Vinnie Rossi Ultracapacitor Power Supply Review and Comparison to UpTone LPS-1

[Don Hills]

Weasel words.

 

[amirm]

No, afaik they don´t call it a "linear" power supply. It is mentioned on the website that it incorporates a "linear regulated constant current" charge circuitry. If i´m not mistaken, the idea behind these supplies is that the capacitor banks were charged and intermittently switched in and out to provide the dc to the external device, which is therefore intended to be "totally isolated" from any circuitry before the capacitors.

That is the theory and ideal that is being sold to customers with nary a measurement to demonstrate it.

Real circuits don't work that way. Achieving that ideal requires exceptional attention to detail and design which is lacking here. Even small amount of capacitance between input and output causes mains leakage to say nothing of the emissions generated by the internal microprocessor, switching and charging circuits, etc.

I have been instrumenting the UpTone LPS-1 more and there is a ton going on in there and bleeds out. See these graphs I posted and more to come:

Does this look "totally isolated" to you? I think not.

Large currents are involved in charging the alternate bank and clearly that activity is bleeding into the alternate bank whose output is being used.

So much of customer perception is formed by these marketing statements. "Lower noise" is the first thing they all say. If they knew what they actually did, maybe the subjective remarks wouldn't be far outside of reality.

 

[Jakob1863]

<snip>

Does this look "totally isolated" to you? I think not.

Actually that was my point, the intended "total isolation" is the core virtue, not the use of a switching or nonswichting power supply in front of it.

If the "total isolation" feature isn´t there, use of a switching power supply might make things worse, but that should imo not be the important point to critisize.

So much of customer perception is formed by these marketing statements. <snip>

Isn´t that true for every consumer product, be it hardware or software?

 

[Palladium]

I think the problem is that the internet allows any incompetent garden shed operation to set up and sell product and be commercially successful.

The gullible and technically ignorant audiophile audience is ripe for the marketing from all these amateur "manufacturers".

I can't fathom how any power cleaning product will do anything at all to any competent PSU expected and designed to operate on dirty AC power. If the latter needs the former it's only because it's designed by an idiot.

 

[JohnnyTT]

Researching a new pre, and looking closely at Vinnie rossi... I found this thread. Shocked that such a product would ever be released.

In the time since, has there ever been any updates or interaction with Vinnie as to what this was....and where they are now?

Sorry to resurface, but not many real critical opinions out there.

 

[amirm]

I have had a lot of communication with Vinnie behind the scenes. He has been one of the exceptional few manufacturers who took my feedback immediately to heart, and halted sale of the product. Indeed our conversations changed the direction of future products he was developing.

So while I have no experience with his other products, I can vouch for him wanting to build safe and performant products. So take this review as a positive, rather than a negative for him and his company.

 

[JohnnyTT]

I have had a lot of communication with Vinnie behind the scenes. He has been one of the exceptional few manufacturers who took my feedback immediately to heart, and halted sale of the product. Indeed our conversations changed the direction of future products he was developing.

So while I have no experience with his other products, I can vouch for him wanting to build safe and performant products. So take this review as a positive, rather than a negative for him and his company.

Thanks for the reply. Good to hear.

Have your discussions included power supply advice? It seems there was a lack of knowledge there.

 

[amirm]

Have your discussions included power supply advice? It seems there was a lack of knowledge there.

Yes, that was precise topic of discussion, product evaluation, etc. for good few weeks.

 

[JJB70]

I think that these products are unnecessary and a waste of money, but for all that it's good to see a company take feedback on board and improve their products. Good on them for that!