I have realised that it is actually quite difficult to do a meaningful comparison of so many psu at the same time so I am splitting it into a series of smaller shoot outs and hope to get to an eventual winner that way. The first of these is with the Allo Shanti, SBooster with Ultra Mk2 upgrade (and my DIY supercap psu included just for fun).
The selection was partly decided by my friend who owns the Allo wanting it back for his own system to power his two Mutec MC-3+ reclockers. He had really brought it to me because he was not impressed with the captive DC output leads and he had asked me if I would change them for a pair of GX16 so he was free to use other dc cables.
On the face of that the swop should have been simple but Shanto appear to have fixed the dc leads to the pc board with something that is not normal solder. It almost looks like a rivet. Anyway, it required a full dismantling of the Shanti, unbolting the transformer to enable removal of the pc board so that I could drill out whatever it was fixing the factory wire to the boards. It was a pain but only added about an hour. I could have cut the factory dc wires to a short length and soldered them to the GX16 sockets but I like to work on the basis that if a job is worth doing it is worth doing well. This is the Allo with a matching end plate to the original so I was not drilling the original one which was retained for reinstalling if the Shanti is ever sold.
Anyway, to the listening which was done by my friend (Nigel) and me. The Qutest was connected to a Music First Baby Ref V2 pre amp feeding my Pass Labs XA60.8 power amps with Spendor SP200 speakers. First we listened to the Allo Shanti with it’s removed captive dc leads now reattached with a GX16 plug into the new GX16 sockets on the Shanti. I have got used to hearing my Qutest with my SBooster and to me the Shanti seemed to give a harsher and more forward presentation to the treble. Everything was a bit more 'in your face' than I was used to with the SBooster.
Then we swopped over to some MCRU leads recently purchased by Nigel which he specified to be made up with Neotech wire, carbon infused sheathing and an Oyaide DC barrel plug. These cost £80 each for a 1m length.
I must say I was surprised by the extent of the clearly audible difference in sound quality with the upgraded dc cables. The track we were listening to (Confians by Mino Cinelu) has a clear percussive line which can at times stray the wrong side of prominence and mask the other instruments. With the Shanti factory supplied captive lead the sound was indeed straying in that direction but with the Neotech dc lead everything became rather less frenetic and much more pleasant to listen to.
Now that Nigel’s Shanti has the GX16 dc output sockets it was easy to try some more dc cables. I have a Ghent Audio Neotech wired cable with JSSG360 shielding which we plugged in. I have always struggled to see how the JSSG360 shielding could make any difference at all and so it was that there was no audible difference compared to the MCRU version of the Neotech cables.
Next we tried a Sean Jacobs cable that came with my DC4 and usefully had GX16 connectors. This is also wired with Neotech but uses a tight twist of the cables. I personally thought this gave a slight improvement and in future this is how I will build my own dc cables.
We then connected the Qutest to the SBooster with Ultra MkII upgrade. This was better than the Allo Shanti even with the Shanti's upgraded cables and reinforced Nigel’s and my previous conclusion that whilst the Allo Shanti is good value for money the SBooster is the better buy if the budget allows. Everything was a bit calmer and easier to relax into. There was still plenty of detail, indeed probably more real detail than with the Shanti but it was provided in a more subtle way rather than being shouted.
The DIY supercap psu was really only included for Nigel and my amusement because only he and I together with a couple of other friends have one. We both thought that it was much better than the Shanti (with and without upgraded cables) and nearer to the SBooster
Lastly, we swopped to a Sean Jacobs DC4 (with the Sean Jacobs cable) which unsurprisingly trumped the SBooster in all areas but then it does cost about six times as much.
At the end of this little session the conclusion was that the Allo Shanti is good value for money and can certainly be recommended for the budget conscious but for us it was some way behind the SBooster + Ultra Mk2 when powering the Qutest. This gap was narrowed when the Shanti was pimped to give it better DC cables but this is not an easy install and in any case still left the Shanti trailing behind the SBooster.
So, for Nigel and me this was a win for the SBooster plus Ultra Mk2 (the Sean Jacobs and the DIY supercap psu were
hors concours).
Round 2 will follow.