What's your preference regarding SQ?
Standard PSU
If ipower
Allo low noise PSU
Battery
Anything else?
I'm back to a basic Pi and want to make sure I'm using the best PSU I can.
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What's your preference regarding SQ?
Standard PSU
If ipower
Allo low noise PSU
Battery
Anything else?
I'm back to a basic Pi and want to make sure I'm using the best PSU I can.
I will follow this thread with interest.
I power mine with a cheap wallwart, but I have been tempted to buy an ifi one ever since hearing the improvement that using a cheap battery pack made. A bit illogical perhaps, but I can't be arsed with rigging up a battery plus charger and would prefer a simple plug and play solution.
Also Allo supposedly have an audiophile 5v switching supply in the works, but it seems to have stalled, as no updates in a long while.
5v 20,000mah imuto battery. works very well with an inline switch
A cheap and easy way try a battery is to use a power pack designed to recharge smart phones.
I Use a couple of large rugged ones bought from Maplins for fiver when they were closing but mainly to give me a portable option for playing. I also have a dedicated linear unit from Audiophonics as well as the Pi branded wall wart - I can’t hear any difference between any of them.
Haven't tried a battery... however, what I can honestly say is that for me I was sceptical about power until I eventually gave in and paid £49 for the ifi powersupply
https://www.amazon.co.uk/iFi-iPower-.../dp/B01GNNXP0Y
OMG I couldn't believe the difference it made to sound quality, over the "official raspberry pi supply". Personally I consider the ifi an essential purchase - one of the best £ for sound purchases I have ever made
Paul Hynes linear supply with HRS Nimbus footers and HRS damping plates. Underneath is a Nordost Thor power distributor. I avoid the micro USB power input by soldering DC power directly onto GPIO pins. It’s also earthed to Entreq Silver Tellus.
https://farm2.staticflickr.com/1824/...84097f21_o.jpg006B0374-3986-4792-B191-6E78391EAF32 by Steve Paines, on Flickr
I have one of those too powering my Pi. Previously I had an Anker battery which was OK but too much hassle. I then had a Chinese Linear Power Supply which kept drifting away from the 5v on the LED display (not a sound quality issue but annoyed me)....
....the Ifi is just fit and forget and sounds fine to me!
I mainly use an S-Booster LPSU but I recently bought a small Anker powerbank for general use that I sometimes pop in there to power the Pi.
The battery has an insight/noise floor edge but lacks some oomph compared to the S-Booster for some reason. I could live with either but generally use the S-Booster since it just sits there without hassle.
The Allo walwart that came with my DigiOne is a few steps behind either option for sure.
That's looks damn cool!
Can't say I've heard a real difference between power supplies myself, although I don't like the idea of the cheapo switching unit which comes as standard. I've used a HDPLEX (which I still use for my phono stage and headphone amp) and currently a LongDog Audio sold by MCRU. I'm happy with this so won't be messing with others, although one day I might try the above method by removing the need for the USB power connection.
I'm currently using the official Pi supply. Does anyone know of someone in the UK building a 5V linear supply that could supply both Pi and DAC hat? I've seen a lot of Chinese supplies and the odd German one I just wondered if there are any home grown?