Better PSU for Duet??

[maxbertola]

Rocker,

please report here if you try the Maplin or another third party linear PSU, I'd like to know your impressions vs. the standard SMPS.

Thanks
Max

[Rocker]

No problem, I will post whatever I find from my tests. So far I have drawn a blank. I have several 9 volt PSUs [they came with guitar FX pedals] but the plug is larger than the socket on the Squeezebox. And most of them are SMPS units. One is different though, it is a 600 mA regulated linear PSU, I might replace the plug with one that fits the Squeezebox if I can find one in Maplins. I will update this thread at some stage in the future.

[maxbertola]

Rocker,

any success with your PSU experiments?

Max

[RonM]

My personal advice would be: Don't waste your money on this. It will not make any difference. But if you go to the "Audiophiles" section on this forum they sure will try to tell you otherwise.

Actually, a very little bit of time spent lurking at the audiophiles forum would show you a large preponderance of rampant scepticism about claims for things like the benefits of "better" power supplies. In fact, there are at least two or three threads that specifically address the wholesale scamming perpetrated by the "audiophile" press (as distinct from actual knowledgeable audiophiles, without a vested interest in selling outrageously priced totally useless kit).

Eg. http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93549

R.

[Rocker]

Rocker,

any success with your PSU experiments?

Max

Max,

Very little progress to report, mainly as a result of the extremely small PSU connector socket fitted to the Squeezebox. So far I have tried two switcher PSUs, they work fine with Boss Guitar Effects Pedals, but the supplied plugs that fit the Squeezebox socket do not work nor do they fit very well into the Squeezebox socket. This really bugs me, if I do not resolve this a.s.a.p., I will open the Squeezebox and fit a 'decent' [read Guitar Effect Pedal sized] socket or a flying lead with an online socket [again Guitar Effect Pedal sized].

One can only speculate as to why Logitech fitted such a connector for their PSU. To be fair I have had no problems with the supplied PSU but why that particular plug and socket was chosen remains a mystery to me. Guitar Effects pedals are robust [they need to be as they are operated by foot switches] and I have never had a problem with the PSU or wiring looms to the Pedals. Testament indeed to the quality of the PSU plug and sockets fitted on Guitar Effects Pedals.

I am not at all optimistic that one of the 'changeable' plugs on third party PSUs will work with the Squeezebox. Nor am I likely to spend upwards of €250 on a custom made PSU but you never know. Or as Mr Micawber would say something will turn up and it just might.....

[Owen Smith]

Hard to say in my case, but I'm not keen on switch mode power supplies as they can introduce unwanted noise and are sometimes noisy themselves (stick your ear close by to see what yours is like) so I swapped to a similar voltage linear power supply, in my case a transformer from a Sinclair QL computer. I certainly wasn't paying out for one of those power supplies at £200+ that is basically the same as in the QL supply, just in a pretty box, they are a rip-off.
IMHO

I have the opposite issue. My Arcam AVR350 AV amp is very sensitive to external magnetic fields and is very prone to hum pick up when a linear power supply is within three feet of it. I've bought switch mode power supplies to replace the linears that came with various things (eg. ethernet switch) to get rid of the mains hum picked up by the AV amp.

Perhaps a high quality toroidal transformer would also have fixed the issue (they have much lower external magnetic fields than standard transformers), but I really don't need an expensive toroidal on an ethernet switch.

So I was very pleased that the Duet came with switched mode power supplies, it meant I didn't have to replace them.

[NFLnut]

Actually, a very little bit of time spent lurking at the audiophiles forum would show you a large preponderance of rampant scepticism about claims for things like the benefits of "better" power supplies. In fact, there are at least two or three threads that specifically address the wholesale scamming perpetrated by the "audiophile" press (as distinct from actual knowledgeable audiophiles, without a vested interest in selling outrageously priced totally useless kit).

Eg. http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=93549

R.

It's all the same as the hype re: cables/wires. Now, I won't use just any 20 gauge zip/lamp cord from Home Depot for my speakers -- I use a 12 gauge pair that I bought from Monoprice for all of my cable runs (fronts, rears, side, center, zones throughout the house) that I bought 500' for ~$200, and I typically just use commonplace interconnects. I get a kick out of these esoteric "blueblood" audio catalogs that advertise $1000/meter interconnects and those silly little cable elevators to keep cables off of the floor (for "sonic improvement") and other ridiculousness designed to brainwash the paranoid and get them to hand over their wallets. I consider myself to have a fairly sophisticated taste for high end audio and I can hear things that many family, friends, and others can't. But a lot of what is pedaled by the esoteric audio industry is pure snake oil. I don't begrudge them the right to take money from the gullible. If some people think it improves their lives to pay for it, then everyone is happy. That's what makes this country great.

I remember a few years ago, a highly revered speaker designer showed up at a high end audio show to show off his latest achievement in speakers. But somehow on the morning of his show, he found that everything was shipped but his speaker cables. He thus had an assistant go down the street to Home Depot and buy their heaviest electrical extension cords (like you'd plug in a leaf blower, etc). Deciding to have fun with unknowing visitors to his booth, he decided to set up an A/B test with his Home Depot extension cords versus a spare pair of "high end" speaker cables that he later borrowed from a colleague from a competing vendor. Everyone MARVELED at the improved sonics and "clarity," and the extreme precision of his speakers connected to the HD extension cords (which he had wrapped with sleeves that made them look comparatively "high end") versus the otherwise "high end" cables and many were quite embarassed when they found out that the thicker cables weren't some $200/foot "supercable." After that audio show however, word spread among many audio enthusiasts on the internetz and a massive run on HD's heavy duty extension cables occurred and they came into short supply. It just goes to show you that some people will believe anything. The bottom line is .. electrons are electrons and they flow just as easily on "oxygen free" copper as standard copper (although OF copper is less likely to corrode and turn green inside the jacket, but that's not a sonic improvement). Just buy the largest gauge cable that you can afford.

Now, back to power supplies .. can some power supplies generate noise? Sure. But anyone who believes that buying a $100 power brick versus the one that comes with the Squeezeboxen and "hear" noticable improvement and "sonic excellence," IMO anyway, is suffering from "placebo effect." YM(or imagination)MV

[pski]

Better to worry about the capacity of the AC mains that feed your power amp.

[Rocker]

Better to worry about the capacity of the AC mains that feed your power amp.

Good suggestion my friend but that is already sorted. In Ireland we use the British three pin 13 amp socket with fused plug. The maximum size of cable I could fit into the socket connectors were three * 2.5 mm sq wires [total 7.5 mm sq] so I ran three runs of 2.5 mm sq twin and earth from a seperate MCB box at my consumer unit to the socket that is powering my system. I also ran a seperate 2.5 mm sq earth wire in parallel with the three wires in the twin and earth. It all fitted into the box with a little persuasion!!!! Sonically the system sounds less compressed than when powered from the adjacent socket which has a single run of 2.5 mm sq twin and earth. Strangely less compression sounds (initially) less impressive but is more rewarding musically. Music has less of an edge on the dedicated mains feed. And you can listen at lower volumes too.

My kit is Opus 21 CD Player, Classe CA M350 monoblocks, B&W 803D speakers, all cables (including mains) are silver except the digital cable from the Squeezebox which is a Stereovox XV11.

Since getting the Squeezebox and ripping a lot of my CDs to hard disk, I have heard a lot of music that I did not realise I had. By the simple task of selecting RANDOM songs. As far as I am concerned FLAC file based music is way better than I thought and a keeper.

[DejanM]

I remember a few years ago, a highly revered speaker designer showed up at a high end audio show to show off his latest achievement in speakers. But somehow on the morning of his show, he found that everything was shipped but his speaker cables. He thus had an assistant go down the street to Home Depot and buy their heaviest electrical extension cords (like you'd plug in a leaf blower, etc). Deciding to have fun with unknowing visitors to his booth, he decided to set up an A/B test with his Home Depot extension cords versus a spare pair of "high end" speaker cables that he later borrowed from a colleague from a competing vendor. Everyone MARVELED at the improved sonics and "clarity," and the extreme precision of his speakers connected to the HD extension cords (which he had wrapped with sleeves that made them look comparatively "high end") versus the otherwise "high end" cables and many were quite embarassed when they found out that the thicker cables weren't some $200/foot "supercable." After that audio show however, word spread among many audio enthusiasts on the internetz and a massive run on HD's heavy duty extension cables occurred and they came into short supply. It just goes to show you that some people will believe anything. The bottom line is .. electrons are electrons and they flow just as easily on "oxygen free" copper as standard copper (although OF copper is less likely to corrode and turn green inside the jacket, but that's not a sonic improvement). Just buy the largest gauge cable that you can afford.

(or imagination)MV

This is a good way to make business with cheap cables sold for a bit more :-))) No difference, so why don't buy this one which costs only a couple of pounds (bought in Hong Kong for few cents). And people like to hear the stories how cheap things are better than expencieve ...