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

[Jud]

On 6/28/2019 at 5:01 PM, Chopin75 said:

The copper wire is to convert optical back to electrical. It is not used for data transfer nor giving vBus. and yes it can cause noise contamination.

I use your USPCB vbus off to block any leakage though not sure if it matters.  I am merely talking regards to isolation with the optical part. Now is it truly galvanically isolated, not sure.

If you reconsider the above, you may see that it isn’t correct. Continuity from one end of a connector to another is unnecessary to run optical-electrical converters at either end. That is why such converters can be used as isolators, because continuity isn’t necessary. If there is continuity, there isn’t isolation.

 

A careful reading of the material on Corning’s web site shows the wires are there to provide the specified 5v USB power. So no galvanic isolation exists. No one can argue with your preference for the cable, but galvanic isolation isn’t the reason.

 

In general regarding power sources, folks will want to think of not only what is in the direct signal path, but what is in the “power path.” What’s being kicked back into the power from the wall or whatever other source through power cabling or other connections in the ground paths of the equipment?

[Chopin75]

32 minutes ago, Jud said:

If you reconsider the above, you may see that it isn’t correct. Continuity from one end of a connector to another is unnecessary to run optical-electrical converters at either end. That is why such converters can be used as isolators, because continuity isn’t necessary. If there is continuity, there isn’t isolation.

 

A careful reading of the material on Corning’s web site shows the wires are there to provide the specified 5v USB power. So no galvanic isolation exists. No one can argue with your preference for the cable, but galvanic isolation isn’t the reason.

 

In general regarding power sources, folks will want to think of not only what is in the direct signal path, but what is in the “power path.” What’s being kicked back into the power from the wall or whatever other source through power cabling or other connections in the ground paths of the equipment?

However, the 5vBus is not carrying the audio signal, but to power equipment so that is irrelevant. The actual audio signal is still galvanically isolated but you can argue that the 5Vbus can cause interferences, though only at the distal and proximal end of the wire, which can be blocked with  Regen USPCB connector by blocking Vbus (I did that though I did not do A/B comparison)  . MY DAC does not need Vbus, so that can be blocked. The copper wire is causing some EMF etc which can be issue with regular USB but since this is optical that effect is not there or at least minimalized. The only real criticism of the Corning is that it is too long and probably the plastic used for optical is cheap so jitter is there. Reclocking at the DAC end would help.   

 

Also I don't know where you get that the corning has adequate VBus. It clearly states that the Vbus is not adequate for power. It may be true you get a little bit of power and apparently there is continuity  of the copper wire, (a flaw design for audio) which can be blocked externally as stated above.

 

From Corning web:

 

Are USB 3.Optical™ Cables by Corning compatible with all USB devices?

Though no USB standard currently exists for optical cables, USB 3.Optical Cables by Corning have been successfully tested with more than a hundred devices spanning all major consumer operating systems. In general, you can expect USB 3.Optical Cables by Corning to work with most self-powered USB 3.0/2.0 compliant device.

I want to charge my portable device (like iPhone or iPad) with USB 3.Optical™ Cables by Corning. Is that possible?

USB 3.Optical Cables by Corning are designed to be used with self-powered peripherals only. No significant power is available after powering its internal opto-electronics. A self-powered USB 3.0/2.0 hub can always be used at the peripheral (B-side) to provide power if desire

[Chopin75]

On 6/28/2019 at 12:14 PM, marce said:

https://www.audioxpress.com/article/Power-Transformers-for-Audio-Equipment

 

 

Now any preference of suprecap or ultracaps over traditional R core or Toroidal LPS? 

 

[zacho]

Anyone have any experience with the CLONES AUDIO POWER STATION DELUXE? 

[auricgoldfinger]

Enjoy!  (especially @Superdad)  

 

https://dilbert.com/strip/2019-06-30

[davide256]

4 hours ago, jabbr said:

 

We are in the frankly bizarre situation where power supplies are being discussed as having a “sound”. The function of a power supply is to supply clean, unimpeded power, without noise. 

 

My goal is to eliminate sound from the components, and listen to the music. 

Power supplies don't have a sound per se... but their imperfections excite problems in downstream equipment weaknesses. Which can lead to "upgrade-itis" over a problem that

a better power supply wouldn't excite or  better designed power input circuitry for the device wouldn't expose.

[BigAlMc]

On 6/28/2019 at 10:07 PM, ronfint said:

My experience with Sean Jacobs has been outstanding. I ordered a DC3 on March 27, and it was in my hands (in the US) on May 13. All questions that I had were answered immediately and informatively. This power supply is outstanding, and so is Sean Jacobs' customer service.

 

Same here. Ordered my custom built DC3 and Sean sent it one month later. All emails and questions were answered very quickly (even one where Sean was out the office and on holiday!).

 

A flawless experience from start to finish.

[jabbr]

13 minutes ago, davide256 said:

Power supplies don't have a sound per se... but their imperfections excite problems in downstream equipment weaknesses. Which can lead to "upgrade-itis" over a problem that

a better power supply wouldn't excite or  better designed power input circuitry for the device wouldn't expose.

Agreed!

 

Realize that if the device isn't designed with its own onboard power supply, that corners have been cut elsewhere. Thats fine, but a decent power supply should sound equal in this situation i.e. a "Hynes" vs "Uptone" ought not "transform" the sound ... if this is really the case then the system could be even more transformed with well designed components.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, davide256 said:

Power supplies don't have a sound per se... but their imperfections excite problems in downstream equipment weaknesses.

Not disagreeing at all. Just wanted to say that since electricity works in circuits, folks ought to try to think beyond the concept of “downstream.” Noise or other distortions flow where electrical laws dictate, not solely from power supply to signal source to amplification to speakers.

[Ralf11]

[Jud]

11 minutes ago, Ralf11 said:

Nice, but not a panacea. Considerations include noise associated with opto-electrical conversion, and whatever noise is kicked back into the mains by the units doing the conversion at each end.

[jabbr]

11 minutes ago, Jud said:

Nice, but not a panacea. Considerations include noise associated with opto-electrical conversion, and whatever noise is kicked back into the mains by the units doing the conversion at each end.

 

Nothing is a panacea. That said, consider a power supply is like a road that the active electrical components drive on. Imagine noise being kicked back into the mains, as like pebbles being strewn out my the motor. Now imagine how a vehicle traveling at the equivalent of 400 Gbe would crash and burn if struck by such pebbles! Seems like those converters are able to handle the specified smoothness of the track

 

[Ralf11]

Nothing is a panacea, but 140 dB down is inaudible; -120 is likely inaudible.

 

Audiophiles have an odd princess and pea problem (I have a thread on that, posted months ago).  It is much worse than other hobbies (photography).

 

Address the biggest problems first.

[sandyk]

9 hours ago, jabbr said:

We are in the frankly bizarre situation where power supplies are being discussed as having a “sound”. The function of a power supply is to supply clean, unimpeded power, without noise. 

 

It's not just about noise. It's also about having a low impedance power supply where the output impedance isn't much lower at one end of the spectrum than the other , e.g. to >100kHz ,which many very low voltage regulators give when used for audio using just the data sheets .Not only can the power supply area alter how music sounds, it can also alter how Video looks, both at the same time, even when used with Digital storage such as SSD and USB memory !!!  

 

 

[sandyk]

9 hours ago, Jud said:

A careful reading of the material on Corning’s web site shows the wires are there to provide the specified 5v USB power. So no galvanic isolation exists.

 

Hi Jud 

One advantage is,  that although the power leads are in close proximity to the optical fibre, they can't induce SMPS noise  from the PC/Server's +5V supply into the data pair like with a normal USB cable. This isn't a problem of course with the better USB cables where they sometimes fully separate the power and data lines.

 

Kind Regards

Alex

[80levan]

I've had the Intona and iso Regen and opted for the Corning. Lower noise floor and cleaner highs. I had the Matrix spdif 2, which had one of top performance on ASR, coupled that with the iso Regen + lps 1.2 and the Corning still sounded cleaner, faster and has a lower noise floor.

[Jud]

10 hours ago, sandyk said:

 

Hi Jud 

One advantage is,  that although the power leads are in close proximity to the optical fibre, they can't induce SMPS noise  from the PC/Server's +5V supply into the data pair like with a normal USB cable. This isn't a problem of course with the better USB cables where they sometimes fully separate the power and data lines.

 

Kind Regards

Alex

Yep, the OP said the same, and I realize that. Owned one, but for me anyway it proved quite fragile. It stopped working pretty quickly, so I returned it.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

1 minute ago, Jud said:

Yep, the OP said the same, and I realize that. Owned one, but for me anyway it proved quite fragile. It stopped working pretty quickly, so I returned it.

Loved the Corning SQ too. But it was maddening and one day it definitely died

[R1200CL]

Can someone invent a way to parallel two UltraCaps ?

 

It must be possible adding some circuits after them...

[Nenon]

16 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Can someone invent a way to parallel two UltraCaps ?

 

It must be possible adding some circuits after them...

 

You may want to look at those posts... assuming you are talking about LPS-1.2... if not, sorry about the spam. 

 

On 11/22/2018 at 10:31 PM, gstew said:

The 2 LPS-1.2s have to be carefully matched during setup by Alex to ensure they actually share the load & truly parallel. Without that one takes the load until it shuts off, then the other until it shuts off... You get the picture. 

 

I know he did the matching at least once & as far as I know swore to never do it again. I had those units & truthfully, I preferred a single unit to the 'twins'when used within their current limits. 

 

But now I use several configurations with 2 LPS-1.2s paralleled via a dual regulator board similar to the one I linked. I generally like that better than a single LPS-1.2.

 

On 11/23/2018 at 2:05 AM, JohnSwenson said:

The LPS-1.2 already has two LT3045 regulators in parallel. It is theoretically possible to use the same techniques to parallel 2 boxes together, BUT that is a different design. It takes a different board and several connections between boxes, it is NOT trivial.

 

The existing LPS-1.2 design is VERY carefully tuned, doing anything to the design is guaranteed to break SOMETHING, it would take several prototypes and months of development work to get right.

 

I do NOT want to do that. I want to focus on the new developments we are working on now, any modifications to existing designs are just going to slow down the new developments and I really don't want to do that.

  

John S.

 

 

[R1200CL]

@[email protected]

Maybe Alexey can du some funny things with his boxes ?

 

But reading John’s post, doesn’t give me much hope. 

[Chopin75]

16 hours ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Loved the Corning SQ too. But it was maddening and one day it definitely died

IT can be fragile so I don't spread it out in case one can yank it, many reviews state its fragile/vulnerability. It me it has the least color or maybe no color, giving the true sound, veil lifted, very revealing. but does not introduce more harshness.

It does have very weak Vbus power but too weak to do anything, as a demo DAC that I am testing now cannot detect my PC probably due to its lack of true VBus and when I switch to a regular USB cable with Vbus it works. 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

13 minutes ago, Chopin75 said:

IT can be fragile so I don't spread it out in case one can yank it, many reviews state its fragile/vulnerability. It me it has the least color or maybe no color, giving the true sound, veil lifted, very revealing. but does not introduce more harshness.

It does have very weak Vbus power but too weak to do anything, as a demo DAC that I am testing now cannot detect my PC probably due to its lack of true VBus and when I switch to a regular USB cable with Vbus it works. 

you can plug in a powered hub

[Chopin75]

13 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

you can plug in a powered hub

oh then the USB may have enough Vbus? Not sure if the thin copper wire has adequate transmission ability. 

[80levan]

The hub may ruin the point of using a Corning. I'd go for a USB disruptor or idefender then power it with dxpwr power regulator and then some.