Linear v Switched mode PSUs - which is 'best' for audio?

[CN211276]

I tried a power bank with the Topping E30. It was better than the one supplied but not as good as a LPS.

[Geoff.R.G]

I did use a large 5V/3A powerbank for a Pi-based streamer for a while, this was soundwise better than a switching wall-wart but not as good as an LPSU with transformer.

I tried a power bank with the Topping E30. It was better than the one supplied but not as good as a LPS.

There is a difference between a power bank and a battery. Power banks are Lithium Ion batteries with control circuits and regulators. What is important is that Li-Ion batteries have a characteristic voltage of 3.7V per cell. Thus, to achieve 5V a power bank must either use two cells, giving 7.2V, and regulate down or a single cell and use a switched mode circuit to effectively regulate up. Either way there are active components between the battery and the equipment. Using just a battery is likely to be a better solution but a battery as part of a linear PSU will benefit from the regulation of the PSU, which may be passive.

Devices that use a USB input for power can be considered to be computer system components and one would hope they had been designed to operate from a SMPS. I would be interested to hear whether anyone has achieved a true 5V from batteries e.g. four NiMh cells to drive a 5V component.

[Nearlymusical]

It's interesting to read that the Sbooster is getting the thumbs up.
I experimented with LPS to both my Chord Hugo 2 and Mscaler. The LPS that I bought were from MCRU. In the end I preferred the poweroak battery to supply the Hugo 2, and the original Chord switched power supply to the MScaler.
I found the MCRU 12V LPS supply to the MScaler made the sound a bit sterile - more HiFi but less listenable, similar when I used the poweroak 2 with MScaler. However not everyone has the same experience. It does seem that the results may also depend on whose LPS you buy. From reading other posts it seems that the MCRU LPS may not be as big an improvement as the Sbooster.

[CN211276]

I never used a MCRU PS with the Mscaler, going straight from the one supplied by Chord to the Sbooster. The difference was very noticeable, but no more so than when earlier I replaced the MCRU PSs on the MicroRendu and Qutest with Sboosters. To these ears the MCRU PSs are hardly worth the money and Sboosters very much justify the extra cost.

[Berty bass]

Thanks for all the responses. It feels like the consensus is that an LPS could offer benefits but it's worth putting some effort into finding the right one. That said, it feels a bit counter intuitive, the idea of spending over twice as much on an Sbooster (or similar) as I paid for the DAC.

[Berty bass]

Before you take the plunge, try plugging any SMPS devices into a different part of the room, away from the rest of the hi-fi (if you can). You might find that gives a subtle benefit.

[r3xj0hn570n]

Grab an isolation transformer (doesn't have to be a big one), plug all your switchmode supplies into that. Works for me.

[CN211276]

Thanks for all the responses. It feels like the consensus is that an LPS could offer benefits but it's worth putting some effort into finding the right one. That said, it feels a bit counter intuitive, the idea of spending over twice as much on an Sbooster (or similar) as I paid for the DAC.

Digital audio gear benefits greatly from hefty, clean power. The chips and circuit boards are relatively cheap so an 'expensive' PSU will prove its worth in terms of sound quality.

[Berty bass]

As a note: I now have 2 Cambridge DacMagic Plus DACs (thanks GH!) in use, both with SBooster LPSU's. Certainly with these power supplies, the Plus is a very satisfying listen; rich, musical, dynamic and detailed.

To really improve on this you would need to spend considerably more (at least double) than the outlay for the DacMagic Plus and SBooster combined.

[Berty bass]

I think it's a case of trying a reasonable quality linear power supply at a reasonable cost and seeing how you get on.

With there being evidence that swapping from a switched mode power supply may improve the sound of the DAC (my speculation being that the analogue section of the DAC benefits most from the better power supply).
As well as evidence that other components - the amplification and analogue sources may benefit, due to cleaner power supply in your room.

There may be some house and system and choice of music and listener dependency in this.

So far with my very limited number of digital source bake-off I've struggled to hear any differences that I'd get worked up enough about to dip my hand in my pocket. Maybe one day I'll be at a DAC demo where I think "Ah, that's about as significant a difference as a speaker change with 2 very different speakers."