The ultimate Power Supply Units for music servers (and other devices for cleaner power source)

[charlesphoto]

HELP!

 

Trying to decide on a new power supply for my microRendu 1.4 currently being powered by an LPS-1 with an Lt3045 board afterward. Narrowed it down to the new Sonore UltraSupply (alas no feedback yet), the Ultracap 1.2, or a JS-2 (esp if I can find a deal like the used one on offer yesterday!)

 

Or  I have my eye on a used Sonore Signature Series Power Supply with an UltraRendu bundle, which would place that PS at about the same price as the Ultra or LPS 1.2 though I'd also have to buy the UltraRendu (albeit at a good price) and sell off the mR 1.4 for a loss. 

 

Can anyone compare the Signature PS with the LPS-1,  LPS-1.2 or new Ultra? Or others?  Anything else I should consider in the $3-600 range?

[charlesphoto]

45 minutes ago, auricgoldfinger said:

 

The Farad3 with a Pink Faun level 2 DC cable is an excellent choice at the upper end of your price range.

 

Looks interesting (as well as the Sean Jacob units), but I think I'm going to stick to products made on this side of the pond. If something does go wrong, then shipping for either exchange or repair overseas is nothing but a pain. 

[charlesphoto]

48 minutes ago, davide256 said:

I suggest whatever path you choose for a next power supply allows you settings in the range of 7-12 v so that changing endpoint device in  the future still allows you to to use/compare with your power supply investment

 

Good advice, though I'm kind of looking for a final set and forget for the next ten years or so (yeah right...). 

[charlesphoto]

9 hours ago, BigAlMc said:

 

I think an LPS-1.2 or JS-2 would offer a nice bump in SQ quality as certainly the improvement of the LPS-1.2 compared to the LPS-1 is well documented.

 

But at some point the MicroRendu 1.4 is going to be the limiting factor. I'd therefore place equal emphasis (and budget) on upgrading the renderer. The ultrarendu if you want to stick with Sonore or an Audiolinux NUC should both outperform the microrendu.

 

Cheers,

Alan

 

Thanks for the suggestions - and spending my money for me! Went with a Sonore Ultrasupply, using the 10% off this weekend (pretty much free shipping is what it amounts to). At this point, with 2 opticalModules, the power supply, and some assorted cabling, I'm well over my allotted $1k for hifi this year, so a better renderer will have to wait. Not to mention better speakers, amp, pre-amp, DAC, speaker cables, etc etc. One has to ask oneself where it ends? What is 'better?' What the hell is 'best?' I'm really not after ultimate sound quality - it would be wasted on me and my associated gear and my family situation. 

 

In my photography career I got off the continual upgrade bandwagon a long time ago. I pick what works best for me and drive it into the ground. By that time there's usually a big jump in tech and value. Same with other hifi - I figure by the time the megaopticalRendu2.5SE comes out in four years time, the value of my microRendu 1.4 will have been amortized and I can either get something used at good cost or the latest greatest without losing $ on in-betweens. Plus I like the form factor of the mR as it currently just fits behind my DAC. As it is all of the other pieces of the chain I'm finding make a big difference (i.e. switch, oM's, power supplies, and cabling), possibly even doubling the quality of the downstream gear, and those will be in place no matter what comes after. 

[charlesphoto]

9 hours ago, R1200CL said:

The MicroRendu 1.4 is quite similar to the UltraRendu. He needs to go opticalRendu.

He could experiment with an LPS-1.2 adding Vbus power to the MicroRendu. 

There is of cause a reason why the MicroRendu 1.4 isn’t available anymore. Everyone would do that upgrade instead of buying an UltraRendu (if they knew it was equal), and that isn’t good for Sonore business. 
And the only difference between 1.3 and 1.4 is the clock. 

John has just posted the difference between UltraRendu and opticalRendu. 

 

 

My DAC needs no bus power and has very good async USB input. My LPS 1.1 (as I call it with the Lt3045 cable) will now be able to shuffle over to the oM, the HDPLEX to the oM and external HD downstairs, etc. Fun times ahead shuffling power supplies and building cables. 

[charlesphoto]

37 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

I think an opticalModule in front of your MicroRendu 1.4 is an extremely nice and best value for money solution you can get. (And you have very, if not the best power available as well). 

To beat that you would need both the EtherRegen and the opticalRendu, and you wouldn’t be sure if that close to 2K investment really is worth the difference in SQ. 

But where are you going to use the newly purchased Sonore power supply ?

You’re not downgrading your UltraCaps? 😀

 

I'm planning on using the new UltraSupply for the microRendu. The LPS-1 will go to the opticalModule. I would think the Ultra  should be better than the LPS-1; LPS 1.2 it would probably be a matter of taste. Who knows - I'm pretty sure with all of these new power supplies one is getting varying degrees of goodness vs one being 'best.' 

[charlesphoto]

1 hour ago, R1200CL said:

How did you get that idea ?

 

If there is anything written that an LPS is better than the UltraCaps somewhere, I like to know, cause then I order the JS-2 right away 😀

(or the Sonore Ultra). 

 

Just a hunch (keep in mind I'm talking LPS-1, not 1.2). Well, I suppose I'll find out. I could use the Ultra on the opticalModule in place of the HDPLEX100 and keep the LPS-1 on the mR. 

[charlesphoto]

11 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

I don't have any further explanation than the one provided by Miska and a personal inclination for well & seriously built to established computing standards and norms cables. I'm happy with my Roline UTP 6 ,  hope you're happy with yours. Just check that you don't have to put thousands of $€ in gears to compensate issues brought in by 100$ cables that you would not have with 10€ cables

 

You have no clue what you're talking about. The Ghent cables are extremely well made and neutral sounding. Everything I've gotten from them has been great sounding and extremely well fabricated. Blue Jeans is merely meh imo (and I would love to support them as they are a local company). 

[charlesphoto]

I've switched out the connectors on a few Ghent cables and all were extremely well constructed (esp compared to my reconstruction).

 

The 'no clue' comment was just in regards to Ghent cables, ok. I'm sure Concombre is well clued in in most other things...

[charlesphoto]

2 hours ago, George Hincapie said:

 

*Bump again*

 

Come on guys; not a difficult question. I have two providers lined up, but I don't want to drop £1000 on a LPSU if it makes no difference. Your personal experiences please?

 

When I got my NUC 7i5 that runs Roon ROCK, I already had an HDPLEX 100 and a cheap 12V 6a zero zone LPS on hand. I powered the NUC with the 19v rail on the HDPLEX until I accidentally blew that rail, and now with the 12v Zerozone. Can't say I noticed a difference between the two, and I never even unwrapped the SMPS supplied so no baseline to compare. How's that for a non-answer? I would just consider whether you really need to spend 1k on the server power supply unless it will serve as an endpoint also - you might want to try a cheaper option and spend the $ elsewhere in your chain.