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Inexpensive but good sounding power supply (and hard drive) for PC audio?

Hello! I am about to replace my hard disk and power supply in my audio PC due to aging and I'm wondering if there's room for improvement (but without investing significant money) compared to what I'm currently using. Please advise me:

1. What power supply to buy? What to look for if I'm interested in sound quality on a ~ 150Euro budget: brand (I'm reading good things about Seasonic and Corsair), power (600W? 750W?), bronze vs. gold and so on?I know some people are raving about dedicated servers running on LPS and so on but I cannot afford the expense atm.

2. Can I expect a better or at least not worse sound after replacing the hard drive with a SSD? Any specific recommendation for a SSD?

 

My system consists of:

- a generic PC running Windows 10, used for streaming Tidal and Qobuz. It sports a WD Blue hard disk (no SSD), a cheap, generic power supply that costs about 10-15 Euro, I3-6100 processor @ 3.7GhZ, Asus B150M-K D3 motherboard and a Clearer Audio power cord (about 250 Euro) that, to my surprise, brought a significant improvement;

- much more expensive, "audiophile" audio components: Aurender DDC, Accuphase player / DAC and amplifier, Martin Logan hybrid electrostats

 

The reason for this disproportion between the cheap computer and expensive audio gear is that I've tried several "improvements" to the computer part and in the end I didn't prefer the result:

- a dedicated Lumin U1 Mini streamer. My PC was better to my ears (fuller, less sterile sounding)

- a Matrix PCI-USB card. Even when fed by an expensive Ferrum power supply, it was not a straight upgrade and overall I think I preferred the PC

- more expensive cables (power, USB, Ethernet) or DDC (Audio GD) that sounded worse

- a few Cisco switches, a better (Sotm) power supply for my router - sidegrades or downgrades

 

Thank you!

donquichotte
mastering92
870 posts
 

@donquichotte

More expensive/higher standard power supplies just mean they are more efficient in terms of power consumption overall. They produce less heat, may last longer, and sometimes improve overall system performance (in the case that you a have a powerful gaming PC, I’ve built these and others etc. severs before...my day job is IT).

In terms of the PSU itself, I don’t think that will impact sound quality. Because it’s a computer, not an audio component.

All good DACs will pre-filter the USB input from any noise over USB, so that’s not a concern.

In regards to storage options for music, I would suggest a fast and reliable SATA III SSD of your choice (capacity) or a PCI-e /nVME solid-state drive. If the motherboard on your computer is not already compatible, you can buy a PCI-e card and add that functionality by using one PCI-e lane on the motherboard. Hard Drives are noisy! bad for music.

The quality of electricity (especially of AC) before it reaches an audio component or anywhere within that chain is important.

Check out my profile to see what I’m using. And feel free to send me a message.

mastering92
870 posts
 

* built servers before 

Ag insider logo xs@2x
cleeds
5,651 posts
 

mastering92

More expensive/higher standard power supplies just mean they are more efficient in terms of power consumption ...

Actually the opposite is often the case. Nothing could be more inefficient than a Class A power supply.

sns
3,003 posts
 

@auxinput That is correct, Euphony Version 4 is reportedly big upgrade on 3, never had 3 so can't say.

 

I'd agree quality power supply may not make that great a difference with Windows computer, the Windows based motherboard music server I'm running is in actuality not a computer, has virtually no capability of a general service computer. At this level of minimal processing and hand picked parts chosen for lowest possible noise, latency, power supplies make large difference!

auxinput
2,920 posts
 

In terms of the PSU itself, I don’t think that will impact sound quality. Because it’s a computer, not an audio component.

All good DACs will pre-filter the USB input from any noise over USB, so that’s not a concern.

I disagree with this based on personal experience.  The power supply will definitely affect a digital source.  My own experience is with a Pink Faun S/PDIF PCI card mounted in a computer.  Using the computer's power supply, the sound was nice, but I can definitely hear harshness and noise/distortion in the sound.  When I connected an external Farad Super3 linear power supply to the Pink Faun card, the sound really cleaned up and became more solid and more powerful.

Even in this case, the quality of the computer switching power supply will affect the digital signals being passed to the Pink Faun S/PDIF card (even though the Pink Faun itself is powered by an external linear power supply).

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