ALLO SHANTI Linear Power Supply (LPS) Review

[The Black Adder]

This review and others including other Allo products are also available on my website:

http://www.tannoyista.com


Hi all.

As you may all know I use the Allo KATANA + ISOLATOR + RPI3

I've been using Allo kit now for some time and with each development they have not disappointed to deliver.

One of the biggest and best developments to date is the KATANA DAC with the latest ISOLATOR. The KATANA DAC utilises the Ess9038q2m IC which has a customisable output stage. It also uses the NDK NZ2520SDA clock which is filtered by x2 LDOs in series achieving a very low jitter rate of 390fs.

With the announcement of a suited Power supply for the KATANA, the whole Allo Dac package is now totally fulfilled. I had been waiting for this for quite some time. It's now time to see what this thing can really do.

I really hate using standard plug-in supplies. They are noisy and cheap but they do the job. But with the Allo kit, using these cheap supplies the KATANA still blew me away. So what could a suited low noise linear PSU bring to the picture?

The LPS is quite a hefty little thing with high quality components used. The transformer has a dual output galvanically isolated 5.2V 3A and 5.2V at 1.2A outputs so it can also power the RPI 4. It uses a huge capacitance bank to reduce 50/60Hz noise and filtered by an LDO and caps up to 15.000uf. The next stage are the super capacitors which is where the final power come from.

Plugging in to both the ISOLATOR and KATANA units was a doddle. Lot's of extensions and plugs are provided which was good. No physical instructions though so this is something which would be good for the beginner. I'm one who likes to read 'real' instruction manuals

The LPS comes with two hard wired output cables which are nice and long so placement can be set well away from other units. But, in my opinion I think it would have been better to have SHANTI have plug points on the face plate so you can use your own, or different length cables.

Switching on the SHANTI lights up red inside. Seems to be quite a few LED's inside the case visible through the vents. There is no hum which is good, nice and silent.

Once the KATANA was booted up the space and the timing was improved dramatically. The bass was more organic and voluptuous, the mid range is smoother and solid and the highs seemed more fluid, less harsh and constrained.

Day 1 revealed the sound to have a very precise roll to it. Solid and smooth. Whereas day 2 after a good 24 hours burn-in seems to have brought everything more together and more focused, especially the bass which is now sounding more and more focused and tight.

As I go on with listening to this it's clear that the SHANTI has been developed to suit the KATANA with painstaking research. It simply fits the kit a glove and it's yet another development from ALLO which works flawlessly and enhances the whole kit to another level.

The sound is now more analogue sounding than ever, it's effortless and smooth with a vast and balanced amount of detail being exposed. The SHANTI doesn't over-cook the sound, it simply makes it more tasty.

More to come... I will keep this review up to date so please check back.

Jo