Battery powered SSD - a tweak that really works !

[monteverdi]

Ultra (or super) capacitors behave like any other capacitors with the same voltage drop during discharge. To get constant voltage one needs a more complex voltage regulation than for batteries. They have a very long life and and it makes more sense to me to use them for higher power/voltage applications like amps.

For 5V a battery supply with its lower complexity should be a better solution.

[sandyk]

but the specific SMPS he is using doesn't produce a lot of noise

 

Where have I seen and heard that before? Even iFi made similar claims with iFi USB, but those that tried a good linear PSU with it instead, got a further improvement. You may need to use additional mains filtering with low level devices as Vinnie suggested for optimum performance. However, how do you know that those devices are being degraded unless you try good mains filtering with them ? Other than that, I have nothing to disagree with in Vinnie's posted answer .Many SMPS powered devices are bad mains polluters, especially some LED Lighting power supplies, as Vinnie correctly stated.

Yes, a good Linear +24V 5A PSU would be bulky and expensive.

 

Alex

[Paul R]

Where have I seen and heard that before? Even iFi made similar claims with iFi USB, but those that tried a good linear PSU with it instead, got a further improvement.

 

That has not been my experience here. the iFi USB Power device puts out some clean clean power. Can you point me to the links where people have seen better results with a linear PSU please?

 

-Paul

[Hifidelit]

That has not been my experience here. the iFi USB Power device puts out some clean clean power. Can you point me to the links where people have seen better results with a linear PSU please?

 

-Paul

It might be due to the local market, I believe iFi couldn't supply the ultra low noise PSU due to regulations so dealers substituted brick type I believe. Some people imported the ultra low noise PSU and may still have preferred the linear ....

[sandyk]

It might be due to the local market, I believe iFi couldn't supply the ultra low noise PSU due to regulations so dealers substituted brick type I believe. Some people imported the ultra low noise PSU and may still have preferred the linear ....

 

That is true for Aussie purchasers.

We also tried a JLH PSU in tandem with an iFi for an external HDD at a recent listening session where Audiophile Neuroscience was also present, for a further improvement.I wasn't privy to the exact configuration though, just what I and everyone else heard as a further improvement.I have seen reports of people preferring the Linear PSU over the supplied type.

Yes, the iFi USB does supply a VERY clean +5V supply to the USB device itself. However,the improvement may have been due to reduced mains pollution, which often degrades performance of other low level devices such as CD players, DACs etc. For serious listening sessions, some reviewers disconnect all SMPS plugpacks, LED lighting supplies etc.

[Elberoth]

Out of curiosity, I have just tried powering the SSD from Jcat battery PSU on my CAPS v3 Lagoon, running on two Teddy Pardo linear ultra low noise PSUs. I had to replace the mSATA SSD I was using on CAPS v3 with a regular SSD to try that. Happily, parts for the second CAPS v4 arrived, so I had one spare Samsung 850 Pro SSD to play with.

 

The effect was not nearly as dramatic as on the CAPS v4 Pipeline running on ATX switcher, but still worthwile. Again - more vibrant colors, more resolution and 'air'.

 

I can recommend this upgrade to anyone serious about computer audio. You will be glad you did.

[zerung]

That has not been my experience here. the iFi USB Power device puts out some clean clean power. Can you point me to the links where people have seen better results with a linear PSU please?

 

-Paul

 

Paul,

My unit with the LPSU is preferable to me. YMMV.

[Paul R]

Paul,

My unit with the LPSU is preferable to me. YMMV.

 

So, you run the LPSU into an iFi Purifier and then on the Lampi? That must sound awesome!

 

Is the LPSU cleaner do you know? Not disputing it sounds better to you, just asking if you have an idea of why.

 

-Paul

[sandyk]

So, you run the LPSU into an iFi Purifier and then on the Lampi? That must sound awesome!

 

Is the LPSU cleaner do you know? Not disputing it sounds better to you, just asking if you have an idea of why.

 

-Paul

 

fmak has also reported similar in a post in C.A.

[sandyk]

I have possibly asked this question before, but can't remember the answer.

Has anybody used a DMM to check for an AC reading between the 0 volts side of the output of the supplied PSU and mains earth ?

The majority of consumer SMPS plugpacks have an AC voltage of up to , or a little more than , half the mains supply voltage when tested in this fashion. It is at low current ,from a high voltage , low value capacitor that is connected between the mains side and the output side of the plugpack, but often degrades the S/N of devices which are connected to IEC mains earth.

Even if not connected to mains earth, you may sometimes feel a vibration if you rub your finger across the powered devices metal case.

The majority of SMPS plugpacks also pollute the mains supply to some extent. The pollution is far greater than from a typical Linear PSUL

 

Alex

[Superdad]

Has anybody used a DMM to check for an AC reading between the 0 volts side of the output of the supplied PSU and mains earth ?

The majority of consumer SMPS plugpacks have an AC voltage of up to , or a little more than , half the mains supply voltage when tested in this fashion. It is at low current ,from a high voltage , low value capacitor that is connected between the mains side and the output side of the plugpack, but often degrades the S/N of devices which are connected to IEC mains earth.

 

That's interesting. I just checked a handful of both bricks and warts SMPS that I have around here, and indeed there is 42-50 volts AC potential between mains ground and the DC output plug of the little buggers. That voltage shows up on both the + pin and the ground pin of the SMPS output.

BTW, my wall voltage is 120V here.

[One and a half]

That's interesting. I just checked a handful of both bricks and warts SMPS that I have around here, and indeed there is 42-50 volts AC potential between mains ground and the DC output plug of the little buggers. That voltage shows up on both the + pin and the ground pin of the SMPS output.

BTW, my wall voltage is 120V here.

 

Yes, the two pin wall warts and brick type PSU should be avoided, see here, Fix your AC leak. Higher voltages, the more of a leak. for a 240V system, you can achieve levels of 90V above earth quite easily, so 50V on a 120V system is right on the money, so to speak.

[aps]

I seem to recall a hypothesis that the benefits were derived from isolating the USB card from the noise injected back into the 5V line from the SSD. If this is correct, then I guess that I’d not see any benefit as I’m running an Adnaco PCIe card which runs off 3.3V not 5V as is the case for most USB card. Is this correct? And has anyone had direct experience with the battery supply when using Adnaco H1A PCIe / Fibre Optic card?

[JMotzi]

Which SSD are people powering via the battery, the one containing the OS or the music?

 

JM

[Elberoth]

I have just one for the OS. I have my music on a NAS.

[Audioseduction]

I power my SSD which contains the OS with a LPSU. My music is also on a NAS.

[alice]

I power my SSD which contains the OS with a LPSU. My music is also on a NAS.

Mine is the same, does that mean if my OS SSD is powered by this "thing" I will obtain significant improvement in sound quality ?

[Audioseduction]

Mine is the same, does that mean if my OS SSD is powered by this "thing" I will obtain significant improvement in sound quality ?

 

From my experience yes!

[alice]

From my experience yes!

ok, what does this thing cost ?

[tansc888]

Hi guys, I'm a newbie to CA.

 

I've been following the threads here for a while and have managed to set up my single PC system, running on a Celeron dual core ASUS mobo, dual Kingston HyperX 120gb SSD, audiophile optimizer and pico PSU powered by a linear power supply.

 

I have tried connecting a linear 5V supply from my teradak PSU and a home made linear 5V supply to my SSD. However,my computer will not boot up although the drives are powering up. Windows server 2012 will not load and the bios page loads up after a few seconds.

 

Any advice guys ? TQ

[Markhh2]

Ok. I was skeptical but I hooked up an anker battery to my ssd and thier was a noticeable improvement in SQ. Crazy. I found a USB to molex power plug then a molex to sata power adapter and it worked. I also put a USB on off switch in line to save battery life. I'm amazed. Admittedly I'm stil using the cheapest power brick I could find. Still exploring LPS solutions.

[rn701]

I use a solar array to power my music server. The purity of the power from the sun, the primal source of most energy on our planet, makes for incredible sound. Except at night when you can't hear it.

[One and a half]

Hi guys, I'm a newbie to CA.

 

I've been following the threads here for a while and have managed to set up my single PC system, running on a Celeron dual core ASUS mobo, dual Kingston HyperX 120gb SSD, audiophile optimizer and pico PSU powered by a linear power supply.

 

I have tried connecting a linear 5V supply from my teradak PSU and a home made linear 5V supply to my SSD. However,my computer will not boot up although the drives are powering up. Windows server 2012 will not load and the bios page loads up after a few seconds.

 

Any advice guys ? TQ

 

Where is the +12, -12V rails, you haven't mentioned these. Are all the 0V tied together? Is there enough power on the 5V rail to supply everything?

[toddrhodes]

If I still have my music on a spinning disk in the same enclosure/case as my O/S SSD, would something like this still help? I am currently thinking about purchasing a PPA V2 USB card as well, which could be powered by something like the JCAT battery pack. I'd like to power both it and the SSD via the JCAT, I assume that would be possible? PPA V2 just takes a standard 4-pin molex, I believe. I can personally speak to the revelatory effect of quieting my noise floor in my room by over 6 dB - the difference is honestly astonishing. So I think tweaks such as this bring with them significant merit!

[EuroDriver]

Ok. I was skeptical but I hooked up an anker battery to my ssd and thier was a noticeable improvement in SQ. Crazy. I found a USB to molex power plug then a molex to sata power adapter and it worked. I also put a USB on off switch in line to save battery life. I'm amazed. Admittedly I'm stil using the cheapest power brick I could find. Still exploring LPS solutions.

 

A 9000 maH tablet power pack has enough power to run a Sandisk 64 GB and a Samsung EVO 850 250 GB for well over 24 hours :-)

 

hooking up a totally separate LPS instead of a battery resulted in a hard to detect difference, whereas the SQ improvement from using the battery was huge, in the you got to try it to believe it category :-)