The ALLO Audio music steamer - Pic heavy review

[The Black Adder]

Hi Rupert.

You have the wrong command. It's not amixer, it's alsamixer

[mikeyb]

Hi Rupert.

You have the wrong command. It's not amixer, it's alsamixer

So Volumio works same way when you do alsamixer settings

[r100]

Ah, don't use Volumio so I'm not sure, sorry

oki, yes, that's why I switched to Volumio for this board as it has a specific setting for the Piano2.1DAC...

Continuing some more listening...

I did an amp swap (from a class-D LJM L15D with two beefy transformers) to my trusted Dada Quad 306 and also found a way to simultaneously stream high res files from iTunes over Airplay to both DAC's in order to be able to switch from one DAC to the other without any delay ...

First off, the Quad has made the sound a little more cosy, which is hard to get used to after having tasted the precision and slam of the class-D amp combined with these DAC's.

But, even in this configuration, I hold on to my first impressions. The sound of the two DACs is very similar, both have clocks but the Kali+Piano2.1 still seems to have an edge in terms of imaging. YMMV. I must stress that I am comparing a first gen. (V1) audiophonics DAC with the clock option. I had falsely stated that it was a V2. From what I understand the big difference between V1 and V2 is the layout of the boards and a more precise clock (2x) in the newer version.

Also, maybe my system is not resolving enough to get every little drop out of the two PCM5142 chips on the Kali / Piano2.1 combo (LJM L15D, Quad Dada 306, SC LDR pre, KEF LS50, Q Acoustics 2020i, NVA and Klotz cables). Volumio seems to have the optimal settings for the Piano2.1. AFAIKS, Moode 3.0 still needs some tweaking at the time of writing to properly drive the Piano2.1. I have a feeling that much can be done on the tweaking / software side to get the most out of these devices but that possibility also opens a door to an large, almost infinite number of options which could influence the sound in some subtle way. I don't think I want to go through it. The sound is already great to my ears ;-) and I could easily settle for it. Maybe some larger speakers one day ?

On the build side, I prefer the Audiophonics DAC. It has RCA's which can be bolted to a chassis, thus relieving the board from any stress from un / plugging cables. The Piano's RCA's would probably break off after a while if used in a chassis. But it would be easy to de-solder them and route some wires to chassis mounted RCA plugs.

Back to some tunes ;-)

[The Black Adder]

Great stuff, Rupert.

I asked Tim of Moode about a driver for the Allo, he said it's on his to-do list - Hopefully it won't be long.

[ALLO.com]

. The Piano's RCA's would probably break off after a while if used in a chassis. But it would be easy to de-solder them and route some wires to chassis mounted RCA plugs.

Back to some tunes ;-)

Rupert,
thanks for the great feedback.
we will soon release something new that will take care of that issue.

[ALLO.com]

Great stuff, Rupert.

I asked Tim of Moode about a driver for the Allo, he said it's on his to-do list - Hopefully it won't be long.

hope he has a short list
exciting none the less.
several new releases in the upcoming months...

[Cycleallday]

Piano 2.1 with no sub connected and PI3 + Moode 3.1 with DAC set as IQ pi Dac+ (no other default changes applied)

I have just got the Allo items and intend to compare to the Audiophonics V3 DAC shortly. However, initially I notice a lack of lower bass registers. On another forum I noted what seemed like an Allo employee saying the 2.1 default setup has a an 80hz cut off on the main RCA output as this is where the configuration cuts over to the sub DAC and this could account for what I hear. Does anybody know if this is the case and how can it be changed? It appears there is an app and some pre set configurations which can be used has anybody come across these? (it seemed this was not the TI software used for the filter set up)

Mel

[Lunicycle]

Rupert,
thanks for the great feedback.
we will soon release something new that will take care of that issue.

Does that mean a custom case?

[jonners]

Piano 2.1 with no sub connected and PI3 + Moode 3.1 with DAC set as IQ pi Dac+ (no other default changes applied)

I have just got the Allo items and intend to compare to the Audiophonics V3 DAC shortly. However, initially I notice a lack of lower bass registers. On another forum I noted what seemed like an Allo employee saying the 2.1 default setup has a an 80hz cut off on the main RCA output as this is where the configuration cuts over to the sub DAC and this could account for what I hear. Does anybody know if this is the case and how can it be changed? It appears there is an app and some pre set configurations which can be used has anybody come across these? (it seemed this was not the TI software used for the filter set up)

Mel

You could try the setting on Moode for the IQAudio Pi-Dac Pro. Or move to Volumio, which has the Piano 2.1 settings.

[ALLO.com]

yes... best option for now.