Linear power supply

I have an older BS Node N130 and I bought a Teddy Pardo LPS.  It really made a positive difference.

I use a Teddy Pardo XPS MK2 my Naim nDAC and a TeddyCap SE Mk2 on my Supernait 3. Highly recommended.  

N

Vinnie Rossi's latest Brama series integrated amp costs $48,000 and uses an SMPS. 

I had the same experience as @curiousjim with Teddy Pardo and a Node N130.  Not saying for sure you would get the same bang with the Icon, but my experience with N130 is that the Pardo supply made the biggest difference of any aftermarket supply I’ve used with any device, and I have five different devices in two rigs on linear supplies.

I have used iFi iPower and iPowerX with mixed results.  They work well with the iFi devices I tried - with iPowerX being a big improvement over their entry model.  With Chord Qutest and Mojo2 I did not like the result at all/less than the switching supply that came with the Qutest.  The iPowerX improved the performance of my Node Nano in a second system, but an inexpensive (even with tariff) ChiFi r-core supply sounds better to me with the Nano and now the iFi supply is back in the drawer.  I have not tried iFi’s top of the line switching supply - maybe it’s awesome.

Companies are going to switching supplies to meet conservation standards in multiple countries, and I think there has been a lot of work done to address the potential problems discussed above - just not enough for me to be sold yet.  Most linear supplies come with a power switch.  Want to save energy?  Turn them off when not using.

kn

If I were a manufacturer, I’d like to say SMPS’s are great too. Shipping costs must be far less. Hat tip to Benchmark.