Excellent Power Supply Solution

You might have just fixed a problem a lot of folks (I'm included) are having with PS that came with our cable box. ALL of them have a voltage issue.

Everyone ads noise, it actually has to be on it's own dirty circuit. Above 115, just noisy as could be.  110-115.  You can only add a ground with a ground loop, eliminator. I've swapped PS twice, and with the neighbors...

I might give it a try, mine is quiet now though. That Ground Loop thing.. works, but I always wonder. Cable boxes and lightning strikes. Actually had ground strikes 5-6 weeks ago. NEVER before... You think we were in the Sierras, or something..

Regards

Thanx for the tip.

The ifi wall warts are in about the same price range, and extremely well reviewed for both measured and audible performance.  They replaced my Astron. They don't have nearly 10A of output though. :)


https://amzn.to/3n4W0xs


Best,

Erik

With the iFi DC power supplies, you have to be careful with the amp rating. It’s OK for a power supply to have a higher amp rating than your device. But it cannot have a lower amp value. The same is true for the wattage. The 12 volt iFi power supply only handles 1.8 amps. Many of the cable modems and routers require more than 1.8 amps. That’s why the Waveform Lighting power supply worked so well for me. I just ordered another one today.

While I’m at it, here is another tip. I wanted to put a high grade AC power cord on this power supply, but the ones I have do not have C7 connectors. Fortunately, you can order a C7 adapter from Voodoo Cable for $19.00. The non-polarized type works for most routers and modems. Here is the link: https://voodoocable.net/product/c14-to-c7-iec-two-pin-adapter/

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.

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, 

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!

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.

@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.

@cakyal, have you ever noticed the difference in noise-floor and SQ between a SMPS and a LPS in an audio system?

And regarding routers, they emit RFI which is found throughout the entire chain from the outside cable tie-in to inside the house.

lowrider57

And still, NONE of them affect the digital signals.

Just keep your digital gear & SMPS type psus and walwarts AWAY from your analog gear. That is all you need to do. They may affect your analog gear but they will have NO effect on your digital stuff, especially on your home router.

It actually has to be on it's own dirty circuit. Above 115, just noisy as could be. 110-115.

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I thought the thread was noise from a PS (add all the foot notes you like)

Thanks OP, as I said, I have to had a dirty circuit for my router and it seems to get rid of ALL my noise. 

I understand if a PS looks better on a scope, it normally is quieter than one that isn't. You're (OP) saying every bit has a potential to help, (I agree), but not harm, if you use a DC PS 12-24VDC.

I say there is an added benefit (I hope) for ME, getting rid of a noisy PS and a GL gadget at the same time, replacing the PS with a better performer, at least from a scope perspective.

My systems are combined, digital and analogue. ZERO floor noise. Nothing worse than a noisy system.  I love the fix, TURN IT UP.. LOL

Turn a system up to 100% nothing playing, what do you hear? Get next to the speakers. What do you hear? That is the measure of a quiet system...

Thanks OP

Regards

Using some of the logic here, everyone would throw away their linear power supplies that go with their music streamers. After all, streaming music is digital and bits are bits, right?

Every audiophile forum should have a special “Snake Oil” thread for people who don’t think cables, power cords and power supplies can improve sound. Let the serious audiophiles pursue their passion in the regular threads. As for using quality, filtered power supplies on modems and routers, you often get the advantage of using better than stock AC power cords. I use mostly Shunyata cords in my system, and they improve the sound, regardless of which components I attach them to.

One last thought. This very forum has several previous threads with thoughtful and helpful comments on DC power supplies. I have found that some of the better quality, but still affordable ones have a detachable brick with a C7 AC cord connector, like the ones from Waveform Lighting.

I see absolutely nothing to indicate that the Waveform Lighting brick is anything other than a switching power supply with a higher amp output than a wal-wart.

You must not have read the specs. It is designed for critical lighting applications, and also works well with audio equipment. It has good filtering and voltage overload protection. I would recommend checking customer reviews and reading impressions from other audiophiles. I can attest that the unit improved my system when attached to a Shunyata Venom AC cord. Of course it won’t beat a Paul Hynes LPS or an SBooster. It is an affordable alternative, and significantly better than a stock wall wart.

Just keep your digital gear & SMPS type psus and walwarts AWAY from your analog gear. That is all you need to do. They may affect your analog gear but they will have NO effect on your digital stuff

This is actually inaccurate.  The power supply on digital equipment, including digital transports such as streamers or disc players, will defintiely impact the sound quality.  If you cannot hear a difference on this it means your listening skills and/or hearing are not as sensitive as others or your audio system does not have enough resolution to reveal these differences.

I've been reading this thread.  I think the OP has a good point on this product for an alternative to the really cheap small 3" x 3" wal-warts that come with a lot of our audio equipment.  Of course, this will not be as good as a nice linear power supply (which he has said), but it should give a good improvement over this small wal-warts.  For $50 you can get a nice improvement, but for $250-800 you can get the top end linear power supply.  It all depends on how much you want to spend and how important it is to you.

The noisy PS is 12-18 vdc, that I'm using, it should to work. ay?

This power supply is a single voltage output.  You can choose either a 12V model or a 24V model.  If your equipment has a dual voltage requirement or a special type of power supply (such as a laptop), this power supply will not work.

I'll check it out. It's for a cable router, from the cable company. All of them are noisy. They have to be on a different circuit. No noise problem NOW, but it took a GL device and a different circuit, to do it.. They use to pull more watts than a class d working hard.. Quite the piles of dung..
BUT, I like the Music Channels, the wife like "Below Decks",

I haven't watched TV in 3 years. 2-3 hours at the kids maybe..in 3 years..

3rd or 4th one. This was the cable company's fix... I moved it to a separate circuit.

Regards

For reasons stated earlier in the thread, I don't buy into linear PSU for a router/networking device.  I do for anything outputting audible analog signals.  Being lazy at one point I had a power strip with all SMPS for various things plugged into an outlet shared with a Panamax filtering strip for my amp, DAC and preamp, and one day realized that things didn't sound as good as I thought it could.  I had received my shipment of equipment from storage after having recently moved and was in a rush to hear my gear again.  It took me a few moments to realize what I had done and when I did I moved that whole strip to another outlet a few yards away which don't run near each other at any point before the breaker box.  The sound improved quite a bit.  A smaller improvement was had by moving the power brick for my tiny PC to a filtered outlet on the Panamax.  I think that last one may have had something to do with USB and it transmitting power on the cable between the PC and the DAC. I think the lighting strip is a good solution if noise is an issue even after putting the devices on a separate outlet. Minimizing the noise on the AC circuit closest to the amplification is pretty important. 

@oldhvymec, I keep my DVR turned off.  It's a WAF thang that it's even in the rack.  Damn HDD can be heard when I have the house on quiet mode (air filters, and cat water bowls turned off).  I hate that you can't truly power off a cable DVR unit. I put a remote outlet on that thing so it turns on and off for the times that my wife might want to actually watch tv and can use voice command to turn it on otherwise.

The one thing that I wan to point out regarding power supplies, is that they are 2 way devices. They can in fact create noise which makes it back into the household AC which then gets picked up elsewhere.  Look at it this way:

• Almost all of the noise in your AC line has been created by power supplies elsewhere.

For this reason, I think linear power supplies can be a good idea for digital devices, but so can having multiple power filters or isolated filter banks.

Try to keep all the cheap wall warts "outside" of your analog power circuits. I wrote about this somewhat here:

https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/7333914575040594914/3933177263956486881

Best,

Erik

Oh the wonderful power of suggestion even self suggestion.

I will guarantee you one thing with complete confidence, this power supply will be anything but “very low ripple and noise.” from a purely electrical standpoint. It is meant for lighting. When they say ripple, they mean DC ripple for lighting so you don't get minor strobe effects. You can have pretty large ripple in lighting without strobe effects. When they say noise, they literally mean acoustic noise as most linear strips are dimmed with PWM and it makes many power supplies buzz.

What it won't be is less electrically noisy than most other things, those running it at a fraction of its rated power may result in less EMI than something ran at its rated power.

Caykol, noise on the AC lines in the 10's of MHz from a switch mode is not unheard of, nor is radiated EMI at RF frequencies, into the 10's and hundred of MHZ.

Why do you keep starting off post like this? REALLY, are you trying piss folks off?

You just can’t stop, can you?

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Oh the wonderful power of suggestion even self suggestion.

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Ok audio2design will the dog gone thing work? Geez, you make my head hurt.. Is it a good deal or a bad deal? Have you looked to make sure?

I have a noisy power supply on my cable box, what’s the fix? I have to use a GL eliminator, ONLY friggin’ one out of everything in my house that uses those things. It makes noise through my speakers.
I understand there is a voltage difference, the cable company admits it, this is what they use to fix it...

Can this help, do you know it won’t help? I keep reading why stuff won’t don’t, couldn’t, and not possibly work, ALL the time, but you haven’t tried the stuff or read the information. Just Blanket it won’t work, and sighting WRONG ripple? Low ripple, there should be a number published what it can do, RIGHT? What’s the answer, NOT this is the wrong question?

Easy to say no... WHY on the other hand.. whole new world... It’s called being a mechanic... YUP.. I fix it, there has to be a fix for a bad or noisy PS.

How about try this (what ever it may be), it may work better, for your apps.
One of the 6 Eeyore’s. Oh No, I had to say no again, oh my.. LOL

Quit holding out on the goods, if you got an answer offer it up. If you don't, go find one... Simple...

Regards

oldhvy, stick to mechanics :-)

It’s a laptop power supply. Here, you can buy directly from the supplier:

https://sz-yhy.en.alibaba.com/product/1857822116-806101300/12_V_10a_12vdc_120w_Ac_dc_Laptop_Universa...

Model YHY-1201000 just like on the Waveform Lighting site. It is a two stage power supply so it has low flicker for lighting purposes. And yes, the pictures match exactly what is on Waveform Lighting site.  It even says only use for IT equipment purposes (not lighting)

I’m tryin’ being a mechanic was easy. I just did what others wouldn't or couldn't.

And thanks.. Now I can fix the noisy thing..

Regards

@cakyol,

first, I object to your stentorian, arrogant tone. You are dealing with people enthusiastic about their hobby and by and large able to hear very well, and not a bunch of miscreants

Second, the issue with PS generated noise ISN‘T about missing bits in digital transmission but about ground level noise travelling along the data path and deleteriously affecting the digital to analogue conversion, i.e. it is an analogue rather than digital problem which on first sight isn‘t covered by your digital expertise, however profound that may or may not be.

Finally I suggest you might start listening yourself rather than argue from first principles