Caiman PSU

[ZebuTheOxen]

Just curious as to how much this new PSU would influence the output of the headphone stage?

The K701s need more current!

[HighFidelityGuy]

Didn't someone earlier hook the PSU up to a scope and compare the voltage output of the New PSU with the standard one?

Yep, I compared both on a Fluke multimeter. The results are a few posts ago but the gist is that my Caiman transformer outputs 3.5V more than my standard 7520 transformer.

The next bit is a general word of caution for everyone:

I would have thought that by now with all the info that's been stated in various Beresford DAC threads that everyone would have realised that Stan doesn't just pick any old transformer that's the voltage he wants from a catalogue. He's spent considerable time trying many different transformers to make sure the ones he offers match his products as well as possible within his chosen price point. Stan has mentioned on several occasions that the power supply circuitry inside the standard 7520 and the Caiman is different to that used in most products. He calls the design a "dual supply" because the external transformer and the internal power supply circuit work together in harmony. This means that the external transformer needs to be carefully chosen to match. Stan also mentioned that the transformers he uses are switched mode designs of a particular design that can handle the large reservoir cap in the internal supply. He also mentioned that most other transformers, particularly linear designs don't cope well in this situation and therefore make the DAC under perform. This is why he recommended against using 3rd party models like the Maplin transformer some people tried out.

As Stan has spent so much time and effort choosing the Caiman transformer, I would imagine he has made sure that it's regulation is good enough to make sure that the 16V reservoir cap is run suitably below it's rated voltage. Other off the shelf transformers may not be so accurate and could cause damage.

We need to remember that the sort of time, effort and care that Stan puts into designing his products and in choosing components is usually only found in products costing many thousands of pounds. I doubt many people would ever think about swapping the transformer supplied with a £3000 DAC for a £20 maplin job. So I think that unless you are very rich or supper good at electronics, or both, then you should only try performing mods that Stan recommends as being worth trying.

[chrism]

Yes it would appear to be madness supplying 15.5v to a cap rated at 16v. My current bench type linear supply is set at 13.8v (and I have measured it to check) and I use that with my Caiman and it sounds great (just not a fan of switchmode supplies I am afraid).

I have been checking out Avondale's regulators (TPR's) for a possible self build project as well and Les thinks he can tweak one for me to give 13.8v and around 4a peak. The cost will be significantly higher than Stan's special switchmode though and may not be as good!

I always test out my own supplies on a worthless well bodged TC7510 before plugging it into the Caiman as well just to double check.

Regards

[SteveW]

Back to the plot.
My power supplied arrived yesterday. Should have been a lot sooner...all my fault for not changing an old e-mail address I had originally in my AOS details. Thanks for sorting me out Stan.
Anyway...all I can say is that the improvements I heard straight from cold were not subtle.

More of everything..but especially clarity, instrument seperation, wider soundstage, bass detail etc.
In fact good thing I was listening to accoustic stuff initially, because when I put on Fun Lovin' criminals, it was though I'd plugged in a sub-woofer. But in a good way !

that was with an airport express. Then I tried out my Linn Ikemi fed through a co-ax into the Caiman.

Bloody hell.

Now I've had this set up since I got the Caiman, and initially the Caiman was more detailed than the built in dac of the ikemi, but a tad harsh. This has settled down with time.
However with the new power supply into the Caiman its elevated the ikemi yet again. Just spent several hours this morning going through CD's ...just to hear the improvements. I don't know how this new set up compares with Linn's latest offering, but have a feeling I've just saved myself at least a couple of grand. At some point I will get round to taking this and comparing it to a Majik, or even an Akurate. That will be interesting.

[NRG]

I've been running mine for close to a week now and listening to it today I could swear its improved...

[SteveW]

Its because you took a sock off.

[Gazjam]

Call me mad (or Stupid?) but my Dacs running more than fine with the Maplin Switched mode PSU set to 15v.
Its the one that can be set to run at 12, 13.5 and 15V).

The Dacs not even warming up at all when compared to running it at 12v.

Doesn't have the same "in your faceness" that runing the 7510 had, but with the better Dac it has more body, more "bounce" to the sound, without losing any of the clarity, subtlety etc it had running it at 12v.
Also, I'm using a proper Foo mains lead with it, which may or may not make a difference too.

I WILL however pick up a Caiman PSU from Stan when funds allow, but I'm just sayin' I dont thnk my Dac will explode any time soon. (If it does its my fault Stan!)
Also note I'm making no comment on comparative sound quality, from comments so far Stans new PSU is a good 'un, as you would expect from all the work and £££ he's put into it.


Just an interesting observation I guess?

[roscoeiii]

Gaz,

I'll be interested in your thoughts on the differences once you've had a chance to A/B the Maplin and Caiman power supply.

My Caiman power supply arrived today, but I'll wait for it to break in before making any declarations...

But in the meantime, I will

[leo]

Heres a few impressions of the Caiman psu after some run in , For the lineout and variable out I've been using LM4562HA with MLC5/6 empty, NE5532P in the HA socket

Line out and variable out
First thing I noticed is bass notes are tighter with more kick to them, I can hear layers now to vocals and added weight in the upper mids, this was the only thing I used to find slightly lacking before with this dac so this was nice ,the sound as a whole is more tighter and solid, its something I appreciated more and more after going through various tracks

The HA has a little more grunt than before, I've not tried it with my AKG K701 because their still on loan but this was noticeable with two different pairs of 300R cans.

I think it may be worth going through the op-amps again especially in the HA section, the psu feeds the HA direct so is going to have some influence on performance, you may find some op-amps to be slightly better than they used to be with the original psu, certainly worth looking into

Heres a pic of the new Caiman PSU sat next to the original 7520, as can be seen its a little larger physically but still very compact and light, so far I don't hear any HF noises you sometimes hear with a SMPS.


With it being smps it gives an instant start up of stiff juice more than capable of keeping the large power supply cap inside the Caiman topped up, a linear of similar current would be much more expensive and physically much larger

So does this PSU provide a worthwhile improvement? IMHO yes, its a no brainer for the price, nice one Stan

[leo]

I've been running mine for close to a week now and listening to it today I could swear its improved...

There should be caps on the output of the switching regulator so they probably burned in more after a little workout