Some very interesting posts re SMPS's. To be clear, I am totally on board with addressing this as a potential issue. One point specific to my system, I do not have all devices on one mains spur, in fact they are on three. The PC and router are about 6m away from the hifi kit, connected by 10m of Ethernet cable. The rest of the hifi kit is spread between two mains outlets, which are probably about 5m apart, although I think these are probably on the same ring.
I like @Greg 's ferrite core clamp idea, it should be very easy to do and very low cost. Well worth a try. Of course @yabaVR 's SMPS test is even easier to try and free, but he has mentioned it again, so I will have to move it down yet another position on my 'to do' list. (actually, as things happen, I did have some plans for the Friday and Saturday of the Easter break, it looks like these plans have fallen through, so unexpectedly I find myself with far more free time that I expected this weekend, so maybe this test will be done soon.)
In terms of eliminating SMPS's completely, I have been thinking of getting a pair of Paul Hynes SR4's to power the SOtM kit. It would be good to get @octaviars view on the SR4 with his SOtM items. Elsewhere, the SR4 appears to be gaining a fine reputation and is relatively good value. This would leave me with the SOtM sPS-500 spare. This is a very clean SMPS in terms of power delivery and can deliver 5 amps, so one thought I had is that I could use this to power my PC. One issue here is that I am not 100% convinced that the SOtM kit will be staying in my system. It probably will stay, but I do not want to start throwing more cash on LPSU's to power something that could possibly be for sale on eBay before the end of the year.
As for the SMPS in the MC3+USB, this would require surgery to replace. I had mentioned before about rumours of an 'Empyreal' class MC3+USB, which would presumably include a LPSU similar to the REF10. There has been zero news of this recently though, and the rumour seams to be based on the fact that the REF10 is currently the only product in Mutec's Empyreal class. An announcement at the Munich show maybe? (I'm ever the optimist.....)
Picking up on @thumb5 's point, there was an interesting comparison of the performance of various power supplies on Computer Audiophile. The interesting thing was just how well some SMPS's perform relative to LPSU's, so yes, you cannot generalise here. As another generalisation buster, one of the nicest to listen to, least digital sounding systems, that I listened to at the Bristol show recently had class D power amps. (Mola Mola) I don't know how many times I have read and heard people say that class D is unlistenable, and lets say that Mola Mola system did have a slight digital edge, everyone would be saying, "well it would sound like that, it's class D".
So I agree there is much to investigate, and potentially much to gain here. That said, I still feel that all this might be missing the point completely. The key issue I have been posting about is a change in the tonal presentation of my system between the mR and SOtM kit. Some say this is due to the additional transparency of the SOtM kit. So why is it more transparent? The most common answer to this seams to be that the SOtM kit has better noise suppression. So the additional noise suppression has tilted the tonal balance away from something I enjoy, the solution to this is to then eliminate SMPS noise. This does not follow logically. OK, I may have a system now that would more than ever benefit form eliminating noise from SMPS's and similar, but I think something more is going on here. As I said in an earlier post, with decently recorded material the system is sounding quite superb, so whatever issue the work of the devil SMPS's are causing, it is hard to hear it when the source material is good, and does not bother me with the mR in place. Yet somehow switching the mR for the SOtM kit has made the system brighter, or at least apparently brighter. With the mR in place something can be enjoyable to listen to, with the SOtM kit less so, nothing else needs to change, the mR is surrounded by SMPS's as well, (at one time the mR was SMPS iFi powered and sounded OK) the amps, speakers, PC, nothing else changed. Imagine getting a favourite album, but one that is not the best actual recording quality. Listen to it with the treble turned up +5dB, it will probably be very difficult to listen to, this is irrespective of how many SMPS's one might have. Also note my car rattle analogy in post #74, it is not like the system has a fundamental problem.
The good news is that I do have quite a few ideas as to how to investigate the issue, further understand it, and identify what to do, plus a bit more free time than expected this weekend. There are a few things I want to try, systematically and logically. It is a case of information gathering, quite what this information will tell me remains to be seen. (or heard)
I like @Greg 's ferrite core clamp idea, it should be very easy to do and very low cost. Well worth a try. Of course @yabaVR 's SMPS test is even easier to try and free, but he has mentioned it again, so I will have to move it down yet another position on my 'to do' list. (actually, as things happen, I did have some plans for the Friday and Saturday of the Easter break, it looks like these plans have fallen through, so unexpectedly I find myself with far more free time that I expected this weekend, so maybe this test will be done soon.)
In terms of eliminating SMPS's completely, I have been thinking of getting a pair of Paul Hynes SR4's to power the SOtM kit. It would be good to get @octaviars view on the SR4 with his SOtM items. Elsewhere, the SR4 appears to be gaining a fine reputation and is relatively good value. This would leave me with the SOtM sPS-500 spare. This is a very clean SMPS in terms of power delivery and can deliver 5 amps, so one thought I had is that I could use this to power my PC. One issue here is that I am not 100% convinced that the SOtM kit will be staying in my system. It probably will stay, but I do not want to start throwing more cash on LPSU's to power something that could possibly be for sale on eBay before the end of the year.
As for the SMPS in the MC3+USB, this would require surgery to replace. I had mentioned before about rumours of an 'Empyreal' class MC3+USB, which would presumably include a LPSU similar to the REF10. There has been zero news of this recently though, and the rumour seams to be based on the fact that the REF10 is currently the only product in Mutec's Empyreal class. An announcement at the Munich show maybe? (I'm ever the optimist.....)
Picking up on @thumb5 's point, there was an interesting comparison of the performance of various power supplies on Computer Audiophile. The interesting thing was just how well some SMPS's perform relative to LPSU's, so yes, you cannot generalise here. As another generalisation buster, one of the nicest to listen to, least digital sounding systems, that I listened to at the Bristol show recently had class D power amps. (Mola Mola) I don't know how many times I have read and heard people say that class D is unlistenable, and lets say that Mola Mola system did have a slight digital edge, everyone would be saying, "well it would sound like that, it's class D".
So I agree there is much to investigate, and potentially much to gain here. That said, I still feel that all this might be missing the point completely. The key issue I have been posting about is a change in the tonal presentation of my system between the mR and SOtM kit. Some say this is due to the additional transparency of the SOtM kit. So why is it more transparent? The most common answer to this seams to be that the SOtM kit has better noise suppression. So the additional noise suppression has tilted the tonal balance away from something I enjoy, the solution to this is to then eliminate SMPS noise. This does not follow logically. OK, I may have a system now that would more than ever benefit form eliminating noise from SMPS's and similar, but I think something more is going on here. As I said in an earlier post, with decently recorded material the system is sounding quite superb, so whatever issue the work of the devil SMPS's are causing, it is hard to hear it when the source material is good, and does not bother me with the mR in place. Yet somehow switching the mR for the SOtM kit has made the system brighter, or at least apparently brighter. With the mR in place something can be enjoyable to listen to, with the SOtM kit less so, nothing else needs to change, the mR is surrounded by SMPS's as well, (at one time the mR was SMPS iFi powered and sounded OK) the amps, speakers, PC, nothing else changed. Imagine getting a favourite album, but one that is not the best actual recording quality. Listen to it with the treble turned up +5dB, it will probably be very difficult to listen to, this is irrespective of how many SMPS's one might have. Also note my car rattle analogy in post #74, it is not like the system has a fundamental problem.
The good news is that I do have quite a few ideas as to how to investigate the issue, further understand it, and identify what to do, plus a bit more free time than expected this weekend. There are a few things I want to try, systematically and logically. It is a case of information gathering, quite what this information will tell me remains to be seen. (or heard)
1000 Pro - KEF Blade - iFi Zen Stream - Mutec REF10 - MC3+USB - Pro-Ject Signature 12
