Last week, I spent four days with a Stromtank S2500 Quantum in my system. This was not the new MkII version with a digital filter, but a somewhat earlier version, albeit at 48 volts.
In my opinion, the power at my place is good, although I have never had it measured. The 200 amp 2/0 copper service enters via an underground steel conduit, and the leg from the utility transformer feeds about 10 condos. I am on the NE US power grid, for reference.
I have two dedicated lines to the "Sound Chamber," a 12 gauge run with normal Romex, and a run of stranded 10 gauge THHN in flexible metallic conduit. Both lines are direct "home-runs" to the panel, about 35 feet, with Square D breakers and Shunyata Z1 outlets. Outlets are housed in metallic, in-wall boxes, with normal cover plates bolstered with anti-RF material stuck inside the covers.
"Currently," I only use the 10 ga. line which feeds a Sound Application TT7 via a Sablon King pc. Everything is plugged into the TT7. Long way around to support my earlier statement that "the power at my place is good" although I plan to run a dedicated 6 gauge line soon, to make it "more good."
The Stromtank demo was an exercise in determination, as the unit was 100km away, packed in a formidable crate, and at 135lbs. a bit of a hassle. I'm awaiting knee replacement surgery, so screwing up my knee moving an audio crate, would have created sparks in the "domestic power service" with Sweetie, so I hired local movers to get the Tank in and out of the car, and up and down the stairs. Better safe than sorry.
All said, two fit people could certainly negotiate a Stromtank S2500 under normal circumstances, but it's awkward and something to consider. And the bigger models? 100% consider professional help.
The manual outlines the steps to take for safe un-crating and getting things powered up. Two power switches and a key! Then power up your gear, one component at a time.
I started with just my MSB Reference dac plugged into the S2500 in on-grid mode and let it go for an hour or two while a hifi friend headed over. It sounded great. But that's not news.
After a casual lunch, we tried switching from the on-grid pass-through mode to the off-grid "Green Lantern" battery mode for the first time. It sounded great. But that's not news.
We tried a few songs and genres (TAS player software) before we decided to add the Luxman c900 pre-amp to the battery. We listened for another 20-30 minutes and added the Taiko Extreme to the Stromtank. I left things in this configuration for the remainder of the four days (dac, pre, server).
Some listener/reviewers have reported a slight softening of the sound when the Extreme is on battery power. I did not find that to be the case at my place. Transients and speed seemed the same whether on or off grid. We switched back and forth many times, which can be done with a simple switch on the front of the unit.
Music sounded very good, but when my friend and I discussed things after about three hours of listening, we agreed the effect was subtle. Maybe there was a touch of smoothness "on battery." Maybe.
But I think there is a challenge I don't recall reading about in reviews thus far: a true A/B is not as easy as using the switch on the front panel.
Sure, the switch takes you on and off battery mode, which tells you something, but even in the "blue" on-grid mode, the current your components receive is not an unaltered pass-through. The Tank is providing non-battery current for your devices, but also charging the batteries, and, I believe, doing a bit of AC wave form filtering management too.
I think the only proper way to compare would be with gear on the S2500 and then completely off it. I was not willing to go to that level of demo gymnastics.
I know my system well, so I did my best to zero in on the detail, flow and punch, from memory, versus the real-time system on the Stromtank.
I recognize that is not the best way to compare, but that was as far as I was willing to go.
Unplugging/plugging servers and dacs multiple times in close succession is not a great idea, in my view. And four days of listening is sufficient to notice a positive or negative impact to SQ.
I'm not going to write more about the sonic details on the Stromtank, because, frankly, I didn't find it much (any?) different from the sound without the Stromtank, which means I would just be giving you a review of my system.
For potential Stromtank listeners, all is not lost. Your power delivery and infrastructure may not be as good as mine fortunately is, in which case, you might find a significant benefit to removing components from your local grid.
The bad news may be that you really should find a demo to determine whether this is a net-plus for you or not. I genuinely believe it could be. And maybe the top model would be in my system too, but I'm not going to test that use case.
In theory, I would expect taking audio components off the grid to be a big deal sonically, and I was really looking forward to being wowed by the expensive battery beast, der Stromtank. But practically, it was not the case.
What I am now looking forward to is Team Taiko's battery solution for the Extreme, which purports to bring battery management and battery powered audio to the next level by designing and implementing new technology into the audiophile space. Hey
@Taiko Audio , how about a demo?!
