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Going Battery Powered

I have a number of components that run off of 12V DC power. This includes my DAC, preamp, tube buffer, etc. I’m looking into powering them with batteries instead of 120V AC power supplies. Does anyone have any input on if this is worth my time? Seems like DC power is the cleanest power you can get in this situation. I’ve heard batteries can have reduced dynamics but I plan on using as big of a battery as is reasonable, most likely a large sealed AGM type battery. Do I need power supplies/voltage regulators if I use a large battery and only power low draw components (no power amps); e.g. the max amp draw is probably around 1-2 amps, if that. If I do, does anyone have a link to a design for the power supply/voltage regulator? Thank you.
128x128mkgus
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
Battery has always got better noise figures, from what I've measured powering the Lightspeed Attenuator. Saying that the "very best" regulated linear power supplies are "almost" as good as battery.

Cheers George
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
As someone who went battery power 4 years ago (my, how time flies) I can testify to the drop in noise and distortion compared to house AC power. Even though I’m using a Lithium battery powered Sony Walkman CD player with SONY MDR-v700 headphones, a modest set up, I’m sure you will agree. In fact my set up probably wins the low mass award and the low cost award. No more AC noise, AC ground issues, no more power cords, no more speaker cables, no more interconnects, no more digital cable, no more transformers, no more big honking capacitors, no more fuses. You know, all the things that produce noise and distortion. Hel-loo! No more pencils, no more books, no more teacher’s dirty looks. 🧐
geoffkait's avatar
geoffkait
23,365 posts
 
Hey, I remember the Reflections Audio dude, Stephen Balliet. I met him at the show back in 2000 or maybe even 1997. He had just finished working on the set of the Matt Damon and Jin Voight movie by Francis Ford Coppola, The Rainmaker (1997)-  the tobacco industry legal case flic. We were thinking of getting together for a show but never did.
mkgus's avatar
mkgus OP
324 posts
 
So does it go without saying that gear that can accept 12V DC will always sound better running off batteries instead of a 120V power supply (assuming you have enough capacity to not choke dynamics)?
georgehifi's avatar
georgehifi
10,312 posts
 
gear that can accept 12V DC will always sound better
Base line background noise is what your gain is with battery and you can measure it if you have a good crow, it's a sense of being even blacker between notes, in a quite room.
  
(assuming you have enough capacity to not choke dynamics)?
And a battery is not current limited, it's how long it can give that current for that important, and this dictates the amp hours needed in the size of the battery

Cheers George


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