Raspberry Pi 4 Linear Power Supply

I have been looking around the forum for a Low Noise Linear Power Supply capable of 5VDC 3Amps, suitable for the Raspberry Pi 4 as a Music Streamer. At a lower current capacity the same can be used for various DACs requiring an external power supply. But I did not find any on the forum.

Currently I use an Allo Shanti Linear Power Supply Unit to power the Rpi4 and a Topping D50s DAC. I have a Topping E50 DAC on the way. While the Allo Shanti is very capable with two galvanically isolated outputs of 5V 3A and 5V 1A2, it has a rather 2 dimensional rendering of the sound stage. It exhibits good width, moderate height and very little depth. Yes, I am aware that sound stage depends on every component in the reproduction chain, but this characteristic of the Allo Shanti has been expressed in some LPSU comparative reviews as well.

I am sure that such a power supply with multiple secondary tapped transformer and Low Noise, Hum Free, Regulated Outputs would generate much interest, especially if it beats the performance of most off the shelf solutions.

Thanks in advance.
 
Just put 5V 10A linear supply in your search bar.

See the circuits, and decide which one to build from what is available with you or available locally in Bangalore.
A trip to J C Road market might be useful.

MSRIT...long ago.
Thank you Naresh. The search as you suggested brings up only switching supplies. My idea was that anything evolving through the forum would help many, just not me. Thanks.
 
Hi ..
Regarding the allo Shanti,
I have one and don't really think it is a "game changer". Therefore i did unmounted the top cover to take a look inside of what could be easily updated.
the Super caps on the output is 2pcs 3.3F /2.7V in serie and these caps have an ESR at 95mOhm resulting in 190mOHm. i would replace these with 10F 3.0V types from maxwell as these holds only 10mOhm pr piece(20mOhm total). also the ALLO has added a 3300uF /16V e-cap on the DC outputs. These should be replaced with Low ESR types. Then i would replace the DC cables with high quality types. I would use Duelund cables and twist a pair.. These can be used as the DC only holds 5V DC.
These minor changes should bring the ALLO Shanti up to another level.. 🙂
I will make the changes on my shanti the coming weeks.

br
Caad.
 
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Hi ..
Regarding the allo Shanti,
I have one and don't really think it is a "game changer". Therefore i did unmounted the top cover to take a look inside of what could be easily updated.
the Super caps on the output is 2pcs 3.3F /2.7V in serie and these caps have an ESR at 95mOhm resulting in 190mOHm. i would replace these with 10F 3.0V types from maxwell as these holds only 10mOhm pr piece(20mOhm total). also the ALLO has added a 3300uF /16V e-cap on the DC outputs. These should be replaced with Low ESR types. Then i would replace the DC cables with high quality types. I would use Duelund cables and twist a pair.. These can be used as the DC only holds 5V DC.
These minor changes should bring the ALLO Shanti up to another level.. 🙂
I will make the changes on my shanti the coming weeks.

br
Caad.
Thank you for the detailed explanation, Caad. While the Allo Shanti is definitely an upgrade over an SMPS, I have seen reviews of the Shanti versus more expensive ones, wherein the reviewers reported the Shanti to result in a Soundstage which has good width, limited height and hardly any depth. The Topping D50s also exhibits the same characteristics and together do not take the level of performance beyond very good, to great.

Hence, I have ordered a Topping E50 DAC. A really good linear power supply should take the level of performance I am getting, up several notches. Jimk04 pointed me to Salas' L Adaptor, which I was not aware of. Thank you Jimk04.

I have bought almost everything required for the L Adaptor. I am planning on making 2 boards (own layout) and use one for the Rpi4 and the other for the DAC. At that point, modifying the Shanti as per your recommendation and comparing will be an engaging exercise.

If you are using USB connection from an Rpi, I would encourage you to use a good USB cable. I used Monolith from Monoprice and it was a game changer in my setup.
 
Hi ..
Regarding the allo Shanti,
I have one and don't really think it is a "game changer". Therefore i did unmounted the top cover to take a look inside of what could be easily updated.
the Super caps on the output is 2pcs 3.3F /2.7V in serie and these caps have an ESR at 95mOhm resulting in 190mOHm. i would replace these with 10F 3.0V types from maxwell as these holds only 10mOhm pr piece(20mOhm total). also the ALLO has added a 3300uF /16V e-cap on the DC outputs. These should be replaced with Low ESR types. Then i would replace the DC cables with high quality types. I would use Duelund cables and twist a pair.. These can be used as the DC only holds 5V DC.
These minor changes should bring the ALLO Shanti up to another level.. 🙂
I will make the changes on my shanti the coming weeks.

br
Caad.
Caad, the option of changing the DC output cables has been tried out by others and they found that sq goes down. Pl see the Allo Shanti thread in Vendors bazaar.
 
Hi, you could look at it with a technical view. Then decide what parameters you think are required. I suggest: low output Z over a wide frequency range, low loss/low heat so definitely an LDO device, ultra low noise.

It is surprising the already good PSU would cause 2 dimensional rendering, that may be caused by all things connected to the PSU.
 
Caad, the option of changing the DC output cables has been tried out by others and they found that sq goes down. Pl see the Allo Shanti thread in Vendors bazaar.
I had a look at the quality and gauge of the original connecting cable used by Allo and decided that they were fairly good but too long. Hence, I twisted the DC cable throughout. Used a drain wire and shielded with copper foil the entire run of both DC connecting cables and used plumber's Teflon tape for overall insulation. Connecting the drain wire to the banana connector of the Shanti and the other end to the chassis of the Rpi (I have used Argon2 enclosure) and the DAC, I found that the perceived darkness in the presentation of sound improved considerably. I could but have not tried different geometry cables yet.
 
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Hi, you could look at it with a technical view. Then decide what parameters you think are required. I suggest: low output Z over a wide frequency range, low loss/low heat so definitely an LDO device, ultra low noise.

It is surprising the already good PSU would cause 2 dimensional rendering, that may be caused by all things connected to the PSU.
Let's see how it goes with the L Adaptor and a Jeff McCaulay designed regulator I use often to good effect. I am going to try both and will report here.
 
Both L adaptor and Jeff McCauley are unknown to me. Most will test, measure and judge linear power supplies with terms like milliOhm, Mhz and microVolt. IMHO one does not need fancy names or person names but a stiff well-regulated RF proof linear PSU with low output Z over a wide range and preferably ultra low noise and low loss to avoid useless heat. This PSU will power a computer with several SMPS on board. Next thing would be to check if an improvement can be made in that direction. In this case the load is the difficulty.

BTW I used a CM4 on a CM4 IO board and that has the benefit of being able to use 12V power supplies with less current. A TPS7A4700 based PSU worked quite well. For 5V one would think of LT304x based PSU's but then several are needed in parallel regarding the 3A requirement. Most recent LDO ultra low noise regulator ICs are not able to deliver 3A so they need to be paralleled which makes it more expensive.
 
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I had a look at the quality and gauge of the original connecting cable used by Allo and decided that they were fairly good but too long. Hence, I twisted the DC cable throughout. Used a drain wire and shielded with copper foil the entire run of both DC connecting cables and used plumber's Teflon tape for overall insulation. Connecting the drain wire to the banana connector of the Shanti and the other end to the chassis of the Rpi (I have used Argon2 enclosure) and the DAC, I found that the perceived darkness in the presentation of sound improved considerably. I could but have not tried different geometry cables yet.
Basically, you shielded the long DC Cable. Would reducing the length have helped ? ?