My Setup with optimized Source

@dheerajin : Can't agree more with you on optimizing the Digital Front.
My setup is as follows :

i5 Computer(Roon Core) + Allo-USBbridge (roon end point) + Ifi Switching Power=> Uptone USB Stick => Singxer (i2s) => Blue Jeans HDMi => Holo Spring level 2 => Duelund 20awg =>LTA MZ2 + LTA LPS=> Duelund 12 awg => Rethm Saadhanas.

Initially , I was using Raspberry-Pi + Hifiberry+ LPS as by source into my ifi DSD dac . The audio was better than my standard computer source, but the upper mid-range was always thin sounding. With the addition of the Allo , everything started to sound significantly cleaner and less harsh .
After getting the Holo+Singxer , the details in the sound increased significantly but still there was a lack of body in the mid-range and upper mid-range was getting exaggerated in some mediocre recording. The holo was even higlighting it more than the ifi dac as it was significantly more detailed.It was really frustrating as spending so much money on the Holo was not being rewarded in a positive way. I decided to replace the stock power supply with the Ifi switching power supply and also the USB cable with the Uptone USB stick. This brought in a significant improvement in whatever I listened to. There was much more body and realness in sound and my system is now playing at a level that I have never heard before.
I am really happy that i found the real culprit. Its always the source that we tend to neglect !!!

Now , I still think i can improve on the texture of the sound and was thinking of getting the Iso-regen to start with. Now I am not sure if I use the Iso-regen , will it be able to contribute to the sound as because the Singxer will again re-clock the digital signal.
Are you changing any settings in the Singxer to allow the re clocked signal from iso-regen to pass directly to the Holo through I2s ?
The Best solution is a One-Box player which can hold the roon-core ( so that I can even avoid streaming into the roon end point) , but I am not sure if there are any boxes in a resolable price -point. Innous is significantly out of budget. SMS-Ultra is an alternative , but it can't hold the Roon-core.
 
@dheerajin : Can't agree more with you on optimizing the Digital Front.
Now , I still think i can improve on the texture of the sound and was thinking of getting the Iso-regen to start with.- (You will definitely get the improvement with ISO regen, since it is regenerating the USB signal with help of clock, while singxer is reclocking the signal not reshaping it and at the same time it is changing the output to I2S. You need to buy 90 degree uptone USPCB to accommodate ISO in the chain. Please dont use any other USB cable.)
Now I am not sure if I use the Iso-regen , will it be able to contribute to the sound as because the Singxer will again re-clock the digital signal.
Are you changing any settings in the Singxer to allow the re clocked signal from iso-regen to pass directly to the Holo through I2s ?-( There is no setting available and its of no use, as I reiterated , regeneration and re clocking is different, though both uses clocks.)
The Best solution is a One-Box player which can hold the roon-core ( so that I can even avoid streaming into the roon end point) , but I am not sure if there are any boxes in a resolable price -point. Innous is significantly out of budget. SMS-Ultra is an alternative , but it can't hold the Roon-core.-
(SOTM ultra is with reclocker and if possible audition before buying anything....I dont use Roon ..i am using one of the 6 available players of SOTM...and I believe ROON is not playing in purist mode..it is with some aphrodasiac :D)..if possible for you to travel anytime to Pune..please do visit..Listening to low noise floor will give you new direction..since digital is still unexplored territory for us. PM me and talk to me on phone..we can discuss many things...that are not possible in writing
 
https://allo.com/sparky-eu/usbridge.html

I was to consider to use this ?
What is your opinion on the product ?
LPS - of Cause.
Thanks,

Dheeraj bhai knows much more deeply as he has been using the products in discussion since a long time
But let me add my 2 bits here

If the comparision is with the SOTM then vote goes for SOTM as it uses ultra low noise voltage regulators where as there is no mention on the allo website that it uses same in sparky and usbridge

So even if a LPS is used the switching volatge regulators create electrical noise

When comparing to the raspberry pi, the Allo solution is way better to its design
 
Thanks Rikhav !

I will keep the LPS Computer 'alive'
This is just a 'cheap' experiment.
A few of my CA friends are over the moon with this & since it
was 'super cheap' thing to try - I am giving it a 'spin'
The Roon for 1 year is costing more.
I am awaiting delivery. Purchased on Monday.
Then I shall use this with Roon & HQ Player together.
I will compare it to my current set up & decide.
However, the final test - as I have always said is the spinning
silver disc & I shall compare it to that & decide which way I
want to go.
 
Thanks Rikhav !

I will keep the LPS Computer 'alive'
This is just a 'cheap' experiment.
A few of my CA friends are over the moon with this & since it
was 'super cheap' thing to try - I am giving it a 'spin'
The Roon for 1 year is costing more.
I am awaiting delivery. Purchased on Monday.
Then I shall use this with Roon & HQ Player together.
I will compare it to my current set up & decide.
However, the final test - as I have always said is the spinning
silver disc & I shall compare it to that & decide which way I
want to go.

Yes surely it's worth trying then if the comparison is with a PC and a raspberry pi

It surely trumps upon the raspberry pi and would come at par or better then desktop pc assuming both are powered with LPS

But Allo usbridge will just work as an endpoint , so another pc will be needed in the chain to do all the processing

Give a fixed IP to the Allo so there are no detection issues
 
J Play - this morning;
Tracy Chapman - Gimme 1 reason - SUPER.
Just so natural / effortless 16/44.1 !
No J River etc. Still on my PC - LPS & it sounds super....
Not sure if I want to give that Allo a spin at all....Its playing [current set up]
so brilliant !
BTW - all the Cables for the LPS have arrived. Now only the Allo is O/S
DTDC says its on the way !
 
Agree with rikhav....Actually there is a difference in how USB stream is handled and what clock has been used.
Even there is difference in sound between windows 7 and windows 10 due to difference in handling of USB stream .
And PC or laptops are itself noisy, so USB signals are already degraded before leaving the Port, secondly USB cables add some degradation to it and computer has very basic clock and source clock matters.

USB Cable- Best is 35 dollar USPCB by uptone audio, it is a hard circuit board not a cable. Immediately one can here the improvement by replacing USB cable with USPCB.

Now SOTM has ultra low noise voltage regulators as rikhav mentioned and it has different way of handling USB stream and better clock, which makes it best at 450 dollars.
Coming to the linear power , not all linear supplies are true linear , 90% of them has AC leakage current, which makes then useless.
Very few supplies handles current dynamically and they have no AC leakage current and they are expensive too.

Coming to the ALLO..yes people are very happy with it compared to the heavily optimized PC . it does remove almost all deficiency PC generates but it does not have ultra low noise voltage regulator , good clock and better way of handling USB stream, which SOTM has.
All these are my experience and reading till date...YMMV.
 
J Play - this morning;
Tracy Chapman - Gimme 1 reason - SUPER.
Just so natural / effortless 16/44.1 !
No J River etc. Still on my PC - LPS & it sounds super....
Not sure if I want to give that Allo a spin at all....Its playing [current set up]
so brilliant !
BTW - all the Cables for the LPS have arrived. Now only the Allo is O/S
DTDC says its on the way !


Please note , Allo USBRIDGE works well with the stock PSU or a better SMPS( example ifi ).Try to avoid a LPSU.
I was discussing with Andrea , he is building an audiophile grade SMPS for allo.. If you are playing through stored music , avoid a switch or a router .
The differences are huge when you establish connection through static IP between your PC and Allo through Ethernet.
The sound field is very relaxed. I am using the USPCB , which is a nice USB connector , but many people also use the "Lush" USB cable.
 
The Best solution is a One-Box player which can hold the roon-core ( so that I can even avoid streaming into the roon end point) , but I am not sure if there are any boxes in a resolable price

Khushnava,

Roon does not recommend the one box solution for best sound. I would suggest you continue as is with the Roon Core on your i5 machine and the Allo USB Bridge as the Roon endpoint. But as always with anything audio there can only be one way to find out - hearing it for yourself.

Regards.


.
 
Khushnava,

Roon does not recommend the one box solution for best sound. I would suggest you continue as is with the Roon Core on your i5 machine and the Allo USB Bridge as the Roon endpoint. But as always with anything audio there can only be one way to find out - hearing it for yourself.

Regards.


.

Hi Nikhil,
Like you said,the Roon core is heavy and the processing power required is quite high . At the same time too many hopping points for data specially through router,switches (which are non-audiophile units) and cables can be even bad. If we have to use a streamer , the data hopping has to be minimized. The Ethernet to Ethernet connection is the best solution. I have personally tested it and can vouch on this.But if we want to use Tidal , it again calls for a bridged connection with dual Ethernet port. There is also a thread about the same ..[A third way to plumb Roon inside the DX is to have Roon Core talk to Roon Ready directly. ]
https://www.computeraudiophile.com/...y-improve-the-sq-of-computer-audio-streaming/

The innuos has the roon server and client in the same machine. I think it might the way to move forward.
 
Does one need to buy the Innuos Machine first ?
You know - my roon has been at it for 3 days & yet my 2.3 lac songs have not been classified or analysed as yet... I wonder what the issue is ??

Change the speed of analysis from the roon remote settings or change to on the fly analysis, so once you play track it will there and then analyse and give you all info

I have kept analysis off, not bothered with dynamic range , wave form and dynamic range info
 
I have kept analysis off, not bothered with dynamic range , wave form and dynamic range info

That is what I was compelled to do - but that was with an i3/4GB and no SSD and a small database.

I've read on the Roon pages that the windows version matters too (with new ones being faster), the biggest factor though is the SSD - spinning disks are about x 10 - 100 times slower

ciao
gr
 
That is what I was compelled to do - but that was with an i3/4GB and no SSD and a small database.

I've read on the Roon pages that the windows version matters too (with new ones being faster), the biggest factor though is the SSD - spinning disks are about x 10 - 100 times slower

ciao
gr

Agreed but SSD still not cheap enough to use it as storrage disc specially with data going in terabytes :)

SSD is blazing fast , if going for NVME and above but I highly doubt anyone will.ise it for storage
 
Agreed but SSD still not cheap enough to use it as storrage disc specially with data going in terabytes :)

SSD is blazing fast , if going for NVME and above but I highly doubt anyone will.ise it for storage

The database is small. From the roon recommendation pages
"The SSD can be 64GB or larger -- note that larger SSDs tend to be faster due to how the chips are laid out (after 256GB, it doesn't matter... for now). It is extremely rare you will need more than 64GB of storage on this SSD. ROCK will not use it."

The cost is trivial, esp in comparison to the gains. A M2 Samsung 960 EVO 256GB is about a $100 or so !

you do not need the SSD for your music only for the catalog/ database

the Roon nucleus configuration is below

"The Roon Nucleus will come in standard (i3, 4Gb RAM, 64Gb OS SSD, ~US$1200) and Nucleus+ (i7, 8Gb RAM, 128Gb OS SDD, ~US$2000) variants, will be housed in a nice case and will run Roon’s bespoke operating system."

My brother was very amused with the configuration I was trying to put together to get my new system. His suggestion was just get a SSD for your Zotac. And I am doing that. That too, I mean :)

ciao
gr
 
The database is small. From the roon recommendation pages
"The SSD can be 64GB or larger -- note that larger SSDs tend to be faster due to how the chips are laid out (after 256GB, it doesn't matter... for now). It is extremely rare you will need more than 64GB of storage on this SSD. ROCK will not use it."

The cost is trivial, esp in comparison to the gains. A M2 Samsung 960 EVO 256GB is about a $100 or so !

you do not need the SSD for your music only for the catalog/ database

ciao
gr


OK
Got it
It's to store, read and access the database roon creates
 
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