Life of Pi

[_D_S_J_R_]

Isn't SBooster linked to MCRU? Maybe that explains the high pricing?

Phlakaton here bought another imported power supply, I forget what for (are you looking in to comment sir?). That also cost similar and was quite complex internally...

[antonio66]

I know Mark Grant Cables sell the SBooster, not sure if MCRU do though.

[Fretless]

Sbooster are a small Dutch company. Products are designed in the Netherlands and made in China (I believe).

https://www.sbooster.com/

Their PSU's aren't cheap but are solid (heavy!) and work very well - made a massive improvement on the Cambridge Dacmagic DAC.
Don't know of any connection to MCRU.

[Fretless]

The Tomanek mini PSU has arrived. A special model designed for use with the Pi.
Review and sound impression later.

[Fretless]

There was me, thinking that I was being really clever by using a rechargeable 5V/3A powerbank to run a Pi, it's clean DC certainly did improve on the 'grainy' sound from a standard switching, wall-wart supply.
Ignorance is bliss !

Tomanek is a small Polish company that make PSU's for audio products, DAC's mainly. For the Pi they have a simplified version that uses a high-quality transformer to output clean, linear power. Neatly made and low price. It comes with a good-quality micro-USB cable as well.

What does it do to the sound ? Well, the fact that there is 220V mains powering the Pi is apparent in more weight, solidity, authority and control. New, for me, was a sensation of a wide soundstage opening up in the distance behind the speakers.

Furthermore, batteries have drawbacks - if you don't unplug the Pi at the end of a listening session then they go flat. Plugging in the Pi every time also can mean that you have to search for it on the network as the IP address might have changed. Now it just gets left on, easy !

So, Pi fans, if you want a worthwhile, affordable linear PSU that will improve your mini-PC's performance then have a look at the Tomanek ULPS-mini. Cost me 90 euro, including postage, took about a week to arrive.

[terrybooth]

Yep, a good PSU makes a positive difference to the sound of the Pi. I started out trying to find a way to power the Pi and the DAC board separately - it is possible, I think, but it requires a good deal of fiddling and knoweldge and patience and time I don't have.

Incidentally, depending on what is at the heart of your home network, I think you would be able to assign a static IP Address to your Pi. I've don't that with mine (Virgin/Netgear router).

[Fretless]

I'll have a look at that static IP address.

The new Digi+ Pro board is designed to be hackable and can be separately powered. Needs a bit of soldering, though.
I'm happy enough with the performance for now.

[George Hincapie]

Thanks Fretless, I shall get one ordered

[prophet261]

i had to contribute to this... i too started with the big pi boards, but found them too noisy - solved by dropping down to the pi zero (also found the GPIO mounted LCD screens introduced too much noise, so switched to 7" off the (mini)hdmi - much better). am using a hifime 9018 dac (very nice for £70 & pi powered), and an anker powercore 20100 to power the pi. the pi is running the latest KODI, controlled by IR remote (uses 3 GPIO pins & is quiet, and negates the need for a keyboard - problematic when you've only got 1 usb socket which is needed for the dac. i used to use a bluetooth keyboard with the pi2, but the usb receiver was very, very noisey). the pi & IRreceiver are housed in a custom-made solid aluminium block (5-6mm of aluminium cuts out most domestic EM interference).

[Fretless]

Pi Zero? How does the processor compare to the bigger boards? Interesting setup, will be having a look at that DAC etc.