Let's discuss power source!

The theory behind it is very simple, as the power source is the foundation of everything that runs on electricity. However, depending on who you listen to, there are no shortage of people who sell snake oil in this business, and myths and hype are rampant.

I don't claim to be an electrical expert, nor do I work in the audio industry. However I do have an engineering degree so I know the basic difference between AC and DC power, resistance and capacitance and inductance, frequency response and filters etc.

If I'm not mistaken, most of the components in our audio system that runs on power (e.g. except passive speakers and headphones) needs DC to operate. When you plug your mains AC power to these boxes, it gets converted by transformers and rectifiers to DC. The conversion can take place inside the main chassis, or you can have external switched mode power supplies or the more substantial units like the PSU1. Whichever way you do it, you need to convert the AC power from the mains socket on the wall to DC power before the system can do anything with it. The quality of the AC-DC conversion with the different methods of course varies due to design and budget constrains. Although I don't own the PSU1 (yet), I'm sure it is a huge improvement over the "green" switched mode power supply.

All is good. But now comes my question. There are tons of so called "AC line conditioners", "audiophile AC power cables", "audiophile sockets" and all the way up to "AC power regenerators", like a mini power plant right in your home, that costs upwards of tens of thousands of dollars. How much do these things improve the sound really, and for the PSU1 specifically, how much of an improvement would you get, if you substitute the regular AC power cord with one of these "audiophile" grade ones?

My thinking goes beyond "audiophile" power cords and all those high end power solutions. I have been trying to build a CAS system using a laptop computer, that will allow me to run on batteries while listening to music. I have also been evaluating DACs that either use a high-quality outboard power supply or employs batteries outright so that I can completely detach from the power grid. My theory is, you cannot get more pure and clean DC power than batteries. I currently have the Voyager portable amp, but have been looking at the Solo UL with the PSU1. My overall plan is to get my entire audio chain as clean as possible and free from AC power artifacts to maximize their performance.

I just have my doubts about the so called audiophile AC power solutions and whether they are worth the high prices they command.

Perhaps I can hope the man can comment himself if a high quality AC power cord connected to the PSU1 will further improve its performance.