Hey guys, thanks to conversations I've had with the owner of Ciunas Audio I discovered a few things that would hopefully clear a few recent misconceptions on their power filters - copied here with his permission.
Brief Model Overview
Firstly as you can see
on this link, they offer 6 models of their ISO-PS filter that vary in both price and size starting at just €150 for their 5v version (that's the one for the Qutest), all the way up to €300 for their 23v version. The size / price increases with each increment of larger voltage version to accommodate the internal voltage regulators, control circuitry & different amount of supercapacitors.
Also they are almost finished developing a variable voltage version that allows you to bypass the internal regulators that charge the supercaps & keep the supercaps charged directly from your own input power supply. This way you can use it for any of your components with DC input, even with an option to power from battery without regulator, and the potentiometer is said to have no impact on fidelity.
Their power filters now all come with 2x (dual) DC outputs of the same voltage, and he also has options for 2x outputs both of different DC voltage outputs for a different price / size.
Clarification on ASR 'teardown report'
"This was a 7 year old DAC which was not designed to be opened (& the user guide mentions this) as the circuitry is tight. The very opening of the products disturbs the 3D stack of boards. As I said that thread on ASR is not how one should go about reviewing a product. He was sent a 7 year old DAC by someone who had bought it on ebay & didn't know how to operate it appropriately - I don't even know what he might have done to it internally? The battery was dead & Amir (the site owner & reviewer) didn't contact me about its operation before posting this review (he has history with me so is not exactly unbiased) which as some posters pointed out is the professional way to go about such reviews. If he had contacted me I would have suggested he test the battery first & discovered immediately that it was depleted - something he didn't test first as you would expect with a battery powered device).
If my products had quality issues you would see it reported in many places other than ASR (who historically has a gripe with me)."
Customer Reviews - Supercapacitor Power supplies from Ciunas Audio
Jens from Denmark
The 9v supercapacitor ISO-PS is replacing a 9v ifi audio ipower powering a SOtM tx-USBultra Special Edition and the dc connection is a Ghentaudio Neotech UPOCC 7N Copper 16AWG (JSSG360) cable. SQ improvement is greater than I had expected, is obvious to hear and is also of another nature than my tweaking with lifepo4 batteries and lt3045 regulators normally gives. The ISO-PS has given the sound a clean and pure but most of all an overwhelming presence.
James from Utah - using 5V ISO-PS
Wow... less graiin and noise floor than the LPS
1.2. I can hear that immediately! A hint more space and detail... immediately apparent. More relaxed.
Okay this is going to be fun going through my collection
…...
Im smiling ear to ear and every where in between. Thank you so much, James
Hagen from Germany - using 12V
I am very happy with the power supply. Better resolution, the naturalness of the music playback becomes larger; more calm, a blacker background.
The sibilance and perceived distortions are significantly reduced.
In short, I have more fun listening to music !!!!
A clear recommendation from me for your power supply!
I will recommend it to my customers, although I have no financial advantage.
The price of the ISO-PS is very good.
Graham from canada - using 5V supercap ISO-PS into Chord DAC
Definitely, hearing deeper into the music. Some interesting little ambient sounds coming
I don’t recall hearing before, that must be a result of the lower noise floor. Not noticing any
Negative impact which is equally important.
Clive from UK - using 5V supercap ISO-PS into Chord Qutest
SMPS (Rob Watts stock) was my reference
Detailed, not obviously harsh
Supercap
Initially quite similar to SMPS but a bit more listening revealed it as smoother with very solid (tight) bass, made SMPS sound a little harsh. bass light & imprecise. I tried unplugging the "charger" - I couldn't detect any difference.
SBooster LPS
Smooth without the tightness of the Supercap bass, I think this is why when I compared last time I preferred the SMPS to this LPS - Rob Watts says something about interwinding capacitance with LPS providing a route for RF (so some LPS are poor) or did I get two things mixed up?
Supercap wins
Chris from UK - 5V ISO-PS
Compared to iFi iPower (5V) + battery pack) the most noticeable improvement for me was leading edge transients – that alone was worth the purchase. However with further listening, I would suggest that the soundstage has got wider. Low level details in the far left & right are much more noticeable. And this effect is totally repeatable when swapping between the ISO-PSU & the iPower/battery combination.
Robin from US
Hi John! I am using the last PS with the Sonore ultraRendu. I like to use the PS Audio LanRover in the mix and I power it with the first PS you sent. I still have to connect a module to run a fiber cable but what I have now sounds excellent. I continue to be way impressed with the SILENT, very BLACK background. I will let you know as I play around with everything. I love your products
Other Comments
I've already ordered my ISO-PS from Ciunas Audio, and not only is it cheaper than the other options out there but the reviews seem solid (it was said that most of their customers do not frequent audio forums which is why there are not many reviews in our circles), and not to mention that the Allo Shanti for one uses thin flimsy non-removable DC output wires. Speaking of Allo Shanti, here were his comments on it:
"The Shanti is a very good PS, AFAIK. It does use two small 3.3F supercapacitors on each channel it's output for 5V which equates to 1.65F capacitance - that's why the power comes up in one or two seconds I suspect these supercaps were an afterthought?). My PS has 350F supercapacitor banks (the number per bank is dependent on voltage - 5V I use 3 supercaps, 7V 4 supercxaps & so on - I always use one more than absolutely required - gives more energy storage). The Shanti is a conventional PS with transformer rectifier bridge, a large bank of electrolytic capacitors, a capacitance multiplier & some voltage regulators - its main energy storage is in the electrolytic capacitors not those small supercapacitors. My PS takes about 1-2mins to come up to full power because the supercaps are charging up. One other issue you will see reported with the Shanti is that when it's turned off the substantial power left in its bank of capacitors, drains into any devices connected to it which may be a problem with some devices? My SC-PS isolates the outputs from the supercaps when switched off so no drain of power into attached devices."
RE measurements of power output quality: "
I don't have measurements yet as ripple & noise on power supplies are difficult to make correctly, requiring at least differential scope probes but measurements will not tell you how something sounds - listening is the critical test - if the PS doesn't provide a noticeable improvement then it doesn't matter how good (or how bad) the measurements."
Also his customer service was excellent and very responsive and he said they have a 30 days home trial to evaluate it against other PSes, + 3 year warranty.
Also I see no use in SMPS rolling with this marvel of a filtered power supply from Ciunas Audio incoming.
