[jpm]

Before I spring for Auralic's $300 linear power supply, I was wondering if anyone has experience and recommendations for more flexible alternatives?

Are there power supplies that can offer a range of common power outputs or even power more than one device at a time?

[OZZIOZZI]

Are there power supplies that can offer a range of common power outputs or even power more than one device at a time?

I assume you are after a variable DC voltage output to run various audio equipment such ss HDs , DACs etc. Be aware that many "nominal" 12V or 5V power inputs can often tolerate a slightly higher voltage as they usually have an internal voltage regulator. For example 12V automotive accessories actually run off a fully-charged 12V battery which is actually 13.8 V or higher. For example, I use a AC mains powered 13.8V 3.5A regulated and filtered power supply to run an external hard drive. It was designed to run auto accessories in a home. I believe it is preferable to the switchmode powersupply "wall wart" or plugpacks usually supplied with things like HDs, DACs etc.

Try Googling "Laboratory power supplies" or "variable voltage DC power supplies" Some are single rail ie: +  3-30+ volts or dual rail +\- 3-15 volts DC for amps and opamp circuits that require +/- power rails.  Some are referenced to ground or are floating supplies that can often be tied to ground by a jumper or switch. Hope this helps.
Ozziozzi

[Folsom]

Not impressed with what I see.

I'd go with a TeddyPardo PSU before that. It advertises low noise in the audio spectrum. Well unfortunately that's an utterly useless spectrum to measure for PSU noise. First off DC is 0hz. Second most noise will be in the RF range which is a lot higher than 20khz... we should be looking for peaks at places like 5mhz or 60mhz, etc. The Teddy is about the same price and surely out performs it. More $ could get you even better but I can see how cost to performance may be the interest.

What are the power requirements?

[poseidonsvoice]

Try Mojo Audio:

Mojo v1.0 : http://www.mojo-audio.com/watt-v1-0-power-supply/

Mojo Joule: http://www.mojo-audio.com/joule-v5-0-power-supply/

And Try UpTone Audio's JS-2 (designed by John Swenson) - he knows a thing or two about good circuit design/engineering: http://uptoneaudio.com/products/js-2-linear-power-supply

All are at different price points and some are dual supplies so take that into consideration...otherwise go full DIY, sky is the limit as is your budget.

The Aries external PS is 16V/1A, but I believe the actual PS requirement of the Aries is a little less as the UpTone unit works perfectly fine powering the Aries LE at 12V.

Best,

Anand.

[jpm]

Thanks for the enlightening replies. Unfortunately I'm not qualified to asses the merits of laboratory power supplies, however ...

Be aware that many "nominal" 12V or 5V power inputs can often tolerate a slightly higher voltage ...

This much I discovered out of desperation / necessity following "Jaws" the cat repeatedly chewing through power cables of sundry small electronic devices!

Without anything in the way of electronic engineering expertise, I'm not certain how the variables apply.  For example, Teddy Pardo don't offer a power supply matching that of the Auralic linear power supplies 16v /1A spec, or the supplied wall wart's 15v / 1A. The closest are 12V / 1A or 16V / 2A. 

From the spec's of UpTone's JS-2, I deduce that getting the correct voltage (give or take) needs to be the determining factor, as long as the minimum required amperage is supplied.

The flexibility of the JS-2 is what I have in mind to justify spending significantly more $. However, I've been aware of Teddy Pardo's reputation with NAIM power supplies for a very long time. Spending $70 more than the Auralic baseline would make the 16V / 2A a strong contender, provided I'm not going to turn my nice new Aries Mini into a pile of smoldering gunk!

[undertow]

jpm,

Honestly $300 is a pretty good deal for a commercially built linear supply's in the world of such devices trust me. I am not aware of the Auralic specifically, however I can tell you there is a huge upgrade in not just sound quality, but overall system "Circuit" quality when eliminating any switching power supplies, and wall warts from your system in their entirety.

I had a turntable motor which ran thru a speed controller using a wall wart "switching supply" and it caused on, and off havoc just being plugged in letting noise leak thru whether using analog or any other source on the system. So the biggest advantage is just getting them out of your audio chain period, not even to mention the direct impact on the signal chains sound quality as well if hooked directly to a digital source, or preamp etc...

Point being a turntable motor does not even directly influence signal chain, but just keeping speed perfect, and vibration controlled, however everything else plugged in around it suffers if on the same circuits specifically other high performance linear devices sharing the tap with it.

That being said I know a couple companies make linear supplies with various DC outputs, but not to many can offer an adjustable DC output very easily because it has to have a specific style voltage regulator in it, and normally these are adjusted by a small POT on the board. The only cheaper way is to go on EBAY, and there are several companies out of Hong Kong selling pretty good DC linear's, even variable linears that will put out anywhere from about 6 volts to 24 volts depending on the transformer you use. Unfortunately building DIY, and finding yourself a small chassis with your own transformer, and DC power regulator of your choice is the only way to save money.

Almost any commercial built using virtually the same Hong Kong boards will cost you anywhere from 500 to 1500 complete from what I have found when doing searches for the exact same thing about 6 months ago... So I had to build them, and they ended up being better, with more options.

I actually had to build a fairly unique, and more complex one anyway which nobody makes. One regulator I needed had to output positive+ 18 volt DC, and negative - 18 volt DC, as well as I added a 3rd supply in the same component box to also output a 12 volt DC standard regulator feeding the fore mentioned turntable motor.

System went DEAD silent, and easily increased to the positive side of musical 20%... It is worth it if you can get any and ALL wall warts, and or switching supplies out of the audio chain.

Type in "linear DC power regulator" on Ebay, and you will start to see all the types of linear boards available, but you will have to add a transformer etc... Some completed units might pop up, which will be cheaper at 150 to 200 bucks, but you will 99.9% for sure be shipping from China. I would make sure to get a little more headroom for good measure, for example if your current Wall wart is putting out 1 Amp I would get a little higher power regulator, and transformer if possible. Example get a 1.5 amp, or 3 amp etc... along with a transformer that can supply 3 amp to 5 amp etc... By the way to do it right you will need a sizeable component chassis, sometimes needing to be placed on your equipment rack taking up as much space as a DVD player or preamp component size.

[Folsom]

Don't expect the eBay ones to compete.

The Teddy's have been shown in competition to perform extremely well, only slightly less so then a Salas. When buying other units you don't really know how good they are since they haven't been tested with those ones.

The SB booster is the only one which looks like it has a decent input filter, but may have a few mistakes.

[undertow]

He asked originally is there anything more flexible, so I agree those TeddyPardo designs look pretty decent, and would be a good commercially built alternative still costing a bit more, however I don't see any universal options, or any more flexibility in them which is why I simply suggested a cheaper alternative if he wanted to go fully custom, and run multiple DC outputs for different devices all off of one which was another specific question he asked, and yes you can do it easily with a big enough transformer, and a couple different voltage regulators of your choice without having to buy multiple units.

Another small point about that...If you wanted to run 2 components lets say off a single 12 volt DC supply I would not parallel them into a single regulator although you could. Simply buy a second 15 dollar regulator board so they are both isolated on their own supplies using a better bigger transformer from the get go to feed them separately. Then you can use one good power cord and IEC inlet to power it all. There is no disadvantage to doing this accept saving money, and space! Because 1 or 2 amps feeding DC components will never get better quality off multiple AC / 10 gauge IEC audiophile power cords feeding them separately sorry 

By the way those boards off ebay are not bad at all, if you find the right ones they use decent electrolytic caps, and easily you can replace the only real important part if you wanted to go super high end by putting a top grade power regulator chip on it if you have the soldering skills.

I will also throw in one more option that was not mentioned... There are Battery supplies also available. Red wine I believe makes a couple, but honestly I was never blown away by the method, plus the batteries charging etc... And I have heard from both sides of the fence in the end just a good Linear supply is the way to go if you do anything, as any method comes with its own set of challenges.

[Folsom]

Compared to Walwarts and such I'm sure any option will be rewarding!

[undertow]

Compared to Walwarts and such I'm sure any option will be rewarding!

Absolutely agreed

[glynnw]

http://www.hd-plex.com/HDPLEX-Fanless-Linear-Power-Supply-for-PC-Audio-and-CE-device.html

4 outputs - 19V, 12V 5V and one that is adjustable from 7.5V to 19.5V.

Our own Audio Circle sponsor Sonore also sells this, although their ad doesn't mention the adjustable output - I imagine they have this model, which appears to be newer than the one on their site.  Support our sponsors where possible

[undertow]

http://www.hd-plex.com/HDPLEX-Fanless-Linear-Power-Supply-for-PC-Audio-and-CE-device.html

4 outputs - 19V, 12V 5V and one that is adjustable from 7.5V to 19.5V.

Our own Audio Circle sponsor Sonore also sells this, although their ad doesn't mention the adjustable output - I imagine they have this model, which appears to be newer than the one on their site.  Support our sponsors where possible

Wow... Not bad, but problem is you would have to build convertor cables, or replace the jacks on the back to work with most audio gear putting out your standard 2.5mm or 2.1mm DC connector where needed... And be careful to make sure you use the + tap if thats what you need, don't want to mix those negatives in there. Which also points out most people would probably waste all those regulator taps being dead weight anyway not hooking up to anything. I assume this is more for a "Test" unit of some sort, not serious 24-7 audio quality.

[glynnw]

Unit comes with an assortment of connecting cables and I built 1.  I am using 3 of the 4 outputs all the time - PC, SOtM USB Buss and Tortuga passive pre and considering buying another to replace 2 other linears I use - just to make things simpler.  If I had anything that needed 5V I'd hook it up too.  And any DIYer who can solder can easily make a barrel connector cable. So I disagree with you -it's not just a test unit.  Admittedly you should get an improvement by using 4 of the $1000 dollar units instead, but I cannot afford that.  For the money this fits my needs.

[jpm]

Thanks for all of the great input so far.  I should probably clarify the thought process behind all of this a little more ...

I anticipate a future with more wall warts as devices derive from or add IT components. Just thinking about routers, switches, WAN devices alone - keeping their noise away from audio devices is clearly desirable.

My immediate use case is the Aries mini. The issue isn't the money but an interest in longer term value. Over the next five to ten years, how many additional devices will I either buy a dedicated linear supply for, or forego the option to add one  because {insert reason}.

The aforementioned HDPlex and UpTone power supplies looks very interesting, as does the SOtM sPS-1000 http://www.sotm.sonore.us/SOtM2.html#3

Look at it this way: HiFi equipment runs a spectrum in longevity of value. If you spent $3,000 on a DAC ten years ago, it's performance can be surpassed by a far cheaper modern replacement today. If you spent that $3,000 on a turntable, there's a solid case that you'd have to spend more today just to achieve the same quality.

The long term value of a good linear power supply is more akin to the example of the turntable than the DAC. If it were the other way around, I'd happily just buy the Auralic PSU and be done, but there's a longer term value proposition  to evaluate for a PSU that could potentially do duty for decades.

One other question I have is around LINN's long term use of switching power supplies. Just about everyone else seems to prefer linear, so what has LINN been doing differently?

[rodge827]

There is a guy selling an Uptone JS2 on USAudio Mart... Search Uptone and find the ad.

[Tone Depth]

It appears you didn't even check out the link provided before giving your visual assessment of this LPSU. Maybe next time?

Wow... Not bad, but problem is you would have to build convertor cables, or replace the jacks on the back to work with most audio gear putting out your standard 2.5mm or 2.1mm DC connector where needed... And be careful to make sure you use the + tap if thats what you need, don't want to mix those negatives in there. Which also points out most people would probably waste all those regulator taps being dead weight anyway not hooking up to anything. I assume this is more for a "Test" unit of some sort, not serious 24-7 audio quality.

[OZZIOZZI]

I may have misunderstood the OP. I thought they were after a "variable" voltage supply that could be used to power a variety of pieces of equipment. My answer covers that requirement. If they want an off-the-shelf piece of equipment specifically designed for audio equipment the HDFlex PS might well be suitable with appropriate leads and connectors. It all depends how DIY the OP wants to go.

"From the spec's of UpTone's JS-2, I deduce that getting the correct voltage (give or take) needs to be the determining factor, as long as the minimum required amperage is supplied."

Re: replacing SMPS wall warts. Many older style wall warts or in-line boxes are actually linear power supplies with transformer, rectifier bridges and filtering capacitors, sometimes they were regulated as well, particularly if designed for laptop computers. You can usually pick these linear power supplies by their size and weight which is usually 2X to  4X their SMPS equivalent in voltage and current. As long as the labelled voltage is close to that required and they provide sufficient current AND the polarity and size of the output plug is the same as the original supply, they may be safely substituted for the original switch mode power supply.  IF you do not have the necessary skills or equipment to check these details, it may be best to seek help or buy an off-the-shelf unit designed for the particular equipment.