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SUPPLIER Power Supply…is it Really worth the extra cost?
Published November 12th, 2008 in Firestone Audio General, Fubar USB DAC, Headphone Amplifiers
SUPPLIER Power Supply……Is It Really Worth the Extra Cost?
This is a great question and one we get quite often. Many people just can’t fathom how a power supply can help improve the sound of an audio component. This article applies to all Firestone components that are compatible with the Supplier. (The Supplier is not for use with the Tube Head, Little Country III and Big Joe)
SUPPLIER PSU Upgrade
Before we talk specifically about the SUPPLIER Power Supply Upgrade lets talk a little about power supplies in general. If you look at the history of Hi-Fi one can see the continued progression of bigger, better and cleaner power supplies being added to high-end components. If you examine any high-end component you’ll find that clearly half the cost or more is in the power supply section. One could argue that improvements in electricity are the source of all improvement in Audio.
If you could order up the ideal power supply it would be one that provides unlimited current while the voltage remains perfectly constant. Nice in theory but not practical in the real world as every type of power supply has limitations that stray from this ideal. As with most any audio component, the Firestone products use DC voltage to power their circuits. They require a clean, stable 24 volts DC to sound their best.
Lets look at the three types of power supplies commonly used in audio
Batteries
Either “one time use” or rechargeable
Batteries, especially the rechargeable type, are pretty much an ideal power source for audio components if they are correctly sized. A battery is a reliable source of clean, quiet power. That is if the battery is large enough to power the component for a reasonable time without significant discharge. One problem is that the impedance of a battery increases as it discharges, the higher the impedance the faster the rise in voltage ripple. If the frequency of the voltage ripple is in the audio range then this can cause undesirable noise to be heard from the component.
Another obvious con for battery powered systems is the constant requirement for either replacement or recharging.
Wall Wart power supplies
This is the little black box supplied with your Firestone Audio Component (FAC)
The standard wall wart power supply is a non linear, unregulated power supply; these are the simplest and least expensive solution for powering your Firestone product.
With the wall wart you have 120VAC going in and 24VDC coming out (assuming a stable 120VAC source). It includes a rectifier to convert the AC power to DC and a smoothing circuit to help tame the pulsating DC. Unfortunately there is still a significant amount of ripple on the DC side and the small space available in most wall warts limits the amount of filtering that can be used to reduce the ripple. The result is degradation in the DC power and a corresponding degradation in audio quality.
Another problem with an unregulated power supply is that the output voltage will rise and fall with changes to the input voltage. Any variation on the AC input side will be directly translated into DC variation on the output side. If your AC wall power has hash, surges, spikes, brown outs or some other ugliness; this will appear on the DC side as well and degrade the audio quality. These DC artifacts are known as noise and ripple. Fortunately your FAC is equipped with ”power regulation” and “low pass filter” circuits to help minimize the bad effects of this.
Last but not least is the low power output capability of the wall wart. Electronics that are “power challenged” tend to sound thin or flat at frequency extremes and don’t have the oomph to follow the peaks and large dynamic swings in the music. The FAC’s as with any audio component will draw considerably more current during intense passages in the music; this is when the wall wart may not have the jam to follow along.
Linear, Regulated Power Supplies
This is the SUPPLIER Power Supply upgrade.
To help deal with the AC voltage variation and other assorted nastiness from the wall power, the Firestone engineers designed the SUPPLIER power supply. The SUPPLIER is a linear, regulated power supply so this means the DC output voltage is largely independent of the AC input voltage. It is designed to output a stable 24 VDC despite variances to the AC input voltage. Is it perfect? Of course not, but it’s a major improvement over the relatively large voltage swings seen at the DC output of a wall wart.
The Supplier also has vastly superior filtering for both DC ripple and noise. This is where you’ll experience a majority of the increase in sound quality; tighter bass, clearer highs and a better defined midrange. To my ear the biggest improvement is in the dynamic contrasts, dynamics are noticeably improved. Also, if your system can reveal it you’ll experience an increase in the magical, low level detail as the line noise and hash present with the wall wart are filtered away by the Supplier.
The SUPPLIER also has much higher power output and superior reserve power compared to the wall wart. Its high current output effortlessly follows the music regardless of dynamics and helps your FAC deliver the very best from the music.
So is it really worth the extra cost?
YES, with one exception. If you are using the Fubar II with a low resolution system then the improvements may not be as apparent. I personally can detect the addition of the Supplier 100% of the time in my system in an A - B - A test; all I have to do is listen to the low level detail in the music
The Supplier is highly recommended for the Spitfire, Cute Beyond and Fubars!
Want more? Here is a great professional review on the Supplier Power Supply.
Enjoy!
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2 Responses to “SUPPLIER Power Supply…is it Really worth the extra cost?”
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1 Alvador
Mar 18th, 2009 at 12:45 pm
This advice is really going to help, thanks.
2 Hifiturk
Jul 26th, 2009 at 2:47 am
good article.
thanks.
