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Excellent Power Supply Solution

In case you haven’t noticed, it’s very hard to find a good, affordable DC power supply from a U.S. dealer. I wanted a 12 volt 3.5 amp model for a Netgear router.  The quality linear power supplies are considerably more expensive than the router. But, then I stumbled upon an interesting product from Waveform Lighting. They offer a $49 DC power supply for strip lighting purposes. The 12 volt model can handle up to 10 amps and 100 watts. I do not know the technical details on how it works, but the description states “very low ripple and noise.” It also has overload voltage protection. The DC cable is 16 AWG wire.  A nice feature is that you can attach an audio grade power cable with a C7 connector. I used a Shunyata Venom cord. 

The unit did add a noticeable increase in sound quality. A little more clarity, more lifelike vocals and less harshness  in the upper treble. If you have a 12 volt modem, router or switch, give the Waveform Lighting DC power supply a listen. Here is the link: https://store.waveformlighting.com/collections/power-supplies-and-dimmers/products/filmgrade-12v-24v...
boakey39
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 

First, I work at Broadcom switching products, so I do know what I am talking about.

Home routers & switches work at giga hertz frequencies and speed, which are WAY over ANY audio signals you are listening to especially if they are hard wired (ethernet), rather than using 11ac or 11ax wifi (which, depending on whether you are running at 2.4G band or the 5G band MAY be subject to collisions and may likely be a bit slower as a result).

The basic supply that comes with all boxes are absolutely fine. Since those work great even at frequencies 1000 times higher than your audio and still working perfectly fine, what you are noticing is nothing but the placebo effect.

Do not waste your money on snake oil.



oldhvymec
5,101 posts
 
First, I work at Broadcom switching products, so I do know what I am talking about.

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So you're the one that made the noisy PS? Is that what you're saying. Or you know how to fix them? Which one is it? 

What about Laptops, with noisy PS, some are REALLY noisy, what's the fix?

Placebo? Snake Oil, one is noisy, one is not. Am I missing something?

Regards, 
boakey39 OP
10 posts
 
It is common knowledge in the audio world that standard switching power supplies (wall warts) inject noise into the AC power line. This is not necessarily a noticeable hum. It is a type of interference that can degrade an audio signal. It is not the electronics within a router or a modem that causes this problem. It is in the lower grade power supplies. This is the reason for putting expensive linear power supplies with music streamers and other audio components. No one is required to believe this, anymore than they are required to except the findings of Charles Darwin. It is simply something to consider if you want your audio equipment to sound its best. Happy listening!
cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
For the LAST TIME, the noise (up to a certain level) in the PS does NOT matter in digital circuits.

When are you guys ever going to understand that digital signals are NOT prone to a SMALL amount of noise. They ALL have error correction BUILT INTO THEM (Read Hamming codes, Convolutional codes, Viterbi decoding, Elwyn Berlekamp’s book on basic error correcting codes) into CPU interfaces, phy interfaces, memory buses, dma controllers, signal shaping in the air with wifi signals... everything.

The so called noise you hear about in switching power supplies are in the 200 - 800 kHz range and are WELL WITHIN the acceptable parameters of noise levels as far as digital signals are concerned.

For God’s sake, do you think packet switching would work flawlessly if a bit of noise affected it ? Since all home routers, END TO END ARE DIGITAL, at the router level, it WILL NOT make a difference.

For God’s sake, go & read about it.

cakyol's avatar
cakyol
940 posts
 
@boakey39,

We are talking about the DIGITAL world here.  A home router, carrying DIGITALLY streamed signals from the Internet, all the way to your home router and thru ethernet (or wifi) also being delivered to the DIGITAL interface of your streamer/amplifier/whatever.

Where things could go wrong is INSIDE your amplifier/dtoa converter, where the digital signal gets converted to an analog signal.  

But your router power supply is usually yards away from it and have nothing to do with the power supply of your analog gear.

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