Bluesound Node (2021) PS upgrade to Teddy Pardo; is it worth it?

Creative vs Teddy pardo power supply -lol not even worthy of comparison 

Pardo is in a much higher league and competes with LPS that are 2x the cost 

replacing power cord with anything decent like a pangea sig for $100 great boost in fidelity as well as with the $50, DC cable , or their top $90 copper DC 5.5 mm-2.1 mm barrel connector great for uptone ether regen, or Sonore optical, or rendu.

Hi all

Teddy Pardo has just launched its new MiniTeddy power supply, compact size, lower cost and improved performance. Works like a charm with Bluesound Node.

I did the LHY filter board and 5V LPS on a new Node N130.Yes it did sound better. A bit more clarity. But it does not fix the bad USB audio out or the mediocre internal DAC.

I found a PI 4 USB into a Denafrips Aries DAC still sounds much better. Or probably into many other mid-tier DACs from SMSL or Topping for that matter.

But it you must spend money on a Node let me suggest just buying the LHY filter board for $110. I found that once installed the Node did not sound any different with a LPS vs a wall wart so it seems the filter board was doing most of the work of improving the sound. I tried it with a $10 wall wart from Amazon that was 5V and 4A which actually surpassed the power capability of the LPS.

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I use my Node to stream from my Vault.  Does it make sense to upgrade power supply on the Node without upgrading the Vault?  It does not appear that Teddy Pardo offers a linear power supply for the Vault, and I doubt that it has one as stock (?)

Thank you

@gladmo late to this thread.  Don’t know if you are still using a Node as a server/streamer, but I did a comparison of coax cables ranging from $40 to $1,500 between my Node 2021 and a Chord Qute HD DAC with an MCRU lps (supplying the DAC), and unfortunately I could tell a very significant difference between different coax cables.  I ended up buying a used Chord Company cable that cost as much as the Node, with zero regrets.  Looking at the general market for sources, adding an lps to support the Node is next up for me.

I just ordered a Teddy Pardo Dual 5V lps for my Node (2021) and my Chord Qutest DAC.  I will report back on the results.

I have a Teddy Pardo PS and I ordered a Node X at the same time. I would say it made a difference in noise floor and overall dynamics. I have a Node 2 that I run with PD Creative PS (as mentioned earlier in this thread). I have them going into a Bifrost 2 DAC and Denafrips Pontus 12 Anniversary DAC. The most noticeable change is the stock DAC in the Node X compared to the Node 2. It’s really much better and the Node X is a really great buy on its own, at its budget price point. IMHO.

I did the LHY full power supply upgrade kit, $275.  LPS and board.  The PS has a nice led display of the DC volts.  Product seems to very high quality.  Easy peasy install.  I'm using the Node N130 version as a streamer only.  Noticed a definite improvement in SQ.  Better clarity in the highs and tighter bass response.  Not night and day difference but noticeable.  I would recommend checking it out. 

+1 on the LHY upgrade.  I did the same on my N130, very pleased with the results.  I have now have the N1130 feeding a Denafrips Terminator II DAC which says a lot for the company.

Update on Teddy Pardo Dual5 - 2X5 3A power supply to power both my Chord Qutest and my Node (Gen3).  Most of this is from a previous post on Head Fi.

Listening first to the impact on the Qutest, it was clearly very different from the stock switching supply. Bass was deeper and especially much tighter. Midrange and highs were more defined in time if not space. The term more “incisive” comes to mind, but at the same time more relaxed. Just better.

I then removed the internal switching supply from the Bluesound Node and installed the DC adapter supplied by Pardo. This resulted in a similar and overall more coherent performance by the Node/Qutest combination. Significantly less grain and no sibilance - none whatsoever - even on the ripped CD recordings that were troublesome for every digital front end I have owned previously.

This combination is a revelation. 16/44.1 recordings now routinely sound terrific. HR recordings are intoxicating. Different power cables that I have built have very clear and distinctive sound signatures with the Teddy Pardo/Node/Qutest combination, and those differences are more discernible than with previous DACs I’ve owned with different power supplies. The dual power supply means I only need one supply and PC for both devices. I am using the Node almost entirely as a server with my entire digital music collection on a SSD drive connected to the Node via USB. I am connecting the Node to the Qutest with a Chord Company Signature Super ARAY coax cable. 

This is the best sounding digital front end I’ve had in my system to date. I start listening on headphones or through my speakers and it is hard to stop. I had a chuckle thinking that the combination of boxes and digital cable cost as much as a decent Naim streamer/DAC that is all contained in one box, but as my son noted, this is way more fun.

kn