Sbooster product reviews through the years

"Sbooster Best of Two Worlds Power & Precision ECO (BOTW) Power Supplies cost €300 each and are replacements for the all too common wall-warts that seem to be de rigeur with many audio products. Dan Worth feels the power."

Hifi-Pig, November 2017, by Dan Worth

BOTW P&P ECO 15-16V on the Auralic Aries.

“Adding the BOTW supply gave me exactly what I imagined it would. Speedier dynamics and rhythms which made Nils Lofgren’s incredible guitar solos come to life, greater precision on leading edges and a darker a background exposed finer details and dynamics really rather effortlessly. I enjoyed the cleaner complexion of his vocal also which along with the intricate guitar work gained more texture and dexterity.

If I was to create a minimalistic system for an office for instance, the Aries Mini along with a set of KRK actives and the BOTW would be an intoxicatingly addictive bouncy and musical listen. If your a listener of Pop, Dance or Rock you will love what the BOTW supply does to enhance musicality with the Mini, bringing out more detail and smoothing the resolution extremes. A bit of Nirvana at high volumes and then some old skool Ferry Corsten completed today’s listening tests with the Aurelic. The combination of the two forces you to listen to music and forget the electronics entirely.”

BOTW P&P ECO 5-6V on the Audiobyte Hydra Z

“My SPDIF converter of choice for many years now have been from Audiobytes (parent company Rokna), they again retain great musicality and smooth digital signals to where they become a more fluid event. Along with the Hydra Z I have a choice of power supplies already – the Audiobyte ZPM which works on capacitor bank stored energy, a Paul Hynes SR5 and SR7 Dual Regulated linears. I do change from time to time and the different supplies have slightly differing effects on the sound. The ZPM doesn’t produce such a  highly resolute sound as either of the Hynes, yet is very even handed and is a big step up over the USB powered converter. Each of the Hynes then differ in information retrieval with the SR7 DR dominating on detail retrieval and background silence.

The BOTW from Sbooster actually had a nice mixture of the three. There is a definite even-handedness with the Hydra Z and again it has great speed, leading edges and dynamics, which although not as natural sounding as the Hynes, are a huge improvement over standard installation. The background was also very quiet and the sensitive nature of the FPGA circuit inside the Z seemed to express great control, realism and enthusiasm to the sound with the more modestly price Sbooster connected, allowing for some incredibly controlled female vocals and good strong bass lines, which gained my attention”

BOTW P&P ECO 12-13V on the Mytek Brooklyn DAC

The Sbooster isn’t as resolute as the leading Hynes Supply, yet again has qualities of speed that only a design such as it can master. My findings are a little strange to the hardcore Hifi enthusiast, but for those of you out there who try to balance an increase in all round performance with the struggle of retaining musical dexterity and cost effectiveness I’ll explain…

All too often when auditioning equipment the initial wow factor of a product is its selling point. A customer can purchase and take home a piece of equipment hoping it to perform for them as it did in the demo room, only to be dissatisfied after extensive listening, finding either fatigue or balance to be uncomfortable. When I first installed the BOTW on the Brooklyn I noticed a perceivable drop in resolution over the DR Hynes but what I lost in plinky plonky details I was hugged with by music in a really endearing way.

The settle in period was shortish with the Sbooster, gaining more detail over the space of a week where it stabilised and established itself, kicking out tune after tune delightfully. I reconnected the IEC cable that goes direct into the Mytek’s on board PSU after this time and the extra distortion and grain throughout the treble and midrange proved immediately how profound an improvement the BOTW was. Connecting the BOTW again gave instantaneously more tuneful expression to the bass and vocals again popped out of the soundstage and stood prouder in a much blacker background.

There’s really not much to dislike about the Mytek, it’s a stunning piece of kit. The Sbooster power supply had seriously done it justice and coincidently it was around this time that the Sbooster guys contacted me to mention that I should be switching the supply if being used with the Brooklyn to the 13v setting rather than the 12v, simply because it sounds better still.

The Full Monty

“… However with all three BOTW supplies installed a more audiophile, mature and accomplished sound was reached.

Dynamics certainly came into their own with vocals gaining a much more appreciable range, giving the likes of some of my favourite female artists real character along with being able to convey small dynamics in their vocal ranges and minor breathes and inflections reminiscent of more expensive stand alone front ends.

The system, had great speed in the bass with an overall larger, more detailed and tightly extended lower region with a well balanced and wider more airier top end. Midrange displayed great timbre and the overall tonality was relaxed and natural with energetic transients and great separation – significantly more than the standard supplies.”

Conclusion 

“It’s never the easiest of reviews to produce when writing about aftermarket power supplies. If a friend asked me how I found the Sbooster BOTW power supplies I’d simply say they just give you more of everything and excel in speed and background silence, which ultimately allows you to hear more.

However, I have a job to do here and my job requires a certain level of thoroughness. That’s why I decided to give small reviews on the effectiveness of their power supplies on a few different items I own. There’s absolutely no doubt how effective over standard supplied power supplies the Sboosters are, but to their credit were not totally out shone by the Paul Hynes supplies, which if you are fortunate enough to own, would probably conclude that there really isn’t anything out there to better them in the common market.

For €300 I feel the supply is terrific value for money. Especially when connected to expensive equipment that warrants a boost in performance; the Sbooster P&P ECO BOTW offers significant value for money and I will certainly be using a couple of these across my systems in the future.

"All in all I’d highly recommend the BOTW P&P ECO BOTW Power Supply, its a sure way to obtain increased performance from any product with a less than bespoke off-board PSU."
 
"AT A GLANCE
Build Quality: Not the prettiest, I’d prefer all wires to be on ones side, sturdy and electrically safe none-the-less
Sound Quality: Fantastically noticeable increase in resolution, bass density and back silence
Value For Money: Absolute no brainier

Pros:
Excellent flexibility it’s a range of output plug sizes
Large range of 11 output voltages
Very noticeable upgrade over stock power supplies
Great musical and audiophile qualities
Great value for money

Cons:
Realistically none, but I’d like a detachable DC Cable

Here you can find the review: https://hifipig.com/sbooster-best-of-two-worlds-power-precision-eco-botw-power-supplies/