Bolder Modded Elpac PS

[joncourage]

Has anyone else tried one of these?

Just got it today. Without getting into detail at the moment, I'm hearing a serious difference btwn the Bolder-Elpac and a stock Elpac PS. To sum it up - more musical, less tiring (harsh, digital).

I'm fairly skeptical about the whole modding thing, not having bought modded equipment before and experiencing at best ambiguous results with Totem Beaks. I was willing to give it a shot, and frankly I'm surprised at how much of an improvement I'm hearing. My daughter even said she notices a difference.

Was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?

[P Floding]

Has anyone else tried one of these?

Just got it today. Without getting into detail at the moment, I'm hearing a serious difference btwn the Bolder-Elpac and a stock Elpac PS. To sum it up - more musical, less tiring (harsh, digital).

I'm fairly skeptical about the whole modding thing, not having bought modded equipment before and experiencing at best ambiguous results with Totem Beaks. I was willing to give it a shot, and frankly I'm surprised at how much of an improvement I'm hearing. My daughter even said she notices a difference.

Was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?

The Beaks are probably firmly in the placebo realm.

[Bob Bressler]

I just ordered an elpac and will send it off to wayne when it arrives.

[khedspeth]

Just ordered two of the linear Elpac supplies today. I'll probably send one back off to have it modified and keep the other for some testing. The supply of these things seems to be getting kind of limited.

[joncourage]

A bit more detail on the differences I'm hearing:

The best way to sum up the improvement is simply: "way more musical and natural sounding". I didn't even realize that my system had an element of harshness/digititis to it that made listening somewhat wearying, until I plugged in the modded power supply. I'm hearing more detail, better seperation and with it improved soundstaging, less harshness in the treble, a bit more control in the bass (more punch, less boom). I guess most of the things that go into a system sounding overall more musical and pleasing and less tiring on the ear. More "depth" is something that comes to mind, for lack of a more sophisticated technical term.

Listening to Steely Dan - The Royal Scam right now (part of my Reference collection, which are all songs I'm extremely familiar with how they sound), and the muted trumpet, which never sounded like a muted trumpet before but some approximation, actually sounds like a muted trumpet now. The vocals have been brought forward as if out of some oil barrel somewhere, and I'm hearing subtle sound effects in the song I don't ever remember hearing before, which tells me they were lost in the mix.

Now listening to Rush - YYZ, and Geddy's bass is clear and thumping, not muddy and lost. Peart's drums and cymbals are clear and seperate. Now this is foot-tapping stuff.

Vocals have more richness and realism than before, more as if a real human is singing, opposed to a recorded simulation approximating the voice; I guess just less "flat" and one dimensional.

I've been listening to music all night and haven't felt like switching off, which is what I usually want to do after about 15 minutes or so.

One thing I noticed immediately about the PS is a much fatter, sturdier cable from the wall wart to the barrel plug, and a much sturdier looking barrel connector.

[JohnnyLightOn]

joncourage, are you using the analog outs of your Squeezebox? Can you list your components?

I have a Bolder-modified Elpac on its way to me, and it will be here on Thursday or Friday. I will post my impressions on this thread after it arrives.

[joncourage]

Digital out from the SB to an AudioNote 1.1sig DAC to an Onkyo HT receiver to Amphion Argon speakers sitting on Atlantis Reference stands.

Digital IC is Cable Solutions Signature (Canare), analog ICs are Audioquest Cheetah, speaker cables are Audioquest Rockefeller. Power to everything - other than the SB - is provided by a Monster HTS5100 mkII; the SB is plugged directly into the wall - it didn't sound at all right to me plugged into the Monster. Various vibration isolation devices sitting under stuff.

It'll definitely be interesting to see whether other's experiences are similar to my own.

[JohnnyLightOn]

Great! Thanks for the additional info. I'm also using a NOS DAC (the Ack! dAck! 2.0) and was hoping for a good improvement from this mod. It sounds like I will get it. :)

I will have to try plugging my SB3 into the wall. Right now it's plugged into a 4 amp PowerVar isolation transformer.

[95bcwh]

Was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?

Just how good is the ELPAC mod? See my review here:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=25988&

[tomjtx]

A bit more detail on the differences I'm hearing:

The best way to sum up the improvement is simply: "way more musical and natural sounding". I didn't even realize that my system had an element of harshness/digititis to it that made listening somewhat wearying, until I plugged in the modded power supply. I'm hearing more detail, better seperation and with it improved soundstaging, less harshness in the treble, a bit more control in the bass (more punch, less boom). I guess most of the things that go into a system sounding overall more musical and pleasing and less tiring on the ear. More "depth" is something that comes to mind, for lack of a more sophisticated technical term.

Listening to Steely Dan - The Royal Scam right now (part of my Reference collection, which are all songs I'm extremely familiar with how they sound), and the muted trumpet, which never sounded like a muted trumpet before but some approximation, actually sounds like a muted trumpet now. The vocals have been brought forward as if out of some oil barrel somewhere, and I'm hearing subtle sound effects in the song I don't ever remember hearing before, which tells me they were lost in the mix.

Now listening to Rush - YYZ, and Geddy's bass is clear and thumping, not muddy and lost. Peart's drums and cymbals are clear and seperate. Now this is foot-tapping stuff.

Vocals have more richness and realism than before, more as if a real human is singing, opposed to a recorded simulation approximating the voice; I guess just less "flat" and one dimensional.

I've been listening to music all night and haven't felt like switching off, which is what I usually want to do after about 15 minutes or so.

One thing I noticed immediately about the PS is a much fatter, sturdier cable from the wall wart to the barrel plug, and a much sturdier looking barrel connector.

You could be describing my experience with the modded elpac. I stayed up all night too. What a significant improvement. I bought one of the last 2 at 17.00,
now I wish I had bought both to send to Bolder.

The best 100.00 I ever spent on an upgrade.
I am eager to compare it to a transporter...........

[CardinalFang]

Was wondering if anyone else has had the same experience?

Not with the Elpac, but I rehoused my SB2 into a new case along with a open frame linear PSU from Farnell (UK components supplier). I run it into a MF X-DACV3 and it surprised me how much better it sounded. Much clearer all round with better definition and a lot closer to my Copland CDP. Not sure why, but I suspect there is high frequency mush getting into places it shouldn't with the switcher, although I have no oscilliscope to go finding it!

[Wayne1]

Thank you for the kind comments on the modded ELPAC.

Supply IS getting scarce.

Allied Electronics lists 10 in stock.

Digi-Key lists 27 in stock.

I believe ELPAC has discontinued this model in favor of a switching power supply.

The D5 model has a 5 pin DIN connector on the end. This connector need to be cut off and a 2.5mm DC power connector soldered on.

The D5 uses a four conductor cable from the PS to the connector.

The ELPAC 760 model used a two conductor zip cord cable from the PS to the molded connector.

[JohnnyLightOn]

Wayne, do you think there is a sound difference between the two Elpac units due to the different cabling? If so, how would you describe it? Thank you.

[Wayne1]

JohnnyLightOn,

I have not kept one of the modded D5 Elpacs around long enogh to do a comparison. I try to mod them and ship them out within 48 hours of receiving them.

My personal modded 760 Elpac has been up in Longmont on loan to Sean from AV123.com. I will get it back from him next week for RMAF.

As far as a sound difference due to the cabling, I have heard a difference between a coax cable and a shielded twisted pair used for a SB power supply. There just might be a difference between 2 parrallel conductors (760) and a star quad cable (D5) used for DC.

I do not believe the difference is anywhere near as great as the capacitor and diode differences in the modded vs unmodded Elpac.

[jbm0]

Thank you for the kind comments on the modded ELPAC.

Supply IS getting scarce.

[...]

The ELPAC 760 model used a two conductor zip cord cable from the PS to the molded connector.

I seem to have found a cache of the WM050-1950-760 model (5V/1.2A regulated, 760 connector) but... and please forgive me for re-asking something I know was hashed out thoroughly in the past, but I'm not finding the reference... what again was determined to be the actual current requirement of an SB[2 or 3]? The nominal requirement, and the rated output of the supplied switcher, are of course 2A. Is 1.2A iffy, or actually just fine?

[Wayne1]

You may want to peruse this thread

http://www.audiocircle.com/circles/index.php?topic=24771.0

I would say 1.2 amps is pushing the edge a bit.

[adamslim]

Not with the Elpac, but I rehoused my SB2 into a new case along with a open frame linear PSU from Farnell (UK components supplier). I run it into a MF X-DACV3 and it surprised me how much better it sounded. Much clearer all round with better definition and a lot closer to my Copland CDP. Not sure why, but I suspect there is high frequency mush getting into places it shouldn't with the switcher, although I have no oscilliscope to go finding it!

Would it be this one, perchance?
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=1208814
I'm trying to find something in the UK and it's rather frustrating, trying to analyse sites designed for engineers!

Recommended? You seem positive...?

[tomsi42]

Would it be this one, perchance?
http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?SKU=1208814
I'm trying to find something in the UK and it's rather frustrating, trying to analyse sites designed for engineers!

Recommended? You seem positive...?

There are a many variants of these open frame 5V powersupplies. If I remember correctly, CardinalFang used the 3A version.

I made a PSU with this unit: http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/rswww/searchBrowseAction.do?Nr=avl%3auk&N=4294680492&in_dim_search=1&name=SiteStandard&forwardingPage=line&R=5362993&callingPage=/jsp/search/search.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1508670363.1160603189@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddjdfilhimcefeceefdffhdgmn.0&cacheID=uknetscape
(its a Calex 32005A)

The idea is that you should use an industry grade non-switching (linear) 5V powersupply that delivers at least 1.5A. Sound engineering practice says (and I'm probably going to get flamed for this) that you should use a powersupply that can deliver twice the amount of power that you need. As the SB3 uses between 0.5A and 0.9A, if I remember correctly, many of us went for the 3A units.

[CardinalFang]

There are a many variants of these open frame 5V powersupplies. If I remember correctly, CardinalFang used the 3A version.

I made a PSU with this unit: http://rswww.com/cgi-bin/bv/rswww/searchBrowseAction.do?Nr=avl%3auk&N=4294680492&in_dim_search=1&name=SiteStandard&forwardingPage=line&R=5362993&callingPage=/jsp/search/search.jsp&BV_SessionID=@@@@1508670363.1160603189@@@@&BV_EngineID=ccccaddjdfilhimcefeceefdffhdgmn.0&cacheID=uknetscape
(its a Calex 32005A)

The idea is that you should use an industry grade non-switching (linear) 5V powersupply that delivers at least 1.5A. Sound engineering practice says (and I'm probably going to get flamed for this) that you should use a powersupply that can deliver twice the amount of power that you need. As the SB3 uses between 0.5A and 0.9A, if I remember correctly, many of us went for the 3A units.

Yes, I used a 3 amp version to give plenty of headroom. I like to run a PSU well below its rating for a number of reasons. I also checked to make sure the ripple was pretty low - this one is 5mv p-p, which I think is the same as mine. (although this one is 3mv p-p: http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=1187133 for a bit more money)

http://uk.farnell.com/jsp/endecaSearch/partDetail.jsp?sku=4893724

They don't seem to have the exact one I used anymore, but this one looks close enough.

[adamslim]

Thanks guys, I'll look at getting one :)

One question: what impact would mains conditioning have on such a power supply? I would have thought that it should be zero, as it itself is a filter. Is that what people have found in practice? Or is my theory hopelessly flawed here? :)

[tomsi42]

Thanks guys, I'll look at getting one :)

One question: what impact would mains conditioning have on such a power supply? I would have thought that it should be zero, as it itself is a filter. Is that what people have found in practice? Or is my theory hopelessly flawed here? :)

A theory that has popped up (not confirmed or refuted) is that the standard wallwart is more suspectible to bad mains than the alternative ones; so when you have conditioned mains it doesn't make any difference.

I find that my PSU sound clearly better than the standard wallwart, and I don't have conditions mains...

[Bob Bressler]

Just got my modded ELPACs back from Bolder. It really makes a big (positive) difference. I can't believe I waited so long.

[ecruz]

I just sent mine to Bolder this afternoon. I can't wait to get it back.