Many thanks Tony
Location: Bedfordshire
Posts: 62
I'm Neil.
Many thanks Tony
Started proper listening to the XS DAC 01 tonight using a GE JAN5670w valve using one of Geoff (Walpurgis) homemade coax, kindly sent to try out.
First things first, the homebrew coax is very transparent and very well made. It has already made it obvious that this system needs some running in yet, as it has shown obvious improvements in clarity and separation on each listen so far.
Initial impressions of the DAC itself are very positive too. Early days yet, have had an initial listen comparing SS and Valve output against both each other and the output from the same tracks via FLAC using the ALLO Boss 1 as a comparison.
Not a strictly controlled session by any means as I’m really just looking for rough impressions at this point.
Had an initial listen to some selected tracks from the following:
Frank Sinatra - Best of the Best
Alt J - An Awesome Wave
Lisa Hannigan - At Swim
Paul Simon - Shining Like A National Guitar
Listening was done primarily through the headphone output of the Icon Audio Stereo 20PP using Audio Technica ATH-MX40X headphones.
Initial impressions are that this thing has bags of potential. At the end of the session I found myself leaving the unit on it’s valve output in preference to the SS which I found to be less engaging. The valve output grew cleaner and more informative as the session went on.
Looking forward to more listening on the speakers next time.
One thing that is already clear is that the CD player is no longer embarrassed to be in the company of the rest of the kit!
To be continued...
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A mainly digital setup with a musical amplifier and endearing 1970's speakers. A CD player that hardly ever gets used and a turntable that is good enough to remind my how enjoyable my old vinyl is. Some cables and things.
Hi Tony
How has the listening progressed over the last 12 months. I am giving serious thought to a Rpi/Boss combo, if you had to choose between the XS dac 01 with the GE tube and the Rpi/Boss, on a sound quality only basis what would you go for? did you ever try adding the isolator and LPS to the Rpi/Boss combo? if so did it change the decision?
Hi Ian,
The XS (GE tube) never really got a look in after initial comparisons to be honest, I found the RPi/Boss better in every aspect even in a fairly simple setup using a powerbank to supply and no isolator.
Since then I have upgraded the the RPi/Allo setup to a Katana + Isolator and found the sound to be a significant improvement without losing any of the Boss’ good points.
Currently running with a powerbank on the clean side and standard ps on the dirty side but planning on getting a Allo Shanti dual power supply soon.
I think that’s me done on the source side of things for the foreseeable future. I’m happy streaming Tidal HiFi through the Volumio native interface on the Allo, seldom even refer back to my FLAC collection, let alone CD or Vinyl.
Tony
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
A mainly digital setup with a musical amplifier and endearing 1970's speakers. A CD player that hardly ever gets used and a turntable that is good enough to remind my how enjoyable my old vinyl is. Some cables and things.
Thanks Tony, that is a big help, pretty clear that I need to try an rpi/allo combo
Ian