The Paul Hynes SR4 PSU

[Jiffi32]

32 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Where can I find measurements and pictures of this SR4 PSU ?

And AustinP test etc.

 

Is there only one output ?

 

Can it supply a dual LPS-1.2 ?

 

And where to find information about SR7 ?

And the difference between SR4 and SR7

Yes only 1 output

 

No, but i prefer it over the lps1.2 and it reduces the box count.

 

Unfortunately the SR7 is not currently available 

 

AustinP comparison is in,

Not sure of the post number but it was around early March late Feb

[octaviars]

37 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

Where can I find measurements and pictures of this SR4 PSU ?

And AustinP test etc.

 

Is there only one output ?

 

Can it supply a dual LPS-1.2 ?

 

And where to find information about SR7 ?

And the difference between SR4 and SR7

 

You cant find it as Paul dont have any webpage. Search for SR4 on google and you will find some pictures.

 

SR4 is one output with 2A and selectable 5,7,9,12V

 

Why would you want to power a LPS-1.2 with a SR4 that seems just to be a waist of money, the performance of a SR4 is one of the best out there.

 

If you send Paul a email or message here on CA he will send you information but I think he has closed the builds of SR7 for now.

 

SR4 and SR7 uses the same regulator just that SR7 is available in any voltage and three different amps 3, 6, 10

[R1200CL]

1 hour ago, Jiffi32 said:

AustinP comparison is in,

 

I think that is a link to over 300 pages. Do you have the exact post ?

[austinpop]

10 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

I think that is a link to over 300 pages. Do you have the exact post ?

 

Here you go. This: 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?do=findComment&comment=763513

 

and this:

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/30376-a-novel-way-to-massively-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/?do=findComment&comment=797398

 

[paulhynes]

Hi R1200L,

 

Thanks for the link to worldwide parcel services. I plugged in Sweden as the destination and there were indeed a number of lower rate services mainly by road and from providers I have never heard of. What is useful is that the providers I usually use were lower cost on this site than the one I use although the services offered were not directly comparable.

 

I have since sourced a strong carton that is slightly smaller than the ones I originally used for SR4 shipping and this brings the shipping weight to just below 2Kg, which now allows the use of the Royal Mail International Service with the following prices :-

 

Shipping costs for the SR4 power supply including insurance for loss or damage in transit :-

 

UK                       £12

Europe                 £20

Rest of the world £28

 

Hi rickca,

 

LTG2010 is correct, 1v2 is the posh way of saying 1.2v. It is also one less key stroke in line with the KISS principal.

 

R1200CL,

 

SR4 single rail power supply spec is the same as the other SR power supplies except for the available output current of the SR4, which is 2A continuous and 20A transient. The remaining specs are :-

 

Noise voltage < 0.5 nanovolts root Hz

Operating Bandwidth > 300 Mhz

Supply line rejection > 80 dB DC to 100 KHz

Output impedance < 3 milliohms DC to 100 KHz

Transient response and settling time < 100 nanoseconds

 

The SR4 has been designed as an “endpoint” regulated power supply without the need for add on’s on the output to “improve” performance. In other words it is designed to directly power equipment used for signal processing. It is not designed to charge batteries nor is it designed to charge ultracap banks.

 

The SR7 was part of the custom build range I was offering until recently. Custom build is no longer available. It is too time consuming and fraught with logistical issues, often causing delays which obviously leads to customers being disappointed. Alex (Crespi) was right when he said this road leads to madness, although I think I have extracted myself before succumbing to madness.

 

The main difference between the SR4 and the SR7 aside from the number of rails available with the SR7 Multirail was power rating. The specs for the discrete component voltage regulator used throughout the SR range of power supplies are the same.

 

 I have attached a photo of the SR4 with black chassis extrusion (optional extra)

 

Regards

Paul

[str-1]

2 hours ago, paulhynes said:

Hi R1200L,

 

Thanks for the link to worldwide parcel services. I plugged in Sweden as the destination and there were indeed a number of lower rate services mainly by road and from providers I have never heard of. What is useful is that the providers I usually use were lower cost on this site than the one I use although the services offered were not directly comparable.

 

I have since sourced a strong carton that is slightly smaller than the ones I originally used for SR4 shipping and this brings the shipping weight to just below 2Kg, which now allows the use of the Royal Mail International Service with the following prices :-

 

Shipping costs for the SR4 power supply including insurance for loss or damage in transit :-

 

UK                       £12

Europe                 £20

Rest of the world £28

 

Hi rickca,

 

LTG2010 is correct, 1v2 is the posh way of saying 1.2v. It is also one less key stroke in line with the KISS principal.

 

R1200CL,

 

SR4 single rail power supply spec is the same as the other SR power supplies except for the available output current of the SR4, which is 2A continuous and 20A transient. The remaining specs are :-

 

Noise voltage < 0.5 nanovolts root Hz

Operating Bandwidth > 300 Mhz

Supply line rejection > 80 dB DC to 100 KHz

Output impedance < 3 milliohms DC to 100 KHz

Transient response and settling time < 100 nanoseconds

 

The SR4 has been designed as an “endpoint” regulated power supply without the need for add on’s on the output to “improve” performance. In other words it is designed to directly power equipment used for signal processing. It is not designed to charge batteries nor is it designed to charge ultracap banks.

 

The SR7 was part of the custom build range I was offering until recently. Custom build is no longer available. It is too time consuming and fraught with logistical issues, often causing delays which obviously leads to customers being disappointed. Alex (Crespi) was right when he said this road leads to madness, although I think I have extracted myself before succumbing to madness.

 

The main difference between the SR4 and the SR7 aside from the number of rails available with the SR7 Multirail was power rating. The specs for the discrete component voltage regulator used throughout the SR range of power supplies are the same.

 

 I have attached a photo of the SR4 with black chassis extrusion (optional extra)

 

Regards

Paul

I have not seen too many comparisons but what few I have seen seem to prefer the SR4 (with silver cable) to the Uptone LPS-1.2 - they were similarly priced in the UK with the SR4 spec’d with the silver cable (and LPS-1.2 coming with ordinary copper cable).  The SR4 also has the advantage of an extra 0.9A of continuous headroom.  With the new delivery rates the SR4 is pretty much a no-brainer, at least in the UK.  I am very happy with mine powering an SOtM tX-USBultra.

[Frojo]

Please could Paul (or anyone else) post the SR4 dimensions.

 

thanks

[paulhynes]

Hi Frojo,

 

The SR4 power supply dimensions are W – 110mm, H – 55mm and D – 230mm.

 

Regards,

Paul

[Frojo]

Thanks Paul,    

 

Glad I asked - having seen the pictures, i had assumed it was larger!

Also, the 'Black Chassis' would be a perfect match for my existing kit.

 

regards

frojo

[Jiffi32]

4 hours ago, str-1 said:

I have not seen too many comparisons but what few I have seen seem to prefer the SR4 (with silver cable) to the Uptone LPS-1.2 - they were similarly priced in the UK with the SR4 spec’d with the silver cable (and LPS-1.2 coming with ordinary copper cable).  The SR4 also has the advantage of an extra 0.9A of continuous headroom.  With the new delivery rates the SR4 is pretty much a no-brainer, at least in the UK.  I am very happy with mine powering an SOtM tX-USBultra.

I would agree whole-heartedly, mine is working great with an UltraRendu and has given it a decent boost upwards in sound quality.

Also reduces the box count and wires running around the place :-)

[Chiswickian]

Ooh, the black chassis is very nice.  I wish I knew that was an optional extra when I ordered mine 

[Chiswickian]

While I'm enjoying my SR4, on my Chord Qutest DAC I feel I have lost some of the sparkle/air around the instruments/voices that I heard with the stock power supply.  Paul assures me this will improve as the SR4 burns in, but currently I'm undecided and hoping things do indeed improve with burn in.

[R1200CL]

1 hour ago, Chiswickian said:

While I'm enjoying my SR4, on my Chord Qutest DAC I feel I have lost some of the sparkle/air around the instruments/voices that I heard with the stock power supply.  Paul assures me this will improve as the SR4 burns in, but currently I'm undecided and hoping things do indeed improve with burn in.

 

Just PM me if you like to do a switch with a LPS-1 ?

[Frojo]

10 hours ago, Jiffi32 said:

I would agree whole-heartedly, mine is working great with an UltraRendu and has given it a decent boost upwards in sound quality.

 

Which PS were you using prior to the SR4?

 

[str-1]

8 hours ago, Chiswickian said:

While I'm enjoying my SR4, on my Chord Qutest DAC I feel I have lost some of the sparkle/air around the instruments/voices that I heard with the stock power supply.  Paul assures me this will improve as the SR4 burns in, but currently I'm undecided and hoping things do indeed improve with burn in.

This might not describe your situation but the air that some people find missing when improving something like a power supply is just the addition of a more appropriate degree of body and solidity to the sound.  Without this, a leaner sound will often sound more airy.  Try listening for aspects of the sound that have improved, let the SR4 fully run-in (200+ hours) and allow yourself a period of readjustment.  

[Jiffi32]

2 hours ago, Frojo said:

 

Which PS were you using prior to the SR4?

 

I was using the Uptone LPS-1

[Chiswickian]

2 hours ago, str-1 said:

This might not describe your situation but the air that some people find missing when improving something like a power supply is just the addition of a more appropriate degree of body and solidity to the sound.  Without this, a leaner sound will often sound more airy.  Try listening for aspects of the sound that have improved, let the SR4 fully run-in (200+ hours) and allow yourself a period of readjustment.  

STR-1.  You could be right.  I do notice an increased solidity to various aspects of the sound, so won't say that the SR-4 has had no positive impact and this could easily explain the effect I'm hearing.  It seems I actually liked some of that extra airiness, but will continue to let the SR-4 burn in suitably and then compare the effect of the power supplies again, as suggested by Paul H also.

 

I very much doubt I'd get rid of the SR-4 now, maybe just re-assign it to other duties if I do find, after burn in, that I prefer the sound of the stock Chord power supply.

[str-1]

1 hour ago, Chiswickian said:

STR-1.  You could be right.  I do notice an increased solidity to various aspects of the sound, so won't say that the SR-4 has had no positive impact and this could easily explain the effect I'm hearing.  It seems I actually liked some of that extra airiness, but will continue to let the SR-4 burn in suitably and then compare the effect of the power supplies again, as suggested by Paul H also.

 

I very much doubt I'd get rid of the SR-4 now, maybe just re-assign it to other duties if I do find, after burn in, that I prefer the sound of the stock Chord power supply.

The air that we have been talking about, if we have been talking about the same thing, can be very pleasant to listen to, and it might be that it is top of the tree for you in terms of essential elements of your preferred sound.  It would be difficult to find two people on this forum, or any other, whose sound preferences are exactly the same.

 

You quite rightly accept the need to let the SR4 burn in fully before deciding what to do, but brain burn-in is also an issue.  There will be a period initially when you are focusing more on what's missing in terms of what you liked before than on what you've gained, and this period of over-analysis can get in the way of just listening to the music and enjoying it, which after a while will really tell you whether things are right or not.

 

As an example, when I was typing my previous post I was listening on my headphones to Ockeghem's Missa L'Homme Arme (on Naxos).  With my previous multiple small-box system (switch, FMCs, mRendo, IOS Regen LPS-1s etc) the opening soloist on track two seemed to hover in the air within a cavernous acoustic, that was really quite pleasant to listen to.  But on my current system (see signature) the soloist is now grounded and is singing within what sounds like a normal church acoustic.  The feel of this sound is different from what I had before, and initially I remember missing that additional air, but now it just sounds more believable and I find myself missing nothing.

 

It also reminds of the time when we started getting LCD and plasma TVs that had decent colour calibration options.  With most of us before then used to the slightly cold/blue colour cast on TV default settings and most computer screens it took a while to adjust to the more natural warmer/yellow colour cast of the properly adjusted picture.

 

At the end of the day, if the SR4 is not for you, try the Uptone LPS-1.2 (not the 1.0), which I believe has a brighter and possibly leaner sound.

[Emcee]

On 4/20/2018 at 6:04 AM, Chiswickian said:

STR-1.  You could be right.  I do notice an increased solidity to various aspects of the sound, so won't say that the SR-4 has had no positive impact and this could easily explain the effect I'm hearing.  It seems I actually liked some of that extra airiness, but will continue to let the SR-4 burn in suitably and then compare the effect of the power supplies again, as suggested by Paul H also.

 

I very much doubt I'd get rid of the SR-4 now, maybe just re-assign it to other duties if I do find, after burn in, that I prefer the sound of the stock Chord power supply.

I would tend to agree that the airiness I was experiencing with my CIAudio LPSU has been replaced by more weight and a fuller sound.

I think this is a classic trade off in audio components. It's like sugar and vinegar. The more you add of one the less you'll taste the other. It's up to you to decide if you like it sweet or sour or a bit of both.

[Chiswickian]

Emcee.  I'm going to audition the Curious USB cable, as I've read great things about it and it' supposed to be quite a "sparkly" cable, but in a good way.  I'm keen to see if introducing this into my audio chain will bring back that missing airiness, without sacrificing the additional weight that the SR4 has brings.  I'll let you know how that goes.

[msm]

Chiswickian, I think that is a good idea.  I love the open and clear presentation of the Curious USB cable.  I also have a Sablon Audio copper USB cable, but the Curious sounds just as good in my system.  Each have their strengths, so finding the one that complements your system is the way to go.  Good luck.

[Chiswickian]

Msm.  Which Sablon audio cable do you have?  I was reading reviews of the Sablon Reserva Elite USB with interest and wondered how that compared with the Curious cable.

[msm]

I have the Reserva Elite.  I'm sure we read the same threads online.  I would say the Sablon cable is more laid-back than the Curious.  The Curious is more energetic with excellent PRAT and dynamics.  I generally prefer a more first row, in-the-room presentation, instead of a mid-hall presentation.  The Sablon has a deeper soundstage, while the Curious a wider one.  I'm still breaking in the Sablon cable between an Allo USBridge powered by an LPS 1.2 and BorderPatrol DAC, although I don't expect much to change, so my impressions aren't finalized.  I think they are both very good cables.

 

As someone else stated, I too find the LPS 1.2 a little thin and lean, at least on my digital device.  I'm hoping it will fill out a bit.  If not, that's why I'm watching and participating in this thread.  I almost purchased the SR4 instead but lead time and additional cost were factors.

[bit01]

I have posted this in other threads but thought I might mention it here as well. I have tried the SR4 to feed the Uptone LPS-1.2 powering the Sonore ultraRendu and love the result. I find that this combines the strengths of each design (SR4, reduced 'glare', LPS-1.2 increased resolution) and compliments the uRendu well. IMO the combo improves on either one's solitary performance as supplied. Good resolution (spatial,timbrel,low level), no 'glare' and great extension on both frequency extremes. If you like 'air' (like I do) and you missed it with the SR4, here it is again.

I know Paul has stated that it is not designed to charge ultracaps. Obviously one has to be careful how they use it, with regard to power draw.  At 9V output and the LPS-1.2  set at 7 VDC for the uRendu, the SR4 is only warm to the touch and maintains regulation. With the SR4 at 12V it is  hardly warm but in this role I prefer the sound at 9V.

 

SR4@9V(custom cable)>LPS-1.2@7V(custom cable)>uR>USPCB(90deg)>Naim DAC-V1.

 

I am using the Audioquest NRG-3 power cord with the SR4 which I find to work well. The custom DC cables are silver plated OFC, 2x22 AWG in starquad and 10 inch long.

 

Note: Uptone specifies 36W power draw for the LPS-1.2. The SR4 2A continuos/20A transient

It would be great if Paul could chip in on this application. May be together with Uptone he can size out a variant specific for the LPS-1.2 (assuming there is some interest) .

 

ATB.

 

[paulhynes]

Hi bit01,

 

I would not recommend using the SR4 to charge Ultracap banks directly because, in the discharged state, the Ultracap bank would look like a short circuit to the SR4, or any other power supply.

 

I have no experience with the LPS-1.2 but I assume that there is a charge current limit applied within the Ultracap charger circuitry to limit stress to the charger and also to the energising supply used to provide the raw power for the LPS-1.2 charger to work with. Perhaps Alex or John can elaborate on the charge current limit if applicable.

 

You obviously have the SR4/LPS-1.2 working well together combining the best attributes of both power supplies to give a result that suits your requirements when listening to music.

 

The balanced mains isolation transformer I fit to the SR4 is capable of allowing DC current delivery of 2.5A continuous, which from your experience, appears adequate for powering the LPS-1.2

 

I have no objection to the SR4 being used to power the LPS-1.2 if the combination provides audible benefits.

 

Regards