New HDPLEX 200W LPS

[LTG2010]

On 1/10/2019 at 8:51 PM, Lebouwsky said:

Would it make sence to invest in hdplex’s dc-atx converter if my motherboard (supermicro X10SBA) accepts 12v input by 4 pin molex? It seems the voltage regulators in this converter are of high quality.

It does make sense, the hdplex dc-dc converter is better quality than the pico in the Zenith. What would be better is to use the converter with one rail for the 24 pin and the 4 pin with a seperate (lt30451) 12v rail, that would make the board sing.

Even better use all four rails of the HDPlex to power the board, 3.3v, 5v & 12V for the 24pin and 12V (you can get it configured 2x12v in lieu of 19v) for the 4 pin. Now we are in high end server territory. No need for the DC/atx converter.

[rickca]

34 minutes ago, bobfa said:

The AC switch was set to 220V

Yeah there's an orange 110V/220V switch and it ships set to 220V by default.  

[FredericV]

28 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

Even better use all four rails of the HDPlex to power the board, 3.3v, 5v & 12V for the 24pin and 12V (you can get it configured 2x12v in lieu of 19v) for the 4 pin. Now we are in high end server territory. No need for the DC/atx converter.

and then one of those rails start to fluctuate and the motherboard is gone .... I have several of these HDPLEX supplies where the voltages started to drift upwards, or downwards
 

 

 

[LTG2010]

4 minutes ago, FredericV said:

and then one of those rails start to fluctuate and the motherboard is gone .... I have several of these HDPLEX supplies where the voltages started to drift upwards, or downwards

I thought this is a new improved model. I had the old model a few years ago and was pretty solid.

[FredericV]

14 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

I thought this is a new improved model. I had the old model a few years ago and was pretty solid.

we bundled a lot of variants of the 110VA up to 200 VA models and everything in between, and the only stable ones which never failed were the 110VA's which are physically smaller then the later 160 and 200VA models, all the other models had issues

with our current oem supplier, we had one failure and it was solved within 1 day! the issue never occurred again
with hdplex, we spent a lot of time swapping bad supplies, and often the replacements were also bad

I still have a brand new 200VA hdplex replacement and it's also bad. Just read this topic again.

If HDPLEX passes TÜV certifcation I will reconsider my opinion about hdplex.

[rickca]

1 hour ago, FredericV said:

I still have a brand new 200VA hdplex replacement and it's also bad.

Is it the latest 200W LPS that just started shipping in Nov, or a brand new unit of an old version?   

[austinpop]

6 hours ago, rickca said:

I bought a $115 silver cable from Paul Hynes with my SR4.  So it isn't fair to compare it to the HDPLEX unless I get some cables of comparable quality for it.

 

Since the HDPlex also uses an XLR connector for output, could you not try Paul's cable on the HDPlex, and compare it to the stock cable, to assess the magnitude of change the cable makes?

[Lebouwsky]

8 hours ago, FredericV said:

and then one of those rails start to fluctuate and the motherboard is gone .... I have several of these HDPLEX supplies where the voltages started to drift upwards, or downwards
 

 

 

It’s good to warn customers if quality fails. If I’m correct you’re the owner/ developer of the 432 EVO streamer. Did you use the hdplex in your product? I’m trying to understand your perspective and your experience with hdplex. And in what year is your experience based on and on how many?

 

I believe this information is essential when warning us about a product. Hdplex is a brand with quite a long history and a Google search did not result in any issues besides your comment. Please share, Thanks in advance.

[rickca]

6 hours ago, austinpop said:

 

Since the HDPlex also uses an XLR connector for output, could you not try Paul's cable on the HDPlex, and compare it to the stock cable, to assess the magnitude of change the cable makes?

The DC3FSXLR has a 4 pin XLR connector at the power supply end to mate with the chassis connector on the SR4.  The XLR connector on the HDPLEX 200W is 3 pin.

[mourip]

I have owned 6 HDPlex power supplies starting about 5 years ago with their 100W unit. I have encountered two issues. One early unit buzzed on my 120v AC and the most recent purchase came with a daughter board dislodged during shipping. Larry replaced the first unit and replied with the solution within minutes for the second issue.

 

To the point. I just replaced my last generation HD200W LPS with their newest version which uses the LT3045 regulators on the two adjustable outputs. The fixed 12/19 outputs use a different configuration (see Specs) and are rated for much higher current.

 

This new supply powers my Roon endpoint Audiolinux NUC with 19v and my Mutec USB DDC with 7.5v which is then dropped down to 6v with another 3045.

 

The improvement was not subtle and somewhat of a surprise. The background is MUCH quieter and allows a lot more subtle detail to pass through. It also holds soundstage location much more precisely.

 

I am not sure which of the two outputs account for most of the change but am very happy. It is also possible that the improvement just reflects the lower precision of the previous supply. I have no other supplies to compare other than the stock SMPS's.

 

YMMV 🙂

[rickca]

14 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

What would be better is to use the converter with one rail for the 24 pin and the 4 pin with a seperate (lt30451) 12v rail, that would make the board sing.

How can I use an HDPLEX adjustable rail at 12V into a motherboard 4-pin or 8-pin?  Where can I get an appropriate cable?

 

I guess this would be better than using a fixed rail 19V into the DC-ATX and then connecting the DC-ATX into both the 24-pin and the 4/8 pin on the motherboard?

 

Note I'm not talking specifically about the X10SBA motherboard here.

[bobfa]

I have my HDPLEX 200 up and running on the bench to break-in.  It will be running my music server on the power supply shortly.  

[LTG2010]

33 minutes ago, rickca said:

How can I use an HDPLEX adjustable rail at 12V into a motherboard 4-pin or 8-pin?  Where can I get an appropriate cable?

 

I guess this would be better than using a fixed rail 19V into the DC-ATX and then connecting the DC-ATX into both the 24-pin and the 4/8 pin on the motherboard?

If you look up ''4 pin ATX extension cable'' / ''8 pin....'', companies like Startech. Akasa, Silverstone etc, make them. Cut off the male end and join the yellow (12v) and black (ground) together. If you don't want to cut up your HDPlex cables, then you'll need a dc female plug/socket to connect to.

Some of these cables are not color coded so you can check how your current ATX connector is wired and also Wikipedia has good ATX wiring diagrams, the side where the retaining clip is should be +12V.

Companies like mod diy sell ATX connectors and casings even pre - crimped ofc cable, so you could also make up your own connectors.

 

[rickca]

44 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

If you look up ''4 pin ATX extension cable'' / ''8 pin....'', companies like Startech. Akasa, Silverstone etc, make them. Cut off the male end and join the yellow (12v) and black (ground) together. If you don't want to cut up your HDPlex cables, then you'll need a dc female plug/socket to connect to.

I have an 8-pin ATX extension cable.  Don't you mean cut off the female end?  The male end plugs into the motherboard.

Thanks, but I have zero DIY skills to start making my own connectors/cables.

 

 

[Lebouwsky]

16 hours ago, LTG2010 said:

Even better use all four rails of the HDPlex to power the board, 3.3v, 5v & 12V for the 24pin and 12V (you can get it configured 2x12v in lieu of 19v) for the 4 pin. Now we are in high end server territory. No need for the DC/atx converter.

This sounds interesting but have no clue what you mean. Is there a picture or scheme that would make this more comprehensive?

[LTG2010]

6 minutes ago, rickca said:

I have an 8-pin ATX extension cable.  Don't you mean cut off the female end?  The male end plugs into the motherboard.

Thanks, but I have zero DIY skills to start making my own connectors/cables.

The male is the one on the motherboard (the pins) but I could be wrong, cut off the identical one, leaving the one that connects to the motherboard and cable. Join the yellow wires together and the black together. Get a 12Vdc jack connector female 5.5 x 2.1 ? and screw the bare wire in yellow to +ve.

[austinpop]

3 hours ago, rickca said:

The DC3FSXLR has a 4 pin XLR connector at the power supply end to mate with the chassis connector on the SR4.  The XLR connector on the HDPLEX 200W is 3 pin.

 

Ugh I forgot about that. 

[LTG2010]

32 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

This sounds interesting but have no clue what you mean. Is there a picture or scheme that would make this more comprehensive?

This is a diagram of the 24 pin atx and 4 pin atx on your motherboad.

You will need a 24 pin atx extension cable and a 4 pin one.

Cut off the male ends, leaving the ends that will connect to your motherboard.

On the 24 Pin:

Strip the wire ends approx 1 - 2cm.

Connect the yellow 12V together.

Connect the orange 3.3V together.

Connect the red 5V together.

Connect the black ground together.

Connect the purple 5V SB to the red 5V

Connect the grey PowerOK to the red 5V.

Ignore / Cut off the Green PS ON, white -5V and blue -12V.

You now have 3 connections, 3.3V, 5V, 12V for your HDplex rails, the black is common on the board so all 3 power supply rails ground can be joined together or daisy chained, with the motherboard black ground cables.

Similar principle for the 4 pin 12V this will connect to the 4th HDplex (12V rail) seperately powering CPU.

 

 

 

[austinpop]

Could someone please summarize how to apply audiophile best practices (for example, power CPU separately from mobo?) to best utilize something like this (the HDPlex 400W PSU):

From what I can tell, the standard ATX set is 1x24pin, 2x8pin, and 1x4pin connectors. For a headless, fanless, server, which will only have an NVMe Optane SSD and a good network adapter (say the JCAT Net, powered by an external 5V PSU), which of the Molex'es will I need for the server? 24-pin to mobo, 4-pin to CPU, 8-pin for PCIe?

 

I am fairly clueless when it comes to ATX, so feel free to educate me.

[tboooe]

I have the HDPlex 400w DC ATX powering my music server (Roon and HQPlayer), NAA, LPS-1, LPS-1.2, Wireless Bridge, and Switch.  I was thinking about getting another LPS-1.2 to power my NAA PC or this new HDPlex 200W unit.  If I get the HDPlex then I can also use it to power my Switch, Wireless Bridge, and LPS-1 units, so that I can use the 400W unit just for the music server.  My ultimate question though is which option would potentially sound better.

 

Option 1 - get LPS-1.2 to power NAA, keep Wireless Bridge, Switch, LPS-1 and LPS-1.2 powered by existing 400W DC ATX

Option 2 - get HDPlex 200W unit to power NAA, Wireless Bridge, Switch, LPS-1 and LPS-1.2, 400W DC ATX powering only music server

 

Opinions appreciated.

[austinpop]

5 minutes ago, LTG2010 said:

This is a diagram of the 24 pin atx and 4 pin atx on your motherboad.

You will need a 24 pin atx extension cable and a 4 pin one.

Cut off the male ends, leaving the ends that will connect to your motherboard.

On the 24 Pin:

Strip the wire ends approx 1 - 2cm.

Connect the yellow 12V together.

Connect the orange 3.3V together.

Connect the red 5V together.

Connect the black ground together.

Connect the purple 5V SB to the red 5V

Connect the grey PowerOK to the red 5V.

Ignore / Cut off the Green PS ON, white -5V and blue -12V.

You now have 3 connections, 3.3V, 5V, 12V for your HDplex rails, the black is common on the board so all 3 power supply rails ground can be joined together or daisy chained, with the motherboard black ground cables.

Similar principle for the 4 pin 12V this will connect to the 4th HDplex (12V rail) seperately powering CPU.

 

Interesting. That is starting to make sense!

 

It would be nice if Larry @ HDPlex could supply the 200W with these connectors, so you don't need adapters, like he does the 400W, no?

[rickca]

2 minutes ago, austinpop said:

It would be nice if Larry @ HDPlex could supply the 200W with these connectors, so you don't need adapters, like he does the 400W, no?

The connectors are on the 400W DC-ATX unit.  The 200W LPS 19V is designed to be used with this 400W DC-ATX unit.

If you get the 400W ATX LPS you don't need a DC-ATX unit.  Make sense?

 

All you need is a 24-pin for the motherboard and a 4-pin or 8-pin for the CPU (the 8-pin is usually called EPS12V).  The PCIe is only needed for some graphics cards with either a 6-pin or 8-pin connector because they can't get enough power from the PCIe slot alone.

[austinpop]

13 minutes ago, rickca said:

All you need is a 24-pin for the motherboard and a 4-pin or 8-pin for the CPU (the 8-pin is usually called EPS12V).  The PCIe is only needed for some graphics cards with either a 6-pin or 8-pin connector because they can't get enough power from the PCIe slot alone.

 

Thanks for that clarification. 

 

13 minutes ago, rickca said:

The connectors are on the 400W DC-ATX unit.  The 200W LPS 19V is designed to be used with this 400W DC-ATX unit.

If you get the 400W ATX LPS you don't need a DC-ATX unit.  Make sense?

 

Yes, understood. It appears that there is a tradeoff to be made between the 200W model (with DC-ATX 400W add-on) and the 400W model. Is the reasoning below valid?

 

With the 200W:

• Advantage
  • 2 rails with LT30451 (btw - is the LT30451 equal/better/worse than the celebrated LT3045 regulator?)
• Disadvantage
  • Need a DC-ATX converter (SQ hit due to inherent quality loss with DC-DC converter?)
  • All ATX voltages derived from one (19V) rail

With the 400W:

• Advantage
  • direct linear ATX supply (no ATX converter needed)
  • Not sure if ATX voltages (12, 5, 3.3) derived from same rail, or separate rails?
• Disadvantage
  • No rails with LT30451.

Did I get that right?

[LTG2010]

35 minutes ago, austinpop said:

24-pin to mobo, 4-pin to CPU, 8-pin for PCIe?

I"m guessing for your Dell server, but generally, on a high powered set up, you might have an 8 pin plus 4 pin, for CPU plus 8 pin for PCIE graphics high power cards. I would just connect the 24 pin plus CPU. The CPU will benefit from its own rail, the NVME can be powered from the 24pin.

[rickca]

@austinpop re no rails with LT3045-1 on the 400W ATX LPS, here is some input from Larry at HDPLEX re his current thinking

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?do=findComment&comment=917104