Does anyone know if the IqAudio dac pro works with Kali?
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Does anyone know if the IqAudio dac pro works with Kali?
I don't think it would be just 'plug and play'. It appears to be quite simllar to the Pi-DAC+, in which case it would need to be supplied with 3.3 Volts beacuse the Kali does not pass the 3v3 through to the DAC.Quote:
Originally Posted by SantanaCorreia
I had my IQAudio Pi-DAC+ working with Kali by using a small regulator that converts 5V to 3.3V.
I will buy one once the case is released. I already have an IQAudio Dac+ and Vana bundle as well as a RPi with a Hifiberry Digi+ feeding a relatively expensive DAC so will be interested to see how the Boss fares. I preferred the Vana setup to the IQAudio Dac+ but feeding spdif to my external DAC is still the best sound for me. The others work fine in bedroom/office setups.
Updated Boss review at the end of this thread.
https://community.roonlabs.com/t/all...c-review/20575
Hi all.
Just letting you know that a full review of the boss will be coming soon.
Many thanks
Jo :)
Hi all.
I've now had the updated ALLO BOSS in my system for a good few weeks now and I have to say that its certainly now settled in enough for a more in-depth review.
Firstly, I use it with a PI3 and an SBooster linear PSU. I've had chance to hear this not only through my Croft but a very nice passive preamp too. The results are positive. I've also flipped back to the Piano 2.1 and KALI combo to which yealded different results.
If you aleady have the Piano/Kali combo then here are my thoughts. The differences in the BOSS in this respect are that the scale of the music I found to be more expansive with a much more dynamic nature. Kick drums seem cleaner with more meat on the bones. Powerful and natural. Mid ranges have a slightly more fluid tone. Water droplets for example have a much rounder, more believable tonal quality with space and weight.
High frequencies are handled much the same way with nice, yet not over stated ringing or harshness.
The bass... Well, its simply wonderful. It's fast, dynamic and most of all tuneful. I'm getting controlled sub bass like never before. The BOSS has an air of discipline to how it pulls each range in to focus. I belive its down to timing as well as balancing. For all this to be fitted on to one tiny card is bogglingly lovely.
The BOSS is like no other imo. It's clean and tuneful signature brings it out to be a more sophisticated little number. It's certainly not a boom boxy kind of affair as it can reproduce delicacy as well as raw oomph with ease.
In my last review I ran the IQAudio DAC+ along side of the allo units and came to the conclusion that the IQAUDIO had a more softer, more accommodating quality for classical passages. Well, I feel less of that now. The latest BOSS does it all. There is no need for another now. Imo, its knitted both quality sound and SPPV together.
The music I've been listening to has been a mix of old, new, rock, dance, trance and classical and I've yet to hear a duff or irritating sound.
All in all... It's simply smashing.
Can it get any better? At the moment, I can't think how.
Good review, I might try one and ditch the Piano/KaliQuote:
Originally Posted by The Black Adder
IMHO, if this is true, and I have no reasons no to believe (great review btw), Allo has made a move that might not be that cleaver. A cheaper product is better than its direct competitor in the same company. KALI and PIANO will suffer a lot. A direct downsell. The only reason why this makes sense is to gain market on Iqaudio or audiophonics. But I really dont know were the KALI and PIANO are when it comes to product cycle.
Looks like they have ironed out all the problems now Josie. Glad your appy ;)Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Adder
The way that Kali improves the I2S signal from the Pi is different to the method on The Boss, with Kali being theoretically better. It also backpowers the Pi and DAC with cleaner power, apparently. Can this 'better' be heard, that's the question? I think I'll be getting The Boss rather than Kali plus Piano 2.1 or Mambo LS (my previous plan), but more because of form factor than anything else.
I got the BOSS about 10 days ago and have been 'testing' it out with my Dali Zensors powered by Marantz PM5005.
The BOSS is mounted on a Raspberry Pi 3 and the combination sounds pretty good to me. Overall I am very satisfied.
I do not have an expensive power supply for my RPI - just a normal Motorola charger for which the RPI has never complained.
My source is all digital - mostly FLAC files and also some online radio with bitrates varying from ~40 kbps to 320 kbps.
Some of the low bit rate radio stations also sound quite good to me.
This afternoon, I did a comparison (side-by-side) between this DAC and my FiiO D03K DAC which is connected to my Panasonic Plasma smart TV.
Only on a side by side comparison you can make the difference out.
After listening to various genres of music I could say that the BOSS tends to somehow bump up the lows and the highs.
(I am aware of the 'burn-in' time of about 50 hours - which I have not yet crossed with my BOSS - so I might come back with my observations after some time again)
I do not know if this is called the 'dynamic range', but if yes, then that is higher/ wider.
So, for casual listening the BOSS tends to make the music sound 'punchier'. However the FiiO which costs me half, give a much flatter output. This seems to be better when listening to vocals.
The low end 'thump' is significantly higher with the BOSS - you can really feel that. On the flip side, this sometimes tends to overpower the vocals.
I have not had any experience with other RPI DAC's so, I cannot comment on that part.
Currently using Volumio but waiting to try MoOde.
I received the Boss yesterday, finally got it working with Volumio (not yet possible in Moode?), and listened to a few tracks before retiring to bed. While I am hesitant to jump to any conclusions based on such limited listening, and especially as people report improvements after 50 hours or so, but I am already very happy with it. Compared to my previous IQaudiO pi-DAC (which I feel was an excellent Pi DAC) it already seems like there's more life to the music at the same volume (I listen at fairly low levels) and instruments are projected a bit further out from the speaker. I wondered about the claims for bass handling that I'd read, and so far I agree. I didn't listen to any particularly bassy music (looking forward to trying some bass driven jazz and reggae) but the piano music I listened to had a lovely realistic timbre to the lower keys. So far so good. Can't wait to listen to a lot more music on it! Will post an update in a few weeks.
Looks like you guys are hearing the same as me. Yes, try some decent Reggae... lol :)
Regarding the PSU. I have since tried the BOSS with the normal wall wartythingie and to be honest it's pretty good. It's not as defined and the bass is less focused but it's still fine to listen to.
Yes. MoOde 3.5 will have support for this.Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
I'll look forward to it, hopefully not too far off.
Has anyone got 3.5 to work with Allo Boss DAC? I'm using Rasp Pi 2. The image installed and I set it up like I usually do, but no sound at all :(
I use the Piano 2.1 DAC and it took me ages to get sound from it, but I can't for the life of me remember how I did it sorry. I am assuming the Boss DAC will be the same issue as I had, I know I restarted mpd a few times and checked the alsamixer in Putty.Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
had a couple of issues myself but its working with rpi 2b. it wont run all features though i think, might be a power issue or a processor one. Not really had a chance to run it much to give myself an impression of if its better yet. Been too busy setting up jriver 22 which I think I may buy. I feel although its not finished yet and has some stability problems, it sounds better than 21.
Thanks both, I will persevere then!
It took me a bit of fiddling to get it working with Volumio, but I spent at least 1.5 hours last night trying all different settings and rebooting frequently, but still no joy. The interface of MoOde seems a bit clunky on the I2S DAC front, with two different places to select which DAC you have: one list doesn't have The Boss, the other does! It's all very confusing!
I think I disagree with this. Perhaps report back once you have passed the burn in period?Quote:
Originally Posted by vakharia
Sure different DACS have different sound signatures and much is down to preference and perhaps matching with the rest of your system, but for me I don't hear any evidence of the U-shape tuning you refer to (often used purposely to make cheaper speakers/headphones sound 'good').
I don't like overly bright sounding components, and The Boss doesn't have this, to my mind.
The bass 'bump' you refer to I actually think is better bass definition and handling. I don't hear anything that shouldn't be there, and in bass heavy music like reggae there isn't any hint of booming or over-emphasis over the vocals. I'm thinking here of well recorded reggae, something like the Bob Marley studio albums mastered by Barry Diament, for example. They sound great through the Boss, and the vocals sound very well tuned alongside the good bass.
Would be great to hear your updated thoughts :)
You need the advanced kernel and select Allo Boss DAC in the I2S audio device setting. I don't know where else you found to set the DAC. You may also need this to make the Boss show as an audio device
sudo sqlite3 /var/local/www/db/moode-sqlite3.db "update cfg_audiodev set kernel='' where id='1'"
I've tried that method and although the Boss Dac is listed, I can't get any sound from it. I spent about 8 hours on it yesterday and no joy with MoOde or Volumio. It's definitely working as I got it to work with piCoreplayer but I prefer MoOde.Quote:
Originally Posted by tkr001
Pretty disappointing to buy something that for the moment doesn't actually work with the main distros, if I'd known I wouldn't have bought the Boss just now.
Will be trying DietPi and RuneAudio today see if any of those work, and then wait on an update for MoOde.
@mikeyb
I agree about the premature launch of the Boss, could have been more proactive about drivers etc probably. I also recognise the apparent reliance on the good will of the distro devs and community more widely to get these things working, for which I am very grateful.
I'm surprised that you couldn't get it to work on Volumio, that was relatively painless for me and it works pretty well (though I am also keen to see the MoOde bugfix patch).
I installed Moode 3.5 yesterday but couldn't see the Boss Dac, I installed the RT advanced Kernel but it still wasn't listed. Should the command line you posted fix this?Quote:
Originally Posted by tkr001
Thanks
yes it does, just ssh into your Pi and add the complete line including quotes and the Boss DAc will show up in the i2s list, hopefully you'll have better luck with it than me as I can get it output any sound at all even using this method.Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Adder
To add to my woes, my Pi won't boot up now so trying a different Sd Card in case I've killed the other one with around 30 installs and re-installs etc
No joy with Volumio, I even used the latest version too, I could see the DAC but no matter what I tried I couldn't get it to work, don't worry I won't give up yet, just a shame it looks like my mSD card is now corrupted, busy formatting with an overwrite just now to see if can revive it :steam:Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
Grrr! Frustrating. Puzzles me why some have better luck than others with these sorts of things. Hopefully bugfix will be along shortly... :)Quote:
Originally Posted by mikeyb
I've cracked it, have put how I did it in the MoOde Player help thread 😁Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
My post here: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?p=857540
Great stuff :)
Thanks for Mike, Moode is now grooving away with the BOSS.. :)
Sounds fantastico :):respect:
Excellent [emoji3]Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Adder
What settings are you using, I just have mine set pretty basic, but keen to try others to try and improve it.
I'm never sure if Software volume is ok as I thought it was always best to use hardware and use your amp to control volume?
Any chance you could give a rundown on your settings so I can copy them [emoji6]
I'm also interested in what settings might be tweaked for SQ optimisation. I also presume hardware volume is best, but I adjust with the UI rather than amp knob, just for convenience.
Can anyone perceive a difference between the advanced kernels? And what about upsampling, is it worth it? There are also some CPU handling options, the relevance of which I have no idea! :confused:
I'd be interested to hear if anyone has experimented and come to any conclusions (I will be trying to do this myself over time, but demands of two young children mean it will likely be a slow process of snatched opportunities).
Yes hardware volume control is always better, we will release a Relay attenuator that will work with Piano , Piano 2.1 and BossQuote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
We are in testing now , will post as soon as I get updates.
I am now using the RT kernel with hardware... IMO it sounds more dynamic but I didn't give the LL kernel nowhere near enough time so might go back to that later.
Before I got an error message when I changed it to Hardware but I then re-installed Moode and did Mike's instruction list again and it worked perfectly. I didn't get any error message.
So here are Mikes instructions for those wanting to use the Boss with Moode 3.5.
Hi,
Right, I've cracked it.........at last :eyebrows: :D
Here is how I got it to work with MoOde 3.5
1. Clean Install of MoOde 3.5 onto the mSD card and inserted into the Pi, powered on and wait for it to boot up
2. Browsed for the Pi on my phone using FING app to see if it was connected to the network ( noting the IP address )
3. SSH'd into the Pi via Putty using the IP address found with FING (Username for MoOde is pi and Password is raspberry)
4. Copied and pasted this line into the Putty screen sudo sqlite3 /var/local/www/db/moode-sqlite3.db "update cfg_audiodev set kernel='' where id='1'"
5. Rebooted
6. onto the PC now and the MoOde setup page and went to Configure/System and then under System Modifications chose Advanced-LL and clicked install, you need to give it time to install and wait for the reboot message, once this is seen Reboot
7. not sure if this is necessary but I had to reboot twice ?
8. Configure/System make sure under Linux Kernel that Advance-LL is selected.
9. Configure/Audio then choose Boss DAC from the I2S audio device drop down menu, it put Slave Disabled in by default
10. Reboot
11. Configure/Audio and under MPD menu click Restart MPD
12. Reboot
13. Configure/Audio and I set the volume warning limit to 100 but this is up to you.
It's all working now, just need to find out if the DAC only uses software volume or not, I always had previous DACs set to hardware and controlled the volume via the amp.
Happy Days :eek: :eyebrows: :lol:
----
Referencing our Moode thread here: http://theartofsound.net/forum/showt...er-Help/page87
Not got boss but using the rt kernel too. Seems better for me anyway
Yep, the man from Del Monte says 'Oh aye lad, sithi'
quick message to say that there is a volumio img that outputs L mono on one chip and R mono on the other..
https://volumio.org/forum/allo-piano...t5046-350.html
I found a way using Moode to persuade the Piano 2.1 DAC to work in dual stereo mode. (i.e. putting out full audio spectrum L and R through both DACs.)
To do this, select resampling to 24bit, and avoid using hardware volume. In Moode 3.6, I'm using 24bit/*kHz upsampling and Software volume with Advanced Kernel.
Useful if you're bi-amping, or want to experiment with taking L and R out from separate DACs.
As a final upgrade I am considering buying an IFI ipower smps to power both the Pi and the Boss. It seems that there are some who consider that the best results are to be had from powering the DAC directly, and backpowering the Pi from the DAC.
Thing is, I'm not entirely sure how this is done, and how easy it is to implement - has anyone here tried this or got any info? I think it involves the gpio pins, so would I need to cut the connector off the ipower and solder the connection, or might there be an easier way?
I did read about removing a jumper or resistor from the Boss, but I think this only applies if you wish to use a separate supply for each component, is that correct?
There's information about powering the Boss on the Allo.com website.
Thanks Jonners, but it only shows how to use the j14 connection site and remove the resistor to isolate the Boss from the Pi - it doesn't mention the GPIO pin option, which I know is also possible if you want to backpower the Pi.Quote:
Originally Posted by jonners
Just ordered a Boss plus case, looking forward to trying it with Moode 3.6 :)
IT is quite easy to use an external power supply.Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
I connected it to the 1/2 and the 15/16 pins of the J19 connector on the Boss.
Now it is powering the Boss and the Pi.
See also:
https://volumio.org/forum/allo-boss-t5903-90.html
Mark
Thanks for this Confirmation Mark, much appreciated. But for the benefit of a complete non DIYer like me (at least where electronics are concerned), how does one make the connection? Would I have to cut the connector off of the ipower smps and solder the bare wire onto the Boss pins? Does this automatically backpower the Pi without having to remove any tiny resistors? I'd need to know the precise procedure before risking damaging anything through my inexperience!
There is no soldering on the Boss required, just use some connectors.Quote:
Originally Posted by LC1979
And if you want to use the IFI perhaps some soldering on a connector to connect the two cables to the Boss.
But no damage done to the Boss at all, unless you check the polarity of the IFI ;-)
In my setup it looks this way:
https://markveldman.com/img/bossj19.jpg
Thanks Mark, that's really useful, especially to see a picture. Still need to make up my mind whether to attempt this, since I have no soldering equipment or skills! I wonder if the difference of powering it this way is really noticeable compared to through the Pi in the usual way?
[QUOTE=LC1979;861259]Thanks Mark, that's really useful, especially to see a picture. Still need to make up my mind whether to attempt this, since I have no soldering equipment or skills! I ]
One thing I would suggest for any future BOSS is to have the same power connector as the KALI. The small USB plug on the RPI IMO is it's weakest point.
I would like to know if powering like above would be sonically more beneficial.
My BOSS is still grooving... very impressed with upsampling set to max too! :)
I've read on another forum some time ago that the RPI has a protection diode in the usb power socket that can drop the voltage slightly. If I recall correctly the guy who had built a PSU had set his output to 5.2 volts to compensate. I'll see if I can find the original post.
I thought that I had read people claiming this, but the folk over at DIYaudio seem to think possibly not that noticeable. The real gains more seem to agree on is by isolating them and powering separately. I won't be doing this any time soon, as I have no soldering skills!Quote:
Originally Posted by The Black Adder
hey guys,
i see talks about feeding clean power to the BOSS...
see attached pictures of our ISOLATOR board that does just that!
Also you can see pictures of:
our miniBOSS, a master DAC for the piZERo
the DigiONE, a BNC and coaxial output board
let me know your thoughts!!
these are all under testing , more info about release date soon!
Andre