iPower X Low Noise Power Supply DC Adapter – Upgrade Your Audio/Video/Electronics (5V)

This is a clean switching power supply I am using to increase the line output from my Shanling EC Zero T tube based portable CD player. The player istelf has an internal DC battery which is ultra-quiet. I find no difference in sound quality when I use the iFi as a separate power supply via USB-C. The dynamics are unchanged merely a very slight (<1db) increase in volume which is expected when using the balanced DDHifi pure silver XLR/Pentaconn output cable directly to my amp or pre-amp depending on the system I am wishing to use. It is a product well worth the price. As is its larger cousin I have 5 of those. They are very quiet.

This power supply does perform as intended. You should keep in mind that how effective this will be depends largely on what gear you intend to use it with. If you have a system that is resolving enough, you will notice an improvement. It doesn't add audio quality but instead cleans up the supplied power to allow device to perform optimally. I decided to try this with the Massdrop Arist R-1R DAC. I felt that this fairly affordable mutibit dac had potential but something was missing. In order to manufacture it within the price pint, some sacrifices had to be made. Usually one of the most expensive parts of high end gear is in the power supply. Arist compromised in this area by using a switching power supply. Granted, this results in a introductory price point for this dac but I am not aware of any high end multibit dac that takes this approach. This iFi power supply is a definite upgrade to the supplied switching power supply provided with the Arist. Using the Beyerdynamic DT1990 I can certainly hear a difference. Warmer midrange, more space and depth. It actually comes closer to the Schiit Bifrost. It does have a slightly more diffuse sound field than the Bifrost. I have been fooled a couple of times where I removed my headphones to make sure the loudspeakers were not on. The alternative would be to upgrade this dac by spending over $800 at a minimum. That makes this a good buy. I wish iFi made one for 24v demands. I'd replace the power supply to my Cavali Tube Hybrid and LCX+SDAC. When I switch back and fourth between the Arist and SDAC, the SDAC while very clean has a definite wall of sound compared to the large, spacious sounding ARIST. The iFi power supply really makes this immediately obvious where before you could tell it was there but not as apparent. A recommend buy for this setup.

Pretty much everybody who purchases an iFi supply will be using it in the context of an Audio-video system. I recently added a $20 DLink switch to put before the Bluesound Node streamer, and was more than a little surprised how beneficial it was, even with it's ultra cheapo wall wart supply. I happened to have an older model iFi 5V supply that I got about 4 years ago for around $50, so I tried that one out on the switch, and sure enough the sound quality improved by at least as much again. This only whetted my appetite for what a much better supply could achieve. So I got this PowerX supply to see if any incremental gains were to be had. I plugged it in an hour ago and was rewarded with a sound quality I did not think was possible...voices floated in a 3 dimensional space with great artication and clarity. The low bass became much faster and more in tune, as well as usefully deeper. And all this from powering a network switch that does not carry any analog audio. It makes me wonder what the $300 Elite would do for this humble switch! I may just pull the trigger and find out for myself! But for the price, the PowerX is the real deal!

Took a star off for my 5v unit being one of those "frequently returned" items, which is kind of karma, since it replaced the 15v one that i accidentally ordered and promptly returned without opening the package. The Amazon credit was then used for this, which did not have all the nice iFi packaging, but most everything else (not the foreign outlet adapters, but i don't care. I do hope others have made good on leaving the country though). I've recently acquired a second one of the lower priced models, since i believe it makes a positive difference in the sonic output i consume, so suddenly splurged on this. One of my use-cases is directly into a WiiM Mini as an experiment in configuring a 'system' for portable single-outlet streaming and HP listening. I know the WiiM's internal DAC is often criticized, but i can stand it, even enjoy music through it. That iFi "iPower2" unit did give the WiiM an improved sound over the generic (Google, so slightly better than the cheapest) USB power adapter i initially used. The iPower2 was on hand, so i tried it; i liked it, so got that second one. Then this; i'm kind of on an audio run. The WiiM already had that USB-C adapter plugged into it, from that unit. I was listening to a Bach solo cello suite, and it didn't take long for the WiiM to reboot after swapping in this iFi for the less expensive one. while rebooting, i was afraid i'd hear no difference. No, it wasn't a double-blind situation, but yes, it sounded better. Is it 50% better? Probably not, but audio fools know how the price to performance curve works. It's maybe 20-30% better? 40? I don't know; i know i was prepared to hear zero difference. All in my imagination? if so, my imagination-enhancement was worth it. For "the budget enthusiast," under $200 is the sweet spot, i think. I have an SMSL PL 100 CD player on order that runs on 5v and plan to use this for that, especially as i also want to use that CDP sometimes as a single-outlet semi-portable headphone listening option (since it has its own HP-out; in the rear, which sucks, but it's a small device). If i don't love its internal DAC and want to experiment, i can use its digital outputs to an out-board DAC, and will use this one that, & power the CDP by the lower priced iFi. My audio outburst cost me a little bit, but it's not too much, to double my Joy.

Replaced the stock "wall wart" and made an audible improvement with the Hagerman Tuba headphone amplifier. Not as good as the iPower Elite, though.

Really worked well for my DAC magic 200m .. better sound stage and cleaned up the bass to the point I can hear basslines that were buried in the mix before. Def worth the $$ .

I was using a 12 volt power supply made by Pyramid that supplied 13.8 volts probably for about 10 years. I was using it to power the Apogee Mini DAC back in its day. I am no longer using that DAC. I had no idea how good the Pyramid was. I had nothing else to compare to. The cost was reasonable and it is linear. I had no instruments to measure how low the noise was. It still can be had for $45 on Amazon. Then when I got the Zen stream, I repurpose the power supply for the Zen Stream. I keep hearing how good the iFi switching power supplies are. They are more efficient and I have one less switch to power on and off. I did not want to spend $300 for the Elite. All the 15 volt Power X had to do was to beat the Pyramid. Well, it did not. The sound with the Power X had less body as if the sounds were floating. There was also a slight bit of glare. The Pyramid with the Zen Stream produced sounds that is smoother and better rooted. You will have to make a cable and a plug for the Pyramid. Thus if you are looking for a better power supply for the Zen Stream, you should either look possibly at the Elite, another linear power supply, or try your luck with a Pyramid universal compact bench power supply.

Substituting an iPower x 5v for the iPower2 that came with the spdif iPurifier2 improved the sound quality another step or two in my system. Using an iMac 2019 running Amarra Luxe as a source, the usb signal via pangea xl usb cable runs through an iFi usb iPurifier3 into an audiophellio2 to a 25’ coax run into the spdif iPurifier2 into a Metrum Octave dac. Each iFi device improved the sound quality. Removing jitter in the signal path. In a system that is revealing, and if you notice differences from changes this could be useful. Prior to adding the purifiers I thought I had a clear idea of my dacs sound signature. I thought I wanted a better dac, but the iFi products and Pangea xl usb cable delivered a much more refined signal and gave my dac a much better frequency response, clarity, detail, ease, depth, allowing it to shine like it can. With the iPower X I noticed more focus in the sound images, a bit more nuance, clarity, distinctness. Sound rings truer. When I play music on my system, my wife usually requests it go away when she comes in from work. Today she let it play on, and enjoyed an artist she likes! iFi could offer up the spdif iPurifier 2 paired with the iPower X as a “plus” option.?! For me the iPower X addition was worth it!