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Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC

66.74.51.167
Posted on March 27, 2024 at 10:59:32
ppopp
Audiophile

Posts: 3009
Location: OR
Joined: October 10, 2002

I have a Chordette QuteHD DAC. The wall wart if comes with does the job, but I'm curious to see if a 'better' PS will make a difference.
The wall wart says 12V 0.6A 7.2 W MAX.
Does this mean I can use any PSU which is 12V and at least 0.6V?
Considering this:

 

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12v times 0.6 amps equals 7.2 Watts, posted on March 27, 2024 at 11:18:35
Chip647
Audiophile

Posts: 2686
Location: The South
Joined: December 24, 2012
 That is what your wall wart outputs. 12 volts at 0.6 amps. Any power supply that does 12 volts and has 0.6 amps of current or greater will work.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 27, 2024 at 12:55:07
Dynamite Ham
Audiophile

Posts: 246
Location: State of Confusion, U.S.A.
Joined: February 24, 2005
 I've got an Ifi power supply on my phono stage and an LPS on my streamer and both are a noticeable improvement over the stock power supplies. Biggest benefit for me is the improvement in scale, I.e. instruments like piano sound larger and more powerful.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 27, 2024 at 14:47:33
ppopp
Audiophile

Posts: 3009
Location: OR
Joined: October 10, 2002
 Interesting. Which model PSUs are you using?

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 28, 2024 at 11:11:51
Dynamite Ham
Audiophile

Posts: 246
Location: State of Confusion, U.S.A.
Joined: February 24, 2005



IPower-X and a Teradac LPS. I don't remember the model no. but here's a picture.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 29, 2024 at 23:01:36
MylesJ
Audiophile

Posts: 1263
Location: Oregon Coast
Joined: October 25, 2001
 Rob Watts seems to recommend battery power. You can get a 12V LFP 50Ah battery for about $150. I use one for my Qutest. I need to charge it
once a month. It is a real improvement.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 30, 2024 at 08:51:19
ppopp
Audiophile

Posts: 3009
Location: OR
Joined: October 10, 2002
 Thanks for the info.
Do you have link to such a rechargeable battery?

 

12V battery for Qutest?, posted on March 30, 2024 at 16:36:31
Jon L
Audiophile

Posts: 6149
Joined: April 6, 2000
 Qutest requires 5V power supply, so you are putting a regulator on the 12V battery?

 

I'm in agreement with this guy., posted on March 31, 2024 at 07:33:53
1973shovel
Audiophile

Posts: 10183
Location: Greenville SC
Joined: February 25, 2007





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Batteries aren't the perfect 'flat DC' power source some think they are.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on March 31, 2024 at 11:44:38
bobwire
Audiophile

Posts: 378
Joined: March 7, 2002
 I've changed out many supply's with one's of the same voltage and much higher current. Like .6amp to 3amps. It works. Good Luck, bobwire

 

RE: 12V battery for Qutest?, posted on April 1, 2024 at 18:21:19
MylesJ
Audiophile

Posts: 1263
Location: Oregon Coast
Joined: October 25, 2001
 Sorry, brain fart at my end. The Qutest runs on NiMh batteries. One set last about two hours. Right now I have two sets together. The NUC runs on the 12V LFP. I'm not using any regulation on the batteries. The only AC on the digital side runs the monoblocs, each with their own socket.

 

RE: Power Supply upgrade for Chord DAC, posted on April 1, 2024 at 19:08:09
MylesJ
Audiophile

Posts: 1263
Location: Oregon Coast
Joined: October 25, 2001
 See the link below. You get as many of these as you need for your regular listening sessions. Figure on up to two hours per pack. Get adapters and put all of them in parallel and then connect each set of cables together an put on whatever kind of power connection needed by your low power equipment. The Qutest will drop out when the batteries get down to at 4.4 volts.

 

"Like 0.6amp to 3amps. It works.", posted on April 4, 2024 at 15:34:27
1973shovel
Audiophile

Posts: 10183
Location: Greenville SC
Joined: February 25, 2007





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Yes, and here's why. In a Stereophile interview, McGowan, recounting the same story, says it's because of the much lower secondary impedance of the electrically 'oversized' power transformer.

 

RE: "Like 0.6amp to 3amps. It works.", posted on April 4, 2024 at 15:51:25
Tre'
Industry Professional

Posts: 17549
Location: So. Cal.
Joined: February 9, 2002
 But he didn't say why. Near the end of the video he said that they had learned over the years some of the parameters of what causes that and why but he didn't explain.

Tre'
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"

 

He 'sort of' does, posted on April 5, 2024 at 04:46:56
1973shovel
Audiophile

Posts: 10183
Location: Greenville SC
Joined: February 25, 2007
 At about 5:30 he mentions 'Sergio at Mercury Magnetics' who felt it was the "lower DCR of the output impedance..."


In the link below, I posted his quote back in 2012, which said that the cause was this:

"We built 'em for years, actually, before we finally figured out what was happening. Which was the large transformer's very low secondary impedance, maybe under an ohm, whereas it's of the order of 35-50 ohms for a small transformer with the same voltage."

And in that old, linked to post, there's also a link to the original Stereophile interview where McGowan made the claim.

 

RE: He 'sort of' does, posted on April 5, 2024 at 08:17:20
Mike B.
Audiophile

Posts: 26543
Location: OR
Joined: September 27, 1999
Contributor
  Since: September 1, 1999
 I talked on the phone with Stan a number of years back. He lived here in Eugene, Oregon then. One of the things that stuck with me was his statement that the power supply is in the signal path.


 

"I talked on the phone with Stan a number of years back", posted on April 6, 2024 at 03:30:48
1973shovel
Audiophile

Posts: 10183
Location: Greenville SC
Joined: February 25, 2007
 I did too, sometime around 1992. He was modding the JVC 1050 (XL-Z1050TN) CD player at the time, and he informed me of a shop where I could buy one, by mentioning his name, for $500 new in box. The place turned out to be local to me at the time, so I bought one. By the time I saved up enough to have mine modded, Stan had faded into obscurity, sadly.

I remember two things about our conversation, in addition to him getting me a great price on the JVC. First was that he was very easy to talk 'audio' with. The second, which I've had questioned by a few on the Asylum over the years, was in regard to leaving a CD player powered on all the time, which Stan Warren suggested to me for 'best sound'.

I asked if the laser wouldn't wear out sooner by leaving it on 24/7, but Stan assured me that as long as I removed the CD from the drawer after listening, the laser would shut itself off, and then reactivate whenever another disc was inserted.

 

RE: 12v times 0.6 amps equals 7.2 Watts, posted on April 6, 2024 at 10:21:00
Palustris
Audiophile

Posts: 2436
Location: Cape Cod
Joined: September 12, 2008
 "That is what your wall wart outputs. 12 volts at 0.6 amps. Any power supply that does 12 volts and has 0.6 amps of current or greater will work."

You freaked me out! I built a 5V regulated supply using the LM350 and have it set exactly at 5Vrms.

I checked the manual and it says 5V @ 2.1A. OK, now I feel better....



 

Thanks. nt, posted on April 19, 2024 at 16:57:10
Tre'
Industry Professional

Posts: 17549
Location: So. Cal.
Joined: February 9, 2002
 .
Have Fun and Enjoy the Music
"Still Working the Problem"

 

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