Discover the ALLO Shanti Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply
With the announcement of a dedicated power supply for the KATANA DAC, the Allo package finally feels complete. I’d been waiting for this for quite some time—and now it’s time to see what the Shanti can really do.
Standard plug-in supplies are noisy and cheap. They do the job, but barely. Even with those, the KATANA still blew me away. So what happens when you pair it with a purpose-built low-noise linear PSU?
Find out more in the ALLO Katana DAC review.
The Shanti is a hefty little unit built with high-quality components. Its transformer offers dual galvanically isolated outputs: 5.2V at 3A and 5.2V at 1.2A—perfect for powering both the DAC and an RPi 4.
It uses a massive capacitance bank to suppress 50/60Hz noise, filtered through LDO regulators and capacitors up to 15,000µF. The final stage is powered by supercapacitors—where the cleanest energy is delivered.
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.
Plugging into both the ISOLATOR and KATANA units was a doddle. Lots 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 faceplate so you can use your own, or different length cables.
Switching on the SHANTI lights up red inside. There 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.
Allo said "The Shanti dual output LPS was developed for audiophiles. We wanted to bring one of the best supply at a reasonable price to the market.
It can be used with Katana , Digione Sig, in fact it can be used with any DAC and USB source (RPI4 and Topping dacs for example ) , anything that needs 5V. Also the output of Shanti is 5V at 3A and 5.2V at very low loads. Any time you have a load increase the voltage will slightly sag (if the voltage sags at 4.8V you will get undervoltage on RPI). Shanti gets rid of any under voltages on RPI3/4
At last, Shanti noise is an incredible 0.08uV in the audio band. However, noise is not the only reason for the performance of our LPS. Shanti output has supercaps that directly supply any dynamic load demand with no delay"
The Shanti PSU is also suited to the new ALLO Revolution DAC and USBridge signature. To find out more, click HERE!
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