PD-Creative

I’m very pleased with the PD Creative mod! It has about 40 hrs burn-in play hrs on it in addition to leaving it fully powered on 24x7 since installation. It took almost the full 40 hrs to lose the upper midrange harshness on horns and piano. Not unusual for solid state burn-in. I once owned a modified SS amp and preamp that took over a 100 hrs to lose that edginess.

Compared to the stock Node 2i with a Nordost Purple Flare power cable the mod with a Meanwell SMPS has resulted in much better clarity and a deeper soundstage. Bass is tighter, plucked strings have a better leading edge, drum hits are more crisp. Cymbals sound much more realistic.

Based on others’ comments above I should purchase a Sbooster for it. My only problem is finding a place for another Sbooster. I already have a Sbooster on a Chord Qutest. Can Sbooster units be stacked on top of each other without a reduction in sound quality? Anyone try it? I try to separate power supplies by at least a foot.

The PD Creative mod and the MeanWell SMPS now have over 120hrs on them and sound great! It took 100 hrs to really be fully burned-in and have sweet highs with air, awesome cymbal shimmering, but it’s definitely there now.  I’m considering the Sbooster LPS but it sounds so good now I’m taking my time deciding. 

@wlutke 

I ordered the Creative board and budget power supply combo and it took just a few days to arrive. I Installed it last night and gave it a listen for a good hour today running through an MHDT Orchid.  Even in a doubtful, hyper critical frame of mind I found it sweeter on top, tighter on the bottom, much better focus, clarity and inner detail, especially strings and choral. It really won me over.  Smooth. Punchy.  I could feel my ears relax and the sound open up.  For $126 delivered it’s a bargain.

I ordered the board and got an Acopian power supply from ebay, used, for $140. So far, I completely agree with everything above and really appreciated PD Creative.

FYI, the owner of PD Creative said that his family was about to take in two refugee families from Ukraine, so supporting him seems like a no-brainer.

I purchased an N130 blue sound recently. I'd heard a regular 2i on my system and didn't like it at all. My main streaming had been done up till now, via Apple TV 3, Glass fibre optical into Bryston BDA1 DAC. It was a very nice warm open sound, and very musical to me. Nothing harsh about the sound at all. I had wanted to go up to tidal connect at least, and I've been looking for the easiest and best form of accessing my Flac data base, Via USB drive or NAS. To me the software is as important as the equipment. 

Initially I really disliked the sound of the N130. I found it compressed, harsh, lacking in air or wide imaging, no height to the sound. I purchased the PD creative power board and super low noise power supply. VERY easy to take the old board out and put the new one in.

Initially the sound stage opened up dramatically and the imaging is excellent. The bottom end extended beautifully to such an extent to where I've not heard such detailed and musical low end on my system. However, the high mids and top end had been VERY harsh from the onset and with constant playing it wasn't getting any better. I started to have discussions with the guys at PD Creative, and they offered exchange with no fuss whatsoever. I said I'd wait another week to see how it goes. 

So, after a week, I put the old board back in. The sound was definitely better than it had been out of the box, but the brightness and harshness was still in the Bluesound, so I had pin pointed the issue to the blue sound, not the pd creative. PD suggested I give their gear another 20 hours break in at least. Long story short, after another 40 hours of non stop playing, I then turned everything off for 2 days and turned it back on. The sound had changed again, for the better. The top end is sounding much tamer and the combination of pd creative and blue sound just keeps getting more musical and warmer. The detail is excellent, the imaging is huge. Even the analogue out of the blue sound is very acceptable now whereas a few days ago I was ready to throw it in the bin, it had been so harsh. 

Power cables. Be prepared to experiment a LOT with power cables as they make a huge difference to the over all character. If you don't believe so, you're probably on the lucky side. To me, they make a major difference in imagining and presentation. 

I installed the PD Creative power supply mod in a Node 2i powered by an SBooster LPS and I can confirm that it makes a huge difference to an already excellent streamer. Lowered the noise floor, better bass articulation, reduced vocal sibilants, expanded the sound stage and let the music flow.