Lightspeed Attenuator - Best Preamp Ever?

I believe the Teradac power supply (http://www.ab-system.hk/index.php?route=product/product&path=73&product_id=64 ) is a great linear power supply. And at a good price.

But from the Lightspeed owners in the US and Canada that have said it's far better than the wall wart, we really need to know if it was an SMP wall wart, they were comparing to. It is very hard to tell the difference visually between an SMP or Linear wall wart. The portable AM radio trick is the easiest way to tell.

Cheers George

Maybe I missed it,but what are the sonic differences when one goes from an SMP to a linear wallwart?

If my wallwart was an SMP,and if most of the other North American wallwarts are SMP,then it's a no brainer to go for the TeraDak, because the improvement is well worth the little bit of extra pocket money.

If my wallwart was a linear one, then the TeraDak is still an improvement.

Just looking at the very thin and cheap wire that goes from the wall receptacle into the wallwart and the physical small size and most likely cheap construction of walwarts be they SMP or linear,compared to the TeraDak,there is quite a difference in build quality of the two, yet not much difference in price.
In fact some catelogue wallwarts that I researched from N.Am. charged way too much to process and ship.
Shipping charges from HK were 15 bucks.
So not much savings with a linear or SMP .

It would be nice to hear from someone who has compared a SWP, linear, battery and TeraDak so we can put this to rest.
George,you're the master, any of your fellow Aussies tried one of these yet?

Lacee hi, first off I'll explain the Lightspeed Attenuator consumes around 50mA max, "you could almost power it by rubbing two sticks together".
A 300mA wall wart will power 6 x Lightspeeds. So it's not a question of power, thicker wires or getting more current to the Lightspeed.
It noise, and smp wall warts are noisy little buggers, go near them with an AM portable radio and it will squeal like a stuffed pig.

If your wall wart is a linear one then it should be a close comparison to the Teradac (without hearing myself) because a battery is the closest to the perfect power for the Lightspeed, and not many people can hear much difference from battery to a linear wall wart.

However a smp wall wart is rubbish for the Lightspeed, I've even seen the difference on the test bench. These smp wall warts will be bettered by a Teradac and or battery by a long way.

Cheers George

fwiw: after some more hours of testing, I've confirmed to my satisfaction my initial observations.

First, the appearance of a difference in volume persists. The wallwart renders the LSA brighter and moves the stage forward, and I believe this is, in addition to increase in distortions, what I'm interpreting as a difference in loudness. Depending on one's system, I can see how someone could favor the wallwart. It seems livelier. YMMV.

However, with respect to transient response and transparency, the TeraDak is the clear and obvious winner IMO. My wallwart blurs transients and obscures the rhythmic qualities across all genres of music I tested: jazz, rock, folk, and classical. Choral work is more articulate.

Keep in mind that the deficiencies I note are relative to a side by side comparison with the TeraDak. Which is to say, I certainly didn't notice them in the 3 years that I've used the wallwart with LSA. (Or perhaps I noted them, but blamed other parts of my system?)

At any rate, in the end I'm with Lacee: my wallwart days are over. The question whether a linear wallwart is as good as the TeraDak is of theoretic interest to me, but I'll leave those questions for people like George to answer.

For $60 shipped, I see little reason to not hold such theoretical questions in abeyance and see for oneself.

I can't recall if I said this or not, but the LSA with the TeraDak is like it's been given steroids.
It's performance is enhanced,it's not about noise,I never noticed any noise from the LSA before.

It is about increased sound and clarity however,and more meat on the bones.

As much as George feels that there's not much need for fancy power supplies and power cords,until he tries that combination he is just as sceptical as the folks who don't put any faith in upgraded fuses, power cords or conditioning.

I get it.
Most designers feel they've built the perfect mousetrap and it's as good as it can get, and everything said to make it better is looked upon with a bit of doubt.

I've gotten similar response from amp manufacturers when I stated a fuse swap to a HiFi Supreme made for a richer experience.

It's got to be somewhat irritating when the folks in the cheap seats are making such claims of improved performance,especially when all folks like me can lay claim to are just personal opinions,albeit opinions based on hands on experience rather than speculation.We aren't smart enough to build such devices,and my hat is off to George and all the other talented people who do make all this great stuff,but nothing that I have ever listened to has ever been exempt to improvements somewhere in the chain.

Sometimes it costs the big bucks some times it can be cheap.
The TeraDak falls in the latter category,and I can't say if a linear power supply or a battery pack is as good or better than the TeraDak.

The point some of us are making is that we are so happy with the increased level of performance the TerDak makes that it's just pointless to experiment any further and that there isn't much to be saved in doing so and maybe more to be lost.

George no one is saying the LSA is inferior or defective.
I see I am not alone in stating that I was completely satisfied with the sound with the wallwart I was using.
If it was SMP or linear didn't matter to me,I thought and still think the LSA is the cleanest least coloured volume control I've used.
The TerDak just makes it even more so.

If the TeraDak involved altering the LSA or cost several times more money I never would have given it a second thought and would have listened to the LSA as I have been doing, and enjoying every minute of it.

If this was kept a deep dark secret,and George wasn't a decent fellow,he could have incorporated the TerrDak into his design and sold it for several hundred dollars more as a LSA MK11.
But George isn't like that,he let us know that this looked on paper to be another alternative to a wallwart that should work fine.
Maybe someday George will try one and report back.
As simple as it must be for George to assume that the TeraDak is almost overkill for the demands of the LSA,what I hear is more quality than quantity.

The power demands of anything in this hobby are fickle.
Some low power amps sound great in the right circumstances and sometimes there's a need for the big muscle amps.

But in my experience,everything can be crippled if not given the best power it can handle.
And providing the best power mostly means doing the things that shouldn't make a difference.