Upon first listen, the OpticalModule made the fiber-based digital streaming system notably quieter and more holographic in presentation.
That being said, running the OpticalModule with my 9V iFi iPower "low noise" SMPS, it was running pretty dang toasty; even warmer than the Sonore microRendu.
So...I've been playing games with switching around powers supplies, to some good effect, I think.
Starting out today, using my 9V iFi iPower "low noise"(?-
) SMPS to power the OpticalModule, it was plugged into my Shunyata Triton. My UpTone Audio LPS-1 was powering the microRendu at 7V as it has done continually since 2017, the PC for its MeanWell 7.5V transformer brick is a Shunyata Venom 14 PC also plugged into the Triton. The upstream TP-Link MC220L FMC was powered by a Jameco 9V Reliapro LPS, plugged into my Shunyata Hydra 4 (which in turn is plugged into the wall with a Shunyata Diamondback PC).
As the OpticalModule was getting pretty toasty running at 9V, so I swapped things around, with respect to power supplies: I set the LPS-1 to 5V to power the OpticalModule, moved the Jameco 9V LPS from the upstream FMC to power the microRendu, put the iFi iPower 9V into Hydra 4 to power the upstream FMC. All plugged into the Shunyata power distributors as before.
Overall, this second power configuration, appears, at least initially, to sound better than when the iFi was powering the OpticalModule; it seems even quieter and smoother, more natural-sounding. And, the microRendu sounds pretty dang good with the 9V Jameco Reliapro LPS. I think that the iFi iPower was adding contributing noise when powering the OpticalModule. Last but not least, the OpticalModule runs
considerably cooler now at 5V than at 9V.
I'll stay with this configuration until my Jameco 5V LPS arrives tomorrow. If I were to hazard a guess, the system will sound a bit better if I can get that iFi iPower 9V SMPS completely out of the system.
More later, stay tuned.