Allo Boss2 - Filter Settings

[matazooma]

Dear FMs,
Yesterday I received my new Boss2 player with Moode OS. Very much pleased with the sound quality. I would like to know the filter settings which you recommend.

1) HV-EN - High Voltage Enable/Disable
2) FILTER – Filter selection
A) PHCOMP – phase-compensation Enable/Disable
B) HP-FIL – High Pass Filter Enable/Disable
C) DE-EMP – De Emphasis Enable/Disable
D) NON-OS – NonOversampling Enable/Disable
3) F-SPEED – Filter Roll-off Interpolation Selection – FAST/SLOW

Thanks.

 

[AudioGugu]

Congratulations on getting an awesome streamer.
Sadly not much information about the filter settings on their website, or even on online forums. Even their tech support person here has very little idea about it.
Hopefully someone will come along with the answers. Until then u won't be disappointed with the preconfigured box.

 

[AudioGugu]

Does anyone here have any experience with the Allo Boss 2 filter settings or has any information on online links or threads that can help clear things up.

 

[Sean de Silva]

Dear FMs,
Yesterday I received my new Boss2 player with Moode OS. Very much pleased with the sound quality. I would like to know the filter settings which you recommend.

1) HV-EN - High Voltage Enable/Disable
2) FILTER – Filter selection
A) PHCOMP – phase-compensation Enable/Disable
B) HP-FIL – High Pass Filter Enable/Disable
C) DE-EMP – De Emphasis Enable/Disable
D) NON-OS – NonOversampling Enable/Disable
3) F-SPEED – Filter Roll-off Interpolation Selection – FAST/SLOW

Thanks.

After multiple unsuccessful phone calls with waretohouse tech support (I got a mild headache understanding his accent) I finally got my player up and running today by referring to moOde setup online.
The oled display shows the following settings. There is no online resource wrt these settings hence have left it to default.

HV-EN ....ON
PHCOMP ....Disable
HP-FIL ....Enable
DE-EMP ....Disable
NON-OS ....Disable
F-SPEED ....Fast

 

[Vineethkumar01]

In case anyone wants to see the filter responses for various configurations, check this data sheet for the DAC IC used in the player (from page 122 onwards). The digital filter responses are given there. https://statics.cirrus.com/pubs/proDatasheet/CS43198_F1.pdf
However, it is hard to explain the utility/effect of these filters to an end user who simply wants to listen to music properly.
Ideally, the filter responses should be selected as per the sampling frequencies of the digital music files that are being played.
I suggest that you stick to the default configuration for now. Once you get accustomed to it, try playing around/exploring the filter settings.
Due to the nature of the impulse response of the filters, some filters have the potential to create slightly delayed playback, 'echo' like sounds, minor boost/reduction in amplitude of certain frequencies. It may/may not be audible depending on several things.
Also, this thread might have some opinions/suggestions of users and the manufacturer about it:

Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

@BikeSmith60 One idea that can explain what you hear...can you check on your Oled screen if HV enable is On ? Otherwise you will compare 2.1Vrms (of Squeezebox) to 1.7Vrms (Boss2 HV enable Off) levels .. HV On is 2.0Vrms

www.audiosciencereview.com

Ultimately if it doesn't make any audible differences, it doesn't matter anyway.

 

[tapmal5]

how is it compared to Allo signature player and which one is better if anyone has tried both, onfused between them.

 

[raghupb]

how is it compared to Allo signature player and which one is better if anyone has tried both, onfused between them.

Boss2 is a Pi based player/streamer with DAC
Signature series (Digione or USBridge) are Pi based player/streamer without DAC
If you already have a DAC then you may choose Digione or USBridge.
Otherwise, Boss2 player is a decent addition to an all analog chain.
Disclosure:
I have evaluated the Boss player (previous gen).
It is a workable unit if you are up to navigating and playing with SW settings via OS.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[mbhangui]

how is it compared to Allo signature player and which one is better if anyone has tried both, onfused between them.

I don't have Boss2. But I have Allo usbridge signature, allo revolution DAC. from whatever I have heard

1. The best sounding is the Allo Katana. But it is the most difficult to setup and get the best sound. It requires multiple power supplies to get the best sound
2. The boss2 is one of th best Raspberry PI based player. It has a good inbuilt DAC. It uses Cirrus Logic DAC CS43198 as a master. Unlike pcm5122, it has excellent THD (-120 vs – 83). Unlike Ess, the sound is “darker” (not bright, low out of band noise).
3. I have the allo revolution dac which is not as good as Katana, but far easier to setup and with default settings it sounds better than Katana. The boss2 is also as good as the revolution DAC based on ESS dac. But allo has tweaked few things to remove the overly bright sound of the ESS dac.

 

[Credoh]

After multiple rounds of experimentation my ideal Boss 2 settings are:

1) HV-EN - High Voltage Enable
2) FILTER – Filter selection
A) PHCOMP – phase-compensation Disable
B) HP-FIL – High Pass Filter Enable
C) DE-EMP – De Emphasis Disable
D) NON-OS – NonOversampling Enable
3) F-SPEED – Filter Roll-off Interpolation Selection – SLOW

 

[SanjeevM]

If one has the Katana DAC, is it worthwhile to replace it with Boss2 ?

 

[pravs_sg8]

HI Sanjeev ,Katana is the best of ALLo no comparison between Boos2 & Katana