Some people want their DAC to sound like nothing, similar to how some people believe that the best preamp is just a passive one with a quality attenuator - nothing but a straight line with gain. Others believe that these components are major contributors to the heart and soul of music delivery. Neither are wrong, and each person is entitled to his or her preferences and values.
I am in the camp of the latter and believe that a DAC and preamp are integral to bringing the music to life. To do so, the analog stages of each component need to be exceptional. Part of making these stages exceptional is quality power. Good quality power also helps to reduce noise in the DAC’s digital stage as well.
There have been numbers of threads where people have upgraded or bypassed their DAC’s built-in power supplies and have reported improvements from doing so. I did this myself with the PS Audio DirectStream DAC, continuing to leverage the internal power supply to handle the digital display and firmware while handling the analog and digital audio stages with a Farad Super3 linear power supply. The improvement was notable with a much blacker background, faster, stronger bass and less etched / more natural presentation overall.
