TeraDak DC-30 Linear Power Supply - Review
DarqueKnight
Posts: 6,765
Introduction
Very good results were achieved by replacing the stock generic "wall wart" power supply of my music library's hard disk drive enclosure with a lower noise iFi Audio iPower power supply ($49). Although the iPower power supply facilitates better sound than the stock power supply, it is still a switch mode power supply like the stock power supply. Accordingly, the quality of DC power supplied by it is affected by AC noise components. Linear power supplies are more suitable for audio applications due to their significantly lower output noise and isolation from AC line noise. The TeraDak DC-30 ($150) offers high build quality and high performance.
Background
This review is the fourth addendum to my review of the Bryston BDP-3 digital player. Music files for the player are contained in a 6 TB hard disk drive, which is contained in a Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B external hard drive enclosure. This review will be more meaningful if the BDP-3 review, and first three addendums, are read first.
The original BDP-3 review is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2471987#Comment_2471987
The first addendum, a review of the iFi Audio iPower power supply used with BDP-3's external hard drive enclosure is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2474000
The second addendum, a review of the iFi Audio Mercury3.0 USB 3.0 cable, used between the external hard drive enclosure and the BDP-3, is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2477644
The third addendum, a review of the Seagate 5 TB 2.5" hard disk drive, is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/185455/seagate-5-tb-internal-hard-drive-for-bryston-bdp-3-digital-player-review
My listening evaluation methodology and the musical selections used are discussed in detail in the original BDP-3 review, therefore they will not be rehashed here.
At the end of the Seagate 5 TB hard drive review, I noted that I heard no difference between music files played from either the internal Seagate drive, or the external Western Digital Black 6 TB drive in its upgraded enclosure. However, when the external enclosure's upgrade USB 3 cable and upgrade power supply were taken away, music from the internal Seagate drive sounded better. The addition of the TeraDak linear power supply caused the external drive's sound performance to leapfrog over that of the internal drive.
Physical Overview
Figure 1. The DC-30 is encased in a high quality machined aluminum chassis. TeraDak recommends a break in period of one week. Clarity and detail improved after 24 hours. I did not hear further improvements due to additional playing time after that.
All those ventilation holes are not there for show. The DC-30 gets hot. Linear power supplies have lower efficiency than switch mode power supplies, therefore more of a LPS's energy is converted to heat. The top cover was 120 degrees Fahrenheit within a few minutes of being turned on. In comparison, the heat sinks of my Pass Labs X600.5 power amplifiers are in the range of 125 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit after an hour of playing at moderate levels (~85 dB-C). Temperature was measured with a Fluke model 561 infrared thermometer.
The DC-30 measures 4.25" wide by 6.5" long by 2.375" high and weighs 2.1 pounds.
Aluminum panel thicknesses are as follows:
Front panel: 0.12"
Rear panel: 0.08"
Side panels: 0.155"
Top and bottom panels: 0.1"
Panel thicknesses were measured with Mitutoyo model CD-6 CSX digital calipers.
Figure 2. DC-30 rear panel. Output is 12 volts at 2 amperes, same as the Rosewill enclosure's stock power supply.
Figure 3. The fuse compartment below the IEC power cord inlet has a spare fuse (the fuse closest to the rear).
Figure 4. The interior of the DC-30 is dominated by the Audiophonics R-core transformer. The transformer might be a custom design as I did not find this model (R20-DS3853) on the Audiophonics website. The DC-30 is marketed as an upgrade power supply for the Musical Fidelity V90 DAC.
R-core transformers offer some of the sonic advantages of toroidal transformers at a much lower cost.
Figure 5. A 1 meter DC power cable and 1.5 meter 18 gauge IEC power cord are included.
Figure 6. I didn't look closely enough at the picture of the DC-30's DC cable on the TeraDak website to notice it was a little bit too skinny. Standard size in the U.S. is an external barrel diameter of 5.5 mm and an interior diameter of 2.1 mm. The power plug of the cable I received was substantially smaller, as shown in figure 7.
Figure 7. The DC-30's DC power plug (bottom) was too small (3.46 mm barrel diameter) for the Rosewill enclosure's DC power port. I ordered two different color Switchcraft plugs #762 (black) and #763 (red) from Mouser. I couldn't decide which color I liked best prior to ordering.
TeraDak confirmed via email that a 5.5 mm x 2.1 mm plug is available, but it, like the input voltage, needs to be specified at the time of ordering.
The Sound
In summary, the spatial improvements were spectacular.
A playlist was made of twenty songs, ten pulled from the internal Seagate drive and the same ten pulled from the external Western Digital drive. Music from the external drive, with the TeraDak LPS, had the following differences:
1. More weight and more of a sense of space around sound images.
2. Increased tactile sensation: More sound pressure against my chest and upper arms corresponding to bass beats.
3. On some songs, some sound images were raised 6 inches to 1 foot higher.
4. On some songs, depth was increased by the sound stage moving forward up to1 (or more) foot in the center and up to 2 feet (or more) at the sides.
5. Piano notes had more detail, sustain, and decay, and more airiness and "sparkle" in the high notes.
6. More detail in bass micro-rumble and micro-growl.
7. Lowered noise floor as evidenced by the music sounding louder, but not actually measuring louder.
8. More dynamics.
9. Sharper transients.
Very good results were achieved by replacing the stock generic "wall wart" power supply of my music library's hard disk drive enclosure with a lower noise iFi Audio iPower power supply ($49). Although the iPower power supply facilitates better sound than the stock power supply, it is still a switch mode power supply like the stock power supply. Accordingly, the quality of DC power supplied by it is affected by AC noise components. Linear power supplies are more suitable for audio applications due to their significantly lower output noise and isolation from AC line noise. The TeraDak DC-30 ($150) offers high build quality and high performance.
Background
This review is the fourth addendum to my review of the Bryston BDP-3 digital player. Music files for the player are contained in a 6 TB hard disk drive, which is contained in a Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B external hard drive enclosure. This review will be more meaningful if the BDP-3 review, and first three addendums, are read first.
The original BDP-3 review is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2471987#Comment_2471987
The first addendum, a review of the iFi Audio iPower power supply used with BDP-3's external hard drive enclosure is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2474000
The second addendum, a review of the iFi Audio Mercury3.0 USB 3.0 cable, used between the external hard drive enclosure and the BDP-3, is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/comment/2477644
The third addendum, a review of the Seagate 5 TB 2.5" hard disk drive, is here:
https://forum.polkaudio.com/discussion/185455/seagate-5-tb-internal-hard-drive-for-bryston-bdp-3-digital-player-review
My listening evaluation methodology and the musical selections used are discussed in detail in the original BDP-3 review, therefore they will not be rehashed here.
At the end of the Seagate 5 TB hard drive review, I noted that I heard no difference between music files played from either the internal Seagate drive, or the external Western Digital Black 6 TB drive in its upgraded enclosure. However, when the external enclosure's upgrade USB 3 cable and upgrade power supply were taken away, music from the internal Seagate drive sounded better. The addition of the TeraDak linear power supply caused the external drive's sound performance to leapfrog over that of the internal drive.
Physical Overview
Figure 1. The DC-30 is encased in a high quality machined aluminum chassis. TeraDak recommends a break in period of one week. Clarity and detail improved after 24 hours. I did not hear further improvements due to additional playing time after that.
All those ventilation holes are not there for show. The DC-30 gets hot. Linear power supplies have lower efficiency than switch mode power supplies, therefore more of a LPS's energy is converted to heat. The top cover was 120 degrees Fahrenheit within a few minutes of being turned on. In comparison, the heat sinks of my Pass Labs X600.5 power amplifiers are in the range of 125 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit after an hour of playing at moderate levels (~85 dB-C). Temperature was measured with a Fluke model 561 infrared thermometer.
The DC-30 measures 4.25" wide by 6.5" long by 2.375" high and weighs 2.1 pounds.
Aluminum panel thicknesses are as follows:
Front panel: 0.12"
Rear panel: 0.08"
Side panels: 0.155"
Top and bottom panels: 0.1"
Panel thicknesses were measured with Mitutoyo model CD-6 CSX digital calipers.
Figure 2. DC-30 rear panel. Output is 12 volts at 2 amperes, same as the Rosewill enclosure's stock power supply.
Figure 3. The fuse compartment below the IEC power cord inlet has a spare fuse (the fuse closest to the rear).
Figure 4. The interior of the DC-30 is dominated by the Audiophonics R-core transformer. The transformer might be a custom design as I did not find this model (R20-DS3853) on the Audiophonics website. The DC-30 is marketed as an upgrade power supply for the Musical Fidelity V90 DAC.
R-core transformers offer some of the sonic advantages of toroidal transformers at a much lower cost.
Figure 5. A 1 meter DC power cable and 1.5 meter 18 gauge IEC power cord are included.
Figure 6. I didn't look closely enough at the picture of the DC-30's DC cable on the TeraDak website to notice it was a little bit too skinny. Standard size in the U.S. is an external barrel diameter of 5.5 mm and an interior diameter of 2.1 mm. The power plug of the cable I received was substantially smaller, as shown in figure 7.
Figure 7. The DC-30's DC power plug (bottom) was too small (3.46 mm barrel diameter) for the Rosewill enclosure's DC power port. I ordered two different color Switchcraft plugs #762 (black) and #763 (red) from Mouser. I couldn't decide which color I liked best prior to ordering.
TeraDak confirmed via email that a 5.5 mm x 2.1 mm plug is available, but it, like the input voltage, needs to be specified at the time of ordering.
The Sound
In summary, the spatial improvements were spectacular.
A playlist was made of twenty songs, ten pulled from the internal Seagate drive and the same ten pulled from the external Western Digital drive. Music from the external drive, with the TeraDak LPS, had the following differences:
1. More weight and more of a sense of space around sound images.
2. Increased tactile sensation: More sound pressure against my chest and upper arms corresponding to bass beats.
3. On some songs, some sound images were raised 6 inches to 1 foot higher.
4. On some songs, depth was increased by the sound stage moving forward up to1 (or more) foot in the center and up to 2 feet (or more) at the sides.
5. Piano notes had more detail, sustain, and decay, and more airiness and "sparkle" in the high notes.
6. More detail in bass micro-rumble and micro-growl.
7. Lowered noise floor as evidenced by the music sounding louder, but not actually measuring louder.
8. More dynamics.
9. Sharper transients.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country!
Comments
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Measurements
Time domain (sine wave) and frequency domain (Fast Fourier Transform) measurements were taken with a Tektronix TDS-2012 digital oscilloscope.
The TeraDak LPS was plugged into a PS Audio PowerBase noise gate/isolation platform, which was plugged into a PS Audio P10 AC regenerator, which was plugged into a dedicated 20 amp AC circuit terminated with an in-wall PS Audio Soloist SE passive power conditioner.
Figure 8. Sine wave plot of passively filtered open circuit AC voltage from the wall. The waveform shows flattened peaks due to harmonic distortion and other power line noise.
Figure 9. Sine wave plot of regenerated open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the PS Audio PowerBase: A near perfect sine wave shape.
Figure 10. FFT plot of passively filtered open circuit AC voltage from the wall. The only signal of value is the large spike on the left, which represents the 60 Hz power signal. Everything else is harmonics, the power company's 470 Hz signaling tone, and noise.
Figure 11. FFT plot of regenerated open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the PS Audio PowerBase: Drastic reduction in harmonics and noise.
Figure 12. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the Rosewill enclosure's stock Flypower switch mode power supply. This power supply generates even order harmonics, which were not present in the original voltage signals from neither the wall nor the AC regenerator.
Figure 13. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the iFi Audio iPower switch mode power supply. No even order harmonics were generated, but the odd order harmonics are significantly greater in amplitude in the voltage from both the wall and the AC regenerator.
Figure 14. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the TeraDak LPS. In stark contrast to the switch mode power supplies, no AC artifacts at all.
Tweaks
After preliminary listening evaluations were completed, attention was turned toward tweaking. The first thing to address was the DC-30's very bright LED.
Figure 15. Something needed to be done about that "red sun" LED.
Figure 16. Even with the audio equipment cabinet door closed, the red sun still shined brightly.
Figure 17. A double layer of blue film reduced the red sun to a warm, mellow red glow.
If you have had good results with audio grade fuses and audio grade power cords, and if you are interested in this, or another, linear power supply, an upgrade power cord and audio grade fuse is worth auditioning.
Figure 18. The stock 18 gauge power cord was replaced with a Signal Cable MagicPower 10 gauge power cord ($79) that was in my box of spare power cords.
Figure 22. After some audio grade fuse trials, the stock 5 mm x 20 mm Miro R054 1A, 250V slow blow fuse ($0.25), was replaced with one of the HiFi Tuning SilverStar 1A fuses ($40) I had on hand.
Off To Work
I took the Teradak LPS to audition in my system at work. The internal Seagate 5 TB hard disk drive had already been placed in a Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B external enclosure in order to take advantage of the Rosewill's drive spin down feature. The iPower power supply formerly used in my two channel system had been transferred to the work system. The improvements were immediately obvious and similar to what I heard at home. A second TeraDak LPS was ordered for the work system.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Comparison To Network Attached Storage (NAS)
A NAS is used by some audio enthusiasts to host their music libraries. Ethernet is a low noise transmission protocol due to the fact that Ethernet ports are galvanically isolated (transformer coupled). Therefore, there is no direct electrical connection between devices on an Ethernet network. Accordingly, most of the electrical noise in a device does not get transmitted to other devices over an Ethernet cable. A small amount of noise does get transferred over, but it is usually negligible in amplitude and usually inaudible.
I transferred 7 DSD64 songs to the Synology DS918+ NAS in my home theater system. The seven songs' titles were edited to include the acronym "NAS" at the end. A share was set up on the BDP-3 digital player's NAS interface. A playlist was made of the NAS songs and their counterparts on the external drive attached to the BDP-3. Songs from the NAS sounded identical in every way to songs from the external drive with its enclosure's upgraded power supply and upgraded USB 3 cable.
The first trials were done with songs streamed wirelessly via the following transmission chain:
Synology NAS ==>Ethernet Cable==>Wireless AC Range Extender #2 ==>Wireless Air Interface==>Wireless AC Range Extender #1==>Ethernet Cable==>BDP-3
With wireless streaming from the home theater NAS, I experienced occasional 1-2 second dropouts and stuttering. This was surprising, since wirelessly streaming 2K and 4K Blu-rays to any of my home's other televisions never experience any dropouts or stuttering. The home theater television has a wired connection to the NAS.
I ran a 50 foot Cat5e cable from the home theater's NAS to the two channel system's wireless AC range extender. Streaming of music from the NAS over the wired connection was flawless.
Wired transmission chain:
Synology NAS ==>50' Ethernet Cable==>Wireless AC Range Extender #1==>Ethernet Cable==>BDP-3.
Summary Of Results
The summary of results is as follows:
1. The internal 5 TB Seagate HDD sounded better than the 6 TB WD Black HDD in the stock Rosewill enclosure.
2. The 6 TB WD Black HDD with the Rosewill enclosure's iFi Audio iPower switch mode power supply and iFi Audio Mercury3.0 USB 3 cable sounded the same as the internal 5 TB Seagate HDD.
3. The 6 TB WD Black HDD with the Rosewill enclosure's TeraDak linear power supply and Mercury3.0 USB 3 cable sounded better than the internal 5 TB Seagate HDD.
4. The Synology NAS sounded the same as the 6 TB WD Black HDD with the Rosewill enclosure's TeraDak linear power supply and Mercury3.0 USB 3 cable.
5. The internal 5 TB Seagate HDD sounded better than the 5 TB Seagate HDD in the stock Rosewill enclosure.
6. The external 5 TB Seagate HDD in the Rosewill enclosure with upgraded USB 3 cable and upgraded power supply sounded better than the internal 5 TB Seagate HDD.
Further Study
The sound quality result with the Synology DS918+ NAS was intriguing. I am considering moving my music library to a Synology DS718+ NAS with two WD Red Pro 6 TB drives in RAID1 configuration. This option would cost $200 more than the current external hard drive connected to the BDP-3. However, the BDP-3 and its external hard drive are currently used as a quasi-NAS for the various computers and music players in my home. A real NAS would be a more efficient solution.
Associated Equipment - Home Two Channel Stereo System
Bryston BDP-3 digital player
PS Audio PowerBase isolation platforms for DAC, BDP-3, and U-Clock
22 pound granite slabs to couple source components to isolation platforms
Black Diamond Racing Isolation Mini Pits and Mk IV Cones
dCS Puccini U-Clock word clock
dCS Debussy DAC
Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B hard drive enclosure with 6 TB WD Black hard drive
iFi Audio Mercury3.0 USB 3 cable
Pass Labs XP-30 line level preamplifier
Pass Labs X600.5 monoblock power amplifiers
AudioQuest Sky XLR interconnects
AudioQuest Everest speaker cables
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver digital coaxial cable - RCA connectors
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver digital coaxial cable - BNC connectors
Revelation Audio Labs Prophecy CryoSilver USB 2.0 dual leg cable
PS Audio PerfectWave AC-12 power cords
PS Audio PerfectWave P-10 AC regenerator
Polk Audio SDA SRS 1.2TL loudspeakers (heavily modified)
Salamander Synergy Triple 30 audio credenza
Logitech Harmony One remote
Dell 7140 tablet computer for system control
Associated Equipment - Work Two Channel Stereo System
Bryston BDP-2 digital player
Bryston BDA-3 digital to analog converter
Bryston BP-26/MPS-2 preamplifier/power supply
Bryston 4B3 power amplifier
Rosewill Armer RX304-APU3-35B hard drive enclosure with 5 TB Seagate hard drive
Polk Audio SDA CRS+ loudspeakers (heavily modified)
Douglass Connection DCF92 speaker cable
Revelation Audio Labs 1.25m USB 2.0 split configuration USB 2.0 cable
PS Audio Premier SC 1.5m Power Cords for amplifiers and source components
PS Audio PerfectWave AC-12 power cord 2m For P10
PS Audio xStream Transcendent XLR interconnects 1m
PS Audio xStream Transcendent XLR interconnect 1.5m
PS Audio P10 AC Regenerator
Revelation Audio Labs power umbilical for MPS-2/BP-26
Logitech Harmony One remote
Dell 7140 tablet computer for system control
Post edited by DarqueKnight onProud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Very good info Raife. Linear power supplies greatly improve the audio signal in my experience. I love the fact that you used a Hi-Fi Tuning Silver Star fuse in the application. Many people scoff at the fact one may use an audio grade fuse in any application, but I have experienced improvements in audio output using audio grade fuses.
Thanks for the thread and information.
Taken from a recent Audioholics reply regarding "Club Polk" and Polk speakers:
"I'm yet to hear a Polk speaker that merits more than a sentence and 60 seconds discussion."![:\](https://forum.polkaudio.com/resources/emoji/confused.png ":\")
My response is: If you need 60 seconds to respond in one sentence, you probably should't be evaluating Polk speakers.....
"Green leaves reveal the heart spoken Khatru"- Jon Anderson
"Have A Little Faith! And Everything You'll Face, Will Jump From Out Right On Into Place! Yeah! Take A Little Time! And Everything You'll Find, Will Move From Gloom Right On Into Shine!"- Arthur Lee -
Seems like a P/S like that would benefit from a little more space for air circulation to help dissipate heat.
The old (CB era) 4A regulated linear P/S I've been using lately just barely gets warm (powering a low powered but inefficient Class AB junker chip amp), but it is much larger and well ventilated.
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derp...
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mhardy6647 wrote: »Seems like a P/S like that would benefit from a little more space for air circulation to help dissipate heat.
I sent TeraDak a picture of the P/S, describing the amount of space all around and the case temperature. They said there no issues with the placement.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
I meant the enclosure of the P/S itself. Seems a bit tightly packed to me, and your description struck me as a little warm for a 2A supply.
Heat really is (or, at least it can be) the enemy.
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@DarqueKnight,
A great review with very useful information for those of us who do not approach your level of knowledge and sophistication about these matters.
Thank you.
I infer from your review that I would be unlikely to experience appreciable SQ improvement if I were to replace the switching-mode stock power supply on my Synology 713+ NAS with a linear power supply. My NAS is directly connected to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC with CAT 6 ethernet cable.
Recently, I've been considering trying this upgrade, but it does not seem likely to be worth the investment in the linear power supply.
However, I need to think about upgrading fuses in my components.Family Room, Innuos Statement streamer (Roon Core) with Morrow Audio USB cable to McIntosh MC 2700 pre with DC2 Digital Audio Module; AQ Sky XLRs to CAT 600.2 dualmono amp, Morrow Elite Speaker Cables to NOLA Baby Grand Reference Gold 3 speakers. Power source for all components: Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One with dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel.
Exercise Room, Innuos Streamer via Cat 6 cable connection to PS Audio PerfectWave MkII DAC w/Bridge II, AQ King Cobra RCAs to Perreaux PMF3150 amp (fully restored and upgraded by Jeffrey Jackson, Precision Audio Labs), Supra Rondo 4x2.5 Speaker Cables to SDA 1Cs (Vr3 Mods Xovers and other mods.), Dreadnaught with Supra Rondo 4x2.5 interconnect cables by Vr3 Mods. Power for each component from dedicated 20 amp circuit to main panel, except Innuos Statement powered from Silver Circle Audio Pure Power One. -
Moose68Bash wrote: »I infer from your review that I would be unlikely to experience appreciable SQ improvement if I were to replace the switching-mode stock power supply on my Synology 713+ NAS with a linear power supply. My NAS is directly connected to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC with CAT 6 ethernet cable.
I typically don't discourage anyone from experimenting, even when the expected performance gains are small. However, in the case of a Synology NAS, using a power supply other than one made by Synology is considered a "third party modification" and voids the warranty.
In my home theater system, my amplifiers, television, and source components all demonstrated better audio and video performance after being plugged into an AC regenerator. I have not (yet) done a test to see if, and how much, the movie server NAS benefits from being plugged into the AC regenerator. While it is on my list of things to investigate, I have not done it yet because I am not as tweaky regarding video as I am with stereo.
I have ordered a Synology DS718+NAS for my home stereo system. I will evaluate it with and without regenerated AC and against the the external hard drive solution I currently use.mhardy6647 wrote: »I meant the enclosure of the P/S itself. Seems a bit tightly packed to me, and your description struck me as a little warm for a 2A supply.
Heat really is (or, at least it can be) the enemy.
I was actually alarmed by how hot the TeraDak PSU got, since it was too hot to handle and since it got almost as hot as my power amp's heat sinks. TeraDak said the heat is a consequence of the voltage regulator design they use. The perforated top cover and the all-aluminum case (which acts as a heat sink) are supposed to mitigate the potentially harmful effects of the heat.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
I was, as you could tell, somewhat taken aback by the temperatures you reported for a 2A 12 volt power supply. I hope you are doing a "long term" test; it'll be interesting to see how long it holds up.
I looked at their website to see if I could find a power consumption spec but I couldn't find this model P/S there. Is the power consumption specified on the DC-30 you have @DarqueKnight -- or did you happen to measure it?
https://www.teradak.com/products/?id=25
https://www.teradak.com/products/index.asp?id=25&Page=2
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Another great analysis.
I've used a Welborne Labs linear power supply for my Squeezebox Touch for atleast the past 7-8 years. It makes a very significant improvement (to my ears) compared to the switching walwart that was supplied. Much of the what you describe is the same I experienced.
Another great company that makes all sorts of power related gear is Keces Audio.
http://keces-audio-usa.com/products
I highly recommend going the route of a good linear power supply vs. a switching walwart in areas for critical musical listening, they improve the final output a great deal.
H9"Appreciation of audio is a completely subjective human experience. Measurements can provide a measure of insight, but are no substitute for human judgment. Why are we looking to reduce a subjective experience to objective criteria anyway? The subtleties of music and audio reproduction are for those who appreciate it. Differentiation by numbers is for those who do not".--Nelson Pass Pass Labs XA25 | EE Avant Pre | EE Mini Max Supreme DAC | MIT Shotgun S1 | Pangea AC14SE MKII | Legend L600 | BlueSound Node 3 - Tubes add soul! -
I am using a TeraDak dual 12V / 6.5A Audiophile Hifi DC-200W Linear Power Supply
power supply with my DAC and it is barely warm. Perhaps your application of the LPS is reaching or above it's upper limits?My New Year's resolution is 3840 × 2160
Family Room| Marantz AV7704| Usher Dancer Mini - 2 DMD Mains |Usher Dancer Mini-x DMD's Surrounds | Usher BE-616 DMD Center | SVS Ultra Rear Surrounds | Parasound Halo A21 | Parsound Halo A52+ | MIT Shotgun S3's | Dual SVS SB 4000 Ultras | Oppo UDP 203 | Directv Genie HD DVR | Samsung 75" Q8 QLED | PSAudio Stellar GCD | Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ | Lumin U1 Mini | HP Elite Slice PC | ROON'd for life |
ManCave: HT:Polk LSiM 706VR3 LSiM 703's LSiM 702's|| Marantz AV7002 AV PrePro Sunfire TGA-7401| Sony PS4 Pro| Sony PS4 Pro|SVS PB13 Ultra| Oppo UDP 203 | Music Hall MMF 5.3se TT w/ Soundsmith Carmen | Samsung 55" SUHD TV | Sony PS4
Patio | Polk Atrium 8's | Yamaha R-N303BL |
Office BlueSound Node| KEF LS50 | Peactree Nova 125SE |
Bedroom | Focal 905's | Chromecast Audio |
Garage | Polk Monitor 5B's
Closet Yamaha M80 | 2 Polk MP3K subs| Yaqin MC100B with Shuguang Treasures KT 88's & CV181Z's | Tesla E83CC's | Marantz 2252B | Marantz 2385 |Polk SDA SRS 2.3 | LSiM 705's | -
mhardy6647 wrote: »I was, as you could tell, somewhat taken aback by the temperatures you reported for a 2A 12 volt power supply. I hope you are doing a "long term" test; it'll be interesting to see how long it holds up.
I am testing long term. I have ordered a second DC-30 for my system at work. Keeping the DC-30 in my home stereo system depends on whether the external HDD is replaced with the recently ordered Synology DS718+ NAS.mhardy6647 wrote: »I looked at their website to see if I could find a power consumption spec but I couldn't find this model P/S there. Is the power consumption specified on the DC-30 you have @DarqueKnight -- or did you happen to measure it?
https://www.teradak.com/products/?id=25
https://www.teradak.com/products/index.asp?id=25&Page=2
There are a lot of "DC-30s" corresponding to the particular stock power supply they are designed to replace. My DC-30 is designed to replace the 12 v 2A wall wart that comes with Musical Fidelity's V90 DAC.
This is the product page for my DC-30 variant:
https://www.teradak.com/products/89.html
The face plate on my unit says "DC-30", but the website pictures say "DC-30W". I don't know what the "W" designates. I'm guessing the "W" is for 230v models and the "non-W" models are 115V. I sent an email to TeraDak asking for clarification.Mikey081057 wrote: »I am using a TeraDak dual 12V / 6.5A Audiophile Hifi DC-200W Linear Power Supply power supply with my DAC and it is barely warm. Perhaps your application of the LPS is reaching or above it's upper limits?
Maybe so.
With the unit turned on, but not connected to anything, the top cover reaches a temperature of 96 degrees F.
With the unit turned on and connected to the hard drive enclosure with the enclosure's fan running, but the hard drive idle, the the top cover reaches a temperature of 105 degrees F.
With the unit turned on and connected to the hard drive enclosure with the enclosure's fan and hard drive running, the the top cover reaches a temperature of 120 degrees F.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
The TeraDak LPS is a nice upgrade to any DAC with a wall wart in it lowers the noise floor and improves sound quality and sound stage... They are very well made and you can find one to fit your needsMy New Year's resolution is 3840 × 2160
Family Room| Marantz AV7704| Usher Dancer Mini - 2 DMD Mains |Usher Dancer Mini-x DMD's Surrounds | Usher BE-616 DMD Center | SVS Ultra Rear Surrounds | Parasound Halo A21 | Parsound Halo A52+ | MIT Shotgun S3's | Dual SVS SB 4000 Ultras | Oppo UDP 203 | Directv Genie HD DVR | Samsung 75" Q8 QLED | PSAudio Stellar GCD | Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ | Lumin U1 Mini | HP Elite Slice PC | ROON'd for life |
ManCave: HT:Polk LSiM 706VR3 LSiM 703's LSiM 702's|| Marantz AV7002 AV PrePro Sunfire TGA-7401| Sony PS4 Pro| Sony PS4 Pro|SVS PB13 Ultra| Oppo UDP 203 | Music Hall MMF 5.3se TT w/ Soundsmith Carmen | Samsung 55" SUHD TV | Sony PS4
Patio | Polk Atrium 8's | Yamaha R-N303BL |
Office BlueSound Node| KEF LS50 | Peactree Nova 125SE |
Bedroom | Focal 905's | Chromecast Audio |
Garage | Polk Monitor 5B's
Closet Yamaha M80 | 2 Polk MP3K subs| Yaqin MC100B with Shuguang Treasures KT 88's & CV181Z's | Tesla E83CC's | Marantz 2252B | Marantz 2385 |Polk SDA SRS 2.3 | LSiM 705's | -
In fairness, 120 degrees isn't hot by any stretch -- but it is pretty warm (perhaps disconcertingly so).
Thanks for the clarification on the model -- I couldn't find a 2A 12VDC P/S on their site at all when I looked.
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This thread was also posted on another forum where one of the members asked me if I had compared the noise measurements of the iPower and TeraDak power supplies plugged into the wall and plugged into the regenerated AC power chain. I had not, nor had it entered my mind to do so. I have been using extensive power conditioning for so long that the thought of plugging audio and video gear directly into the wall is not even in the far reaches of my imagination.
The noise measurements for the Flypower SMPS, iPower SMPS, and TeraDak LPS were redone with cases for plugged into the wall and plugged into regenerated AC compared.
The following time domain (sine wave) and FFT plots are with the iFi Audio iPower power supply and TeraDak LPS plugged into a regular household receptacle and into the PS Audio AC regenerator power chain.
All measurements were taken within a few minutes of each other.
The regenerated AC power chain consists of the following:
Dedicated 20 Amp AC circuit==>PS Audio Soloist SE In-wall passive power conditioner==>PS Audio AC-12 noise filtering power cord==>PS Audio P10 AC regenerator==>PS Audio AC-12 noise filtering power cord==>PS Audio PowerBase isolation platform/noise gate.
Electrical Environment Graphs
Figure 20. Sine wave plot of open circuit AC voltage from regular household AC receptacle.
Figure 21. FFT plot of signal and noise spectrum of open circuit AC voltage from regular household AC receptacle.
Incoming power from the utility company has typical total harmonic distortion in the range of 1% to 1.5%, with the lower figure occurring in the early morning hours (2am - 6am) and higher figure in the daytime and early evening hours. The total harmonic distortion figure of power from the AC regenerator is 0.1%.
Figure 22. Sine wave plot of regenerated open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the PS Audio PowerBase.
Figure 23. FFT plot of regenerated open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the PS Audio PowerBase.
Figure 24. Background noise of oscilloscope with no input. The noise floor is -27 dB (0.044 volts).
Rosewill Enclosure Stock Flypower SMPS Graphs.
Figure 25. Time domain plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the stock Flypower SMPS plugged into the wall.
Figure 26. Time domain plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the stock Flypower SMPS plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
Figure 27. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the stock Flypower SMPS when plugged into the wall.
Figure 28. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the stock Flypower SMPS when plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
iFi Audio iPower SMPS Graphs
Figure 29. Time domain plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the iPower SMPS plugged into the wall.
Figure 30. Time domain plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the iPower SMPS plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
Figure 31. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the iPower SMPS when plugged into the wall.
Figure 32. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the iPower SMPS when plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
TeraDak LPS Graphs
These measurements were taken with the TeraDak's stock power cord and stock power line fuse.
Figure 33. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the TeraDak LPS when plugged into the wall.
Figure 34. FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the TeraDak LPS when plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
The following measurements were taken after installing an upgrade power cord and upgrade power line fuse. The stock power cord was replaced with a Signal Cable MagicPower cord. The stock power line fuse was replaced with a HiFi Tuning SilverStar fuse.
Figure 35. After power cord and power line fuse upgrades: FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the TeraDak LPS when plugged into the wall.
Figure 36. After power cord and power line fuse upgrades: FFT plot of open circuit AC voltage measured at the output of the TeraDak LPS when plugged into the PS Audio PowerBase.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Thanks for going through the trouble of getting all these readings and measurements! Very interesting stuff.
@K_M get your read on! -
Thanks for going through the trouble of getting all these readings and measurements! Very interesting stuff.
@K_M get your read on!
Just glanced, no time today to read much of anything, but looks interesting. -
DarqueKnight wrote: »
The face plate on my unit says "DC-30", but the website pictures say "DC-30W". I don't know what the "W" designates. I'm guessing the "W" is for 230v models and the "non-W" models are 115V. I sent an email to TeraDak asking for clarification.
The W is for watts. These use a 30 watt transformer on the input side. It shouldn't matter if the input is 120 or 230. The transformer puts out 30 watts at maximum rating.
You Can see this in pic 4 of your op. The transformer has 2 lines out each supplying 15 watts each (15 volts x 1 amp). So combined its 30 watts.
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Doesn't explain why some models have a "W" suffix & some don't.
Just observin'.
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Maybe the W stands for units that will work in the bath tub?
(do NOT try this!!!)My New Year's resolution is 3840 × 2160
Family Room| Marantz AV7704| Usher Dancer Mini - 2 DMD Mains |Usher Dancer Mini-x DMD's Surrounds | Usher BE-616 DMD Center | SVS Ultra Rear Surrounds | Parasound Halo A21 | Parsound Halo A52+ | MIT Shotgun S3's | Dual SVS SB 4000 Ultras | Oppo UDP 203 | Directv Genie HD DVR | Samsung 75" Q8 QLED | PSAudio Stellar GCD | Mytek Brooklyn DAC+ | Lumin U1 Mini | HP Elite Slice PC | ROON'd for life |
ManCave: HT:Polk LSiM 706VR3 LSiM 703's LSiM 702's|| Marantz AV7002 AV PrePro Sunfire TGA-7401| Sony PS4 Pro| Sony PS4 Pro|SVS PB13 Ultra| Oppo UDP 203 | Music Hall MMF 5.3se TT w/ Soundsmith Carmen | Samsung 55" SUHD TV | Sony PS4
Patio | Polk Atrium 8's | Yamaha R-N303BL |
Office BlueSound Node| KEF LS50 | Peactree Nova 125SE |
Bedroom | Focal 905's | Chromecast Audio |
Garage | Polk Monitor 5B's
Closet Yamaha M80 | 2 Polk MP3K subs| Yaqin MC100B with Shuguang Treasures KT 88's & CV181Z's | Tesla E83CC's | Marantz 2252B | Marantz 2385 |Polk SDA SRS 2.3 | LSiM 705's | -
Mikey081057 wrote: »Maybe the W stands for units that will work in the bath tub?
(do NOT try this!!!)
oh, it'll work in the bath tub...
I was wondering if "W" might mean "world" (as in "rest of the world" - ROW - ex-US)?
Yamaha, I think (?) used to label their ROW products, somewhat paradoxically, "U" (for Universal). Or maybe the "U" meant "United States" -- I just dunno.
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Check that. Looks like the "U" means U-nited States.
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In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if
TeraDak will send a replacement.
Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
Oooh, I missed that.
Dyslexics against switch-mode power supplies: Just say "NO".
(with sincere apologies to any reading this thread who might indeed be dyslexic!)
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DarqueKnight wrote: »In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if
TeraDak will send a replacement.
It means No......its not off.
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DarqueKnight wrote: »In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if TeraDak will send a replacement.
Keep it, it adds character. -
DarqueKnight wrote: »In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if TeraDak will send a replacement.
Keep it, it adds character.
I will keep the erroneous faceplate as I am sure TeraDak won't want it back, but I won't keep it on the power supply.Proud and loyal citizen of the Digital Domain and Solid State Country! -
DarqueKnight wrote: »In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if
TeraDak will send a replacement.
It means No......its not off.
I don't know man, that N sure looks upside down to me...DarqueKnight wrote: »In addition to the missing "W". The word "ON" is spelled backwards. Now I'm wondering if this is a case of a batch of face plates with errors in engraving. I'll see if TeraDak will send a replacement.
Keep it, it adds character.
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... actually, I think it's the Australian model, but they printed the "Z" sideways (and the "O" upside-down).
Post edited by mhardy6647 on
