Tír Na HiFi

I have been looking at the Nigel amp and I wonder is there an option of power supplies for NAIM using the battery tech ?

NAIM basically tends to be two boxes and the power supply tends to be the dearer ..

e.g. their headphone amp (Headline) is (I think) £500 but it needs a power supply and the cheapest (HiCap) is (I think) £2000. You get the idea.

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There are a few companies making compatible power supplies for NAIM (Teddy Pardo and Avondale are two). For what its' worth : according to the NAIM forum they destroy the NAIM sound.

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The power supplies (for pre-amps, streamers and CD-players) are

HiCap
SuperCap
XPS
555PS

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One worry with a battery power supply is that NAIM route the earth through the power supply and pay a lot of attention to star grounding.

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Is this an option for a project ? Is it feasible ? Is anyone interested ? [My knowledge of electronics is limited and I would have no idea how to start. I used to be able to solder but have not used a soldering iron in years. I have an original AVO meter but also a modern digital one].

James

Yea it can be done what is the required voltages?

Not sure but can check .... [I think about +/- 24volt]
Also the better power supplies have multiple independent regululated outputs ..
[Basically, I think, a big toroidal transformer with output split to lots of regulators feeding different outputs].

DIY won't be exactly cheap either
By the time it's boxed it could cost 600-800e
Multiple voltages could be possible too


The amp will still have capacitors in it I'm sure and that will be a small bottleneck
That's why building an amp from scratch makes good sense as it's all made to suit

nige2000 wrote: ↑Mon Jul 10, 2017 11:17 pm The amp will still have capacitors in it I'm sure and that will be a small bottleneck
That's why building an amp from scratch makes good sense as it's all made to suit

Agreed ..

But NAIM basically sell various pre-amps / CD-players / Streamers with various options for power supplies. The power supplies are generally more expensive than the item they are powering.

My idea is for a slot in replacement for one of these supplies.

I have no idea how to design it and it would not make such sense unless it was a group project and that confines it to NAIM owners (and the NAIM creed is that non-NAIM power supplies are not better or worse but different and destroy the NAIM sound).

james

A slightly slimmed down group buy power supply will work fine
you can have four voltage outputs without changing much

i likely have the necessary pcbs spare if you want to blow the dust of your iron

the group buy amp "power supply" is extremely versatile and suitable for all things audio :)

Do you honestly think you are going to come up with anything better than a Naim, Avondale or Terry Pardo power supply?

If it's just for fun we'll go ahead,but otherwise this is a well worn path.


.sjb

Sloop John B wrote: ↑Wed Jul 12, 2017 11:57 pm Do you honestly think you are going to come up with anything better than a Naim, Avondale or Terry Pardo power supply?

If it's just for fun we'll go ahead,but otherwise this is a well worn path.


.sjb

The lifepo4 supply would tear all of the above a new arsehole
End off

I'm not into mediocre

What exactly do you think is in these power supply units?
Besides 400% markup
Ordinary stuff in a nice box

Btw
I'm not trying to sell anything
Anything stuff I build design or modify is for the pursuit of audio betterment for personal reasons
I like the collaboration and I like to help others
I like to think the stuff I recommend is top notch

Hi Nigel,

I looked up some stuff ..

HiCap (NAIM power supply) has two 24V outputs on a din socket (I don't know for sure but I think they are both regulated independently).


Supercap (NAIM power supply) has 20+ 24V regulated outputs and a 12V output. It feeds a funny socket called a Burndy so any DIY would need to interface to this socket. (It needs to feed the socket on the preamp). The NAIM cable is £500 but copies are available for £200.

Its late and I am tired so I cant find the links ..

james