The Paul Hynes SR4 PSU

[Chiswickian]

On 25/02/2018 at 4:51 PM, rickca said:

Paul does sell DC leads for the SR4.  

DC3CXLR annealed copper with Teflon insulation for SR4, SR5, SR7 £055

DC3FSXLR annealed fine silver with Teflon insulation for SR4, SR5, SR7 £090

 

What would the benefit of the silver cable be?  Would there be an audible benefit that justifies the increased costs?

[Chiswickian]

str-1.  Brilliant stuff.  I've had some really interesting conversations with Paul recently regards the technicalities of his designs and I'll be extremely interested in what you think of its audible effect.

[Chiswickian]

True.  It would be great if someone somewhere could head-to-head the PH SR4 with the LPS 1.2, but unlikely anytime soon.  Still, I'll be interested in your observations with the LPS 1 all the same.

[Chiswickian]

Anyone received notification from Paul as to when in April the March build SR-4's are to ship?

[Chiswickian]

Jiffi32.  Same here.  Thanks for the update.  I'm going to be using mine to power my new Chord Qutest DAC.  How about you?

[Chiswickian]

I placed my order on Paul mid March.  The SR4 is Paul's first attempt at a 'mass produced' power supply, well as mass produced as the 2 of them can do, but with much shorter lead times.

[Chiswickian]

Ooh, the black chassis is very nice.  I wish I knew that was an optional extra when I ordered mine 

[Chiswickian]

While I'm enjoying my SR4, on my Chord Qutest DAC I feel I have lost some of the sparkle/air around the instruments/voices that I heard with the stock power supply.  Paul assures me this will improve as the SR4 burns in, but currently I'm undecided and hoping things do indeed improve with burn in.

[Chiswickian]

2 hours ago, str-1 said:

This might not describe your situation but the air that some people find missing when improving something like a power supply is just the addition of a more appropriate degree of body and solidity to the sound.  Without this, a leaner sound will often sound more airy.  Try listening for aspects of the sound that have improved, let the SR4 fully run-in (200+ hours) and allow yourself a period of readjustment.  

STR-1.  You could be right.  I do notice an increased solidity to various aspects of the sound, so won't say that the SR-4 has had no positive impact and this could easily explain the effect I'm hearing.  It seems I actually liked some of that extra airiness, but will continue to let the SR-4 burn in suitably and then compare the effect of the power supplies again, as suggested by Paul H also.

 

I very much doubt I'd get rid of the SR-4 now, maybe just re-assign it to other duties if I do find, after burn in, that I prefer the sound of the stock Chord power supply.

[Chiswickian]

Emcee.  I'm going to audition the Curious USB cable, as I've read great things about it and it' supposed to be quite a "sparkly" cable, but in a good way.  I'm keen to see if introducing this into my audio chain will bring back that missing airiness, without sacrificing the additional weight that the SR4 has brings.  I'll let you know how that goes.

[Chiswickian]

Msm.  Which Sablon audio cable do you have?  I was reading reviews of the Sablon Reserva Elite USB with interest and wondered how that compared with the Curious cable.

[Chiswickian]

16 hours ago, beautiful music said:

Is there any update for SR4 powering your Chrod Qutest?

 

 

I'm still running the SR4 powering my Chord Qutest.  Even after burning in, I still am missing some of the air/sparkle evident with the standard PSU, however the sound is definitely fuller and more impactful with the SR4.  I might be tempted at a later date to at least trial an LPS 1.2 to see how it differs sonically from the SR4.  I have no intention of selling the SR4, but I'm still not 100% sure it's the optimum PSU for my Qutest.  Time and further trials will tell.

[Chiswickian]

I'm using Paul's silver DC cable.  I could try another cable, but I suspect my "issue" is down to the SR4 itself, not that the SR4 is a bad PSU, it's certainly not, but you know us audiophile types, never totally happy!