I have been using Allo Boss DAC with RPI for 3+ years now. Initially started with adaptor that came with RPI, then switched to Allo's adaptor (little improvement). Then tried Power bank and it improved the highs and overall presentation. I recently started using IFI 5V and there is a day and night difference. Separation, tonality has improved a lot. So a clean power to RPI or Allo's product is must. With my experience, I would strongly recommend you to go for Shanti or IFI and you will see the difference.
Allo LPS Shanthi
- Thread starter mshifi
- Start date
@panditji
I think you are looking at Allo soultions the wrong way.
It's application is not to interface with a laptop/desktop.
It is a Pi-based SBC with a either a USB bridge or a SPDIF transport.
It is the computer with a dedicated audio player/streamer OS.
If one has a free USB input on the DAC, choose USBridge
If one has a free COAX input on the DAC, choose Digione (or Digione Signature)
Both extract the I2S (Audio) from the Pi and cleans it up in more than one way.
And then it spits digital out on the transport of your of choice.
The LPS or Ultra low noise SMPS comes in when you want to power the "clean" side of things.
The RPi itself can take a "dirty" wall wart
In my rig, I use the Digione with the stock PS; wall-wart
Cheers,
Raghu
There are lots of windows tweaks including background processing tweaks to improve output, but the interference cannot be arrested depending on the design. So some laptops and PCs can have a noisier port. There are some USB noise filters that offer galvanic isolation to improve the output
@panditji If you're looking to clean up the USB signal coming out of a laptop feeding into the DAC, then there are many add-on like products from iFi, uptone audio etc. & a bunch of others, some expensive options as well who claim to do it. Some DACs are galvanically-isolated by design with a well implemented USB input, and such add-ons may/may not make an improvement.
If you want to remove the laptop as a source, then Allo Usbridge for USB dac input or Digione for SPDIF dac input are terrific options for the price. It gives the benefit of storing all your music on a hard disk or NAS, streaming options like Spotify, Tidal etc. and control all the music playback via an app on the phone with improved sound quality versus laptop as a source directly connecting to the DAC.
If you want to remove the laptop as a source, then Allo Usbridge for USB dac input or Digione for SPDIF dac input are terrific options for the price. It gives the benefit of storing all your music on a hard disk or NAS, streaming options like Spotify, Tidal etc. and control all the music playback via an app on the phone with improved sound quality versus laptop as a source directly connecting to the DAC.
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Which power supply from IFi you are using? I guess its not LPS, if so Nirvana will also be an improvement over stock PSU.
Its not LPS.
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panditji
Well-Known Member
Sir, my laptop USB has been highly optimised by an FM who I won't name and it sounds super.. I was just shooting in the dark to see if I can do anything more to improve the sound as a couple of FMs are seeing huge improvements using the LAN/Ethernet networking route...
Sir, I want to keep the laptop in the picture because of the ease of use.. Have been reading about the Ifi isilencer and purifier but nobody has been able to give a correct picture if there is any improvement or not... Uptone audio is a little more expensive and therefore don't want to spend unnecessary money to experiment... My earlier Chord 2Qute DAC was galvanically isolated but my current Lyngdorf inbuilt DAC is not so and therefore I was wondering if any improvement can be had if a better signal if fed to the Lyngdorf DAC...
Sir, I was simply shooting in the dark.. Don't have much knowledge of the technical aspects and therefore my apologies if the questions were stupid... You have explained the Allo products very nicely and now I can understand what to use where...
Oh no worries @panditji ...
I was exploring how to clean up laptop output too.
Solutions were there and expensive and could not understand what they were up to.
Being a EE is a curse, when you don't find info about products, why they do what they are supposed.
This led me to the path where I started thinking:
- should I get a MAC mini
- maybe an Intel NUC
Both of these were expensive and USB all over again.
Did I bit of reading/exploring and found Allo to be the perfect solution for me.
Frees up laptop, coax input was unused on DAC and one spare ethernet port on router.
Digione as a player/streamer that can hide behind the TV
And can connect a HDD. Costed me 11.5K for all of this functionality/features (HDD extra cost)
Dang!! Bought it and plugged in new HDD with only music (about 400GB and increasing).
The laptop or mobile acts as console for the player.
Cheers,
Raghu
it is a poorly held secret. But I too won't name the well-known and well-respected FM.Sir, I can relate to what you are going through. I was using laptop as a source, trying various different windows tweaks to improve audio playback and optimizing foobar. Then, tried to see if the laptop USB output can be improved further as i wasn't happy when compared with my NAD cd player as a source. I had similar dilemma as my search led to iFi, uptone etc. and with varied opinions on them, didn't bother buying (though came close to picking up an iPurifier3 once!).
After sometime i just wanted to keep laptop out of the chain for the same reason as you... ease of use
That lead me to Allo and checked about them (their designer "cdsgames" is active on diyaudio forum). USBridge is very impressive for what it does and the setup sounds as good as my cd player, if not better! I don't miss my laptop anymore, in fact happy to retire it from audio duties.I think wrt Shanti, i think we can get a good deal if we make an effort and look at the companies in indiamart who are into making power supply. I got one custom build(stepdown transformer(15kg)) from Mumbai and its working great.
I guess you have a nice understanding of the manufacture now, why don't you check with the same manufacture for a 5v 3A LPS for audio duty, if it's going really cheaper than Shanti people may be interested.
surely will try and connect with them and see
Order now for just ₹19,990.00
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