On different matter, but related to a remark above about an aftermarket power inlet, I wonder what difference the short electrical path in a power inlet can make when the mains electricity inside the box either goes directly to PCB tracks—presumably not cryogenically treated (or quantum snake oiled)—or to short lengths of wire—presumably chosen for their known rather then unknown electrical properties. (I don’t know which of those options applies inside DS and DSjnr.) This is not to say that I don’t believe that there are better and worse power inlets.(cut)
This is what I think ;
When you design something you to put the money where they are best spent. Seen from this perspective I mean the following ;
The line voltage circuit in a device ought to be “good enough” as long as it fulfills all relevant safety regulations AND
is designed to introduce as little interference as possible in the unit sensitive parts using common solutions.
You simply get more sound quality per $ if you spend them on the low voltage side compared to if spent on the line voltage side.
With that being said - of course one can hear improvements when inserting DC-filters on mains side, isolation transformers, power
conditioners and maybe also more exotic mains cables (but that I can not verify, I have not dared yet…).
I have assembled an isolation power unit myself for my amp and DSJ, it makes quite a difference in sound quality - but it was also quite expensive.
As a designer, I would put my sound quality efforts on the the secondary side of the transformer so to say and leave the other side to the end users.
But all this is my personal experience, I am sure the real experts have a lot more to add to this.
Sorry, no I can’t. I don’t have the schematics for the power supplies (they came from the PerfectWave DAC which was the predecessor to the PerfectWave DirectStream DAC.
You’ll have to ask PS Audio support. I designed the DS (in particular the digital and analog cards), but it is PS Audio’s product, and they manufacture, market, sell and support it, and they did the power supply, case, display…
I am NOT an “everything sounds the same if it measures the same” kind of guy. In fact I have modded many of my own equipment as well.
That being said, over the years, I have become extremely skeptical of BUSINESSES that extol mods. In GENERAL, their objective is one thing - profit.
They seem to look at a board/circuit for any part that is replaceable by better (read “expensive”) part. They then market the swap as a “vast improvement” over the original design.
I know just about EVERY electronic product (not just audio) HAS to be designed to some kind of price point, so there will inevitably be some compromises on part quality, but the issue I have with some of these companies is that they extol what is simply a parts swap as the greatest mod ever made.
Having done my own mods many times, I can simply state that just because one replaces a part with what is supposed to be a “better” part does not mean you will necessarily get a better outcome as far as sound.
Many of these companies are selling parts - not mods that actually provide improvement. They think just because you replace a part with a “better” part (again read "expensive) it will improve the sound without understanding the circuit and what the circuit is designed to do.
That being said there ARE many mods I have found to improve, if not sound, how well a circuit works. For example, the replacement of bridge rectifiers with hexfreds/schottky/etc diodes that have fast switching/soft recoveries, bypassing of CERTAIN capacitors, etc.
I’m a simple hobbyist. I don’t have uber test equipment - just a few meters and a couple of oscilloscopes, bench supplies, and signal generators, so take my opionion as you may deem relevant. I don’t even have a Hakko station, just cheap “made in China” irons and rework stations.
Therein lies the issue. They market them as something to improve the sound to those who believe that just because you replace a part with a more expensive part, it will sound better. It is tantamount to selling a miracle drug but selling a bottle of placebos.
Now, I’m not saying mods are useless, or that all companies that hawk mods are scammers. There ARE a companies that modify equipment that really DO improve the performance/sound of audio equipment. As I stated, I mod my own equipment with that stated purpose.
But using the experience of @bigalmc and others through other forums, I can unequivocally state that there are MANY companies hawking modification services whose objective is NOT to improve the quality of the equipment, but JUST TO MAKE A PROFIT.