Still remember Asus Xonar Essence One DAC? It’s time to disassembly the power supply. It’s separated on small PCB. Good design as this makes my life more beautiful, although it’s not an easy job to disassemble it.

It has 3 power supply rails: One 5V, and two 12V (positive and negative). The regulators used are the low dropout one, LM2990 and LM2940.

The first target to be improved is the capacitors. I could see some values on by storage bin which could suit. Hearing the sound, I think adding some Silmic would be best, although Black Gate NX could be very-very interesting (but my supply is very limited).

PSU Top

The diodes are the SMD type. I believe this board has two layers. Black PCB makes my tracing skill got some challenges.

PSU Bottom

The Asus Xonar Essence One with PCB Power Supply removed. Big heatsink mounted at bottom PCB to transfer the heat. Another good design from Asus (to be honest, I admire the high end design from Asus which is mostly “exceptional” with “no compromise” approach).

XonarNoPSU