Tour of Supercapacitor PSes

[jkeny]

As stated before I am in the process of moving away from battery power to supercapacitor power for all my audio devices & will start a tour of both the standalone supercap PS (SUPER-PS) & supercap powered audio devices (ISO-HUB, ISO-DAC & ISO-SPDIF) if anyone is interested in trying them

The difference between battery power & supercapacitor power is detailed on my webpage here https://www.ciunas.biz/supercapacitor-vs-batteries
Introductory price of €160 on 5V output (fixed) supercap PS. Variable PS (max 20V) will be available & priced soon.

I use 350Farad Maxwell/Nesscap supercapacitors & the important audible differences between these & other supercapacitor PSes is that the power is direct from the supercapacitors, not from a voltage regulator after the supercapacitors. I discovered this was audibly significant when I first started, many years ago, experimenting with LiFePO4 batteries to power audio devices. The voltage regulators (yes, even the best? LT3045) seem to introduce some stability or dynamic noise issues in their power output which the direct batteries & direct supercapacitors don't.

Audible improvements applies to audio devices internally powered in this way - external PS have also shown improvements on most devices in the audio chain. It will be interesting to see any impressions which may be posted here.

The first 5V PS is going out to Tony tomorrow. Anybody else interested in auditioning this or variable Supercap PS?

[Sloop John B]

okay baby steps here.

are these linear power supplies?
I see it's DC in and DC out which leads me to assume they are "filters" or "stabilisers" of some sort?

Would these be aiming for a similar market as the Uptone LPS? If not what are direct competitors?

what values can the variable PS one be set to?

A few questions from an interested amateur.

.sjb

[jkeny]

okay baby steps here.

are these linear power supplies?
I see it's DC in and DC out which leads me to assume they are "filters" or "stabilisers" of some sort?

Would these be aiming for a similar market as the Uptone LPS? If not what are direct competitors?

what values can the variable PS one be set to?

A few questions from an interested amateur.

.sjb

Yes, they are like the Uptone LPS but different in a number of ways:

- The LPS uses two banks of 7 10F Nesscap supercapacitors in series to increase the voltage handling capability of each bank to 7 * 2.7V i.e about 19V but thi is regulated down to 12V max, I believe @ 1.1Amp max current output

-The downside of this is that the capacitance is decreased from 10F to 1.4F. More importantly each 10F supercap impedance is 26mOhm & 7 * 26 gives 182mOhm

- For 20V PS I use 8 * 350F Nesscap supercapacitors in series to give a total of 47F & 20V max. The impedance of each 350F supercap is 3.2mOhm so 8 * 3.2 is 25mOhm

- For 5V PS output, I use 2 of these 350F supercaps giving 6.4mOhm

- the importance of impedance is that the lower the impedance the faster current is delivered.

- The most important difference is that the power from my PS comes DIRECT from the supercapacitors & in the Uptone unit goes through a voltage regulator after the supercap output. My PS also has max current up to 3Amp - if people need 5Amp that can be supplied.

The variable output PS has a max of 20V & any voltage output can be set down from this i.e 9V, 10V, 12V 16.7V i.e any voltage can be dialled in

[jkeny]

I left out one big difference :)
- price for fixed voltage (any voltage from 5V max & down - set in factory, not user selectable) is €171 (€160 if you avoid paypal fees to me), introductory price, rising to €180 later. Price for user selectable variable voltage output will be on website when available

[tonymc]

Hi John
I might need a 19v 60+ watt supply for an audio Pc . Will these supplies work for that ?
Best regards
Tony

[jkeny]

Hi John
I might need a 19v 60+ watt supply for an audio Pc . Will these supplies work for that ?
Best regards
Tony

Hi Tony
I missed this post (not getting notifications)
Yes, it will handle 19V 60+ watt (4Amp) output but requires a power supply capable of this to energise/charge the supercapacitors - essentially plug your existing PC 19V 60+ watt supply into the Super-PS & all should be good (a suitable DC socket adapter needed to convert between existing PC PS plug & 2.1mm DC socket input of SUPER-PS).

In fact someone on PFM told me that a 25V PS for Naim to replace existing HiCap PS would be worth trying so I'm already developing a prototype & SloopjohnB might be interested in trying it if he is a HiCap user?

[Sloop John B]

In fact someone on PFM told me that a 25V PS for Naim to replace existing HiCap PS would be worth trying so I'm already developing a prototype & SloopjohnB might be interested in trying it if he is a HiCap user?

No HiCap here I’m afraid but you’d be on to a good thing if you had a decent sounding hiCap alternative, Teddy has done well with such products.

.sjb

[jkeny]

Thanks John

[tonymc]

I bought Johns new ISO Supercapacitor Dac and 7 volt power supply for my SOtM. They sound fantastic , it is like they have taken a better grip of the music. There is a weight to the Dac which is very impressive. The music sounds so real , even tracks that sometimes you might skip you end up listening to all the way through. Its dynamic and powerful but at the same time relaxed and engaging , there is no digital edge . The Miles Davis mono box set is very well recorded . there's warmth , there's air and it really shines through on the Ciunas . The bass lines on the Lou Reed album Transformer are addictive , the Dac draws you in. With vocals its as good as I've heard on digital , listening to Nina Simone has her in the room with you. I'm very pleased , since I got into digital I've always had a nagging itch to have a high end turntable alongside. That itch has now been scratched. The SOtM feeds Sugden Amps and Eist Dubh speakers , and suffice to say they have never sounded better.

[jkeny]

Thanks Tony
Appreciate you posting your impressions
I see you are an Eist speaker owner so you should be in music nirvana now :)