The ARC6 DC4 is expensive and not for everyone. No question about that. So are many things in high-end audio. It uses the same capacitors you find in the Extreme in addition to Audio Note, Vcap film capacitors, naked Z-foil resistors, Mundorf silver/gold internal wiring, Gaia footers, etc. Very expensive stuff that is only found in the best audio components. It's all hand built to order, designed and optimized for specific application, with custom transformer, etc. Some versions have nearly as much capacitance as a Gryphon Apex monoblock.
It's a significant step up from the Teddy Pardo LPS just like the Taiko Extreme is on another planet from a Roon Nucleus. There are people who have a Roon Nucleus and are surely wondering why someone (we) would ever buy a Taiko Extreme... well you never know until you try. And when you try, you realize what you've been missing. Same goes for a good LPS.
BTW, here are the internals of a ~40lbs ARC6 DC4 LPS:
The power supply on this photo completely re-transforms the (horrible sounding in my opinion) stock Chord DAVE into a world class DAC.
I've done a lot of DIY experiments with switches for a few years before becoming affiliated with Sean Jacobs. Cisco, Netgear, D-Link, Buffalo, Melco, SOTM, EtherREGEN, you name it and I've probably tried it. Two switches, three switches, four switches, five switches, six switches, I've done it all. Here is a photo of a 6 switches experiment (the 6th switch is not captured in the photo):
Replacing the clock on a $150 switch with a $1500 OCXO clock - done that.
Connecting $150 switch with a $5000 LPS - done that.
Modifying all kinds of network routers - done that.
Testing half a dozen different cable modems - done that.
Testing over a dozen different transceiver modules - done that.
The list goes on and on.
A real eye opening point for me was when I tried two almost identical DC cables for my cable modem - the exact same length (very short 1 foot cables), same wire, same geometry, and same connectors. The only difference was that one cable had a passive shielding (known as JSSG360) and the other one did not. I could clearly hear the difference that shielding of the DC/power cable for my modem made to the sound in my system. If someone told me that at the time, I would have not believed it. But I heard it with my own ears.
If the shielding on a DC cable on a cable modem makes an audible difference, you can probably imagine how much difference the power supply to a switch makes. And this is the main reason I become affiliated with Sean Jacobs in the first place. I really liked the impact of his power supplies on my digital rig (DAC's, servers, switches, routers, cable modems, etc.) and was dreaming to have access to unlimited number of high quality LPS power rails. At some point I believe I've had 23 rails powering different things in my system.
The Taiko Extreme significantly simplified that, and I am hoping that the switch, NIC, and router Emile has designed will surpass my complex network in sound quality and significantly reduce the complexity. Just like most people here, I believe in Emile's designs and ideas and can't wait to try them.
In fact, the ARC6 DC4 to some extent is related to the Taiko's battery power supply. Some of you may find the following story interesting. During COVID lockdowns, a small group of people (@romaz, @ray-dude , @austinpop , and me) started some very extensive experiments with batteries. We took a DC4 power supply apart and replaced the transformer and rectifier with batteries (but left the regulators and filtering). That did not sound very good initially. But then we started trying different batteries and discovered that some batteries sounded better than others. In the search for the perfect battery, we tried many and eventually found some hand-made batteries for drone competition with selected premium matched cells. Those sounded best. Then we added some circuitry around these batteries, and they sounded even better. Then we combined multiple batteries (to reduce the output impedance) and that sounded even better. At some point we had a huge battery pack capable of delivering 200A connected to giant copper busbars, powering the 5V (0.5A) digital rail on a Chord DAVE DAC. That sounded better than a standard DC4 LPS. But it also had some issues. I won't list them and how some of them were addressed, but one example was some audible and measurable low frequency noise. We learned a lot from these experiments. Eventually they lead to understanding some fundamental things and this is how the ARC6 upgrade was born, which sounded much better than even the best battery experiment we've done at the time. We were in touch with Emile during these experiments. We actually learned a lot from Emile as he gave us some priceless advices. Eventually Emile took some of our feedback, went on his own and brought the potential of batteries to another level, addressing every single issue we've experienced and going many extra miles ahead. That is how the Taiko BPS was born.
Hmm, I really need to learn how to write short messages... Anyhow, the bottom line is this:
What I had in mind was a special designed hybrid LPS with DC4 regulators + ARC6 modules in a smaller chassis for the switch with a target price around $3500. But as I mentioned in my previous message, I have almost given up this idea for several reasons.
The main one is that Emile will have a small BPS designed for the switch, and his recommendation is for people to wait for that unit.
I really don't want to talk about power supplies in the Taiko thread anymore, so let's get back to topic.
