Sotm sps-500

[rhale64l7]

sPS-500 Linear Power Supply — REGULAR PRICE $750 AUD +

This is right on the front part of the page.

[tedwoods]

10 hours ago, Elberoth said:

 

No. The sMS-1000 is a linear one (with three separate, variable rails).

 

The sMS-500 is a SMPS. I've seen it Munich and have talked about this very subject (and reasons they went with SMPS) with people from SOtM.

Very interesting. Would it be possible to divulge some more info?

[tedwoods]

7 hours ago, rhale64l7 said:

sPS-500 Linear Power Supply — REGULAR PRICE $750 AUD +

This is right on the front part of the page.

On the SOtM sPS-500 page there is no mention anywhere of it being a linear design.

SOtM have always advertised it as "hybrid" and also on their "Shop" page there is only one linear power supply mentioned, the sPS-1000.

Besides, its ability to accept worldwide input voltage must have given away the fact, at least for the more technically inclined, that this is not a linear type psu.

Sound wise, I am confident it's something special.

I'm just intrigued to find out more about its design parameters.

 

[Elberoth]

The box chosen to house sMS-500 was just too small for linear PSU with 12V @ 5A rating. 

 

For whatever reason, they wanted the sMS-500 to be able to power not only the sMS-200 series of components, but also their sMS-1000 series of servers (chence 19V @ 3.3A output option). 

 

IMO there is still room for s smaller PSU in their range - a linear one, that would be able to power just the sMS-200. 

 

The fact that the sPS-500 is a SMPS, will be a show stopper for many audiophiles.

[rhale64l7]

Ok I copied and pasted that link above from Crux audio's website for the sPS-500. It says right on that page linear power supply. In capital letters. And it is pretty heavy. 

[rhale64l7]

Ok, I just went to Sotm's site and you are correct. No mention of linear. But on crux's site it has right on it Linear power supply. So what to do? I bought it on the fact that it said linear power supply. It does sound way better with this supply. That is a lot of money though for a glorified ifi. 

 

I will however tell you that I have two ATI class D amp's with linear power supplies that auto detect and auto switch for different voltages around the world. So your statement of the more technically inclined would know is not exactly correct. If ATI can do it so can others. I just assumed that this power supply used that technology. It is a new technology. And it is incredible. It also doesn't need a wire for a trigger. It uses the incoming signal to turn it on. While this technology has been around for a while. The ATI is so fast at this you don't miss even one note, unlike all the other implementation's I have seen. 

[firedog]

I'd assume the Sotm site is the correct one.

But what does it matter? The common assumption that linear is always superior to SMPS simply isn't true. A switching supply can be made to be very low noise, it just takes money and effort. 

SMPS are widely used b/c they can be made very cheaply and small (and as a result, noisey) for a given amount of power. 

It doesn't automatically mean they have to be made that way.

[Johnseye]

19 minutes ago, firedog said:

I'd assume the Sotm site is the correct one.

But what does it matter? The common assumption that linear is always superior to SMPS simply isn't true. A switching supply can be made to be very low noise, it just takes money and effort. 

SMPS are widely used b/c they can be made very cheaply and small (and as a result, noisey) for a given amount of power. 

It doesn't automatically mean they have to be made that way.

 

At this point I don't think we can assume it's a high quality smps meeting or exceeding the noise measurements of an lps.  Considering the sms-1000 is linear and Crux lists the 500 as linear there's a lot of uncertainty.  I've emailed May for clarification.

[Mercman]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

I'd assume the Sotm site is the correct one.

But what does it matter? The common assumption that linear is always superior to SMPS simply isn't true. A switching supply can be made to be very low noise, it just takes money and effort. 

SMPS are widely used b/c they can be made very cheaply and small (and as a result, noisey) for a given amount of power. 

It doesn't automatically mean they have to be made that way.

 

I agree!

[firedog]

55 minutes ago, Johnseye said:

 

At this point I don't think we can assume it's a high quality smps meeting or exceeding the noise measurements of an lps.  Considering the sms-1000 is linear and Crux lists the 500 as linear there's a lot of uncertainty.  I've emailed May for clarification.

I have no clue. My point is just that it being an SMPS doesn't automatically mean it is inferior to a linear supply.

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

A switching supply can be made to be very low noise, it just takes money and effort. 

SMPS are widely used b/c they can be made very cheaply and small (and as a result, noisey) for a given amount of power. 

It doesn't automatically mean they have to be made that way.

 

You are correct of course Danny.  But it takes a LOT of work make a really quiet SMPS--and even more work to get leakage current (the primary evil of all SMPS) down to a reasonable level.

 

The lowest noise SMPS that we have ever seem comes from Daitron (though it seems they may be discontinuing the best models): http://daitronglobal.com/products/power/hfs50.html. 

5mV (though they do not specify the bandwidth); But OEM pricing (100 units) on those was $280 last I checked.

And output impedance of some of these supplies is unknown, though it should be decent.

 

 

[rhale64l7]

Has anyone else had one of these in their system? If so what do you think of it? I am loving mine. And now I am wondering why?

 

Everything became so much clearer. But much smoother at the same time. This should not be happening from what I have been reading. The ifi is a very low noise switch mode power supply. In fact if noise were the biggest concern then this would be top dog for switchers I would think. So why then is this switched mode power supply so much better than that one? It is really very clear to hear how much more impact my music has. How much more body the instruments have. How much more decay of the instruments. How much deeper into the music you can hear. The bass is incredible. I could go on and on about what I am hearing. And it has only played about 20 hours total. I can hear so much more of the little details that make up the recording. Things play so solidly in it's space. No wondering of instruments. Cymbal crashes go on forever. The brushes on cymbals I actually thought in one recording I could hear how the drummer had not lifted the brush off the cymbal all the way. And he was moving it on the cymbal. And this was an imaginary plane of say 15-20 feet behind the singer. I can hear not only the breaths of a singer, but also whether they are licking their lips. 

[rhale64l7]

All this above was at an average of 101db. I had no idea I was listening this loud because it was so non fatiguing. If felt like I could keep turning it up with no assault on my hearing. Although I knew otherwise. It sounds so good at all levels I can't imagine it sounding any better. 

 

So how did Sotm do it? Could it sound better with an actual linear power supply of sufficient voltage and quality? 

 

This power supply is pretty heavy also. I just believed it to be a linear supply. Why is it so heavy if it has a smps in it?

 

These are all questions I have now. 

 

Sorry for the long winded posts. And thanks for hearing me out.

 

Ron

[Elberoth]

27 minutes ago, rhale64l7 said:

Has anyone else had one of these in their system? If so what do you think of it? I am loving mine. And now I am wondering why?

 

Everything became so much clearer. But much smoother at the same time. This should not be happening from what I have been reading. The ifi is a very low noise switch mode power supply. In fact if noise were the biggest concern then this would be top dog for switchers I would think. So why then is this switched mode power supply so much better than that one? It is really very clear to hear how much more impact my music has. How much more body the instruments have. How much more decay of the instruments. How much deeper into the music you can hear. The bass is incredible. I could go on and on about what I am hearing. And it has only played about 20 hours total. I can hear so much more of the little details that make up the recording. Things play so solidly in it's space. No wondering of instruments. Cymbal crashes go on forever. The brushes on cymbals I actually thought in one recording I could hear how the drummer had not lifted the brush off the cymbal all the way. And he was moving it on the cymbal. And this was an imaginary plane of say 15-20 feet behind the singer. I can hear not only the breaths of a singer, but also whether they are licking their lips. 

 

It seems it is a quality SMPS. As firedog pointed out: 'the common assumption that linear is always superior to SMPS simply isn't true'.

 

Enjoy!

[romaz]

1 hour ago, rhale64l7 said:

So how did Sotm do it? Could it sound better with an actual linear power supply of sufficient voltage and quality? 

 

I have one coming in and I will compare against a Paul Hynes SR7 and LPS-1.  According to Lee, who designed this SMPS, the secret sauce is "filtration."  Like with his endpoints, it is all in the filtration.  I had a discussion with Lee about designing an audiophile-class motherboard devoid of noisy switching regulators and while he indicated this was important, he personally felt it wasn't that important because with his endpoints, he believed he had already successfully filtered out all the bad noise that typical motherboards produce.  The strategy with the sPS-500 is the same.  For me, the big question is impedance.

[Johnseye]

This was May's response.

 

"the sPS-500 is not the linear power supply, but it is the switch mode power supply which sounds better than the linear power supply, we want to people judge how switch mode power supply sounds so better than the linear power supply."

 

This will be an interesting comparison as we've thought the holy grail, or best supply for the dollar was linear.

[tedwoods]

 

I have often found synergy to be of paramount importance, something that can also be evident in psu's, regardless of their respective tech designation.

I also don't want to make hasty judgments and draw conclusions based on just the literature behind any one design or a perceived "tech schism" between linear and SMPS for that matter.

And since I believe SOtM gotta know a thing or too about matching their psu to their endpoints, I'm "optimistic", to say the least...

My wallet on the other hand, not so...

[ismewor]

Mine is shipping this week. lets see how its goes.

[rhale64l7]

I am sure you will enjoy it. I know I am enjoying mine. 

[Lebouwsky]

I've asked May from Sotm about the lps/smps discussion, this is what she answered:

 

The sPS-500 is not the linear type power supply, but we applied the linear regulator circuit for some part, and designed to perform the better audio performance with the special power circuit and the noise reduction technology which we've designed by ourselves for a long based on own technology.

 

the sPS-500 converts ac power to dc power and then convert this dc power to the desired output voltage, it means the sPS-500 use two stage power conversion circuits.

In the second stage, we designed the special noise reduction feature for the noise made from the connected device, no other audio power supply has this feature and the design in the market.

 

And the sPS-500 use the high end audio components and the high end output connector and so on, we've been spending so many times and effort to build the good quality power supply over the price range. we hope people not judge the product by linear or switching ps, we hope people can judge the audio product by sound, this is how the sPS-500 is now available.

 

Thank you~

Best regards, MAy

 

[welldone]

4 minutes ago, Lebouwsky said:

I've asked May from Sotm about the lps/smps discussion, this is what she answered:

 

The sPS-500 is not the linear type power supply, but we applied the linear regulator circuit for some part, and designed to perform the better audio performance with the special power circuit and the noise reduction technology which we've designed by ourselves for a long based on own technology.

 

the sPS-500 converts ac power to dc power and then convert this dc power to the desired output voltage, it means the sPS-500 use two stage power conversion circuits.

In the second stage, we designed the special noise reduction feature for the noise made from the connected device, no other audio power supply has this feature and the design in the market.

 

And the sPS-500 use the high end audio components and the high end output connector and so on, we've been spending so many times and effort to build the good quality power supply over the price range. we hope people not judge the product by linear or switching ps, we hope people can judge the audio product by sound, this is how the sPS-500 is now available.

 

Thank you~

Best regards, MAy

 

Quite impressive!!! Hope to see the comparision between SPS500 and Lps1 coming soon from you guys.

[phusis]

With a little luck my sPS-500 should arrive tomorrow to likely replace my battery supply - also from SOtM. Will report back with impression comparing the two SPU's.

 

Would people in the know here advice for 9V or 12V supply to the sMS-200? I seem to remember a preference for using 12V with the sMS-200.  

[Lebouwsky]

38 minutes ago, phusis said:

With a little luck my sPS-500 should arrive tomorrow to likely replace my battery supply - also from SOtM. Will report back with impression comparing the two SPU's.

 

Would people in the know here advice for 9V or 12V supply to the sMS-200? I seem to remember a preference for using 12V with the sMS-200.  

If my memory serves me well 12 is the ideal voltage. If you want to be sure just ask May from Sotm

[phusis]

1 hour ago, Lebouwsky said:

If my memory serves me well 12 is the ideal voltage. If you want to be sure just ask May from Sotm

 

Thanks, Lebouwsky. 

 

Just checked, and the SOtM website page for sMS-200 on input voltage says "+6.5 ~ 12Vdc," so I'll give 12V a try.

[Kritpoon]

On 7/19/2560 at 8:21 PM, phusis said:

With a little luck my sPS-500 should arrive tomorrow to likely replace my battery supply - also from SOtM. Will report back with impression comparing the two SPU's.

 

Would people in the know here advice for 9V or 12V supply to the sMS-200? I seem to remember a preference for using 12V with the sMS-200.  

 

Please keep us posted when you have a chance. Thank you.