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Supercapacitor Power Supply tour

The PS tour still has one member - Tirnaog - next to receive it
I'll Pm his address, Heckyman, when he give some his Surname for postal address
 
Heckyman said:
4 x LIFEPO 18650 batteries with the holder supplied by Allo
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Yes, LiFePO4 batteries are great sounding - I previously used the bigger versions, 26650. in all my audio devices before supercapacitors
Were you using them into Allo Pi without voltage regulator on their output?
 
The Allo battery pack is for the clean side, which is Allo’s SPDIF board.

To be honest, I bought their unit as a complete package and just used what they recommended without paying much attention to the specifications of all the parts.
 
@Heckyman good stuff, ringing all the changes!

Have I understood correctly, John’s PSU has two +5V secondary supplies ouputs. Your best result was when powering the RPi & ADS-dirty from one of the secondaries and the ADS-clean from the other?
 
@suzywong that's correct — John's PSU has 1 DC input (fed by the included AC adaptor) and 2 DC 5V outputs. The best result was powering both inputs of the Allo unit with John's PSU. (The Allo's dirty supply internally powers the RPi.)

I maybe confused people because as a final step, I decided to try plugging my battery pack into the PSU's DC input instead of using the AC adapter (couldn't resist as the plugs were the same size!). I can't be sure if it was the same or better like this, it was too close to say on a quick listen.

Hope that clears it up!
 
Yes, that clears it up nicely, and a very comprehensive set of tests. Thanks. Interesting that you preferred running both clean and dirty sides from the same PS, which is not the “Allo preferred way”.

The DigiSig is certainly on my todo list as a front end to my nDAC (probably with MoOde on the RPi3B+), but both Allo & Volumio “shops” seem to be out of stock at the moment. In the meantime, I have been looking at options for powering the beast. John’s box may well be the answer. :)
 
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suzywong said:
Interesting that you preferred running both clean and dirty sides from the same PS, which is not the “Allo preferred way”.
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Yes, it seems the Allo unit is more responsive to clean power on the "dirty" side than they would suggest, and that John's PSU is well designed enough that there's no obvious detriment to powering both sides from the same box. FWIW, Koombre (see earlier in the thread) also got the same result as I did.

(I use MoOde as well, changed from DietPi after a failed update — opening my terminal and SSH-ing into the box is not my idea of a fun hobby)
 
Heckyman said:
Yes, it seems the Allo unit is more responsive to clean power on the "dirty" side than they would suggest, and that John's PSU is well designed enough that there's no obvious detriment to powering both sides from the same box. FWIW, Koombre (see earlier in the thread) also got the same result as I did.

(I use MoOde as well, changed from DietPi after a failed update — opening my terminal and SSH-ing into the box is not my idea of a fun hobby)
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Well, I ordered my DigiSig today :) so it will be fun to play with next weekend.

@Heckyman I’ve ordered a battery holder for the clean side - but I can’t find a cable with a usb connector at the Pi end, that I can solder to the battery pack. Have you got any suggestions where I could find one? Modmypi list a molex-to-usb that I could butcher, but have nil stock :(.

And @John, give me a couple of weeks, then I’ll be interested in trying the supercap (must stop calling it that....Supercaps are bl00dy great Naim PSUs.....of which I have two LOL)
 
@suzywong I ordered my battery holder direct from Allo with the Signature player and it came with the cable already attached. I just had to order the batteries and charger separately from Audiophonics as Allo don’t supply those.

I’m not a DIYer so can’t help with your Q I’m afraid.
 
Heckyman said:
@suzywong I ordered my battery holder direct from Allo with the Signature player and it came with the cable already attached. I just had to order the batteries and charger separately from Audiophonics as Allo don’t supply those.

I’m not a DIYer so can’t help with your Q I’m afraid.
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No worries, you’ve already been very helpful, so “thanks” :)
 
Hi John, I picked up the 5v Supercap psu parcel today. Due to work and travel I won’t be able to properly audition it until Friday.
 
I managed to get some time today to try out the 5v SC psu. I tried it on my Aqvox switch and noticed a slight relaxing of the SQ. Bass is deep with lots of micro details. My system is highly optimised already so I notice any improvements (or any detriment). I tried it on my Sonore Ultradigital (which should be powered with 6-9v but works fine on 5v) too but did not notice a difference from a Paul Hynes SR4 at 5v. In fact it is equal in sound quality. It's enough of a positive improvement on my switch for me to purchase a unit. Thanks John I'll PM you.


If I get some more time over the weekend I'll try it on my Iso Regen too which is before the Ultradigital, to see if that makes any difference. I am powering that with Ian Canada's LifePO4 power supply.
 
Thanks for your impressions, Patrick
I've no one else on the list, AFAIK
So unless anyone else wants to try it, I guess it can return to daddy :)
 
One more for the road?

Another Allo Digi Sig, with an iFi PSU on the dirty side and a 4 x AA alkaline battery pack on the clean (akin to Heckyman’s “level 7” perhaps) driving an nDAC and full-fat Naim “olive” system.
 
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