A Confused streaming system - Mutec / SOtM Ultra

[afrancois]

Some other thoughts that I have.  When I tried the sPS-500 to power the microRendu I found that this was a step backward from the Uptone LPS-1.  Today, I was quite happy listening to the SOtM kit with the sPS-500, but it does make me wonder if something like the Paul Hynes SR4 would be a better option, I am as sure as I can be that it would.  The other thought that I have is regarding the Neo update itself.  Apparently, the change is to the power board only, and here just a change in the capacitor.  How is it possible that this takes the sMS-200Ultra from something that I personally found irritating to something great.  Utterly baffling, but yet more evidence as to just how subtle audio reproduction can be.

I also have an sPS-500 that I used with my sMS-200 Ultra and just like you it never did feel right. So in the end, I replaced the sPS-500 with an Uptone LPS-1.2 and powered my Zotac server with the sPS-500. I never thought about it again, until I recently ordered an LPS for my new phono stage. Because this new LPS has an output of 19V I tried it out to power my server and guess what? I immediately heard an improvement!
I knew from the start that the sPS-500 was an SMPS, but now I wanted to take a closer look. So I took it apart. From what I see the sPS-500 is no more than a cheap 16$ SMPS followed by a DC-DC regulator board. While the regulator board might be good, the problem lays with the cheap SMPS that probably has some high impedance leakage and injects the usual nastiness into the AC.
See for the SMPS https://www.digikey.com/product-detail/e...ND/7704690