Qutest LPS upgrade

I am not suggesting anything; I just wonder from which package you receive your experience.

Just FYI, acording to a reliable source, the BOTW P&P ECO provides a ripple voltage of less than 0.5 mV (= 500 µV) under full load conditions for 5-6 volt LPS. When paired with the Ultra MKII upgrade, ripple and noise levels are further diminished to much lower levels ~10 µV, making this combination highly suitable for audiophiles seeking optimal audio performance.

For most high-performing LPS units I have seen, the typical ripple noise is filtered or controlled to within 10-20 µV.

I am curious—does the main benefit you experience come primarily from noise reduction due to the much lower switching frequency (20 kHz–500 kHz in SMPS to 50–60 Hz in LPS), lower ripple voltage, or a combination of both?

I have a Chord TT2, and I replaced the supplied crappy switching power supply with an Sbooster and was similarly impressed with the effect t it had on sound quality.  It begs the question as to why Chord is against using anything other than their supplied switching power supplies.

The Qutest is a hugely capable DAC that some say is more musical than the TT2.

Wait until you try an M-Scaler with your Qutest!

@lanx0003 I am not sure why I have such a profound improvement… but it is real. I am ordering the Ultra today.

@toronto416 Given the significant improvement, I can only surmise they would prefer me to upgrade to a TT2 & you to a Dave vs buy an LPS & be happy.

@t-bon3 Potentially in the cards for the future. Would have to figure out where to put it as space is an issue. All reviews and forum results have been very positive. Next is a new TT.

Thanks!

@signaforce  Please report back with your experience with the Ultra.

At almost the same time, I ordered the LHY 15VA (5V/3A) LPS from AliExpress. I’ve heard good feedback from both reviewers and end users. Vinshine has used it for several upgrades as well, such as with the Eversolo and Bluesound Node. Anyway, it is relatively much cheaper and, in terms of ripple noise measurement, outperforms most of its Chi-Fi peers (17µV at empty load and 150µV at full load).

Anyway, I pulled the trigger, and it quickly arrived (within 8-9 days). Both of my streamers (Wiim Pro Plus) and DAC (Schiit Modius; AKM version) were powered by 5V. I tried it on my DAC first. Immediately, I heard noticeable improvements in several aspects, though not significant. First, the upper bass/mid-range was less congested. Second, there was more separation without sacrificing decay. The background was quieter too. Bass remains the same. Again, it’s not night and day (just because it’s not), but it’s noticeable. For $65, including shipping, I’m pleased with the outcome.

The power block I replaced it with is the iFi iPower 2, which is an SMPS but with extremely low ripple noise of 1µV. So, I infer that the benefit I was getting mainly stems from the reduction of switching noise and possibly more stable current.

An interesting thing happened. I was thinking that if I used the LPS with the source (streamer in this case), it might perform even better, since a cleaner signal would start from the source. It turns out that the magic I mentioned earlier was gone. I tried more songs I’m very familiar with, but it only confirmed what I had felt at the beginning.

Does this mean the DAC will benefit more from cleaner power than the streamer in my case? I don’t want to over-generalize, but it seems to be the case.

I will try this combo on my ’first tier’ system tomorrow to see what happens.