I recently went the route of optical isolation, and even went so far as to put them both into one aluminum chassis with the only inputs into the box being the dc line in and the 2 shielded Neutrik CAT6A pass-through connectors and an aluminum power button on the front. I figure if I was going to worry about EMI/RFI interference enough to use optical isolation I may as well try to minimize it further, especially as the back of my stereo shelf is fairly horrendous with wires.
I power both of the TP link FMCs (MC110CS’) with a single ifi iPower 9v (still returnable!) as it has a rated 2 amps which should be more than adequate to cover the 9v 0.6a adapters that came with the TP links (also stated max power of the TP links is 1.52W, so I think those were overkill to begin with)
ANYWAY…
So I have been looking around at regulated linear power supplies and have really struggled over what to buy and what equipment I should use it on. Most of my equipment that is close to my stereo that currently use wall warts are the Ethernet switch (12v), a Roon ROCK NUC (19v), the FMCs (9v), and a HDMI switch (5v).
So after what feels like ages I found this HDPLEX 200W (link) supply that can actually run all the voltages of the previously stated equipment at the same time.
Has anyone used this LPS? Also, I guess equally important, is it ok to power 4 (5 if you count the FMCs separately) different devices from one unit? It seems like there is pretty good separation between the different voltage outputs and there is lots of power available. I kind of like the idea of cleaning up all the potential EMI/RFI noise from the Ethernet switch onward as there isn’t a whole lot I can do before it.
I could also be over thinking the whole thing…
Thanks in advance, Veneet
(Also, thanks again to all the folks who wrote up how to set up the optical isolation and listed all the needed equipment, that made it really easy!)
I don’t have one but am also interested. I want to convert my Mac Mini with the Uptone Mac Mini LPS conversion kit and there’s a 12V version, which the Mac Mini needs. I really don’t feel like spending $1k on an LPS and would love it if this unit is good quality.
I have the HDPLEX power supply and use it to run two network switches, my NAS, and a small, headless Win10 computer that I occasionally (very occasionally) use for audio playback. (My DAC, turntable, preamp, DMP, and amp are all run off a P5.) This setup has worked well for me, although I admit that I haven’t done any kind of measurements to look at the quality of power the HDPLEX produces or whatever. Sounds better than the wall warts, though – that’s clear.
I have 2 HDPLEX PS powering various outboard stuff - like the sonictransport, the TP Link FMC’s, router, switch and more. Well built and much better than the wall warts.
Thanks Mark & Magister, I went ahead and placed an order. It is good to hear that you guys are happy with your LPS’. It is hard to find something that actually ticks all the boxes, you kind of wonder if it is too good to be true. It is nice to hear that you have had a positive experience.
Just saw this thread. I also have one, which is fairly old now. Has been powering my music server, and when I was using USB, my several different USB conditioners. Only issue with it is that it has recently started to read just a bit low on the +12v rail, coming in at around 11.7, which was enough for my motherboard monitoring software to notice. I decided to leave it alone for now. Might also be internally adjustable, not sure. Anyway, I would buy one again.
Thanks for letting me know about your experience, I am pretty excited! One thing that I noticed while searching for info on the 200W version is that it seems like anyone who had an issue with their product was able to just reach out to them and get resolution, you may want to give that a try. It seemed like a universal opinion that this guy Larry was helpful. Just a thought.
Rob,
Thanks, I looked at that one too, and actually liked it from the beginning of my search, the only issue ended up being that it seemed like it was going to be $499 + 2x$125 to get the modules that would power the 5, 9 and 12V stuff. The NUC I think was too many amps so I would have needed the high power module, but could be powered by 12V instead of 19v according to specs in the manual. So it would have ended up close to maybe $900 or so which kind of ruined it a bit. Though you could argue that $400 is pretty crazy as well to just replace wall warts!
Yeah, that W4S unit looks slick and I like the customizability. I wonder how well it performs, though. W4S makes pretty good products, though, so I’ll bet it’s solid. A head to head with the HDPlex would be nice!
Veneet said
It seemed like a universal opinion that this guy Larry was helpful.
Yes. The HDPLEX box contains a bunch of different connectors, but I needed two of a particular style and they only supplied one. I emailed Larry and offered to pay for the extra one, but he just sent it right out at no charge. So good customer service!
The illustrated DC power connects appear to use moulded DC barrel plugs on the end of unremarkable wire so they’re probably as prone to electromagnetic interference as the wires from a cheap, switched mode power supply. However I note that the HDPLEX uses XLR connectors for outputs. If you’re handy with a soldering iron you could make up your own DC power connects using, for example, a star-quad cable to minimise electromagnetic interference. The XLRs have plenty of space inside for star quad but the other end would be trickier as there’s not much space inside a component barrel plug though I dare say it’s possible.
I did end up buying this, and it is working well, exactly what I was hoping for (thanks to all for the input!)
So I got rid of all switching power supplies on my dedicated line with this unit (NUC, HDMI switch, FMCs, Ethernet Switch). I had heard they were some of the worst in terms of EMI/RFI. All the Ethernet else is shielded cat 7 including the Ethernet ports that I had control over.
Would you still think it is worth it to switch out the dc power cables? If you think it is, I am game to try, but am not really sure what to do with Pin 3, the positive and negative make sense to me, but I have no idea what I would do with connection to the ground pin. I you let me know I can give it a shot.(edit: took one apart, only positive and negative of the 3 pins are hooked up).
Heads up for this topic. Received my new Hdplex 200 lps few days ago and there are many improvements vs.older models,more info on their homepage about it.
Improvements in SQ are immediately obvious and keeps getting better every day. I´m using it to power Aqvox Switch 5V, 4G router 12V and Uptone lps1.2 19V connecting to Matrix x spdif2. For less than 500€ this is a beast. Sounds much better with lps1.2 than it´s own smps by the way. ( Even though Uptones Alex says otherwise,it shouldn´t matter at all ) at least in my setup.
Plus i get new cable hobby running… need new dc cables to replace originals to find if there are (huge) improvements. Just ordered Love cable from AudioPC.Shop. Should be good, but let´s see when it arrives.
Congrats, I got mine in late May as well, love it, and like the dual adjustable outlets. I finally made a cord last night long enough to reach my Roon NUC. It took so long I think I will go your route and buy them! My soldering skills leave something to be desired!
Time for an update to this thread. I had an HDPlex 200W that was a previous generation device. It had 1 variable power supply. I ran an Intel i7 NUC that was configured with ROON Rock and my Matrix at 7.5 V. I tried to add my EtherRegen and it kept crashing. The EtherRegen was a little too greedy for power. I just received the latest HDPlex 300W with 4 rails, all are isolated and don’t share a ground. It’s one big device. 22lbs and 13 x 9 form factor. A full half rack. I’ve got it set up and chugging away. I’m genuinely impressed with it’s performance. The 200W sounded good. This beast just lets the devices that are connected, shine. All In all a good day.
I have latest 200W version and for some reason I had problems powering ER only! from fixed 12V out. There was stuttering and lag,music stopped and skipped playing etc…at times. And that went away when I used ER`s own smps. Strange…other than that Hdplex works great!
If you go to the purchase option, there’s a “notify me” button. You register then Larry will send you an email with a link to purchase when they’re back in stock . I waited six months for the email then two months for shipment after payment . It’s the strangest business model. It’s always sold out.
Yea it’s all upfront and understood. Much better than taking orders and tell people it will be there in a week and then delivering in months. It’s all about framing.
Although the business model is weird, I’m really pleased with the product this time. It’s an absolute beast at 22 pounds. It’s performance and contribution to my chain was noticeable. I’m usually a skeptic when it comes to the contribution secondary devices make to my final audio improved but this is noticeable.
The break-in period is pretty much a week and it continues to make things sound better in nuanced ways. Is it component level upgrade? No. But it does contribute in a positive fashion. You can see the SR Blue fuse in the holder. It was in my old 200W and I just moved it over.
need new dc cables to replace originals to find if there are (huge) improvements. Just ordered Love cable from AudioPC.Shop. Should be good, but let´s see when it arrives.
