Article: Reality Quest: Power and Digital Audio with the Sean Jacobs DC4 and Sound Application PGI TT-7 (Part 1 of 2)

[The Computer Audiophile]

So neat to read about all this Ray and follow the journey. Thanks so much for Part 1, I can't wait for everyone to see Part 2 :~)

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, Archimago said:

Interesting read. Glad you liked the results...

 

Just to state the obvious. I think it would be really nice to have a quick look at the noise level coming out of the DAVE with its stock SMPS vs. the others.

 

The reason I bring this up is that in the past I have found at least one example where the power supply can clearly affect noise level and it was in fact a linear power supply that was problematic for the DAC. Sometimes the noise is ultrasonic so you won't necessarily hear the issue but nonetheless is being fed to the amp and speakers. Furthermore, you might find situations where as the power supply warms up, the noise will fluctuate over time.

 

Considering the price of the DAVE, effort to open it up, warranty exceptions, etc... it would be nice to go that extra mile and ensure there are no issues with measurements.

I wish all people who want measurements would say it this way. Bravo @Archimago . 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 hour ago, ray-dude said:

 

I wish all of us that can't (currently) do measurements lived close enough to @Archimago so we could take our toys over and cross map measurements to subjective experience! (over an appropriate beverage (or three) of course)

 

 

Totally! 
 

It would be enjoyable and enlightening. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, ecwl said:

I have often wondered how much of the sonic improvement is due to a switch from SMPS to LPS thus reducing high impedance leakage current coming from the PC and how much of the sonic improvement is due to actual improvements to the power supply (noise in the DC current, impedance, etc.) Theoretically, one can test it out by feeding DAVE via Toslink using stock SMPS vs DC4 to compare.

As someone who switched back to Toslink to avoid high impedance leakage current for DAVE, I have to admit it's a bit inconvenient.

So at the end of the day, I think the system we want to have is the system we want to have. So if the DC4 upgrade is superior to the stock SMPS in @ray-dude's system sounds better, that's awesome. And it is great to be able to read about the experience and find out more about DC4. Very neat.

Well said.

[The Computer Audiophile]

1 minute ago, jeffhenning said:

John Siau, who's the chief designer & CTO at Benchmark Media, said it best when, in an interview, stated that if you need a power conditioner for your system to sound its best, your equipment has really terrible power supplies in them.

 

Here would be my thought: rather than waste money on a 3rd party power supply, buy a better DAC.

 

From what I can tell, all of these products are garbage. 

Wow. You’ve chosen to believe John as opposed to others. Can you say why you appeal to this authority?

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, ray-dude said:

I defer to @The Computer Audiophile on whether we should have a audiophile wine topic in addition to an audiophile tea topic, but can't wait until we all can have proper listening/tasting sessions again (it's been a long year)

Not a problem. If it increases one's level of enjoyment in this hobby, I'm all for it.