I have just acquired a K22 and thought I would open it up to check that I have installed the SSD correctly. Instead of the usual HSL power supplies, I found one made by Mean Well (images below). Is this normal?
Quite a cheap solution — one of those off-the-shelf power supplies for 25 dollars?
I think it’s some kind of pre-power supply. I see a circuit board in the top right and bottom left, probably for regulation.
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LRS-150-24 is a 150w 24v power supply.
And yes, those two circuit boards appear to be for regulation; one for the player engine and the other for the reclocker/DDC.
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I think it is this one:
@MarkCole Is this unit standard factory issue? I don’t mind the relatively low cost of the component (although I was surprised), I just want to make sure that I have a genuine factory spec K22 G4 which has not been tampered with after it left the factory.
Looks like the smps they put in the G4 upgrades. A few manufacturers are leaving lps supply for smps.
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Thanks for chiming in. I guess I was expecting something a bit more customised and perhaps more in keeping with the unit. Especially this is meant to be the latest G4 version with the latest power supply technology.
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As announced in the G4 Product Release in August 2023 -
Product Updates 2023
The Changes
Changes to the OLADRA and the K Series are due to four key developments that we have been working on over several months.
1. Installing the OLADRA’s triple-cascade power supply technology in the K Series models.
2. Installing our proprietary high-quality isolation footers on the K Series models.
3. Upgrading K50 and K41 Server engines with innovations used in the OLADRA.
4. Upgrading the Player engines for the OLADRA, K50, K22 & K21.
5. Installing new USB outputs for the OLADRA, K50, K22 & K21.
The benefits are mainly in improved sound quality for all models, and the K Series makes a step up towards the sound quality of the OLADRA. For many audiophiles, the most significant change is that the new USB output lifts the USB sound quality on up to match the sound quality of the S/PDIF, AES3 and I2S outputs.
Other benefits include an increase of 200% to 400% in system resources to improve system responsiveness, and enterprise-level OS resilience against data loss in unusual AC power events.
The new models and the upgrade program will go live early in August 2023.
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I’m reminded of the story about an old man fixing the ship engine with his hammer.
There must be plenty of cheap parts in bespoke gear out there. Who knows how long it took or how many different power supplies they tried to get there. We know it sounds good and you must have thought it was worth the money when you bought it?
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Yes, we have used that module in G4 K-Series models.
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I’m also a bit surprised by this power supply. Very surprised, in fact. It almost looks to me like they ran out of spare parts. If this had been my discovery, I would have been very disappointed. Sorry Antipodes, but this really doesn’t look good. We spent a lot of money on the power supply before, and now we’re back to using €13 power supplies? Even if the aftermarket parts and cascading are of higher quality, it could sound even better with a higher-quality switching power supply. Maybe it sounds great, but what’s been installed doesn’t look good. I think I’m very disappointed and have become quite thoughtful.
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As I mentioned, I have no issue with manufacturers using relatively low-cost components, assuming they have done the necessary R&D and testing relating to sound quality before deciding on a component, which a reputable firm like Antipodes would no doubt have done.
Antipodes, as well as many high-end server/streamer companies, have consistently emphasised the impact of a high-quality power supply on overall sound quality and signature. Some of the important power supply requirements are sufficient power delivery, fast response, low noise, etc. I am just a bit surprised that all these requirements can be adequately delivered by an off-the-shelf, uncustomised, non-proprietary component which retails at $15. I know this is not the full power supply but still a key part of it.
Antipodes used to recommend the S60 power supply ($2000) to power their S30 player ($3500). In very simplistic terms, this recommended combo has a 40:60 budget allocation for power supply and player.
So, finding a $15 component which forms a key part of the power supply in the $9000 K22 player has also got me ‘quite thoughtful’. My first instinct was that someone must have swapped out the original power supply, but @MarkCole has confirmed that this wasn’t the case and the power supply is indeed factory original, so at least I know that my K22 G4 unit is 'as the artist intended".
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This discussion is quite extensive on all the Chord dac sites. Rob Watts chose a $50 smps brick because it sounded better. I have used a pure dc battery in place of it on my TT2/mscaler with no sound improvement. Although I was surprised when I got my K30 G4 upgrade I soon was convinced the new power supply improved the sound.
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@Progisus thanks for the input. Does the K30 G4 have the same power supply? What about all the other G4 models?
I hope that antipodes will clarify this so as not to cause significant disappointment to customers.
Nick
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The G4 upgrade was almost universally praised so I think it could be said that none of us would have guessed that a sub $20 part deserved a chunk of the credit for that.
But having said that, I can certainly understand why some are having a ‘quite thoughtful’ reaction to this news. I reacted that way when learning that a sub $20 power supply was inside the Chord DAVE.
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I’m very happy about my streamer antipodes.
The designers’ choices are not up for discussion, but clarifying them for those who may have doubts usually solves everything.
Nick
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Aristotle has provided the answer: “The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
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