Cheap music server power tweak that is VERY good.

[rikhav]

Are you connecting the hard drive (Data input) via USB or SATA? Is this hard drive to be an Operating System drive or DATA storage drive?

 

I wouldn't recommend powering a 5V HDD 2.5" via USB 5V motherboard power, not sure if any power spikes would play havoc on SQ.

 

If the drive is to be a data storage non operating system drive then power separately through enclosure or other non motherboard source for best SQ.

 

Hi

Its a data drive only. In a raspberry pi OS is saved on a micro SD card

That's what I am planning to do

Power the data drive buy a power bank. I will use a dual headed cable, one will connect to raspberry pi to get data and other to the power bank to get power

Also the raspberry pi will be powered by another power bank via GPIO pins, so fuse and protection circuit bypasses

[ElviaCaprice]

Hi

Its a data drive only. In a raspberry pi OS is saved on a micro SD card

That's what I am planning to do

Power the data drive buy a power bank. I will use a dual headed cable, one will connect to raspberry pi to get data and other to the power bank to get power

Also the raspberry pi will be powered by another power bank via GPIO pins, so fuse and protection circuit bypasses

 

If it's a battery operated power bank then you will want to have a 5V HDD 2.5" 2TB for lower power usage. Just use a normal Sata power connector even though your only utilizing the 5V power pin and the respective ground.

 

But how are you connecting the data lines to the Rasberry? Via Sata or USB? Personally I think it's a waste of effort to use a special power supply for this hard drive if it's data only drive. As long as your powering separate from the mobo supply, your good to go with whatever method works. The data can be streamed from memory via your media player.

 

Of course there are those who think non streaming data can become altered through transfer??? Goodness how? Once streamed then you need to take care.

[rikhav]

Hi Elviacaprice

 

Yes, I would be using a 2.5 inch portable drive.

Raspberry PI does not have SATA connection as of now. So one needs to connect the any kind HDD via USB

 

As I wrote in my earlier post, I will use a dual headed USB cable for that HDD. one head will connect to raspberry USB to feed data to it and other head to the power bank (to get power from the power bank)

 

I know that for a only data HDD there is no point of having a separate power supply but since the power bank wont cost much I might as well power it by a power bank

[ElviaCaprice]

Awesome, Rikhav, sounds like your good to go. Don't understand why you need a dual headed USB cable? Isn't that for sending single 5V pin with the data? Why not just use a normal USB cable? Or separate the 5V with tape? The 5V data drive will still need power separate to the 2.5" drive. Both ground and 5V.

[rikhav]

Awesome, Rikhav, sounds like your good to go. Don't understand why you need a dual headed USB cable? Isn't that for sending single 5V pin with the data? Why not just use a normal USB cable? Or separate the 5V with tape? The 5V data drive will still need power separate to the 2.5" drive. Both ground and 5V.

 

Hi

I need a dual headed USB cable because as you would know the 2.5 HDDs take power from the host, in my case it would be a Raspberry pi

I don't want the raspberry pi to power the hdd. instead I want it to be powered by a separate power bank and so for that I will needed a dual headed USB cable

So one can get data from the Pi and other can get power from the power bank

Hope this clears your doubt

Rgds

[ElviaCaprice]

Hi

I need a dual headed USB cable because as you would know the 2.5 HDDs take power from the host, in my case it would be a Raspberry pi

I don't want the raspberry pi to power the hdd. instead I want it to be powered by a separate power bank and so for that I will needed a dual headed USB cable

So one can get data from the Pi and other can get power from the power bank

Hope this clears your doubt

Rgds

 

Yeah, but that doesn't power the drive itself. And that 5V power comes from your power source going to the drive out with the data via USB. The 5V power isn't coming from the PI, thus you don't need it. Probably could just run the data connector only to your PI.

[sandyk]

Hi

Its a data drive only. In a raspberry pi OS is saved on a micro SD card

That's what I am planning to do

Power the data drive buy a power bank. I will use a dual headed cable, one will connect to raspberry pi to get data and other to the power bank to get power

Also the raspberry pi will be powered by another power bank via GPIO pins, so fuse and protection circuit bypasses

 

A drawback with your plan is the need to have 2 power banks, as it will take at least 4 hours to recharge the one being used. Batteries work well for this , but are a P.I.T.A. That's why I power my internal SSDs from the main +12 V supply, using a voltage regulator to convert the voltage down to a much cleaner and isolated +5V supply for the SSDs.

[rikhav]

Hi SandyI will actually use two of them

One to power the pi and other to power the HDD

I will buy one with quick charge tech so it won't take much tim To charge

[SimoneF]

Just One question: Why a power bank?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[John Mason]

Hi Richard

 

If damaging the Pi is the issue I can assure you there is nothing to worry. I have been powering my pi via the hifiberry digi plus board. So in this case too all fuse and other protective circuits are bypassed

Faced no issues till now. Have been using it for 4 months now

 

I'm just curious as to how and why I would want to do that with my Pi with Digi+ ??

Does this improve sound quality in a consistent way?

[rikhav]

Just One question: Why a power bank?

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

Hi

The idea is to supply clean power to the raspberry pi and so most suitable choice is the power bank

Sbooster which is a LPS for raspberry pi is not available in my country and is also priced at 300 GBP

One more option is IFI I POWER but that too the country distributor has yet to import

 

So till the time I have an option of anyone of above, power bank seems to be a good choice according to me

[rikhav]

I'm just curious as to how and why I would want to do that with my Pi with Digi+ ??

Does this improve sound quality in a consistent way?

 

Yes

For me the tonality is more natural and highs more silky.

And moreover its a very simple mod and have had no issues

[ted_b]

A USB Cable has 1 black wire, while a SATA cable has 2 black wire. Could you please help in this regard? Tks

 

Either black one (grnd) works.

[SimoneF]

So do you think that a power bank provide clean power? Really?

The power that can provide a power bank is worse than the power of a normal pc usb port .

The voltage of a battery is 3.7v, not 5v; so to take the voltage from 3,7 to 5volt in power bank there Are very cheap switching step up (don't know if it is the correct word in eng) with a huge Amount of ripple. (Because a power bank do not Need to provide a clean and stable power, because you use it to charge other batteries).

 

In conclusion, it is quite absurd to use a power bank that provides "dirtier" power than a normal pc usb port.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

[Richard Dale]

So do you think that a power bank provide clean power? Really?

The power that can provide a power bank is worse than the power of a normal pc usb port .

The voltage of a battery is 3.7v, not 5v; so to take the voltage from 3,7 to 5volt in power bank there Are very cheap switching step up (don't know if it is the correct word in eng) with a huge Amount of ripple. (Because a power bank do not Need to provide a clean and stable power, because you use it to charge other batteries).

 

In conclusion, it is quite absurd to use a power bank that provides "dirtier" power than a normal pc usb port.

 

Good point! I had assumed that the batteries inside the 5 volt chargers were 5 volts.

[rikhav]

So do you think that a power bank provide clean power? Really?

The power that can provide a power bank is worse than the power of a normal pc usb port .

The voltage of a battery is 3.7v, not 5v; so to take the voltage from 3,7 to 5volt in power bank there Are very cheap switching step up (don't know if it is the correct word in eng) with a huge Amount of ripple. (Because a power bank do not Need to provide a clean and stable power, because you use it to charge other batteries).

 

In conclusion, it is quite absurd to use a power bank that provides "dirtier" power than a normal pc usb port.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Computer Audiophile mobile app

 

Hi Simone

Thanks for sharing this info

Frankly, I did search a lot on the internet and did not get a definite answer about battery banks in particular.

Some amps like red wine and Dodd used battery power but thier implementation is different

Your post was first time I read something concrete about the battery banks wrt audio

So any suggestions what should I use till I can afford an expensive linear power supply

For me the cost of importing and duty adds up a lot

Can I use wall.adapters by good mobile phone brands such as apple or Samsung

Or

Ifi ipower seems to be a better bet

Lastly can we use car battery? I know it won't be convenient to use but apart from that will it provide ripple free supply?

Rgds

[Richard Dale]

Ifi ipower seems to be a better bet

 

That's what I'm using for the Raspberry Pi in my main system. I think it sounds a little better than the cheap Stontronics linear power supply I was using before. I'll probably buy more iPower PSUs for my other Raspberry Pis, hard drive and router and see if it improves them too.

[sandyk]

Rikhav

If you have a suitable NiMh battery charger you could try something like 4 x NiMh 2,600mAH batteries in a suitable holder with 2 wire output leads. You would need to recharge them quite regularly though, even with a low power consumption SSD like recent Samsung offerings.

No, you can't use a car battery unless it is followed by a 5V regulator PCB.

Batteries really aren't a good answer, and I don't see why so many persist with them, unless they have inadequate internal room for a low noise , and preferably very low output impedance, 12V to 5V voltage regulator PCB.

It's the low noise and isolation from the main PSU that you need, and a good voltage regulator provides both.

Alex

[rikhav]

Rikhav

If you have a suitable NiMh battery charger you could try something like 4 x NiMh 2,600mAH batteries in a suitable holder with 2 wire output leads. You would need to recharge them quite regularly though, even with a low power consumption SSD like recent Samsung offerings.

No, you can't use a car battery unless it is followed by a 5V regulator PCB.

Batteries really aren't a good answer, and I don't see why so many persist with them, unless they have inadequate internal room for a low noise , and preferably very low output impedance, 12V to 5V voltage regulator PCB.

It's the low noise and isolation from the main PSU that you need, and a good voltage regulator provides both.

Alex

 

Hi alex

Don't have any nimh charger

I will use my Samsung Mobile chafger for now and try to procure a ifi ipower or sbooster immediately

Thanks again

[SimoneF]

Hi Simone

Thanks for sharing this info

Frankly, I did search a lot on the internet and did not get a definite answer about battery banks in particular.

Some amps like red wine and Dodd used battery power but thier implementation is different

Your post was first time I read something concrete about the battery banks wrt audio

So any suggestions what should I use till I can afford an expensive linear power supply

For me the cost of importing and duty adds up a lot

Can I use wall.adapters by good mobile phone brands such as apple or Samsung

Or

Ifi ipower seems to be a better bet

Lastly can we use car battery? I know it won't be convenient to use but apart from that will it provide ripple free supply?

Rgds

 

I don't have an answer about wall adaptors for mobile phone, some of them are well made, others very cheap. It is not a good idea, a wall adaptor is made to charge a battery, so there is no necessity of perfect voltage and low ripples.

IFI ipower could be a nice choice, you can buy it from audiophonics . fr that ships internationally.

Otherwise if you have some ability with electronics you can build by yourself e linear power supply.

Car battery is an expensive and not suitable choice, it has about 12volt

[chauphuong]

I hope that Ted can sort you out .

https://www.google.com.au/search?q=sata+power+cable&biw=1097&bih=518&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjnlLT6qq7LAhVCHZQKHS8pCvgQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=tGKO-ZhL7rdNZM%3A

 

I did it, randomly choosing one of two black wires in the SATA cable, connecting it to the counterpart in USB cable, and OS SSD is now powered by a 10000 mah Xiaomi battery pack. I must say SQ has increased considerably in almost every way except for volume. At least my wife firmly shares with me the feeling. Thanks, that's what CA is for.

[sandyk]

I did it, randomly choosing one of two black wires in the SATA cable, connecting it to the counterpart in USB cable, and OS SSD is now powered by a 10000 mah Xiaomi battery pack. I must say SQ has increased considerably in almost every way except for volume. At least my wife firmly shares with me the feeling. Thanks, that's what CA is for.

 

Hi

That is good news. In hindsight you could have used both those black wires in parallel in this case.

Unfortunately, I also agree with SimoneF that a powerpack is far from the quietest battery source available, although it does provide isolation from the internal power supply. It would is possible to obtain further small audible improvements if the powerpack's DC output was further filtered, but you would need to have some DIY experience.

Although maximum volume will not normally sound louder, you will now have the appearance of a greater dynamic range with some material. If you are also using an internal SSD for music storage, the same methods will further improve SQ.

Regards

Alex

[Richard Dale]

So do you think that a power bank provide clean power? Really?

The power that can provide a power bank is worse than the power of a normal pc usb port .

The voltage of a battery is 3.7v, not 5v; so to take the voltage from 3,7 to 5volt in power bank there Are very cheap switching step up (don't know if it is the correct word in eng) with a huge Amount of ripple. (Because a power bank do not Need to provide a clean and stable power, because you use it to charge other batteries).

 

In conclusion, it is quite absurd to use a power bank that provides "dirtier" power than a normal pc usb port.

 

I found a forum discussion with measurements of a cheap switching psu, Anker battery supply, iPower and a Longdog linear psu:

 

iFi iPower for Raspberry PI - Page 7

 

The Anker battery is better than the cheap switching PSU, but not as good as the iPower. The linear PSU is easily the best.

[ElviaCaprice]

Your talking of powering the PI itself or OS or USB card, not the external hard drives?

 

If powering external data hard drives, non OS, then the power source doesn't matter as long as it's separate from the streaming components power source.

[sandyk]

Your talking of powering the PI itself or OS or USB card, not the external hard drives?

 

If powering external data hard drives, non OS, then the power source doesn't matter as long as it's separate from the streaming components power source.

 

If the external HDD also contains stored music, and not just Data, the power source does matter.