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Reviewer: Srajan Ebaen
Financial Interests: click here
Source: 27" iMac (3.4GHz quad-core IntelCore i7, 16GB 1.333MHz RAM, 2TB hard disc, 256GB SSD drive, ADM Radeon HD 6970M with 2GB of GDDR5 memory); PureMusic 1.86; Amarra 2.3; Audirvana Plus 1.3.9.8; April Music Eximus DP1; Esoteric/APL Hifi UX1/NWO-M; Audiophilleo 2 with Bakoon BPS-02, Burson DA-160 [on loan]
Preamp/Integrated: ModWright LS-100 with Psvane CV-181T tubes, Esoteric C-03, Bent Audio Tap-X, Burson Soloist [on loan]
Amplifier: First Watt SIT1 monos, ModWright KWA 100SE
Speakers: Aries Cerat Gladius, Boenicke Audio B10
Cables: Complete loom of Zu Audio Event, KingRex uArt USB cable , Stereolab Tombo Trøn BNC/BNC coax
Stands: Artesania Esoteric double-wide 3-tier with optional TT glass shelf, Rajasthani hardwood amp rack
Headphone amps: ModWright LS100, Eximus DP1, Antelope Audio Zodiac Gold/Voltikus, Burson Audio HA160DS, Burson Audio HA160, Burson Audio Soloist [on loan]
Headphones: HifiMan HE-5LE, HE-500, HE-6; Sennheiser HD-800, Beyerdynamic T1 and T5p, Audez'e LCD2, AKG-K702 all recabled by ALO Audio; Ortofon eQ7
Powerline conditioning: 1 x GigaWatt PF2, 1 x Furutech RTP-6
Sundry accessories: Extensive use of Acoustic System Resonators, noise filters and phase inverters
Room size: 5m x 11.5m W x D, 2.6m ceiling with exposed wooden cross beams every 60cm, plaster over brick walls, suspended wood floor with Tatami-type throw rugs. The listening space opens into the second storey via a staircase and the kitchen/dining room are behind the main listening chair. The latter is thus positioned in the middle of this open floor plan without the usual nearby back wall.
Review Component Retail: €330 + VAT in Europe, €425 in the US

Shortest review ever? It seemed so. How much to report on a battery supply? Mention what it will drive. Mention how soon it'll hit expired, please recharge. And that's where Bakoon's BPS-02 calls it quits already. It's the definitive indefinite battery. The idea is simple yet splendid. Upon finally seeing it done, one feels aghast that nobody's got there sooner. The recipe? Take not one but two battery packs. Design a clever patent-pending circuit that switches them on the fly. Without interruption one recharges, the other plays. Then hand over. Repeat ad infinitum. Like that mythical perpetuum mobile. Continuous battery power. Eureka Edison!
At ~€750 Bakoon's original BPS-01 above is a more expensive object d'art. Like their Blue Moon award-winning AMP-11R it's carved from solid aluminum. Despite—at that review's end—protestations to the contrary, I eventually did acquire an amp for myself. It keeps both my very best headphones company and shall embarrass quite a few future review loaner amps. The gleaming dress code of the BPS-01 naturally reflects its tariff. And that was harder to justify when its designer was keen on seeing it get on with affordable USB-powered DACs like the Lindemann, the Arcam rDAC and the Apogee Duet 2. Hence the somewhat overkill casing was revisited. Then a case for infinity was made as that very unique and unexpected bonus. That should have built out the core audience for the BPS-02. Bakoon for the world!


The BPS-02 thus goes where Bakoon usually wouldn't. It's still a pretty li'l thing at 4.7" square and 1.2 inches high but forgoes the all-out monolithic casing. In turn it shows some skin—er, screw heads—on the front. Being customizable, it can output 5 or 6 volts from its twin 2200mAh Li-ion cells. The power umbilical to your device gets terminated to match. I'd ordered a 5V output on a standard computer-type USB slot. That's because I would run the power leg of my KingRex uArt Y cable into it. With its combined end that cable feeds an Audiophilleo 2 USB converter mounted directly on the BNC input of my massive Esoteric/APL Hifi UX1/NWO-M.



KingRex's own UPower supply accomplishes the same but does drain to empty after so many hours. My little grey cells often forget to set its recharge. Then I don't have juice for the next session. That's easily fixed of course. Stick the cable's power lead into a USB port on my iMac. But it does defeat the purpose. And who on a routine basis wants to be chided by an inanimate box for not paying better attention? Enter the never-ending Bakoon. No more little greys turning red in embarrassment. No more exasperation like in the past where review loaner DACs kept mum to cause confused trouble shooting until someone remembered that battery switch. Hey professore!

BPS-01
I'm certain that running the Arcam rDAC or an equivalent DAC off the BPS-02 rather than stock switching wall warts pays out very obvious dividends. But that simply wouldn't be how I'd use mine. And really, could one battery supply on a USB cable make a difference to another battery supply on the same cable? I didn't think so. Hence my briefest of reviews was to stop right here. Affirm that this tiny box works as advertised because it really just keeps going. Liberating shout-out to battery depletion (how good it is to be boss): Yer fired! And that would be it. Fini.

But then things took a turn. Convenience and self respect be damned, we had sonics to discuss. That warranted a quick email to Soo In Chae of Bakoon Korea. What gave? Did I now also have to order a 12V BPS-01 for my Cambridge Audio iD100 digital-direct iPod dock? That after all serves up the tunes for my desktop and nightstand systems where the latter has gone grand central for the AMP-11R. While I had Soo In's attention, just how did his batteries shake hands without voltage sag/spikes or the briefest of power loss? With a pending patent he likely would just smile. But perhaps I'd learn something?