH power supply, 6-8 months is standard for an order.

[jean-michel6]

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 ?

[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.

[LTG2010]

Thanks very much for the great write up. Looking forward to hearing the comparison with LPS1. Wish I could send you the SPS500 to compare. Considering you are getting 3 supplies in one it costs less than 3 SPS500's with more amps to boot and top quality components.Shame about the long wait times.

[George Hincapie]

It looks amazing, but I just haven't got the patience for that wait. Life's too short. 

[Robert van Diggele]

With which HDplex are you comparing? Edit: sorry, I see you wrote that you used the 160W ac-dc adapter.

[ismewor]

12 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

Considering you are getting 3 supplies in one it costs less than 3 SPS500's with more amps to boot and top quality components.

Your math might be a little off, it cost about 5 SPS-500 not 3

[AnotherSpin]

2 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

It looks amazing, but I just haven't got the patience for that wait. Life's too short. 

 

Lack of patience shortens life. Boundless patience opens eternal existence.

[George Hincapie]

Just now, AnotherSpin said:

 

Lack of patience makes life too short. Boundless patience opens eternal existence.

 

So that's where I'm going wrong...

[AnotherSpin]

Just now, George Hincapie said:

 

So that's where I'm going wrong...

 

If you do not afraid to wait and know how to deal with it you are ok. Today I do not remember how long I was waiting for my Paul Hynes LPS unit, but I am listening my music each day with it.

[LTG2010]

42 minutes ago, ismewor said:

Your math might be a little off, it cost about 5 SPS-500 not 3

 

On 23/10/2017 at 5:35 PM, Johnseye said:

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

The rest is for Leads, postage etc.

The SPS 500 retails here @ £550

Check out Sotm's prices for Silver leads.

According to my poor maths thats 2.43 SpS 500's

[ismewor]

True, but those are the fees can’t be avoid. 

[ctsooner]

I have one for my server.  I bought it from Steve Nugent of Empirical Audio and it's as good a computer based server as I've heard so far.  I'll be selling it soonish to get the N10 though.  I may just keep it as that LPS is sick.  Just takes the mac mini (also rebuilt by Steve) to heights I"ve never heard from a Mac ever.  You are dead on in that it's a marked difference in great sound.  Glad to know I'm not the only one who feels no other LPS is close still.

[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.

[mozes]

@Johnseye How many amps is your SR7 capable of from that specific rail you used for comparison?

[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

[mozes]

Your findings are in line with Roy’s that the SR7 is better than the LPS-1. Still to me, given the long lead time and difficulty in communication, I prefer to stick to my LPS-1s from Uptone Audio.

one thing that I will do is to test two LPS-1s in parallel with my tX-USBultra and see if it improves upon 1. The tX sucks almost all the amps from the LPS-1, once you stick a USB flash in the tX, the LPS-1 shuts down.

[ismewor]

1 minute ago, mozes said:

The tX sucks almost all the amps from the LPS-1, once you stick a USB flash in the tX, the LPS-1 shuts down.

Is that really? The tx listed 2a max. I have mine on the dc-116 listed 3a and I can plug usb stick with Linux running on it.

[austinpop]

1 minute ago, mozes said:

Your findings are in line with Roy’s that the SR7 is better than the LPS-1. Still to me, given the long lead time and difficulty in communication, I prefer to stick to my LPS-1s from Uptone Audio.

one thing that I will do is to test two LPS-1s in parallel with my tX-USBultra and see if it improves upon 1 LPS-1. The tX sucks almost all the amps from the LPS-1, once you stick a USB flash in the tX, the LPS-1 shuts down.

 

Looks like you could use a VR Mini then! Private joke between @mozes and me. 

 

Seriously though, check with @Superdad, I think there’re issues with perfect matching of output impedance (?) for the parallel solution to work.

[jean-michel6]

4 hours ago, Johnseye said:

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.

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. 

[ElviaCaprice]

48 minutes ago, austinpop said:

 

Looks like you could use a VR Mini then! Private joke between @mozes and me. 

 

Seriously though, check with @Superdad, I think there’re issues with perfect matching of output impedance (?) for the parallel solution to work.

That is correct, you can't run in parallel but you can in series with 2 LPS-1's.

[ElviaCaprice]

51 minutes ago, ismewor said:

Is that really? The tx listed 2a max. I have mine on the dc-116 listed 3a and I can plug usb stick with Linux running on it.

The LPS-1 can only output 1.1A.  Same in a series.