I took a little time away from my bench today to listen to a few different power supplies.
One of my customers sent me a Channel Islands Audio SqueezeBox Power Supply.
He lives outside of the US in a country that uses 240 VAC. I suggested he look into the CIA supply as Dusty is offering it in 120 and 240 VAC input. right now CIA has the PS AND a SB3 for $500.00
I modded his SB3 for digital only and put it in my HT system. I compared the CIA supply to the stock SB switcher, A freshly modded ELPAC
WM220-1 and a Welborne Labs SB supply.
The CIA supply and the modded WM220-1 were very close in overall sound on his digital only mod. The Welborne sounded rather lean and analytical in comparison. All three of the linear supplies were cleaner sounding then the switcher. I could hear a lot more details with the linears.
I highly recommend the CIA supply to anyone who lives in a country that uses 240 VAC. It is very compact. It comes with a detachable AC and DC cable. For US residents, it is kind of a toss up between the CIA and the modded ELPAC. In the ELPACs favor, you can sometimes find them used for $40.00 or less. In the CIA favor, it certainly looks a lot better and you can have fun changing out the AC and DC cable to tune the sound to your liking.
I would suggest the CIA over the Welborne.
Thanks to Dusty for making a very nice supply for the SB at a nice price.
I did compare all of the supplies to an Ultimate PS I had on hand. No contest
If you are after the Ultimate resolution and musicality, it will cost you more than the CIA supply sells for.
