hheedah
Yeah there is a difference between the two power supplies with Teddy Pardo having a lower noise floor. The external box (Teddy Pardo) is the linear power supply which is not located in the Node X. The PD Creative is also very good but the power supply circuit board REPLACES the board directly in the space where the original PS board was. It is a very subtle difference and only in loud listening sessions when there was a break in music did I hear a difference. To be honest there were bigger differences in sound between the original Node (internal DAC) and the Node X (new internal DAC).
But I was very surprised that the newest Bluesound Node X is very, very good out of the box with its internal DAC and power supply. It far surpassed the original Node in performance. I did a head to head match informally and it was no contest.
Having said all that, I am fully aware there are better streamers in the audio world and at increasingly higher prices. What my point is with Bluesound is that in their price bracket they are great, offering ALSO longevity of customer service. Adding a better external DAC and power supply increases the performance.