Full USB Power and Hybrid Battery Power Mode
Possible to switch between full USB Power and Hybrid Battery Power mode. In Hybrid mode, DACs and amplifiers are using clean power from the build-in 220 mAh battery. When Hybrid Battery Power mode enabled, certain sections of UA5 will still be running on USB power, like USB Controller and FPGA. But the crucial parts of DAC and amplifier will instead use a cleaner power from the battery.
In our testing, this set-up proved helpful in three scenarios:
- Consistent analog performance and noise floor, independent from the quality of USB power of the connected device.
- Reduced power drain from the connected device, which can be crucial when running it with smartphone.
- Reduced power demand allows for a compatibility with certain devices, that are normally unable to provide enough power for USB DAC/Amps.
UA5 is of course capable of running in a standard USB Powered mode, in which the battery is completely disconnected and all sections of UA5 runs out of USB power. UA5 will automatically switch to this mode when the battery runs too low.