Discover the ALLO Shanti Ultra Low Noise Linear Power Supply
With the announcement of a suited Power supply for the KATANA, the whole Allo Dac package is now totally fulfilled. I had been waiting for this for quite some time. It's now time to see what this thing can really do. I really hate using standard plug-in supplies.
They are noisy and cheap but they do the job. But with the Allo kit, using these cheap supplies the KATANA still blew me away. So what could a suited low noise linear PSU bring to the picture?
Find out more in the ALLO Katana DAC review.
The LPS is quite a hefty little thing incorporating high-quality components. The transformer has a dual output galvanically isolated 5.2V 3A and 5.2V at 1.2A outputs so it can also power the RPI 4.
It uses a huge capacitance bank to reduce 50/60Hz noise and filtered by an LDO and caps up to 15.000uf. The next stage is the supercapacitors which is where the final power comes from.
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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