AudioAficionado.org - Replacing an Uptone Audio LPS-1 linear power supply with an LPS-1.2

After mating Uptone Audio’s ISO REGEN USB-stream regenerator to the company’s LPS-1 linear power supply in my laptop-to-DAC-sourced bedroom audio system in February, I thought I’d completed my year-long odyssey to render the system as ideal a listening vehicle as I could fashion within the limitations imposed by the acoustically-treated room’s 11’x13’ size, functionally-immovable furnishings, speaker-placement restrictions, and my budgetary constraints.

Uptone upset that finely-crafted applecart by releasing a new external ISO REGEN-friendly linear power supply, the “UltraCap” LPS-1.2, that instilled just enough audiophilia nervosa over its possible superiority to the LPS-1 to force me to consider reaching back into my wallet for just one more bite of the upgrade apple. The question, of course: Would the LPS-1.2 boost system performance more than just marginally, if at all?

Only one way to find out. So…

I received the LPS-1.2 on April 26 and have been listening since then—mostly to large-scale orchestral, choral, or jazz CD rips and high-resolution (from 24/88 to DSD128 and DXD) downloads--with it powering the ISO REGEN. I’ve held off on posting my assessment of its effect on system performance until now because I wanted to make sure that my “holy microfarad, Batman” first impression wasn’t just a here-today-gone-tomorrow reaction to a brand new piece of hardware. As it turns out, I’m glad I waited, and not just for that reason. More on that later.

“LPS-1.2” is a bit of a misnomer. It’s not an LPS-1 tweaked with upgraded components, but rather a wholly new design that provides a broader range of DC output voltages (from the LPS-1’s 3.5, 5, or 7 volts to 5, 7, 9, or 12 volts) and features new Linear Technology voltage regulators and regulator micro-module, as well as a beefier 36-watt switched-mode power supply to plug into the wall or power-distribution-center AC outlet. Two banks of “ultra capacitors” totaling 60 farads of capacitance constitute the 1.2’s “engine”. While one bank is busy discharging as it powers an operating device such as the ISO REGEN, the other bank charges up. A mini-screwdriver is included with the unit to permit rear-panel selection of the output DC voltage.

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For system operation, I set the output-voltage selector to “7”--the ISO REGEN is spec’d to run on 6 to 8 volts-- and connected the input and output cables to the AC-to-DC supply and the ISO respectively. The power indicator on the LPS-1.2’s rear panel initially glowed red and then amber while the unit charged up. It went to green shortly thereafter, indicating “good to go.” Except for a few very short breaks, I’ve left it on ever since. It runs slightly-to-moderately warm in normal operation and is shown here alongside the TEAC UD-501 DAC.

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So what does the LPS-1.2 bring to the performance table?

In “audiophile” terms, the short answer boils down to considerably greater low-end heft, more expansive and sharply-delineated soundstage, better low-level detail retrieval, and more explosive dynamics. As good as the LPS-1 is in those respects (and it constituted a significant upgrade over the MeanWell AC-to-DC power supply that comes standard with the ISO REGEN), the 1.2 cleans its clock. Decisively.

So much for the clinical. What does this mean to me as a listener? Well, it’s simple. I’ve never felt as engaged musically to the output of a digitally-sourced system as I do with the LPS-1.2 feeding the ISO. Whatever preceded it in my experience is not even close in conveying the touch and feel of “being there” with well-recorded material. And that’s in a room that, for all the benefits its extensive acoustic treatment has bestowed on it, remains a less-than-ideal listening venue.

So the LPS-1.2 is easily a keeper.

But wait. There’s a P.S. (No, that doesn’t stand for “power supply”.)

After a phone discussion with Uptone’s Alex Crespi (who, I should note, did not make so much as even a weak attempt to sell the product), I decided to order one of the company’s new 20”-long Oyaide-plug-terminated Belden star-quad DC power cables to replace the stock 27” cable shipped with the LPS-1.2.

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“Seventy bucks for a DC power cable. Are you nuts?”

The new cable arrived day before yesterday. I installed it between the 1.2 and the ISO REGEN. And determined immediately upon listening to Leonard Bernstein’s reading of Aaron Copland’s “El Salon Mexico” (a DSD128 reissue) that I’m not padded-cell-eligible (at least not yet). A fair amount of “hash” must hitchhike on the stock cable on the way to the ISO REGEN, because everything good I said about the performance evident with the LPS-1.2 in the system a couple of paragraphs back had just bumped up a notch, a finding that remained consistent with subsequent auditions of other familiar recordings.

Given all that I hear now, I think it’s safe to say that I’m done tweaking the bedroom system.