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Showing results for tags 'sky'.
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Hi tweak fans! Perhaps a little on the madness side, but then tweaking HiFi seems to permit any stone to be turned. Having heard some differences with my streaming music via an 8 port switch with different PSUs and also direct into my broadband router (Sky UK SR102), I wondered whether the on-board PSU was good or not. I found a video on YouTube where a guy was modding his router to gain more WiFi signal from external antennas and also my screening what he claimed was a noisy onboard SMPS. See below for the unit. This is a modular PSU with the mainboard connection on the left side. Its is a 6x2 DIL PCB pin connector and conveniently its 6 Pins of 5V and 6 pins of 0V. So I thought I would do some tests.. I removed the mainboard as you see below and made a basic connection to a screened USB cable with the end removed. The other end is connected to an Apple iPad 10W charger. I read on another forum some detailed USB PSU reviews and the Apple models (iPhone and iPad) did very well for noise and accuracy. I did quite a few A/B tests with the mains PSU and the USB source.. The differences were quite subtle, but the external power was a little more natural, slightly wider in soundstage and richer overall.. (I do not really know how to describe this without tipping into superlatives). I am critical in terms of wanting to hear a major difference with a change.. Otherwise I really think 'is it worth it'. Cost wise this is very low.. some of my time and a spare cable and spare Apple charger (I will experiment with others). You can see below I pinched the groups of pins together and soldered my connections. Note +V is on the left in RED. While I was at it, I removed the crappy looking antennas and cables to the mainboard. I use this as a modem, DHCP server and ethernet switch, but not WiFi so thought I might clean it up my removing the Antennas. I then re-assembled the router and added some cable ties to secure the USB cable. It is now taken through the old mains socket (figure 8). Actually very simple and a definite upgrade.. Would I say it was night and day.. no.. But then I assume like many tweaks - they are increments of 10% that sum to a greater part. The PSU and crap antenna's are now spares Happy to answer any questions or provide more insights as to what I did. Simon
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Hi Guys, Looking for some help with a router to replace my SKY router. It's obviously basic and not the best for audio streaming. I've not started streaming at home, but plan to, and as the performance of the SKY router is poor I may as well replace it with something I can use long term. Any advice most welcome.