The Paul Hynes SR4 PSU

[str-1]

For those not yet aware, PHD Ltd have just announced a “Turbo” version of the SR4 https://www.paulhynesdesign.com/sr4t

[highstream]

In response to the questions about the SR4 cable options, I went with the silver one to power an iFi spdif iPurifier and found it cool and bright in my system. Sufficiently so that I had ZenWave Audio build me a copper one, using a good quality Furutech version, their Neotech I think. The improvement in warmth and tonal balance was substantial. The downsides were that it was about double the cost and, unlike Paul, Dave at ZWA didn't want to deal with micro-USB connectors, which the iFi takes, so I had to go with an adapter off eBay. Paul's assistant wrote me last August that they were considering the better Furutech wire for their copper version, but I don't know what came of that.

[GryphonGuy]

I've been using the SR4 with the Silver DC cable (teflon coated) and it was always a bit on the bright side. After reading that the SR4 performs better with a high-end power cable, i plugged a spare Shunyata Sigma Digital cable into it and through the Shunyata Denali and everything snapped into place with much more weight and bass definition together with those accurate mids and highs. I am powering an EtherRegen with it and, yes, it is a tad "better" than the Ultracap LPS-1.2 it replaced and way ahead of the supplied power brick.

 

Regards

GG

[highstream]

I agree. Forgot to mention that I’ve been using a PS Audio AC-12 power cord with the SR4, and in taking advantage of Shunyata’s 3-for-2 Xmas time fuse special, put an SR Orange in it too. I haven’t isolated the latter for listening purposes, but if it’s like the dac and preamp they went into, the improvement would likely be noticeable, tho probably less relative the those.

[kennyb123]

3 hours ago, GryphonGuy said:

I've been using the SR4 with the Silver DC cable (teflon coated) and it was always a bit on the bright side. After reading that the SR4 performs better with a high-end power cable, i plugged a spare Shunyata Sigma Digital cable into it and through the Shunyata Denali and everything snapped into place with much more weight and bass definition together with those accurate mids and highs. I am powering an EtherRegen with it and, yes, it is a tad "better" than the Ultracap LPS-1.2 it replaced and way ahead of the supplied power brick.

 

 

It sounds like you are saying that the SR4 needed a better power cord for it be a "tad" better the LPS-1.2 on the EtherRegen.  Am I interpreting that correctly?

 

I'm trying to figure out which power supply I'd like to purchase for my ER.  

[k-man]

17 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Well very low output impedance (over a wide bandwidth) from a power supply is always a benefit to digital devices.  And despite our having $70 (our cost per board even at 500 unit runs) in ultra-ultra-low-noise/ultra-low-impedance regs and power networks on each EtherREGEN, a find power supply still helps a little.  Not much mystery there. 

 

Also, here is a quote from John's answer to a similar question that Rajiv posed in an e-mail. Not specific to the EtherREGEN, so not included in our paper.  But quite germane to your question:

 

It IS eventually jitter related, but is different from what I talked about with DATA issues. When the digital circuits do their things they draw current from the supply, how much and for how long varies a LOT. If the entire power network cannot properly supply the current the load wants, the voltage on the positive supply rail (note it is NOT the ground plane this time) will sag thus changing the thresholds in circuits, thus causing timing changes (jitter). The lower the output impedance, the smaller these changes are and the less the jitter related to power supplies.

Note this is dynamic impedance, which contains how fast the power network can deliver charge, but also how long it can deliver it for. A lot of power supplies have a "bump" in the impedance curve, they can rapidly supply changing loads, but they can't maintain it for longer periods. This is cause by properly balanced capacitance and inductance for high speed response, but the capacitance is not high enough to maintain the extra load for long, it needs to be "recharged" by current from the AC mains section. In a lot of designs this cannot respond fast enough to keep the capacitors charged up when high current load increases occur. After awhile the AC mains section "catches up" and can supply the needed current, but there is a period of time when the charge in the capacitors is being depleted and not being recharged fast enough.

 

1 hour ago, kennyb123 said:

I'm trying to figure out which power supply I'd like to purchase for my ER.

I got this response by Superdad from the EtherREGEN write-up. I’m glad he shared such great info here, but it may adversely be the reason why the LPS1.2 is not the obvious choice to power the demanding ER. The Paul Hynes SR4 (especially the new T version) might be the sweet spot because of the higher output, and PH is well regarded for addressing the above.

[GryphonGuy]

4 hours ago, kennyb123 said:

 

It sounds like you are saying that the SR4 needed a better power cord for it be a "tad" better the LPS-1.2 on the EtherRegen.  Am I interpreting that correctly?

 

I'm trying to figure out which power supply I'd like to purchase for my ER.  

 

Yes @kennyb123, it doesn't come with a power cable so I used a standard cable for my region and with the silver DC cable it needed to be tamed and the Shunyata Sigma cable did that for me in my system. It did bring the weight to the equation too which is what I think is the main difference between the LPS-1.2 and the SR4.

 

I upgraded my LPS-1.2 with the Ghent Audio Gotham DC cable which is probably why the SR4 was only a "tad" better in the lower end.

 

I already had the LPS-1.2 to run my UltraRendu and when the EtherREGEN performed better with a better power supply I needed to purchase another so I chose the SR4 this time so I had a platform for comparison. Either unit is good for the EtherREGEN and much better than the power brick that comes with the EtherRegen.

 

Regards

GG

[kennyb123]

1 hour ago, GryphonGuy said:

 

I upgraded my LPS-1.2 with the Ghent Audio Gotham DC cable which is probably why the SR4 was only a "tad" better in the lower end.

 

I already had the LPS-1.2 to run my UltraRendu and when the EtherREGEN performed better with a better power supply I needed to purchase another so I chose the SR4 this time so I had a platform for comparison. Either unit is good for the EtherREGEN and much better than the power brick that comes with the EtherRegen.
 

 

Thanks for that reply.  
 

I liked what I heard from Ghent’s Gotham cable with an LPS-1.2 previously, so nice to hear this benefited the ER as well as I still have this cable.

 

[beautiful music]

For those who purchased recently what's the lead time to deliver?

[dctom]

Ordered one at the beginning of June last year - it arrived towards the end of August which was the time frame I was given at the time of ordering, so no complaints.

[GryphonGuy]

20 hours ago, beautiful music said:

For those who purchased recently what's the lead time to deliver?

 

Around 3 months. Would have been 2 weeks shorter if Malaysian Customs had been able to locate and process my package for the import taxes. The positive takeaway is that I got great exercise walking between the isolated desks and buildings of the various process points that do not talk to each other to give a good customer experience.

 

The production month given is the very end of that month or the first week of the new month. For example, If they give you an April production month, it will not be built until 30th April or, say 5th May, then they despatch through the post. So 3 months is not unreasonable to expect given their remoteness. Great guys to deal with in my experience.

 

Regards

GG

[highstream]

I asked about an upgrade path to the T. Paul says not possible starting with January production. Has to do with the design of the batch boards.

[austinpop]

Injecting some My Cousin Vinny humor here:

 

Q: What kind of equipment did you use to find this out?

A: I used a Hewlett-Packard 5710-A dual-column gas chromatograph with flame analyzation detectors. 

Q: Uh-huh. Is that thing turbo-charged?

A: Only on the floor models.

 

Here’s the audiophile version:

 

Q: What kind of equipment did you use to find this out?

A: I used a Paul Hynes SR-4 quad voltage selector Linear Power Supply with fine silver leads. 

Q: Uh-huh. Is that thing turbo-charged?

A: Only on the 2020 models.

 

 

 

[VoicesInMyHead]

On 3/13/2020 at 4:21 AM, beautiful music said:

For those who purchased recently what's the lead time to deliver?

 

I ordered February 6th, received it March 18th. Still there had been delays beyond their control AND I also managed to change my order into a "Turbo" version in the last second, so it seems they are back on track with delivery. Prompt email response and great service!

 

Due to shipping impacts from other parts of the world I have not yet been able to try it though.

[highstream]

Is the Turbo version also multi voltage?

[VoicesInMyHead]

5 minutes ago, highstream said:

Is the Turbo version also multi voltage?

 

Yes, I believe it's more or less the same as SR4, just on... turbo!  

 

[John769]

Reading some of the earlier feedback of the standard SR4, it seems to tilt slightly to the warm side tonally (at least in comparison to the LPS1.2). Is the turbo version similar in that regards.... or maybe a bit airier?  TIA

[Cormorant]

6 minutes ago, John769 said:

Reading some of the earlier feedback of the standard SR4, it seems to tilt slightly to the warm side tonally (at least in comparison to the LPS1.2). Is the turbo version similar in that regards.... or maybe a bit airier? 

 

Not my experience.  I found the LPS 1.2 to be definitely warmer than the standard SR4.  In the systems I have tried it in, the SR4 is neutral in tone, maybe even a smidgen on the cooler side.  All this can be tweaked with fuses, power cords, and AC receptacles.

[Cormorant]

12 minutes ago, Cormorant said:

All this can be tweaked with fuses, power cords, and AC receptacles.

 

And perhaps most importantly, the DC cable!

[highstream]

Yes, Paul's silver cable is definitely on the cooler side. I had Zenwave Audio build me a copper cable using good Furutech wire that was much better (warmer, more involving). Downside was unlike Paul, Dave at ZA didn't want to install a micro USB connector directly, so I have to use an adapter, which is not perfectly stable. 

[Cormorant]

22 hours ago, highstream said:

Yes, Paul's silver cable is definitely on the cooler side.

 

I started with Paul's copper DC cable.   As you say, Highstream, silver would be even cooler.

[highstream]

Last summer, when Paul was on holiday, his assistant wrote me to the effect that they were considering the better Furutech wire for their copper cable, but I don't know if anything came of it.

[str-1]

The SR4T-19 I ordered on 9th March arrived today along with the new Upocc cables that PHD Ltd can now supply (not yet up on the website).  I already have the 2.1mm/2.5mm silver cables that came with my first SR4 and just wanted some good copper options.

[Oepsie]

Very cool indeed! I ordered the basic SR4 version mid March with arrival with the April batch (but with some minor delays). I'm very much in doubt whether to change my order - both to the turbo version but also for the cable option instead of the silver option - so I'm very interested in your listening impressions and any recommendations!  - changing the order is still possible for me!

 

The reason for my thinking is that I just bought the new audio-gd di-20 so the SoTM sms-200 does not sound a bit 'soft' anymore and the cobber cable option might be a better fit..

[str-1]

7 minutes ago, Oepsie said:

Very cool indeed! I ordered the basic SR4 version mid March with arrival with the April batch (but with some minor delays). I'm very much in doubt whether to change my order - both to the turbo version but also for the cable option instead of the silver option - so I'm very interested in your listening impressions and any recommendations!  - changing the order is still possible for me!

 

The reason for my thinking is that I just bought the new audio-gd di-20 so the SoTM sms-200 does not sound a bit 'soft' anymore and the cobber cable option might be a better fit..

Happy to offer some impressions, but it will be a few days away as I have other things I need to focus on first and I also want to give the SR4T a few days run-in.