[raoultrifan]

I had the opportunity to test the 24V/5A Supercharger from Burson Audio and I find it being indeed a very low-noise one. The AC ripple & noise is incredible low for a SMPS power supply, but there's also a complete lack of audible noise coming from it. All my TVs are having a high pitch noise, my HP laptop's PSU has a inherent noise too, but the Supercharger is dead silent.

I did some pictures below with how it looks and what's inside the box, but also some measurements done with my PicoScope. I've also added a couple of pics from another website for the 24V/3A power supply too.

The package of the very low noise Supercharger Burson 24V/5A

Accessories of the very low noise Supercharger Burson 24V/5A

Close-up of the very low noise Supercharger Burson 24V/5A

Standard PSU Burson 24V/5A - AC ripple & noise of 8.17 mV RMS @ 10 MHz

Low noise Supercharger Burson 24V/5A - AC ripple & noise of 3.635 mV RMS @ 10 MHz​

The above tests on the 24V/5A Supercharger were done @10 MHz bandwidth with a stable power consumption of about 74 Watts, the standard idle power consumption of the Soloist 3X GT 2023 headamp (yeah, I know, Class A is really not energy friendly). At let's say 90 kHz bandwidth the results would have been much lower and the differences between the two PSUs would have probably been more evident, like in the below measurements done on L7Audiolab on the 24V/3A Supercharger, the lower power PSU model.

Standard PSU Burson 24V/3A - AC ripple & noise of 1.4 mV RMS @ 90 kHz

Low noise Supercharger Burson 24V/3A - AC ripple & noise of 0.125 mV RMS @ 90 kHz​

We can clearly see that between the standard PSU and the Supercharger there's a clear difference in noise, with a definitive advantage of the Supercharger, of course. Worth mentioning that a standard laptop supply has at least 10 times more noise than the standard Burson power supply, so Burson's default PSU is already having a much lower noise than a standard laptop PSU. However, lowering the AC ripple & noise even further by using the Supercharger might be recommended in homes having noisy mains power or for audiophiles that wants to have state of the art audio equipment and accessories.

Head-fiers that were testing the sound of their devices with both PSUs are invited to state their thoughts here.

 

[invisiblekid]

Just picked up a Super Charger. I got it cheap(er) and was unsure if I'd actually hear any differnce even on the Arya Stealths and with the PSU plugged into a power conditioner (albeit a cheap extention one)

Tested the Super Charger plugged direct into the wall. Tired a few tracks and thought, yeah maybe. But then came along one of my fave songs by Nick Cave, Bring it on. Damn.

The peaks of Nicks voice were tamed a little so too the violin at the start and the cowbell/mentronome sound seemed higher (still for a Planar) in the air, but his whole voice came through just a little better, like everything was contollled a little better.

The biggest change was at the beginning there's the three strum guitar that came to life. Instead of just hearing them as quite flat with no space or air with the std supply, they are now moving around in and out with a little front to back movement and have a bit of echo to them? To the point I had a little goosebumps or a tingle in my ears.

An odd choice of song but Metallica's Ronnie Rising Medley, Lars has a drum fill around 2:35 which had more.....presence and again seemed more accurate and detail....less supressed.

Want to test more especially with accoustic, classical and electronic music and Dark Knight OST.

but yeah I'm amazed. Not at the product itself, but more that I could actually hear the change that everyone else has.

 

[invisiblekid]

I'm not going through everything, but here is a few experiances. I didnt want to keep powering off and on, but want to do some A/Bs quickly so as improve the comparision.


All done using Hiby R6 III USB line out - SNSL D1se - XLR GT

I'm crap at desribing things like wine, beer and music, but I'll do my best.

Dark Knight Rises (FLAC). Why So Serious 10:45 - 11:30. The strings are far more composed and less shrill, they sounded less scary, but in musical terms far more listenable. The entire album is like this. Planars by their nature can handle highs and lows better at the same time, but the huge sub bass definitely had more presence I guess, stronger and less out of breath.

Sarah Brightman - Eden - In Paradisum (DSD). The opening birds, forrest sounds and sitar(?) had a little more spread and more life like. You could hear the air vibrations more from the strings.

Deep Purple - Machine Head (SACD) - Less apparent, but it was just seemed to be a little more alive, bearing in mind this recording is, well, old so its not exactly captured everything.

Dire Straits - Money for Nothing (SACD)- The obvious build up - Again just a bit more alive but the final hits on the snare(??) before the guitar solo absolutely were more resolved.


Basically everything was handled better, stuff that didn't seem harsh before now sounded so with the OG PSU. Exactly like Lachlan from Passion for Sound. It really did souind in parts like a vail was lifted (albeit not its not a thick one), I guess this is just down to the amp getting a solid power supply and everything was being in the state it needed to be to stop any slight wobbles.

So IMHO it is worth getting, even at full price (I paid £250, £400 new). It creates such a good base to build on if your like me and starting a high end set-up. Plus at the end of the day, given how class A works and in the dual mono design of the GT leading to the huge number of resistors etc, it simply makes sense to want to keep everything running at full pelt, thats the point of Class A.

That does put it at £3000 for both, NOT small money, but the GT is tank and greatly benefits from the greater power control. With this combo it does seem, like headphones, it will scale very nicely with a comparable DAC



Hope this helps if anyone has not yet made the jump or for future Burson purchasers.