Thanks for making the extra clarification - it might have been missed in my first post on this subject.
To be clear, the values I posted are only for using 4 power supplies. They will not work for any other number of power supplies since the BiB needs to be reconfigured.
Your point on wasted power is very on target, and discussed at length in the BiB thread. The BiB is rated to dissipate a max of 150mA. So it is important to rate it properly.
To expand on the topic of current draw
The Katana stack uses 800mA at 5v to power the Opamp board.
We can find the current draw at 15V easily using the same equation used for finding dilutions.
I1*V1 = I2*V2
0.800*5 = I2*15
I2 = 0.800*5/15
I2 = 0.267
We divide that in half because it is a dual rail
0.267/2 = .133.5
So we round up to 134mA per rail.
Lastly, to address @altsouza 's last question
You want to connect the V+ on the negative rail to the V- on the positive rail. This will put V0 in the middle between 15V+ and 15V-
-Josh
Hi Greg and Joshua,
Just to clarify:
I will use one L adapter for Rpi
Four ubib: for dac, Mc and Opamp (2)
For now I am using dual ps mode: l adapter for Rpi and lt1083 for the rest.
Why I am not using the four ubib now?
I am testing the boards, mounting the case etc.... I want to make sure everything will work to avoid any problem with the Katana.
Earlier this year I had problems with Katana, actually with Mc board. later with Dac board. Both broken and I had to replace it! So I am afraid to move from dual ps to quad ps!!
Thanks
Just to clarify:
I will use one L adapter for Rpi
Four ubib: for dac, Mc and Opamp (2)
For now I am using dual ps mode: l adapter for Rpi and lt1083 for the rest.
Why I am not using the four ubib now?
I am testing the boards, mounting the case etc.... I want to make sure everything will work to avoid any problem with the Katana.
Earlier this year I had problems with Katana, actually with Mc board. later with Dac board. Both broken and I had to replace it! So I am afraid to move from dual ps to quad ps!!
Thanks
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A dual rail set up will always have three wires: V+, V0, V-. If V0 is not taken to ground (clean ground, protected ground, etc), it is considered to be "floating." In the case of the Opamp, V0 is floating.
Here is a pic of my dismantled Katana. I opted to solder the wires to the MCU board rather than the Opamp board because I have about 0 faith in the quality of the PCB's and do not want to risk having the traces pulled off of them.
I have to ask after your last question.
Do you have a copy of the users manual?
As poorly as it is written, it has clear pics with numbers corresponding to the instructions. This hook up is well imaged, and includes the dip switch settings, and jumper settings.
Attachments
![20190804_183608_HDR[1].jpg](/community/data/attachments/707/707060-1beeb315801fb0bc5ca504f708fe6522.jpg)
This is one of those little things that every seems to think every one knows, even though it is not really very intuitive. I mean, we all know that connecting a V+ directly to a V- blows the fuse
A side note and caution, Allo mis-printed a bunch of those MCU boards.
Read the manual closely, if it is not clear then test it.
Use a couple of power supplies to provide power in the 2 power supply way, and verify the voltages on the MCU pins.
Put the black probe on the center pin, and probe the other two with the red probe. Pin 1 (on the left in my pic above) is 15V+
altsouza,
I mostly agree with all guys here and it is good practice to separate “meatballs and flys”. UBiB is CCS shunt, and you tried to use it incorrectly.
Katana has common GND connected through standoffs. Only one out of 4 standoffs columns is GND and it is marked. Katana manual also indicates where it is located.
You can use that single point and wire it up to safety Earth to avoid any possibility for GND loop/s. I keep L-Adapter floating (no GND reference) and UBiB GND is elevated by 10R based on Rod Elliot method.
I mostly agree with all guys here and it is good practice to separate “meatballs and flys”. UBiB is CCS shunt, and you tried to use it incorrectly.
Katana has common GND connected through standoffs. Only one out of 4 standoffs columns is GND and it is marked. Katana manual also indicates where it is located.
You can use that single point and wire it up to safety Earth to avoid any possibility for GND loop/s. I keep L-Adapter floating (no GND reference) and UBiB GND is elevated by 10R based on Rod Elliot method.
Katana Manual, from the Allo website: https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/s...?_encoding=UTF8&*Version*=1&*entries*=0&mgh=1
Hi,
There are no specific instructions for quad power+isolator.
Keep quad power settings and close Katana's J30 only??
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
==
Thanks Greg, I will see it!!
==
Hello people,
I finally finished assembling the Allo katana's cabinet.
It is a wooden cabinet painting in black. There is the Kanata and the 4 Ultrabibis and 1 l-adapter. There is an Allo Boss Dac that I use for the Dining Room Zone (The Boss is powered by external's SMPSU)
The fan to the left of the katana (A noctua super silent fan) is necessary since I live in a city where the temperature varies in winter (May-Sept) from 23c to 25c and in summer (Oct-April) from 28c to 30c (Centigrade !!). We have no spring, autumn and winter unfortunately !!! It's hot !! My Theater has Air Conditioner.
Obviously I'm quad powering the Katana, and the sound is pretty relaxed, and the bass very deep. I am very satisfied. Great upgrade.
I haven't focused on cable improvements, not even connectors yet.
The system will be on 24/7 and is running pretty cool.
I haven't installed the isolator yet, but I will do it in the next few days.
I do not replace UltraBib R1 Resistors with those indicated by Joshua:
Katana Board 3 ohm (100mA draw + 100mA overhead)
MCU: 5 ohm (20mA draw + 100mA overhead)
Opamp Board: 2.4 ohm (134mA + ~ 117mA overhead)
They are on their way in the Mail. I am using all (3.3 Ohms).
Can this damage some of the cards ??
Any opinion or recommendation is welcome, mainly in better transformers or conections to the boards!!
Look at the attached photo!
Thanks
Antonio
There are no specific instructions for quad power+isolator.
Keep quad power settings and close Katana's J30 only??
Any help is appreciated.
Thanks
==
Thanks Greg, I will see it!!
==
Hello people,
I finally finished assembling the Allo katana's cabinet.
It is a wooden cabinet painting in black. There is the Kanata and the 4 Ultrabibis and 1 l-adapter. There is an Allo Boss Dac that I use for the Dining Room Zone (The Boss is powered by external's SMPSU)
The fan to the left of the katana (A noctua super silent fan) is necessary since I live in a city where the temperature varies in winter (May-Sept) from 23c to 25c and in summer (Oct-April) from 28c to 30c (Centigrade !!). We have no spring, autumn and winter unfortunately !!! It's hot !! My Theater has Air Conditioner.
Obviously I'm quad powering the Katana, and the sound is pretty relaxed, and the bass very deep. I am very satisfied. Great upgrade.
I haven't focused on cable improvements, not even connectors yet.
The system will be on 24/7 and is running pretty cool.
I haven't installed the isolator yet, but I will do it in the next few days.
I do not replace UltraBib R1 Resistors with those indicated by Joshua:
Katana Board 3 ohm (100mA draw + 100mA overhead)
MCU: 5 ohm (20mA draw + 100mA overhead)
Opamp Board: 2.4 ohm (134mA + ~ 117mA overhead)
They are on their way in the Mail. I am using all (3.3 Ohms).
Can this damage some of the cards ??
Any opinion or recommendation is welcome, mainly in better transformers or conections to the boards!!
Look at the attached photo!
Thanks
Antonio
Attachments
Correct. The Katana powers the clean side of the isolator, so J30 is installed.
30C should not be too much struggle for the stack if using a RPi 3B+, we go from 32C to 37C here (Midwestern USA).
Keeping it cool though is always good provided the fan and controller do not pollute the power.
Glad you are happy with the sound, I am as well.
Once you get familiar with it, try experimenting with different methods of inputting the digital signal (ethernet vs wifi vs USB), and different types of interconnect to your amp. On my system at least, I notice a distinct difference between cable types, with coaxial generally sounding the best. YMMV
-Josh
I live in Northwest of US and we see 42 Celsius during summertime. Theoretically, you must keep your silicone below 55 C deg as absolutely MAX temp (measured on silicon, and not on heatsink). I keep mine below 40 C on that DAC. Please be informed that even last revision of Allo isolator is limited for DSD and you can’t run 128 and 256. I see that Ian’s isolator does support such extremes, but not sure if his device can be integrated with Katana.
Hi,
I use it with Roon/Ropieee over enthernet and very satisfied.
The fan is powered from Smpsu outside the cabinet!
Antonio
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Hi,
You see 42 Celsius maybe for one week , I suppose. We see 30 Celsius for six months in a row....
I will think about isolator , maybe not use it. it limits 192mhz with Roon.
Thanks
I'm still trying to make heads or tails out of this discussion. It makes it look like the Katana is not going to sound very good without all of these power supplies and connections. Is that true? Or are you just trying to tweak that last bit of sound out of an otherwise good sounding device? If just sounds kind of half baked if you need to wing it on the PS just to get it to sound good.
I have the Boss and am satisfied with it but was thinking about the Katana as an upgrade, but not if I need to do all of these mods to make it worthwhile. Less than a year ago I only had my Oppo 93 for digital and basically gave up on digital altogether until I bought an AQ Dragonfly Black on a whim for portable use. When I used it on my main system I had one of those "AHA" moments when I realized how much better that tiny DAC sounded than my Oppo. The Boss was the fourth DAC I bought, and also of course the RPi for streaming capabilities. I also have iFi nano and hifiberry Dac+ Pro, with 3 RPis running Volumio.
So, would I be satisfied with the Katana as an upgrade over all of my other DACs using dual supply, one battery and one iPower? Or would it not impress me enough to bother? And would I have enough juice with that combo to power it all?
I have the Boss and am satisfied with it but was thinking about the Katana as an upgrade, but not if I need to do all of these mods to make it worthwhile. Less than a year ago I only had my Oppo 93 for digital and basically gave up on digital altogether until I bought an AQ Dragonfly Black on a whim for portable use. When I used it on my main system I had one of those "AHA" moments when I realized how much better that tiny DAC sounded than my Oppo. The Boss was the fourth DAC I bought, and also of course the RPi for streaming capabilities. I also have iFi nano and hifiberry Dac+ Pro, with 3 RPis running Volumio.
So, would I be satisfied with the Katana as an upgrade over all of my other DACs using dual supply, one battery and one iPower? Or would it not impress me enough to bother? And would I have enough juice with that combo to power it all?
I don't really like the iPower either. I used it with the Boss and went back to my battery after a few days. I was really surprised at how it killed the openness of the sound and made it all sound digital again. I meant to return it but had to travel and missed the return window. I should be more skeptical of online reviews.
I guess in a way that answers my own question, if the Boss can sound bad/different based on the PS, then the Katana will too.
I guess in a way that answers my own question, if the Boss can sound bad/different based on the PS, then the Katana will too.