How big of a power supply should your digital gear have?

[caesar]

How big of a power supply should your digital gear have? Would you trust digital gear that weighs almost nothing?

 

[mep]

How can people possibly answer that question other than to say "big enough to provide the needed voltage and current"?

 

[Vincent Kars]

“How long do you think a legs should be?”
“Long enough to reach the ground.”

 

[garylkoh]

“How long do you think a legs should be?”
“Long enough to reach the ground.”

Haha! Great one, Vincent.

 

[mep]

Haha! Great one, Vincent.

Wasn't that an old quote attributed to Abe Lincoln when asked how long should a man's legs be?

 

[Johnny Vinyl]

I have so many lines...........

 

[Vincent Kars]

Wasn't that an old quote attributed to Abe Lincoln when asked how long should a man's legs be?

Yes
Another famous one by Abraham Lincoln
"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity."

 

[FrantzM]

Yes
Another famous one by Abraham Lincoln
"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity."

You're on a roll

 

[Whatmore]

Yes
Another famous one by Abraham Lincoln
"The problem with quotes on the Internet is that it is hard to verify their authenticity."

Did he really say that ??

 

[mep]

Did he really say that ??

Sure. Honest Abe invented the internet before Gore did.

 

[elcorso]

How big of a power supply should your digital gear have? Would you trust digital gear that weighs almost nothing?

I would think more on quality, like a Paul Hynes LPSU.

Weight means nothing in a DAC, please look for SQ 'weight'. The additional 'weight' will be added by the LPSU.

Roch

 

[caesar]

I know guys love being smart alecks, but I guess we all have different ways to boost our fragile self esteem. But being helpful and sharing experiences does make many people feel better...

Anyways, here's Fremer on a Sim Audio 40-lb power supply upgrade for their already excellent sounding unit (his reference) : "Go to your dealer and get an 820S to take home and try. Put it on a credit card if the dealer doesn't trust you, but be prepared to drop $8000—I don't think you'll be returning that 820S to the store".

http://www.stereophile.com/content/simaudio-moon-evolution-820s-power-supply

 

[mojave]

When will caesar start a thread without a question in the title?

It depends on whether your digital gear has a linear power supply or an SMPS. A linear power supply will often have a multi-rail toroidal power transformer. This weights more than an SMPS.

 

[Brian Walsh]

I don't see a need for it with the reference gear here, but some other gear out there with lesser power supplies may benefit from it.

 

[Vermin]

This big!



(on the left, a Buffalo III dac with exasound USB. On the right, 60 pounds of power supply)
Built by Leif Christensen, it sounds about as good as it gets in the Digital world.

 

[Ken Newton]

How big of a power supply should your digital gear have? Would you trust digital gear that weighs almost nothing?

Caesar,

This can be an interesting question. From a technical standpoint, and has been indicated by others, the power supply only need provide the power demanded by the load. For a CD player or DAC, that amount will be relatively small, perhaps less than 10 Watts. So long as the amount of power demanded is supplied, then the issue becomes the quality of that power. Is the resulting D.C. voltage(s) held tightly constant, and how tightly, and across how wide a band of of frequencies? Is that power free of noise and harmonics, both normal mode and common-mode? Is the supplied power reactive or resistive in source impedance, as delivered to the powered circuits? Most, but not all, of these concerns depend upon the voltage regulator circuits.

In addition, the commutation (switching) of the main rectifier diodes causes the power transformer to ring at high frequency, unless an RC snubber circuit has been implemented across the secondary winding. Unintended coupling from the supply to the powered circuits can be a problem when amplifying small signals, hence the not uncommon use of remote power supply boxes used with phono stages. Also, in my experience, common-mode noise is more of a problem than is often thought.

From the perspective of a non-technical consumer, power supply weight is, of course, a proxy for overall component quality. The problem is that what provides most of that weight is the iron used in the power supply magnetics, such as the main transformer and in any power chokes. It doesn't cost much per pound for manufactures to include massive amounts of such 'magnetic' iron in their products, and thereby, ride the consumer's equating of mass with quality. That applies to heavy chassis/enclosures as well. And yet, I think, there can be a kernal of consumer truth to the mass-quality assiociation. While gratuitous mass may not indicate much positive, too little mass can indicate something negative, especially for a power amp - switching supplies not withstanding.

The issue of component overpricing is a seperate one, I think. One which pervades high-end audio.

 

[Ken Newton]

Looks to me like it's mostly there to mount the small solderable components (transistors, caps. resistors, etc.) in lieu of a PCB. I wouldn't be surprised if there is also some claim about the natural musical qualtities of wood mounting versus fiberglass mounting.