Musical Fidelity V-90 DAC power supply upgrades

newbie308

I purchased a Musical Fidelity V-90 DAC locally on FB Marketplace. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I'm new to the whole digital audio scene and I have never owned a separate DAC, but I understand that this is a very good DAC for it's price and I got it for under $100, so I'm excited to hear it in my system. It is in excellent condition since it was used in a office rig and the person selling it didn't spend a lot of time in his office due to C-19. In the photos it looks like it was just pulled out of the box. I read that the wall wart power supply is a limiting factor for SQ. I'm looking for suggestions for a good 12V DC regulated linear power supply to replace the one supplied with the DAC. I saw the Fleabay options, but decided to check with the Polk family before I order anything. What do you recommend?

Clipdat

What will you be connecting to it as the source? I suggest you try it with the stock power supply first for a while and then decide if it's a keeper and you want to upgrade the PSU. You might not even like it's general sound characteristics.

VR3

I'm about to list a s booster 12v, 3 amps

newbie308

Clipdat wrote: »

What will you be connecting to it as the source? I suggest you try it with the stock power supply first for a while and then decide if it's a keeper and you want to upgrade the PSU. You might not even like it's general sound characteristics.

Once my Bluesound Node 2i arrives, I will use it to stream Tidal through the DAC. Until then, I'm using my laptop as the streamer. Again, this is all very new to me. For the last 30 years I have been playing records or listening to local broadcasts on the radio.

Clipdat

Cool, looking forward to hearing about the sound difference between the Bluesound internal DAC and the V-90.

newbie308

My new to me DAC arrived yesterday. Unfortunately the Node has not arrived yet, so I have been using my laptop to stream. I'm ashamed to admit it, but up until now I have been using the headphone jack and a rca adapter to from the laptop to listen to music streaming as did chores and whatnot around the house. Always felt it was just background noise to keep me company as I milled about. I have to say, whoa! So that's what an external DAC can do!?! OMG!!! This is not background noise! This is music! I actually had to sit down and listen for a while, and that turned into a few hours. And so, merrily I go marching down the digital rabbit hole with mucho gusto! Woo hoo!

jbreezy5

newbie308 wrote: »

I purchased a Musical Fidelity V-90 DAC locally on FB Marketplace. It is supposed to arrive tomorrow! I'm new to the whole digital audio scene and I have never owned a separate DAC, but I understand that this is a very good DAC for it's price and I got it for under $100, so I'm excited to hear it in my system. It is in excellent condition since it was used in a office rig and the person selling it didn't spend a lot of time in his office due to C-19. In the photos it looks like it was just pulled out of the box. I read that the wall wart power supply is a limiting factor for SQ. I'm looking for suggestions for a good 12V DC regulated linear power supply to replace the one supplied with the DAC. I saw the Fleabay options, but decided to check with the Polk family before I order anything. What do you recommend?

newbie308 wrote: »

My new to me DAC arrived yesterday. Unfortunately the Node has not arrived yet, so I have been using my laptop to stream. I'm ashamed to admit it, but up until now I have been using the headphone jack and a rca adapter to from the laptop to listen to music streaming as did chores and whatnot around the house. Always felt it was just background noise to keep me company as I milled about. I have to say, whoa! So that's what an external DAC can do!?! OMG!!! This is not background noise! This is music! I actually had to sit down and listen for a while, and that turned into a few hours. And so, merrily I go marching down the digital rabbit hole with mucho gusto! Woo hoo!

First, I’m glad you can hear the difference between your laptop set-up vs. when the V90 was installed and are enjoying it more!

Take your time to compare the Bluesound Node 2i sans V90, then with it added, to determine what you prefer.

One question to ask yourself regarding power supply upgrades and DACs is,”How many separate boxes and cables do I want to have in my system?”

Will the cost of a power supply upgrade be justified on a DAC at this low of a price-point?

Outboard power supplies really can become cumbersome, IMO, but some gear is worthy of such an upgrade. In this case you’d be potentially looking at upgrading two power supplies, though.

Some DIY’ers will upgrade the power supply inside the Node and V90. Is that something you are comfortable doing, if you want to keep box count down?

You have a good affordable entry to the streaming and DAC world, but I would suggest if you want to go down the rabbit hole, to look for streaming devices that have the feature set and ease of use of the Node 2i + a quality DAC implementation + a quality power supply in a single box.

You’ll pay more, but will have a simpler set-up and better overall implementation and sound.

Also keep in mind what you want your system to be about for your needs/preferences.

If you’re a vinyl guy, you may conclude your current digital arrangement does what you need for doing tasks around the house, but perhaps still prefer analog for serious listening.

I will say this:

I currently run Cambridge Audio CXC transport into Jolida TubeDac III, and this sounds superior, to my ears, compared to my USB SSD > Bluesound Node 2i > Jolida TubeDac III.

I prefer the latter implementation for new music discovery and when working around the house.

YMMV