EXPERIENCE WITH MY OLD NUC & LPSU:
For my previous NUC I have already used a LPSU delivering 19V/5.25A (AUDIOPHONICS LPSU100 Stabilized Power supply 19V 5.25A 100W NAS / Intel Nuc). The NUC was mainly used as Roon-Server based on Windows (and some other tasks), whereas importantly my DAC was not directly plugged into the NUC! But as a believer in LPSUs in general, I blindly believed in its superior sound-quality compared to the NUC’s stock switching-PSU - but I have never tried any A/B-testing ever since.
EXPERIENCE WITH MY NEW NUC14 & LPSU:
With buying my new NUC (ASUS NUC 14 Pro“ with Intel Core U7 155H CPU), I have instantly ordered the new LPSU delivering 19V/7A. As the LPSU was out of stock, I had to wait a few weeks to finally arrive. In the meantime, I took the chance carefully listening to music using the NUC’s stock-PSU. The sound-quality felt surprisingly good – and therefore I was very excited about the potential of new LPSU.
After arrival in winter the new LPSU was cold and for the first couple of hours it did not seem to leverage any sound-quality. But to my ears the sound-quality continuously improved – and after about 10-20 hours I felt much more pleased (please excuse me not trying to describe any positive effects).
QUESTION & CONCLUSION
Does it make any sense empowering a NUC with a comparably expensive LPSU? (especially, if the NUC is streaming music via network without a DAC being attached directly)
I would say that it depends:
- Yes, if the sound-quality is already rather pleasing using the NUC’s stock-PSU.
- No, if the sound-quality is not already pleasing using the NUC’s stock-PSU, as the sound-signature will not change dramatically. In this case I would rather spend my money on other parts of my equipment prior to buying a LPSU for a NUC. Even though a LPSU does improve a NUCs sound-quality, possibly a DAC, network-switch, USB- or network-card may profit even more.
In my case the sound-quality did seem to have improved and additionally I enjoy the looks and feel of this heavily built LPSU. As I will continue empowering my NUCs with LPSUs in future, I recommend this one without any doubt!