PowerLine on NAS & US

Why not try it and let us know.

I will. I'll post my findings later.

Looking forward to your findings Fred.

Ive thought about trying it on my US for a while but haven't a spare one to try.

If by US, you mean Unitiserve, surely it can't use a Powerline?

If you are one of the discerning users who have a third party power supply, rather than the piece of junk that Naim supply as standard, then a Powerline is a potential further improvement. I'd be interested to hear of the impact one might make to the US powered by the aforementioned power supply.

So it is confirmed that the Standard ( I.e. Naim - Supplied) US cannot benefit from a PL?

Yes, you can.

HH was referring to the power supply on the US.

Looking at Fokkelman's profile, looks like he may have the standard supply Unitiserve power supply, so may not give a directly relevant feedback to HH, myself and others who have a different power supply, but maybe more so to yourself David.

Even so, the interest is building Fred!

Keep us posted.

Ok, I misunderstood. 

Well, my findings are as follows. On the NAS I hear no difference with a PowerLine attached to it. With the US it's a different story. It's not dramatic, the PowerLine is brand-new, but I surely find the bass tightening more and the highs smoother.

I've done some optimisation with the (middle-eastern) third party supply.  Its very significantly cleaner than the standard, but its DC output is floating rather than grounded.  Using SPDIF to a DAC I've found two big gains:

• Firstly, the importance of the US power feed coming from the closest direct outlet to the DAC; I used a standard Naim mains cord to a common outlet.
• Secondly, I found that the "body" of voices/instruments weren't being fully filled-out, resulting in a "hi-fi" emphasis and edge, and sometimes confused timing esp noticeable on jazz.  (Re-)introducing a direct grounding wire from the US chassis (via alligator clip) to mains earth was completely transformational.  From a distinctly-digital to an analogue-like quality. Brought everything together musically and my speakers effectively disappeared. 

Benefits may be less in an Ethernet/streaming scenario, but definitely worth trying.

OK, Ive borrowed a Powerline from my dealer to fit to my Unitiserve (with 3rd party power supply) today.

The different PS already improves things quite amazingly, so what difference does the Powerline make from the plug to the PS?

First impressions: it does seem to squeeze just a little more detail from my system (I'm feeling a little more bass detail and a slightly broader depth of sound).

But I am generally hopeless at describing this kind of thing, and the other thing to say is that to do any comparison, I first listen to one set up version, then power down the US, swap power cable, power back up, dash downstairs and then select same tracks again to compare. Hmmmf. Not so easy!

So I *think* it sounds better, £500 better, I'm not sure.

Im going to leave it on for several days, do loads of listening, and then swap back and see what difference I notice.

Ill post back next week some time!

Ps. my system is sounding amazing at the moment, maybe it's the fact I have a day off tomorrow and the sun is shining! 

Keep us posted Chris!

I don't hear a difference with a PL on the NAS but since I've got a couple of spares, I use one.

Took the Powerline off my Unitiserve yesterday to take back to my dealer this morning.

I have a 3rd party PS on my Unitiserve, so the Powerline plugged into that.

My impression is that it did make a difference, but the difference wasn't massive.

It seemed to give a slightly cleaner sound while it was plugged in but it wasn't night and day difference.

Im sure that had I not already got the 3rd party power supply, I would have noticed the difference that Fred mentions above and then it would have been a 'no brainer' decision.

It is a purchase I will make at some stage, though I think I will get a dedicated spur installed first before I buy a Powerline for the Unitiserve.

I just added an inexpensive ($100 w shipping) Chinese ebay 'hifi" dual output linear psu for my Netgear switch and modem. Definitely lowered the noise floor. It seemed to take away a pesky micro buzz that was populating everything (esp the highs) despite the system already sounding very impressive. Still waiting on a custom built linear psu for my vortexbox which will hopefully take things to the next level. The only thing I don't like about linear psu's is the power consumption, though so far this little one running the switches runs pretty cool (I would imagine it's probably only 15w per side). So probably best to try something like that before a costly PL (if you have a switch).