HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

Fretless wrote: ↑Tue Apr 06, 2021 7:57 am For those not wanting the hassle of assembling and programming a Pi-based streamer, Allo have released an all-in-one Allo Boss DAC 2 player.



Rapberry Pi4, DAC board with analogue RCA output and REMOTE CONTROL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A bargain for under 200 pounds.

Allo products are designed in France and manufactured in India, SQ is sublime for such small units.

That should be very good and I suspect that it will give the Linn offering at 50x the price a good run for your money. Hmm how to explain that yes we need another streamer...

One for in the bathroom, perhaps?

Great idea, but could not live with a box like that, surely a more 'grown up' design would have been better.

Would black suit you?

The black box is far more pleasant to my eye than the "blue Peter" here's one I made earlier design

These are one of the few products that have a chance of creating a new generation of 'proper audio' hobbyists. Most of the 'traditional' companies have gone 'luxury' to get the maximum coinage in as short as possible a timeframe from a dying group of over 50s. I don't care if it's pink with green spots if it attracts new enthusiasts.

Personally, I'd rather have the blue one. Looks more interesting to me...a bit different to the ubiquitous Chi-Fi bling. YMMV.

We're completely off topic now, but what I love about the Pi (and similar) platforms is the whole roll your own mentality in terms of onboard offboard DAC's, Digihats, roll your own power supplies, cases etc. It's not quite Practical Wireless territory, but when you look at some of the implementations, it's not far off. The pre assembled Allo offering is nice but I know that our next streamers will not be those not because of cost but because I can tailor them both to the existing systems/end points they will be replacing.

So last night I got the Mac Mini back into the system, and I had an extra download of Audirvana for Mac available to me, so I installed that. Apparently Mac can read a Windows formatted hard drive, but not write to it. So I was able to hook up the external hard drive and point Audirvana towards it and get music playing.

I don't know if it is something internal to the Mac, or the way the power supply is laid out, or the fact that I can use a Pi Audio power cord on the Mac but not the Intel Nuc...but the Mac definitely has a better presentation of music. The sound is more relaxed, it flows properly, the decay of notes sounds natural, and instruments have better texture.

While I feel a fool for taking the old system apart and moving pieces on, I was so sure this would be an improvement, perhaps things will work out for the better. Audirvana is a more refined program than Pure Music and interfaces with Qobuz seamlessly. The one item I have not replaced yet is the LANRover, and when I first installed it I thought it was the finishing touch that was needed. So I cannot find another one, but am considering an alternative. I have been considering the Intona isolators, as there have been pretty solid feedback on them, and the engineering behind the products is reported to be well thought out. The only drawback is which one to buy, and I have to commit as there appears not to be a way to get one with any return privileges. With any luck this combination can be an improvement of what I had, but the reality is there is no way of making an A/B comparison to verify this, so there is going to be inherent bias built into my final evaluation. But it is what it is.

OK one more question. Itona builds a USB 2.0 high speed isolator, called the 7054 I believe. They also have a model above called a USB 3.0 Superspeed isolator for about $120 more. The link to their product page is as follows https://intona.eu/en/products/

Would anyone be kind enough to look at both pieces and determine if one is better than another for an audio application. Or if one would be more useful in the future if DSD ever becomes a possibility for me again? I guess we are talking the probability of future application.

Thanks so much!

Neonknight;

No experience of Intona products.

Look at Ifi iGalvanic 3.0 which does pretty well the same thing.

I have lower-cost units: Schiit Wyrd and Oehlbach Masterclock XXL. Both of these do galvanic isolation, USB power supply and signal regeneration.