UltraCap™ LPS-1 LISTENING IMPRESSIONS thread

[Superdad]

Since the first UltraCap LPS-1 units will begin arriving to USA buyers this week (with all first-batch overseas orders departing today), it makes sense to start a thread where people can post their impressions of our highly innovative 1-amp supply.

 

It will be fun to read about the uses you find for it and what you hear with it in your music systems.

 

Yet we have one favor to ask: If you have operational questions, issues, or concerns--or pre-sale questions--please post them in the new UltraCap LPS-1 Operation and Pre-purchase thread.

 

Many thanks to all for your patronage and enthusiasm. The launch has been great so far, now we will all find out if this crazy new power supply delivers on its promise. What counts is how it sounds in YOUR systems!

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Unless Alex creates a specific trouble-shooting thread, I'll go ahead and start a new thread for trouble-shooting my particular situation - once I have a diagram to share.

 

Hi I created a new thread for discussion of troubleshooting, grounding, weird noises, etc. It is obviously called:

"UltraCap™ LPS-1 Troubleshooting, system grounding, etc."

 

And I've moved all those posts from this afternoon over there.

 

Just to be clear, none of these issues Benjamin is wrestling with have ANYTHING to do with the DC outputs from his LPS-1 units. Those are totally clean an isolated. And from our telephone conversation, his issue goes away when he removes the iFi iPower from the equation. I have two LPS-1 units powered by the Mean Wells playing right now and there is zero noise anywhere.

[Superdad]

I'm going to find all these testimonials suspicious till at least one person says the LPS-1 didn't make much of a difference .

 

Well Danny, it didn't do squat for my cordless phone or my electric shaver!

Calls still cut out when I walk the dog down the driveway, and my wife says I still have stubble on my face. I'm going to return the darn thing--after I use it to charge my cordless drill. Maybe my holes will come out straighter and I'll stop dulling drill bits...

[Superdad]

Thanks everyone for the quality feedback. Happy birthday to me, order placed!

 

Happy Birthday to you--and thanks for your order. Hope you enjoy the UltraCap LPS-1 as much as everyone else has so far.

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Hi Gang:

 

I generally don't care much about our sponsored forum threads wandering off topic--this place is just a discussion forum after all, and I enjoy ALL of what get posted.

 

But I have decided to take a little more active hand in keeping two new threads on topic--for the benefit of people wandering in from elsewhere. The threads are this Listening Impressions one and the UltraCap™ LPS-1 Operation and Pre-purchase thread.

 

Rather than deleting posts from those threads, at my discretion I will simply move them into this other thread.

 

You are most welcome to continue whatever discussions there. And if the dialog picks up a solid theme, we can make a new thread with that as the subject line and move all those posts to it.

 

Please let me know if you object to any of this in general or in specific.

 

Thanks and regards,

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

I received mine yesterday and have tested it briefly. Even w/o run-in I am pleasantly surprised by the improvements the LPS-1 bring when compared to my KECES LPS. I tried using it to power Regen, Adnaco fiber USB Hub, and the uRendu. On the Adnaco USB hub and uRendu the LPS-1 shows the most significant gains. Improvements in clarity, air, detail retrieval, and so on are very apparent as reported by other fellow members here.

 

Alex/John: You definitely have a winner here. Congratulations!

 

Now one question: I tried switching output voltage (e.g., from 7V to 5V and vice versa) without removing the input power and in one occasion (when switching from 5V to 7V) the output dropped to ~1.3V and stuck there. After unplugging/replugging the input power the unit resumes normal output at 7V. So is 'hot-switching' not supported or there is any issue with my unit?

 

And one wish: would be great if other voltages can be supported, e.g., 9V and 12V, without cascading multiple LPS-1's.

 

Very glad that you--and everyone else--are enjoying the LPS-1 so much!

 

Hot switching mostly works as you have found, but on occasion, with a load present, you can catch it off guard. So not really advised.

 

The programming--and optimizing of it to tolerate production part variations--has been an enormous task. Even as I type this I am coming up on my 12th hour today sitting and testing boards and over-current thresholds and behaviors, sorting boards to be reflashed with one of 3 different firmware complications that John has created with different thresholds.

We can guarantee perfect performance of every board up to 1.12 amps or couple of hundredths above that. Much higher than that an the overcorrect protection will kick in--which is as it should be.

 

Sorry, 9V and 12V would require additional supercapacitors--for which there is no room on the board--and a number of other changes to the circuit.

And if we went there we would want to offer higher current capability, which takes us to larger caps (to keep heat and switching cycles under control), output regulators needing heatsinks, greater physical size and chassis, and a higher current "energizing"/charging supply. Something the size of 1-1/2 JS-2s and a price around $2K.

 

John and I have spoken at length about it, and if there was really demand for 9V/12V at still just 1 amp it could be done in the price range of the present LPS-1. But to be honest we are both pretty maxed out for this year. And besides we are very close with one other major surprise.

 

So thanks to all for buying and enjoying the UltraCap LPS-1. As soon as the last of the October-promised units are shipped off, we will be pausing to move into our new space. It is finally almost ready. I can't wait!

 

--Alex C.

 

 

 

[Superdad]

As an alternative, the soon to be released Vinnie Rossi Mini PURE-DC-4EVER supply that I saw running at RMAF will have 9 and 12V output capability with 2.5A continuous output but will cost twice the price ($795 preorder price until the end of the month and then $995 after that). Output cannot be switched by the consumer, however. It has to be factory set to any value between 3.3V to 12V at the time of purchase. Original owners will be entitled to send it back to Vinnie to have the output changed (will require firmware update and minor hardware change) without cost.

 

 

Yes, Vinnie's unit should also be very nice. If you saw the very large size of the case (looks like 7 x 5 x 9 inches from the photos), that pretty well proves the point I was making about what it takes to scale this tech up.

[Superdad]

But it can. [9V] Even 12 V. Just purchase 2. Current is the same.

 

Well not exactly 9V as the available series combinations of two LPS-1 units would be: 6.6V (3.3+3.3), 8.3V (3.3+5), 10V (5+5), 12V (5+7), or 14V (7+7).

 

Though the truth is, virtually all components that one might power in the range of 9V are going to be just fine operating with anything near that (8.3, 10V, whatever). Unless one is directly powering an analog or digital circuit board that does not have any of its own local regulators, the externally supplied voltage is always stepped down internally to what the chips or circuits run on (5V, 3.3V, 1.2V, etc.).

 

An example: Although it calls for a 12V supply, I accidentally had a 7V wart powering my 10-port Cisco Gigabit Ethernet switch for about 2 months. Did not notice it until I was doing some wiring work under my desk.

[Superdad]

Has anyone tried the LPS-1 on a SBT ? Or plan to do ?

 

Superdad, can you confirm I can use the LPS-1 with SBT ?

 

Absolutely you can! John has a Squeezebox Touch--among other devices--in his system and says the UltraCap LPS-1 is great with it.

[Superdad]

Hi Alex, would my existing 7V @ 1.5A low noise linear PSU (Gieseler Audio - currently powering my microRendu) be ok with charging the LPS-1?

 

Sorry, but no.

 

Minimum requirements for the "energizing"/charging supply are:

7.5V/2.5A

9V/2.0A

12V/1.5A

[Superdad]

The Meanwell SMPS 7.5V plugpack will throw much more RF/EMI back into the A.C. mains than a well designed Linear PSU which MAY affect some DACs etc.

 

This is not the thread to rehash this discussion in, but as we have been saying, the evil of an SMPS is not the ultra high-frequency harmonics (spread over a very wide bandwidth to pass strict emissions requirements)--heck, all conventional LPS units kick a lot of low frequency harmonics into the line. No the evil of an SMPS is its passing of AC leakage currents (onto the DC) and the formation of "leakage-current-loops" with other power supplies (LPS or SMPS) in one's system.

 

Since the UltraCap™ LPS-1 100% blocks leakage currents from whatever supply is feeding it (LPS feeders have leakage too, just not as much as an SMPS with its required "Y" capacitor), the SMPS is rendered harmless. Does the wall wart on your telephone or answering machine do sonic detriment to your audio system? That's about the relationship that an LPS-1 feeder has to your system.

 

Further back-and-forth in this thread on this topic will prompt me to move it all over to some other thread. Thanks for understanding.

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

I'm guessing the LPS-1 needs it's full 18 watts, as a minimum

 

Yup.

 

 

(I happen to have one of the early iFi iPower 9V SMPS warts--from when they were rated 1.5A--and it does not handle the LPS-1. This caused a brief minor worry near launch as a lot of microRendu users bought the 9V iFi iPower from Sonore, but it turns out that by the time the were selling them with the mR, iFi had upgraded to a 2.0A rating. John has one of those and it works fine with it.)

[Superdad]

Thanks. Just out of curiosity, would 9V/ 2A or 12V/ 1.8A be better?

 

Or does it not make a difference?

 

Makes ZERO difference.

[Superdad]

Hi Gang:

 

While I appreciate the various side conversations about usage, tweaks, etc., there are going to be a LOT of new people coming here to read about the performance of the UltraCap LPS-1 in others' systems. Especially after the first formal editor review from another site hits next week.

 

I did make two threads--which are actively carrying on--for just the sort of topics you are chatting about. Please continue over at either the "LPS-1 Operations and Pre-purchase thread"

or at the aptly named "LPS-1 Thread that off-topic posts get tossed into..."

 

The latter is where I am judiciously moving a few recent ones from here into now.

 

Thanks for understanding.

 

Have a great weekend.

 

--Alex C.

 

P.S. We are 2/3rds moved into our new space, and we are still on track to ship most all of the end-of-October-promised orders on time by mid-week.

[Superdad]

Hmmm...indeed, the AntiMode PS is 12V, 1.8A....so, forgive my admitted lack of electrical understanding but, given that, what did John Swenson mean in his response in post #103?

 

Briefly:

In theory we may be able to squeeze 4 more 10 Farad supercaps onto the board--and do a number of circuit revisions--to offer 12V on the same size board and in the same case. But it will mean going to a 6-layer board, plus the 4 supercaps, plus an integrated charging regulator module that is twice the cost of what we now do discretely. Might even need a higher current external "energizing"/charging supply.

So the price would be higher (and the voltage choices would be an attractive 7/9/12V), but it would still be a 1A unit (well max. 1.15A) like the present LPS-1.

 

Offering higher amperage will require heat-sinked output regulators and physically larger supercaps (to keep the banks from having to switch too often and to keep the supercap heat down). That's a larger case, and still higher cost.

 

And while anyone can today put a pair of LPS-1 units in series (+/-/+/-) to get 12V (one set to 7V, the other to 5V), that's still just 1 amp.

Originally I thought someone could get silly and series/parallel 4 LPS-1 units to get 12V at 2 amps, it would take my hand selecting boards (or pairs of boards in series) to have output voltages within 10mV (0.01V) to have even current load sharing between paralleled supplies. Not going to do that.

[Superdad]

Hi Alex, I guess the higher price would still be lower than that of buying two of the current LPS-1, right? The saving of space, and an extra PS for the other LPS-1 would be attractive as well.

 

Yes, but don't expect such a thing anytime very soon. We have a LOT on our plate here--both with product designs and production/logistics/etc.

 

This week's battle is sourcing enough of the $1/each high-speed logic onto-isolators for the next production runs. Each LPS-1 uses 10 of them, and there is a 12 week lead time to get 5,000 pieces. I already have one order another 750 pieces of the Altera MAX10 FPGA we use ($8 each), and there are several other long lead time parts which are part of the design.

 

If we had more staff (trained) such would be easier, but I am waiting to hit the next critical mass step before doing that. At least now we have a very livable and pleasant space for staff to work in. My assistant is thrilled with her "palace" as we call it. The move-in is 90% complete. I'll take some daytime pics and post them soon.

 

Best,

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Hi Mani and Alan:

 

Glad to hear you both have your UltraCap LPS-1 units playing in your systems.

 

I just want to clarify something since you both mentioned your LPS-1s "finally getting through customs." Your units were shipped--both via insured Priority Mail Intl. for just $32--on October 12th. And you received them today, October 26. By my count that is just 10 business weekdays.

I point that out so that other overseas clients don't think that getting an LPS-1 is a long, arduous process (other than waiting for us to build enough and ship 'em out). However, we do quote typical delivery worldwide via Priority Mail as 12-18 business days. Really depends upon the country.

What amazes me is that out of close to 4,000 small packages shipped in the past 18 month, we have had not more than 8 go missing--and more than half of those eventually found their way back to us (with a LOT of extra labels and stamps!).

 

 

Alan, the reason why the LPS-1 improves even on the potent JS-2 in your system has much to do with its blocking of leakage current. That is of benefit by itself, but doubly so with the Ethernet-isolated microRendu, helping it more fully create a "moat" between the microRendu/DAC end and the computer side of your system.

 

Cheers,

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

12 wildly off-topic posts removed. Do we need to start a "Shipping Impressions" thread?

 

If you guys only knew just how many hours my assistant and I spend on international shipping and documents. And for most countries we charge from $3-8 less than our actual commercial discount rate costs us.

 

(And the next person that publicly prints what we declare for customs will ruin it for everyone.)

 

Ciao,

 

ALEX

[Superdad]

Just wanted to add a few more devices to the list of those confirmed by users as working well--and sounding great--with the LPS-1.

 

Over in another thread, this post a user confirms the sMS-200, and someone wrote me about his powering of both the PS Audio LANRover and USB REGEN off a single LPS-1.

 

And Jesus from Sonore wanted me to mention that the little SonicOrbiter SE is of course an easy load for our ultracap supply.

 

Oh, and here is a link Michael Lavorgna's review at AudioStream. Michael bought one at full price, waited in line just like everyone else, and even declined my offer of a modest "industry accommodation discount" that I wanted to give him. What a guy. (But he can't stop me from sending him a nice bottle of something.)

 

Have a great weekend all.

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Are things still on schedule for mid-November shipping of the second 250 units?

 

Yes we are. Many hours of work between now and then to pull it off (just my assistant and myself), but I am confident that we will do it.

Especially now that we have moved into our new space--and just in time as we were beginning to trip over all the boxes of parts!

 

 

 

The warehouse:

 

Shipping/Receiving:

[Superdad]

How does the ping-pong / table tennis table help? Productivity? [emoji16]

 

Absolutely it does! The protective brown panels you see on it turn it into the single most used work surface for us. That big table has held and produced thousands of REGENs, and hundreds of JS-2s--and now LPS-1 units. I designed the layout and workflow of the new space around that table.

 

And yes, on the rare occasion I'm not working, I drag my wife or one of our kids our to slap the ball around. It is going to be more fun and comfortable to play in the new space than in the garage! Just ordered the mini-fridge...

[Superdad]

All right already! The reviews seem favorable… to say the least. I just bit the bullet - order number 4473. I'm hopeful that by the time it arrives in mid December I'll be able to maneuver into my stereo cabinet to install it… I have a total knee replacement scheduled for next Monday (and a lot of recovery time in my listening chair scheduled after that [emoji4])

 

Hi Bill:

Thanks very much for your order. And best wishes to you on your knee replacement! My assistant's husband just had the same operation and I was shocked to see how quickly he was back on his feet and being fully active. My wife's ACL operations had longer recovery. Just watch it with the pain killers they give you. Those things have become the scourge of our nation...

 

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Yeah, that is why experimenting with the El Cheap-O in place of the Mean Well is very, very low on my 'to do' list.

 

Alex, sorry, please move my last two posts to the other thread.

 

No need Blake, I am not THAT anal about these threads (despite your earlier snark to the contrary--which I left in place ).

 

I want to thank both you and Danny (firedog) for posting about your initial experience with the LPS-1. Neither of you just fell off the audiophile turnip truck, so impressing you two means a lot!

 

Just glad you are both enjoying the supply in your systems and found it to be a worthwhile investment. Such is all that John and I can aim for.

 

Best,

--Alex C.

[Superdad]

Hi Alex, are the orders slated for mid-November shipment on track? Thanks.

 

Oh yes. We have been firmware flashing, testing, assembling, kitting, and packing like mad for the past two weeks. Today more than half of the 250 promised for shipment by the 18th are going out. Those folks will automatically receive a tracking number at 2:00 p.m. (PST) today.

 

We made it up to about order #4380 today. The rest will be shipped on time next week. And that will bring us up to order #4440.

 

A request to all:

PLEASE DO NOT E-MAIL ME ABOUT WHEN YOUR ORDER WILL SHIP. All orders will be shipped by or before the date that was promised on the web page at the time you ordered, and in the confirmation e-mail you received immediately after placing your order (assuming you entered your e-mail address correctly).

 

Thanks and regards,

 

--Alex C.

 

 

[Superdad]

I read that the HDPlex with microRendu sounds the best at 9V...

 

All 9V does is get the microRendu very hot. Does not make it sound better. DC into it gets dropped down to 5V and lower.

 

Ciao,

 

--Alex C.