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dshreter
13
May 12, 2017
How many folks plan to get an upgraded power supply to use with this? I've read elsewhere this is beneficial, but having trouble deciding if it's worth it and which to get. The SMSL P1 is appealing to match in looks, but seems expensive vs alternatives.
kane-Rulez
1
May 12, 2017
dshreterexactly a lot of people have said the same thing, an upgraded linear power supply does wonders. Experienced the same for my Rasberry pi and Allo.com piano2.1 an ifi power brick changed the sound
Jimster480
395
Jun 27, 2017
kane-RulezACtually most people have said that the upgraded power supply does nothing at all. And every major review site that checked it out came to the same conclusion. It does nothing. Considering the architecture of the ESS chips, all the innovation is in making linear power supplies do nothing at all so....
cruz10n
38
Aug 11, 2017
Jimster480I got the matching smsl power supply, and I didn't hear any difference. Maybe it was too subtle for my old ears. Power supply gets hot too, so you can't really stack them on top of each other. Well, you could, but it would detrimental y affect longevity of units I would think.
Jimster480
395
Aug 11, 2017
cruz10nYep the power supply shouldn't make any difference especially considering the DAC has a jitter elimination system of its own and the power inside of the unit is filtered anyway.
coolerking
164
Jan 16, 2018
Jimster480 "Yep the power supply shouldn't make any difference" I do not want to flame you, but you are giving people the idea that you know what you are taking about. If you are familiar with Semiconductor architectures (" Yep the power supply shouldn't make any difference ") then you would never make a statement like that. Saying the quality of power made available to the circuit board and IC's is not important at all, is like saying a well meaning individuals do not require physical attraction to have a lifelong 100% enjoyable love life. Its ridiculous. Also is their plenty of evidence from other audio boards that 1) this little device kicks ass and 2) with a linear power supply, as opposed to switching. Just do a search on SMSL M8 and linear power supply.
I have no idea what the heck you are talking about, " And every major review site that checked it out came to the same conclusion " This is a flat out lie!
People are in enchanted by this digital mentality. Where they see an extremely complex system, an audio consumer electronic device, in black and white. No, No, No.
Here is reality. Ground noise, clocking , power availability, signal noise, IC characteristics, the IC eco-system of surrounding discretes and other IC's characteristics , cost and inter-opibility issues, Bill of materials, difficulty in bringing the whole system to mass production and maintaining it, support costs and lastly timing - how quickly can it all be done for the certain market window, and lastly the profit margin (how much does it cost to make, and what do they sell it at) ~ gets thrown into one big pot, and the company (ie SMSL) manages all the trade-offs, and releases the product.
Power is a huge component in all the trade-offs. In all designs. In this design, if you provide clean power, either battery pack or a linear power supply, the thing kicks ass. It is an over - achiever for over all cost $240.
BTW a $60 LPS should do it. Do a search, there are answers out there, and suggestions.
Jimster480
395
Jan 16, 2018
coolerkingNice flame. People are enchanted by not understanding semiconductor architectures. People such as yourself that believe that linear power supplies are superior to switching ones. And people who believe that modern semiconductors cannot internally filter out noise (they can). Every site that did a real measurement with the M8 using a linear power supply came back with NO DIFFERENCE.
Only idiots on Head-Fi (A site filled with idiots and scamlord admins) believe there is some difference. But the same idiots on head-fi also believe that dirty USB data exists and that headphone cables make "worlds difference" in sound quality. Basically showing that Head-Fi writers have 0 credibility on the subject of anything that costs money or could possibly get them kickbacks.
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