Intro
Contents
Power supplies are popular. Actually for some time, but with the advent of streaming audio and especially network optimizations, it has taken off quite a bit. Now that’s not surprising either, because in many cases it is simply a good audible upgrade of the system. And we’ve also demonstrated measurably that it matters. We will now take a look at a power supply from the Netherlands: the Pura Dodo.
Why Pura named a power supply after an extinct pigeon, we don’t know. Perhaps it has to do with the dinosaur theme? After all, the ammonite is also an extinct dino. But back to this power supply for a moment. The Pura Power Supplies Dodo comes in several flavors. The two outputs can deliver up to 2.5A and vary between 3.3 and 19 volts. You can choose them yourself. It is also possible to mix with these. So one at 5 volts and the other at 12 volts for example. Very handy! Our 5 volt Dodo delivers 2 x 2.5A. And it does so extremely stable, as you will see later in the measurements. But that is not the focus of this power supply.
Pura designed this entire power supply with speed in mind. For that reason, for example, no off-the-shelf voltage regulator was used. That was done discreetly. Also, the capacitance on the output has been kept relatively small. Now we cannot and should not reveal all the secrets of this power supply, but let us say that the circuit board you see in the picture is more than just a few caps and resistors.
With that in mind, can we say that the toroidal transformer is the heart of this power supply? Well, actually no. We see the ingenious system used by Miquel Blauw to generate voltages as the heart. This is what ensures the stability, extreme silence and speed of this power supply. Not the – indeed nice – toroidal transformer.
The case itself is sturdy and austere. We have seen power supplies in this price range (900 euros) that look a bit fancier. Think of the Ferrum Hypsos. That one also costs about 1000 euros. That one is also adjustable. However sonically… yes: that is where this Pura goes a bit further. More about that in the next chapter.
The set-up
We connected the power supply mainly to our Alpha Audio PC with Jcat XE USB and LAN PCIe cards. Other than that, the reference system is exactly the same. So the Pass Labs XP-12, X150.8 and the TAD Evolution 2 speakers. The Jcat pci-cards can be powered externally with 5 volts (they have a dc input). We did that for a long time with Sbooster power supplies and later with Jcat’s internal power supply. Both options work fine and also sound just fine.
The Dodo is convenient in this case because we can power both cards from one box. With the Sbooster you need two power supplies and with two decent power cables the price quickly rises to 800 Euro or more. By the way, the Dodo costs just €900 Euros without a power cable. So with something decent attached you are also looking at €1000 Euros for a power supply. That is a lot of money. But let’s go see how it performs!
Quick and silent, this sound like Ferrum Hypsos! What’s the diff and which sounds better!?
Is there a Dodo with 1 output only 2?
I mentioned the Hypsos in the article. Both very nice PSU’s. I think the Dodo is even more silent. The Dodo only comes with two outputs.