Hi James,
As promised, my review of the custom Plixir Power Supply you made for my Wyred 4 Sound Music Server MS-2.
"I am well aware of the benefits that a dedicated outboard Power Supply can offer for any of our audio electronics. My first experience with a dedicated Power Supply was the Perpetual Power Plant (P3B) developed by Monolithic Sound to drive the now defunct Perpetual Technologies P-1A Digital Correction Engine and P-3A DAC. The P3B truly enhanced the overall performance of the P-1A and P-3A, compared to the stock power supply that comes with the P-1A and P-3A. In summary, the P3B enriched the overall sound quality of the Perpetual Technologies DAC, from the highs to the lows. It was a no brainer.
I have since replaced my Perpetual Technologies DAC with a Wyred 4 Sound (W4S) DAC-2 DSDse. With the W4S DAC, I was able to seriously look into replacing my CD Transport (a Northstar Design Model 192 Mk 2). I have decided to eschew regular CD Transport for two reasons, namely (1) the obvious convenience that a Music Server provides when it comes to sorting and playing music, and (2) in our humid environment, I no longer need to clean my CDs in order to keep them in pristine condition before playing them (especially those CDs that I have not played as much, and the formation of mold on their surface to remind me of that fact).
So, after much consideration, I decided to replace my Northstar CD transport with a Wyred 4 Sound Music Server MS-2. The W4S MS-2 is a great piece of audio component, although people can generally get similar result by utilising a dedicated laptop or PC. For review of the W4S MS-2, one can trawl the internet to find out more about it. Suffice to say, I loved what the W4S MS-2, together with the DAC-2 DSDse, can do as a front end of my audio system. But the W4S MS-2's stock power supply is like any laptop's, i.e. a ubiquitous black rectangular brick that housed the required circuit board, capacitors etc to convert household AC into DC for the W4S MS-2. The only unique part about it is the high current output, i.e. 8A. Whilst I was quite pleased with the sonic quality of the W4S MS-2, deep inside me, I knew I can get better performance from it if I could replace the black brick with a properly designed dedicated Power Supply. This is where I found out that James from Sound Affair can custom make a dedicated Power Supply under his brand, PLiXiR. I contacted James and made enquiries about him making one for my W4S MS-2. In short, he made a dedicated PLiXiR Power Supply for my W4S MS-2.
As I mentioned before, I am already well aware of the benefits that a dedicated Power Supply can offer for audio electronics. When I replaced the stock black brick with the PLiXiR, I was genuinely shocked by the sound that emanated from my system. The most obvious differences are:
- Soundstage - it grew beyond the boundary of the speakers. Before, it was clearly within. Now it is expansive.
- Depth - the front to back sonic "picture" is deep deep deep. The music is now very well layered, and can be clearly heard and "seen".
- Highs - crystalline clear. Much cleaner and clearer than before, but not sterile. Triangle rings have body, and not just presence.
- Mids - lovelier than before, more organic, more detailed. I can easily hear and "feel" the singer's breathe. I did not know that my system can do this.
- Lows - tighter, fast and deeper than before. No more amorphous boom, but a definite punch if it is present in the music. Otherwise, the control of the bass lines is much better and clearer.
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Pace, Rhythm and Timing (PRAT) - No loss at all. The music is just as, if not more, enjoyable.
All these occurred with the introduction of the PLiXiR Power Supply. It literally transformed and enhanced the sonic quality of my system, and this is with my system's electricity conditioned by Shunyata and PS Audio power conditioners. I can truly say that the custom PLiXiR Power Supply is a winner, and the only regret I have is that I did not get it earlier. Highly recommended!"
Cheers,Harry
