Kuddos for Amir in following up on this *the 'battery' power supply.
Thanks. Useful to know. I have heard of supercaps used in car stereos for amps (though I think it’s a dubiously useful idea
1: yes, but there could be some merit to it. I have no idea what's actually inside just guessing it is Supercaps.
These are kind of rechargeable batteries that do not go defective when completely discharged.
In that sense they are capacitors.
Capacitors can hold charge for quite some time but not when loaded (which it is by the DAC)
When one uses batteries the voltage can be quite low noise. Some super regulators are even lower noise though.
The idea is that supercaps (or batteries) can deliver higher peak currents.
Nice for amps but DACs don't do that. There is a headphone out but this wasn't tested.
The manufacturer only states:
High Current Class A-B headphone circuit
The Caiman SEG headphone amplifier circuit is designed to drive even the latest high-end headphones and reproduce musical detail that these headphones are capable of. A generous signal headroom overhead, low noise circuitry, and high output current ability are key factors that make the headphone output on the Caiman SEG a major talking point with existing owners.
(my emphasis)
For that reason the extra power supply may be 'needed'. Alas we do not know it has never been measured (
@amirm ?) and there are no specs other than '12 to 400 ohm'.
If it were me that designed the darn power supply (I am not and have had nothing to do with it) and I would want benefits in the form of some kind of ground loop breakage, what battery fed devices usually is about, then I would use a normal power supply. Have that (slowly) feed batteries through resistors that lower the leakage current. That would slow down charging too much so would make charging quicker (smaller resistors) and once charging is complete would slow charge.
That could, in theory, help with some ground loop situations. No idea if that's what this is though.
2: These are not Lithium cells but capacitors. I see no fire hazard.
3: I have no idea.