Separate power supply used on NAS at S 800 launch

Posted by: joesilva on 13 August 2012

At the recent Hong Kong Highend Audio Video Show, Naim was making good sounds with the new flagship Ovator S 800  at the end of an active 500 series system. Besides the CD 555, Naim was streaming music from a NDS, with the files stored in a Synology NAS. What intrigued me was that the NAS was plugged into some sort of external power supply, using powerlines.  I doubt Naim would put a third party's powers supply into their flagship system during the launch of a new product if it didn't make a positive difference.  I was just wondering if anyone else might have tried an external power supply or power conditioner on their NAS.

Joe

Posted on: 13 August 2012 by m0omo0

Thank you for asking Joe (and thanks for the nice photos of the S-800 as well), I was wondering myself.

 

I think this Synology NAS comes with an external power supply, so it could be positive to replace it with a better (linear?) power supply in order to reduce pollution of the mains. This would not be possible on NAS with internal PS. Can't figure why the PowerLine though. Squarer bits perhaps ?

 

As a general topic, would any kind of "conditioner" (external clean linear PS, filter, etc.) be of any use to reduce mains pollution induced by all the "computing" (NAS, router, switch, etc.) devices needed by the streaming paradigm ?

 

ATB

Maurice

Posted on: 13 August 2012 by Zinger
Hey Joe, I think the issue is that there is no external PSU from Naim available for the Synology NAS. So it's like having a Supra powerstrip on the floor. There isn't really a Naim alternative. Either case ... It is a bit funny that they use a Powerline on a NAS's power supply. The NAS power supply doesn't cost too much. One can easily get a shop to build one in Hong Kong as long as you get the regulators etc from a reliable source
Posted on: 13 August 2012 by Zinger
On a side note, I would imagine that it was just Radar's decision to use whatever NAS and necessary power supplies and cables. I'm pretty sure Naim didn't endorse whatever else Naim doesn't manufacture -- ie. router, NAS, NAS PSU, power strips, Ethernet cables, etc. It just so happens that Radar decided to give the NAS PSU a PL for kicks
Posted on: 13 August 2012 by vokey

Hi Zinger

 

Any idea if the Lion power supply can be sourced in Hong Kong? Wan Chai or Mongkok computer centre maybe?

Posted on: 13 August 2012 by Zinger
Hey Vokey, I'm not sure where the Naim dealer got it from. Better to ask the guys there ... Vincent from Radar said its around 1K. Can't imagine it being too hard to find. I'm off to LA for a few weeks, and will look into this when I get back. Maybe NAS PSU will bring something new to my system. Hehe
Posted on: 13 August 2012 by vokey

Thanks Zinger. Will ask Radar.

Posted on: 15 August 2012 by joesilva
 

Radar got Bush in Man Yee Lane to build the Power Supply for the NAS.  I believe they may have also asked a certain U.K. audio manufacturer famous for their power supplies to consider building such power supplies for NAS'.   Something to look forward to, perhaps ?

 

Joe

Posted on: 15 August 2012 by Frank Abela

I have a colleague who bought himsef a Synology 212 recently. He listens to his rips on the NAS via his NDX. He was well pleased with the Synology, but the power supply it came with is a wall wart Switched Mode Power Supply, so he bought a linear power supply for it and he claims it made a very big difference to the overall quality of the sound. Now, he can't account for this difference because the Synology is not in the same room as the NDX, but we find ourselves wondfering if the SMPS was pumping noise into the unit, given that the earth borne noise would have been quite far removed from the NDX.

 

His new linear supply cost less than £100 and weighs a ton.

 

Regards,
Frank.
All opinions are my own and do not reflect the opinion of any organisations I work for, except where this is stated explicitly.

Posted on: 16 August 2012 by Eloise
Originally Posted by Zinger:
Hey Joe, I think the issue is that there is no external PSU from Naim available for the Synology NAS. So it's like having a Supra powerstrip on the floor. There isn't really a Naim alternative. Either case ... It is a bit funny that they use a Powerline on a NAS's power supply. The NAS power supply doesn't cost too much. One can easily get a shop to build one in Hong Kong as long as you get the regulators etc from a reliable source

I would suspect the Powerline was just in the box of parts they brought to set the equipment up...

 

As interesting could be the fact they decided to use a Synology NAS rather than using a UnitiServe... What can we read into that?  Edit: Oh... or maybe there was a UnitiServe SSD in there too...

Posted on: 17 August 2012 by joesilva

I believe something like a Powerline can have a positive affect even on the the PS of a NAS.  I haven't tried for myself, but I will get round to it eventually.  I have a spare NAS that runs on an external PS which I will experiment with.

 

Joe

Posted on: 17 August 2012 by Foot tapper

As an owner of 2 Synology DS212 NAS drives with wall wart power supplies, if a decent linear power supply would improve the sound of the whole system, then count me in, especially if it is made by Naim!

 

I don't mind whether the RF mains pollution goes from the power supply into the NAS or more likely sends its noise around the ring main to the Naim electronics, I am more than happy to eliminate this source of unwanted mains RF noise.

 

Best regards, FT