Topic: power cable for DPS2

hello forum,

long story short, I need a power cable for my DPS2.
I asked my retailer and he advised to buy a Supra Cable (I think: http://www.supracables.co.uk/mainscable … k11.html), as -he said- it's properly shielded, it's lightweight, certified CE and he has one in stock of the precise length I need.

I'm not sure I'm able to judge a power cable based on the specs: as the price is ok, I just care it's NOT WORSE than the supplied cable.
Do you have any opinion?
I see that these cables come in two variants: 10A and 16A. Should I care?

thanks,
MH

2 (edited by waedi 2024-11-17 10:55:43)

Re: power cable for DPS2

10A or 16A no need to worry about, 10Ampere is a hell lot of current, you will never come close to this.
The specs of the DPS2 says maximum power outlet is 4A.
Take the cheaper cable is fine.
Is the supplied cable too short ? It would be the right one for the device.

M1-Sequoia, Madiface Pro, Digiface USB, Babyface silver and blue

Re: power cable for DPS2

I second what waedi said, and would like to add:

m.holmes wrote:

certified CE

CE is not a certification of electrical safety. It's not even a certification at all, it's just a declaration of conformity marking. Or, worse, a Chinese-invented mark that is designed to look like the European one:  https://www.hqts.com/differences-betwee … na-export/

For European mains cable I'd look for VDE or TÜV certification markings.

Fireface UCX II + ARC USB > ADI-2 Pro FS R BE > Neumann KH 750 DSP + MA 1 > KH 120 A

4 (edited by KaiS 2024-11-17 12:35:31)

Re: power cable for DPS2

waedi wrote:

10A or 16A no need to worry about, 10Ampere is a hell lot of current, you will never come close to this.
The specs of the DPS2 says maximum power outlet is 4A.
Take the cheaper cable is fine.
Is the supplied cable too short ? It would be the right one for the device.

This information is not generally true.

It depends on one’s local power system and mainly the fusing concept, which widely varies.

Two examples:
In Germany 16 A is mandatory, as household fuses are 16 A.
In GB the cable’s wall plug contains an extra fuse, so 10 A is OK.

The local dealer should know and is responsible for a correct advise.
From the RME DPS’s side everything works, power consumption is low.


In general power cables cost next to nothing, everything expensive is simply rip-off.

Re: power cable for DPS2

KaiS wrote:

It depends on one’s local power system and mainly the fusing concept, which widely varies.

Two examples:
In Germany 16 A is mandatory, as household fuses are 16 A.
In GB the cable’s wall plug contains an extra fuse, so 10 A is OK.

You select circuit breaker rating based on your installation wiring (that the CB has to protect from overcurrent) current ratings, not the other way around. So if you have a power circuit with 2.5 mm² cabling and 16 A outlets, then you put 16 A circuit breaker. But if there is an outlet on the same circuit that is rated for 10 A, you must use 10 A CB, despite the cable supports higher currents. For lighting it's common to use 1.5 mm² cabling and 10 A breakers.

The circuit breakers protect your wiring and your outlets, not your appliances and their power cords. Appliances are expected to be protected by their own fuses and breakers designed for their operating currents, be it in the UK, the US, the EU, or any other civilized part of the world.

This has little to do with appliance power cords, where you select the current capacity based on your appliance's power rating. So waedi is correct here, either of these cables has more than enough current capacity. Although I still don't see the necessity to replace the supplied power cable of the DPS-2.

And in UK the plug contains not an "extra" fuse: it's mandatory due to the "ring main circuit" design that allows for 32 A CB in the distribution box, but the outlets are rated for 13 A, so they act also as outlet protection devices.

Fireface UCX II + ARC USB > ADI-2 Pro FS R BE > Neumann KH 750 DSP + MA 1 > KH 120 A

6 (edited by ramses 2024-11-17 13:42:28)

Re: power cable for DPS2

KaiS wrote:

In general power cables cost next to nothing, everything expensive is simply rip-off.

+1

I also didn't realize that you would have to think about which power cable to buy, given the low-energy consumption requirements. The main thing is that it is pin-compatible (intended for the application).

When I rewire my studio corner occasionally, I lay all the power cables on the floor, sort them by length and see which ones fit best in terms of length or have the best fit on the device socket and perhaps look at the socket strip to see how best to divide up straight or angled plugs. And that's it without any unnecessary voodoo on this topic.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

Re: power cable for DPS2

waedi wrote:

Is the supplied cable too short ? It would be the right one for the device.

Agreed, but I need a slightly longer cable and an angled plug.


KaiS wrote:

In general power cables cost next to nothing, everything expensive is simply rip-off.

This Supra cable is not a stock cable, but I would not call it expensive.
Not sure if this is just marketing, but on the Supra website, they claim their cable is "properly shielded" and you can measure the difference yourself (and they show you how).
As I said, I'm not an expert, so -assuming this is true- I don't know whether this is relevant or not for the equipment.

Re: power cable for DPS2

There are so many claims in that field .. think alone how many "audiophile ‘xyz’ cable" exist which are complete nonsense.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

Re: power cable for DPS2

ramses wrote:

There are so many claims in that field .. think alone how many "audiophile ‘xyz’ cable" exist which are complete nonsense.

That's true. But let me recap:
1) I'm not an expert, but the retailer didn't try to sell me a magic 10k eur/mt platinum-coated cable.
2) he just said it's a "shielded cable" and the price is more or less ok
3) I'm willing to buy it, as the plug/length are precisely what I need, but it should NOT BE WORSE than a stock cable.

From all the discussion above, I mostly got the idea that the cable is sort of irrelevant, so any cable should be equally ok.

Did I summarise it properly?

10 (edited by ramses 2024-11-17 16:45:47)

Re: power cable for DPS2

4) if it is even shielded (lets forget a moment about whether this is needed or not) why should it become worse by that, also makes no sense to me, so remove point 3 from the list.

Buy it if you like it, all that I and other ppl in the thread mentioned is, that there is no requirement for this as it won't produce better results (sound, less noise (I bet you haven't any noise)).

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

Re: power cable for DPS2

ramses wrote:

4) if it is even shielded (lets forget a moment about whether this is needed or not) why should it become worse by that, also makes no sense to me, so remove point 3 from the list.

Buy it if you like it, all that I and other ppl in the thread mentioned is, that there is no requirement for this as it won't produce better results (sound, less noise (I bet you haven't any noise)).

yes, I know it's not a requirement and I was not looking to produce better results: I was worried that there could be _something else_ I completely missed (e.g. the cable is shielded, but it's made of butter instead of copper...).

thanks to everyone for the information, it was indeed useful.

Re: power cable for DPS2

m.holmes wrote:

I was worried that there could be _something else_ I completely missed (e.g. the cable is shielded, but it's made of butter instead of copper...).

As I mentioned previously, the cables in question are not properly certified. This seller is misleading you by saying the cable is "CE-approved"; there is no such thing as CE approval, and the CE mark is not about electrical safety at all. I reiterate that you need to look for proper safety certifications for anything that plugs into mains power.

Fireface UCX II + ARC USB > ADI-2 Pro FS R BE > Neumann KH 750 DSP + MA 1 > KH 120 A

Re: power cable for DPS2

+1 forgot about that, valid point.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

Re: power cable for DPS2

This is what they say on their site:

Directionality Assurance
All Supra cables are constructed with attention to consistent and equal ‘direction’ in all the conductors. Simplistic electronics theory says there is no ‘directionality’ in conductors, but assumes conductors are perfectly isomorphic. It also ignores the inherently directional nature of signal and energy flow. Yet electricity could not be sold without ‘energy flow directionality’.

I think it's needless to say we must avoid these scammers.

Also not a single safety mark in the datasheet: https://supracables.se/datasheets/en/Po … eet-en.pdf

The Intertek "Quality & Performance" mark they mention is not a safety mark, either. And even this "certification" I could not find using Intertek's certified products finder.

Fireface UCX II + ARC USB > ADI-2 Pro FS R BE > Neumann KH 750 DSP + MA 1 > KH 120 A

15 (edited by KaiS 2024-11-17 18:37:58)

Re: power cable for DPS2

m.holmes wrote:

…From all the discussion above, I mostly got the idea that the cable is sort of irrelevant, so any cable should be equally ok.

Did I summarise it properly?

Exactly!

Use whatever is lying around.

100 bucks for a mains cord is too much, and shielding doesn’t do anything unless the whole room is shielded, even then …

16 (edited by KaiS 2024-11-17 19:52:23)

Re: power cable for DPS2

Directionality Assurance
All Supra cables are constructed with attention to consistent and equal ‘direction’ in all the conductors. Simplistic electronics theory says there is no ‘directionality’ in conductors, but assumes conductors are perfectly isomorphic. It also ignores the inherently directional nature of signal and energy flow. Yet electricity could not be sold without ‘energy flow directionality’.

This “directionality” claim is typical “audiophile” mumbo-jumbo, ignoring that audio (and mains current) is AC, meaning Alternating Current and therefore is bi-directional, back and forth.

If a directional effects would existing in copper, silver or other metal wires, their effect would cause even-order distortions (the ones those same audiophiles love so much on tube amps).
Orienting wires into a certain direction wouldn’t change that.

These distortions would clearly be measurable, or even would make measurements impossible as the external and internal measuring device’s conductors by themselves would suffer from them and spoil the result.

This is not the case, so the whole thing is pure imagination.

17

Re: power cable for DPS2

Some comments: it is the manufacturer (Supra) in this case that babbles about CE approval, so the dealer just reproduces that info. And no price has been mentioned - I expect them to cost more than 100 €.

Now HiFi power cables are a nice thing as long as they are not totally overpriced. They are impressive (...convincing...) when holding them in your own hands, very reliable (when done correctly), and can have superior connectors with nicely gold plated contacts that really make better contact. Then they even add shielding (shield connected to PE) to not radiate into sensitive, nearby cables (which would not be the fault of whatever power cable, but a fault of an ignorant user). With these HiFi power cables -

Peace of mind guaranteed!

Wasted money guaranteed! What a pity.

If you still want to check it out - try these Amazon offers of cables with 17 (!) mm diameter with all the properties I mentioned, for about 50 bucks, sometimes even below that. That's a limit I can personally accept (as these cables are indeed good quality).

https://www.amazon.de/Audiophile-Stromk … 08LDK1TTC/

https://www.amazon.de/Viborg-Schukostec … 06Y6516T2/

They DO NOT sound different, though. They feel different wink

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

18 (edited by Kubrak 2024-11-18 12:16:12)

Re: power cable for DPS2

unpluggged wrote:

I second what waedi said, and would like to add:

m.holmes wrote:

certified CE

CE is not a certification of electrical safety. It's not even a certification at all, it's just a declaration of conformity marking. Or, worse, a Chinese-invented mark that is designed to look like the European one:  https://www.hqts.com/differences-betwee … na-export/

For European mains cable I'd look for VDE or TÜV certification markings.

There are two CEs that look almost identical.
1) CE - the EU declaration of conformity
2) CE - China Export

https://www.kimuagroup.com/news/differe … -markings/
https://single-market-economy.ec.europa … marking_en

Re: power cable for DPS2

MC wrote:

Some comments: it is the manufacturer (Supra) in this case that babbles about CE approval, so the dealer just reproduces that info. And no price has been mentioned - I expect them to cost more than 100 €.

Now HiFi power cables are a nice thing as long as they are not totally overpriced. They are impressive (...convincing...) when holding them in your own hands, very reliable (when done correctly), and can have superior connectors with nicely gold plated contacts that really make better contact. Then they even add shielding (shield connected to PE) to not radiate into sensitive, nearby cables (which would not be the fault of whatever power cable, but a fault of an ignorant user). With these HiFi power cables -

Peace of mind guaranteed!

Wasted money guaranteed! What a pity.

If you still want to check it out - try these Amazon offers of cables with 17 (!) mm diameter with all the properties I mentioned, for about 50 bucks, sometimes even below that. That's a limit I can personally accept (as these cables are indeed good quality).

https://www.amazon.de/Audiophile-Stromk … 08LDK1TTC/

https://www.amazon.de/Viborg-Schukostec … 06Y6516T2/

They DO NOT sound different, though. They feel different wink

Nice pick ;-)

However, you should also bear in mind that such cables often have the characteristic of being quite stiff and do not ‘lay’ particularly well. Such sheathing is particularly annoying with ADAT cables, but could perhaps also happen with power cables.

BR Ramses - UFX III, 12Mic, XTC, ADI-2 Pro FS R BE, RayDAT, X10SRi-F, E5-1680v4, Win10Pro22H2, Cub14

Re: power cable for DPS2

Get some Lapp cable "Ölflex Classic 110 CY" with some solid plugs and you are done. Lapp Ölflex is used on industrial installations, shielded, quite flexible and compared to the high-end stuff cheap: ca €2.- per meter.

Can be found readymade on the usual auction sides. Available in 3x 1.5 or 3x 4mm - 1.5mm will suffice.

We have a few of these behind the racks and desk. Not that it makes a difference but given the insane amount of cables there shielding doesn't hurt.

21

Re: power cable for DPS2

ramses wrote:

Nice pick ;-)

However, you should also bear in mind that such cables often have the characteristic of being quite stiff and do not ‘lay’ particularly well. Such sheathing is particularly annoying with ADAT cables, but could perhaps also happen with power cables.

The two cables linked are flexible, otherwise I wouldn't have linked them.

Regards
Matthias Carstens
RME

22 (edited by bejoro 2024-11-19 08:46:39)

Re: power cable for DPS2

I would also recommend: Lapp cable "Ölflex Classic 110 CY"

Germany:
https://audio-hifi-shop.de/epages/f9df1 … Stromkabel

Good shop, nice guy, almost any customization possible, reliable quality (I hope this is still the case, because it's been a while since I ordered from there.).

Also the Sommer Galileo RCA cables are of very good quality.
I almost exclusively use Sommer XLR cables (Galileo, Carbokab) from Sommer, but Sommer Cable does not have an RCA version.

https://audio-hifi-shop.de/epages/f9df1 … D=11051143

Re: power cable for DPS2

I‘m using these ones in my studio racks (and elsewhere), because I have power outlets mounted inside.
Therefore the 0.5 m length is perfect.

Even at home most times the longer ones are only causing cable spaghetti.
For the RME standard PSUs they are good choice either.

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00LFS … 8&th=1
7 bucks each now, but I paid 2.35 for a larger amount last year.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/41XX5hVBNWL._AC_SX679_.jpg


https://www.amazon.de/dp/B072K9MVPF?ref … asin_title
4 bucks each now, but I paid 3.44 for a larger amount last year.
https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61DpthiGsNL._AC_SX679_.jpg