Karin

Hello rickca, The question of oneguy was: “Why is the ripple voltage so high at 1 millivolt when a sigma11 LPS is around 10 microvolts. Is there something I am missing?” Our reply was, that we think that the increase of the ripple is caused by the pre-regulation circuits, which you call upstream regulators. As said before these pre-regulation circuits are necessary to achieve an adjustable voltage from 15V to 3.3V @ 2A without having thermal complications. Would you NOT use the pre-regulations circuits and offer an adjustable output voltage from 15V – 3.3V @ 2A, the ripple voltage would probably be lower, but your worst case energy waste would be about 24W extra when the power rail was set from 15V @ 2A to a 3.3V DC output setting running @ 2A. And that is what oneguy perfectly describes as: “Damn engineering trade offs!” Regards, Karin

Hello oneguy, In general a ripple voltage of +/- 1mV for a (non-audio) linear power supply is not so bad at all. The LT3045 family however is capable of showing ripple and noise figures of < 10uV in real-live design. The relatively "high" ripple of HDPlex is caused by the pre-regulation circuits, market in red. These are switching DC/DC converters and are necessary to achieve an adjustable voltage from 15V to 3.3V @ 2A. In a full blow linear power supply design the LT3045 regulators would need to dissipate about 24W (=6W per LT3045) extra in heat, when the power supply is set from 15V @ 2A to 3.3V @ 2A. Unnecessary to mention that this is from a technical point of view simply not possible without proper heatsink(s). Regards, Karin

Don't understand your remark. We are talking about the internal power rails of the Brooklyn DAC, which are switching DC-DC converters, in relation to Alex's remark about the output voltage setting of our 12-13.2V linear power supply. We are not talking about external switching power supplies.

Hello Alex, The internal power rails of the Mytek Brooklyn DAC are designed with (switching) DC-DC converters, instead of linear regulators. An advantage of DC-DC converters is that the input voltage is flexible, in case of the Brooklyn DAC, the unit runs on an input voltage of 7V – 14V according to the official specifications. Another advantage of a DC-DC converter circuit compared to a linear regulated power circuit is that the input voltage has barely effect on the temperature rise of the DC-DC converter circuit resp. the audio device. We have published in the past two technical posts with detailed information on the Brooklyn DAC and the working of DC-DC converters compared to linear regulators. The posts can be found here; https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/25353-mytek-new-dac-brooklyn/?do=findComment&comment=516823 https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/25353-mytek-new-dac-brooklyn/?do=findComment&comment=519074 Although from a technical point of view it should not matter which input voltage is used for an audio device which is equipped with DC-DC converters, sound wise there can be a nice difference in performance when the input voltage is changed to a lower or higher value. We give three examples: Auralic Aries range, these devices perform a bit better on 15V compared to 16V SoTM sMS-200, this unit performs better on 12V compared to 9V Mytek Brooklyn, most users prefer 13.2V compared to 12V with this unit. Furthermore, and interesting to know for @exdmd, regarding the 13.2V setting: at Axpona 2016 we have met the guys from Mytek and we talked about the combination of our products. Mytek checked out one of our power supplies. It is their recommendation to set the BOTW P&P ECO 12-13.2V on 13.2V as DC output setting for the best performance. Thank you for your attention. Regards, Karin

Hello Alex, All the best wishes for 2018 to you, your loved ones and your team! Thank you for your elaborate post. Here is a short reaction. First of all, there is no offence intended by us, if we call something a power supply add-on. As you know we love power supply add-ons, since we started our company many years ago with a power supply add-on, the Sbooster Single Unit. The definition of a power supply add-on: a power supply add-on is a product that is designed to improve the performance of a power supply. The unit itself does not function without the use of an external power supply. Like you say, the LPS-1 needs an external power supply to operate and without an external/feeder supply the LPS-1 cannot not power up any device. Therefor we do call your LPS-1 a power supply add-on: a matter of definition... Now back to the statement of Energy and our post. The statement of Energy is: "Don't forget that SBooster will still have AC leakage currents compared to LPS-1." As written in our post, the correctness/accuracy of this statement depends on the feeder supply of the LPS-1. For this we referred to the measurements of Amir. In our post we are not talking about the advanced technique or the performance of the LPS-1. We only mentioned, that the output of the LPS-1 is effected by the AC leakage current of the feeder supply, which Amir has measured and you confirm, since you nowadays recommend your customers to modify the Meanwell SMPS, see your picture. So the correct statement should be: “Don't forget that Sbooster has a negligible AC leakage current on the output and the LPS-1 – for it is a power supply add-on - might have or might not have AC leakage current on the output, depending on the feeder supply”. By the way, based on the measurement of Amir we can also conclude that a LPS-1/BOTW combination has zero negative effects of AC leakage on the output! The point of our post is nothing more than to prevent unfunded statements about our products, such as the one from Energy, to lead their own lives on this forum. Enjoy your Sunday! Regards, Karin

Hello Energy, In your post you write “Don't forget that SBooster will still have AC leakage currents compared to LPS-1”. We do not understand your remark. Regarding AC leakage current: AC leakage current is (unwanted) current that flows from either AC or DC circuits in equipment to the chassis, or to the ground, and can be either from the input or the output. We assume, that you mean with AC leakage currents the presence of unwanted AC voltage/current at the DC output of the LPS1 or Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO power supply, caused by this leakage current. The LPS-1 unit itself is a DC/DC power supply add-on. The LPS-1 cannot create the AC leakage itself, but can only pass on the AC leakage of the used feeder/charger supply. The Sbooster on the other hand is a linear power supply and because of its design the negative effects of this AC leakage current is negligible. I will elaborate on this shortly: First SMPS (switch-mode power supplies) generate a high leakage current with voltage spikes > 300V AC on the output. This is caused by two capacitors that are internally connected between the Hot/Neutral and output of a SMPS. Linear power supplies on the other hand are equipped with a transformer. A transformer has a small amount of self-capacity between the primary (AC input) and secondary (AC output) windings. The amount of capacity depends on the type and construction of the transformer, but the capacity is much lower, than the value of the capacitors installed in a SMPS power supply. Therefor the negative effects of the AC leakage on the output of a linear power supply can be very small. There are a couple of ways to reduce or eliminate the AC voltage/current at the output of a linear power supply even further. We will mention the most common options: 1) For many decades is has or has been good practise to connect the negative output/rail/plane of a linear PSU to the (PE) Protected Earth. With this connection the AC current on the output is directly shorted to Earth and removed from the output of the PSU. We do not use this connection in our BOTW power supplies, because it increases the risk of equipment failure due to ESD (Electrostatic Discharge), when the power supply is used in an audio chain where both SMPS and linear power supplies are used. Please see our White Paper “Risk of ESD” for more information; https://www.sbooster.com/white-paper-esd 2) Using a transformer with electrostatic shielding: We use this option in our BOTW P&P ECO power supply range. The electrostatic shielding is a copper foil that is installed between the primary and secondary windings and is connected to the (PE) Protected Earth. The foil creates a low impedance return pad for the AC leakage and ensures that this AC leakage is not passed on to the AC output of the transformer, thus the DC output of the BOTW PSU. To avoid unwanted noise injection from a polluted Earth line into the electrostatic shielding, we have equipped our mains filters with an additional Earth line filter arrangement. So when a SMPS is the feeder supply of the LPS-1, the high AC leakage of the SMPS can create unwanted AC voltage/current at the output of the LPS1. But when a linear PSU, such as the Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO, is the feeder supply of the LPS-1 the unwanted AC voltage/current at the output is negligible. For those who are interested: on Audio Science Review- forum the effect of AC leakage current has been measured with a LPS-1/SMPS (Meanwell PSU) and LPS-1/BOTW P&P ECO combination. https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/uptone-lps-1-linear-power-supply-review-and-measurements.1849/ https://audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/uptone-lps-1-linear-power-supply-review-and-measurements.1849/#post-47254 Regards, Karin

Alex, As Charles mentioned in one of his first posts, he is thinking of attaching his external USB HDD drive directly into sMS-200. So as said above, to determine the compatibility of a power supply you have to check the actual power consumption. For the correct calculation of the total power consumption of a device, you also have to take into account the power that can be drawn from the device by the USB ports when connecting for example USB powered DAC’s and external USB HDD. The SOtM sMS-200 has internal DC/DC converters, so the input current rises when the power supply voltage drops. As mentioned by Alex, the sMS-200 draws around 0.55A @ 7V and this drops to around 0.3A @ 12V. These figures are for the sMS-200 as streamer unit only. When you connect a USB powered DAC and/or an external USB HDD to the sMS-200, the drawn current will become higher. With DC/DC converters you can calculate the worst case current draw as following: Official specs SOtM: 15W (this figure includes all possible powered USB devices) Current @ 7V: 15W / 7V = 2.14A Current @12V: 15W/12V = 1.25A Therefor we would not recommend a PSU that only outputs 1A, without the warning that you cannot use any of the non audio USB ports of the sMS-200. And we know this, because we have sold many Sboosters to users of the SOtM sMS-200 with an USB powered DAC and/or external USB HDD connected... :))) Regards, Karin

Absolutely!

Hi Charles, The BOTW P&P ECO 12-13.2V is rated as follows: 12V - 3A 12.5V - 2.5A 13.2V - 2.25A

... LOL

Hi Charles, It will probably not damage your sMS-200, but it will make you poor (waste of energy). Regards, Karin

Hello Charles, There is no relation between the output rating of a PSU and the sound quality improvement you will get from a PSU. The sound quality improvement of an audio grade PSU depends on multiple factors from the power supply design. In general high rated linear power supplies, which are only used for a very small load, have a very poor efficiency. This will result in an unnecessary waste of energy. The (unnecessary) energy waste over 5 years from a (i.e.) 5 x overrated power supply can be as high as the purchase price of a more efficient power supply, which is i.e. only 2 x overrated. When selecting a proper PSU two things are important: the output voltage of the PSU has to match the input specification of a device. In case of the SOtM sMS-200 this is flexible and the unit runs on a power supply voltage from 6.5 – 12V. However in most cases only a fixed input voltage is allowed. Selecting a higher voltage, than the allowed voltage will damage the device. the output current rating: this has to be equal or a bit more, say 2x more, than the specification of the device. For the specification you have to check the actual power consumption figures of a device, not the rating of the stock supplied SMPS adapter. The maximum power consumption of the SMS-200 is 15W, so in theory a 12V - 1.5A power supply would be sufficient, but for an audio grade PSU 2 -3A would be advisable. For the SOtM sMS-200 Ultra you can only select a 9V or 12V power supply. Please check the stock supplied adapter for the matching PSU voltage. I hope this helps you further to select your power supply. Enjoy more music……… Wiebren

Hello Monge, The Sbooster Single Unit is an passive filter to enhance the performance of SMPS power supplies. You simply connect the Sbooster Single Unit between your audio/network device and the SMPS power supply and the power is conditioned before it enters the device. The single unit is discontinued and can be used with SMPS power supplies up to 24V – 3A. Regards, Wiebren

Hi exdmd, Here are some reviews and a showreports: http://hifipig.com/sbooster-best-of-two-worlds-power-precision-eco-botw-power-supplies/ http://www.digitalaudioreview.net/2017/11/getting-high-on-my-own-sbooster-power-supply/ http://www.headphoneer.com/mytek-brooklyn-dac/ http://www.standardcandle.org/2017/04/03/sbooster-botw-pp-eco-review/ https://www.hifistatement.net/tests/item/1712-mytek-brooklyn-mit-sbooster-botw-bryston-buc-1-und-audiobyte-hydra-z The reviews are on the Mytek, but also include other products like the Auralic Aries, Hydra Z and Sonore Ultrarendu. Enjoy!

Hello Alex, Thank you for assisting Wei. I would like to give you feedback on some of your comments regarding our products. First the BOTW P&P ECO power supplies are high efficient linear power supplies. The only switching parts are the ON/OFF button and the voltage settings. Secondly regarding your statement on the mains pollution: The BOTW P&P ECO power supplies have several approvals like FCC, CE-EMC, KC-EMC for the “Power line conducted emission”. Please do not compare the mains pollution of a cheap SMPS with the performance of our audio grade products. The average emission of a BOTW P&P ECO is 5-7dBuV up-to 18Mhz, which is negligible. Regarding the Ultra: The BOTW P&P ECO power supplies are designed for stand-alone power supply solutions or as “current source” for power supply optimisation add-ons like our Sbooster Ultra line. As you say correctly the Ultra is an active filter, which means it needs power to operate. Therefore the output current of a Ultra is set by the design and limited to 1.1A peak and 850mA average. We know from our customers that our BOTW P&P ECO is being used as “feeder supply” for the LPS 1 with great results. Most users report a significant drop of the noise floor, with improved dynamics and details. This was a surprise for us also, because based on your multiple publications this should not be possible. But in audio you never know things for certain until you have heard it….. Regards, Karin