Allo digione signature

[sivakuru]

What is your preferred input on the DAC side? USB or SPDIF/BNC? If you prefer USB, then USB Signature Player is an alternative to consider and cheaper than Digione Signature Player.

Buy USBridge Signature Player online in India | Fab.to.Lab

USBridge Signature Player Ultra low noise RPI

www.fabtolab.com

HI, I am fine using either of them. However my main criteria is to stream from Spotify, Amazon music and YouTube. I think both USBridge and digione will have the same limitations. Correct?

 

[shyamv]

Guys,

Need your help and inputs.

I am currently using my laptop to stream music from Spotify, Amazon music and YouTube music.
I want to free up my laptop from the streaming duties and wanted to buy a cost effective streamer and thats how I landed upon Allo.

I have read some reviews and seen some youtube videos and still I have some questions for which I need help from you guys.

I understand Allo has a DigiOne Signature player which supposedly is ready to be used out of the box. I see this player
currently available here https://www.fabtolab.com/digione-signature-player.

I am assuming that this has the Raspberry Pi module upon which the Allo stack is built on.

Although the player version is ready to be used to be out-of-the-box, it still says that I need to buy another PSU.

Does this player support WiFi?.

Also in the above page (fabtolab), the default player costs Rs 17k but there seems to be addons.

Should I buy the 32GB version of the eMMC card for additional 1k?. Is it necessary?.

Also if I go with Volumio as the OS, how would I configure it to play Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube?.
Do I have to pay additional subscription to Volumio to stream from Spotify, Amazon Music and YouTube?.

I think Volumio has a webinterface and an app to control it. How would I be able to configure Volumio to
stream from the above said platforms?.

Sorry for lot of questions, I am trying to make sure that if Allo would meet my needs before spending money on it.

The case is Rs 530, the additional 5v PSU is Rs 530. So these 2 along with the player which is Rs 17328, sums up to
a total of Rs 18388 is sufficient to make it work for my streaming needs?.

Thanks for your time and help.

You would need 2 power supplies with Signature, one of which should be either a LPS or battery pack. If you don't use either of these for the clean power for Digione Signature, I found that the overall sound isn't a significant improvement over regular Digione. I would recommend Signature only if the rest of the chain is revealing, otherwise regular Digione would do. Also Digione Signature doesn't sound great with a very bright chain. Make the super low noise makes it sound more bright?

Both Digione and Digione Signature are available in 'Player' config with a full package. Digione is around half the price of Signature.

A 16GB SD card should be enough unless you want your music on it as wellm. And yes, Rpi support wifi but recommended to use wired connection if you are streaming over DLNA or Tidal HiFi. For Tidal on Volumio, you would need a Volumio Virtuoso subscription. I guess you have answers to the rest of your questions.

 

[DB1989]

You would need 2 power supplies with Signature, one of which should be either a LPS or battery pack. If you don't use either of these for the clean power for Digione Signature, I found that the overall sound isn't a significant improvement over regular Digione. I would recommend Signature only if the rest of the chain is revealing, otherwise regular Digione would do. Also Digione Signature doesn't sound great with a very bright chain. Make the super low noise makes it sound more bright?

Both Digione and Digione Signature are available in 'Player' config with a full package. Digione is around half the price of Signature.

A 16GB SD card should be enough unless you want your music on it as wellm. And yes, Rpi support wifi but recommended to use wired connection if you are streaming over DLNA or Tidal HiFi. For Tidal on Volumio, you would need a Volumio Virtuoso subscription. I guess you have answers to the rest of your questions.

Does the allo do a better job of streaming than the audiolab 6000n insofar as the ease of use and sound quality are concerned?

 

[raghupb]

HI, I am fine using either of them. However my main criteria is to stream from Spotify, Amazon music and YouTube. I think both USBridge and digione will have the same limitations. Correct?

Both Digione and USBridge will stream Spotify on Volumio.
No support for Amazon/Gaana/YouTube.
I think others have experimented with LMS and got a better choice of streaming services.
I did get to know that USBridge Signature has had a lot of "design love" given to it.

Anyone is Delhi/NCR willing to let me try the Allo Digione ? Have heard great things and would like to compare how it fares vis a vis my laptop as a source?

They seriously need to get their India story right!!

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Weathered]

I remember YouTube official plugin was in earlier versions of Volumio, but not available in recent versions (removed) as it was not working as expected.

 

[Kannan]

I remember YouTube official plugin was in earlier versions of Volumio, but not available in recent versions (removed) as it was not working as expected.

It is due to API restrictions from YouTube and poor implementation of device authentication on the Volumio platform.

 

[Kannan]

@sivakuru The bluetooth is a simple and straight forward implementation. I have read that the SQ has become very good since version 5 and the aptxHD and related protocol implementation which has enhanced the bandwidth and reduced the related buffering and jitter. But I have to yet try it.
Also for the latest bluetooth audio streaming, both source and recipient devices should be capable of the latest technology.

Regarding airplay, it is not as good as native playback, infact I find streaming itself a compromise than playing from local drives.

 

[sivakuru]

Thank you @Kannan for your reply.
When you say airplay is not as good as native playback are you saying not good as in quality of SQ or not good because of network issues, dropouts during playback?
For me native playback is not an option, don't have songs locally stored anymore, so I will have to use Spotify only for my music needs and unless there are connectivity issues I will have to live with that.

Appreciate all of you taking time to help.

 

[shyamv]

Does the allo do a better job of streaming than the audiolab 6000n insofar as the ease of use and sound quality are concerned?

Firstly, Allo Digione/Signature and Audiolab 6000N would not be an apples-to-apples comparison. Allo is a streamer+digital transport while Audiolab is a streamer+digital transport+DAC. So the former's sound quality would depend on the DAC to which it is connected to. As a transport, I found it to be clean & uncolored. As a streamer, Volumio or Moode is better than PlayFi that comes with AudioLab but don't not compare well against BlueSound or MusicCast or Heos.

 

[premoddev]

Thank you @Kannan for your reply.
When you say airplay is not as good as native playback are you saying not good as in quality of SQ or not good because of network issues, dropouts during playback?
For me native playback is not an option, don't have songs locally stored anymore, so I will have to use Spotify only for my music needs and unless there are connectivity issues I will have to live with that.

Appreciate all of you taking time to help.

Spotify works well with Volumio or Moode without any issues. Infact 90% of the FMs use Digione or BOSS player for streaming Spotify only. There is native client or Spotify connect available, so you don't need to have Airply/DLNA/UPNP enabled to use Spotify.

 

[Kannan]

I think Volumio supports only Spotify paid version. In MoOde though there is a native plugin. If you are industrious you can try plex server, bubble pnp etc.
LMP over picoplayer is in my opinion the best for streaming as it has direct plugins for youtube, tidal, quboz, spotify and more.

For local playback I prefer MoODe

 

[DB1989]

Firstly, Allo Digione/Signature and Audiolab 6000N would not be an apples-to-apples comparison. Allo is a streamer+digital transport while Audiolab is a streamer+digital transport+DAC. So the former's sound quality would depend on the DAC to which it is connected to. As a transport, I found it to be clean & uncolored. As a streamer, Volumio or Moode is better than PlayFi that comes with AudioLab but don't not compare well against BlueSound or MusicCast or Heos.

Which DAC do you use it with and is that combination better than the 6000N? I have a Chord mojo so was wondering if its a good enough combination.

 

[amit11]

have a Chord mojo so was wondering if its a good enough combination.

Chord mojo is a great dac, though i do not have it personally but it has got great reviews.
Now whether usb input to mojo would sound better or coax input would sound better, needs to be checked.
If coax sounds better than digione, if usb sounds better on mojo than the usbridge.[/QUOTE]

 

[shyamv]

Which DAC do you use it with and is that combination better than the 6000N? I have a Chord mojo so was wondering if its a good enough combination.

I don't have a seperate desktop DAC. I hooked Digione and AL 6000N as a SPDIF digital transport to Cambridge Audio CXA81 Amp, Audiolab m-DAC mini DAC/amp and NAD D7050 Amp. First two have an ESS DAC and NAD uses a CSR DDFA chip amp. I found Digione to be better in all the combos except in the case of NAD D7050 where AL 6000N was better.

 

[amit11]

Digione signature arrived today.
quite impressed.
Very clean sound...
Both sides powered by wall wart.
Case yet to receive. Pic attached...

 

[robin3989]

Digione signature arrived today.
quite impressed.
Very clean sound...
Both sides powered by wall wart.
Case yet to receive. Pic attached...

Nice. Upgrading to a clean power for the signature board will further reduce the jitter or other associated noises. Also use a better coax cable to connect the signature with your DAC. I don't want to start a debate, but I'm using 1.7m coax cable to connect between signature and DAC, there have been several posts on keeping the digital cable long and analog RCA interconnects short. I haven't performed an A/B comparison, but a longer cable helps me keep the digione signature farther away from the DAC/AV rack.

 

[amit11]

I was able to run digione with volumio. Since volumio screen provides which i2s dac to select.
I have also dietpi in another SD card. Where to go and tell dietpi to set digione as soundcard?

 

[Analogous]

OK, I see 2 options.
1) Get something like auris and use Bluetooth to stream from laptop or phone.

2) Get digione with Volumio, enable airplay on it and use it as a renderer. Install tune blade on laptop and use it to stream to Volumio.

Between the 2 options which has a superior SQ?. Is Volumio airplay along with tune blade stable or are there teething issues?

Hi,
I got a digione signature @ three weeks ago. I use a wifi usb dongle to connect it wirelessly.

I am not technically proficient and @shyamv kindly showed me the process. I will try to recall these below.

These dongles cost somewhere between a couple of hundred to Rs.800 : plug it into one of the 4 USB ports and connect to your router using a CAT5 cable.

Open network settings on your phone or computer and add the Digione signature (wifi password will be needed as also the IP number)

Once it’s connected you can remove the wired connection and it will connect to the wifi dongle. open volumio on your phone/tablet/computer screen (should be on same network) select the wireless connection option and you are good to go.

My wifi connection is adequate and I don’t experience any dropout or issues. i have found the SQ consistently better than BT.

Airplay, Audirvana both work with this.

Hope this helps.

 

[mshifi]

Hi,
I got a digione signature @ three weeks ago. I use a wifi usb dongle to connect it wirelessly.

I am not technically proficient and @shyamv kindly showed me the process. I will try to recall these below.

These dongles cost somewhere between a couple of hundred to Rs.800 : plug it into one of the 4 USB ports and connect to your router using a CAT5 cable.

Open network settings on your phone or computer and add the Digione signature (wifi password will be needed as also the IP number)

Once it’s connected you can remove the wired connection and it will connect to the wifi dongle. open volumio on your phone/tablet/computer screen (should be on same network) select the wireless connection option and you are good to go.

My wifi connection is adequate and I don’t experience any dropout or issues. i have found the SQ consistently better than BT.

Airplay, Audirvana both work with this.

Hope this helps.

thanks for sharing. Will try out for usb bridge. wasnt able to do it earlier and was using the cable.

 

[premoddev]

Hi,
I got a digione signature @ three weeks ago. I use a wifi usb dongle to connect it wirelessly.

I am not technically proficient and @shyamv kindly showed me the process. I will try to recall these below.

These dongles cost somewhere between a couple of hundred to Rs.800 : plug it into one of the 4 USB ports and connect to your router using a CAT5 cable.

Open network settings on your phone or computer and add the Digione signature (wifi password will be needed as also the IP number)

Once it’s connected you can remove the wired connection and it will connect to the wifi dongle. open volumio on your phone/tablet/computer screen (should be on same network) select the wireless connection option and you are good to go.

My wifi connection is adequate and I don’t experience any dropout or issues. i have found the SQ consistently better than BT.

Airplay, Audirvana both work with this.

Hope this helps.

So the question is why did you prefer wifi dongle over the onboard wifi of RPi? Have you tried it before buying dongle? Btw is it RPi 3 or 4 on your Digione?

Ther reason why I am asking, I have a RPi4 based player running MoodeAudio and streaming web radios and Spotify without any hiccups using the onboard wifi.

Thanks.