Allo - streamers, DACs, bridges etc.

[Hifi_swlon]

Haha, he's a funny one Hans, but I'm sort of slightly addicted to his videos too!

The possible justification for Brystons pricing being analogous to beer prices at gigs was truly priceless.

I mean I think it's a decent looking thing, but really, will many buy it? I guess like Hans says, not everyone wants to build things and there's definitely something to that.

I wish I could report bsck on the digiOne, but the pi and neutrik have been gathering dust while the Allo gear meanders it's way here from France - presumably on foot. I mean, I know I chose standard shipping, but I thought the point of paying extra to have it shipped from Europe inc VAT etc was so it arrived quicker.....

[Hifi_swlon]

My impressions will be delayed a bit....

After a week (I did use the cheaper service, but from France to UK....) the package finally arrived. One minor detail, no digiOne board!

Am sure it was just a simple mistake so hopefully it gets resolved soon, meanwhile will just hope some other feedback pops up so I can enjoy it by proxy.

[Hifi_swlon]

Great service from Allo, digiOne coming by next day DHL tomorrow.

Meanwhile I took the time to setup the pi in anticipation (with Dietpi) so it should just be plug and play when the board arrives. I part-built the case - I really hate these acrylic cases - they're fiddly to put together (easy to use the wrong side as the outside which can mean unpicking it all), don't look particularly nice and are oversized. Still, this one is better than the iqaudio oneswith much nicer spacers.

The other snag was I ordered the wrong BNC>rca. I figured it would convert the BNC cable to be able to use the Dev rca input, but in fact it is the opposite - it converts the BNC on the board to an rca socket so you can run two rca cables simultaneously.

Anyway I've set it up initially as output BNC>neutrik>aes on the Devialet. I also enabled the aes and an rca on the D as all were disabled. That neutrik is built like a tank - I think it would survive being driven over by a tank in fact. You've got to love pro audio. The BNC connector does then stick out beyond the cover but it's not as bad as I thought - when I first plugged it in I was worried the cover wouldn't close. Not sure if there's more room on the 250 case or not? From memory the 200 had less space.

So I'm practically ready as soon as digiOne arrives.

Allo say the BNC and rca outputs run concurrently, so it should in theory be easy to do a comparison between rca and aes inputs as all I'll need to do is toggle input on the D.

I'm not sure what cable combo to use. I was thinking both with stock BNC cables from Allo (I'd have to order another one).
-So one would be as detailed above:
BNC out - BNC cable - neutrik - aes input on D
-the other:
Rca to BNC adapter - BNC cable - BNC to rca adapter.
Or I'd get an rca cable straight through.

Not sure which is the fairest comparison - what should make more difference to jitter values being as equal as possible? inline connectors on the same brand BNC cable, or the least connectors possible and use a straight connection? I've also ordered the right sex BNC>rca so I can use the single cable and swap plugs in the amp, but that will obviously mean a slight delay in changeover.

Anyway this is a test for later. For now I just want to get it and play music. I'll have AIR to compare to, and from previous notes, there wasn't much between AIR and the microrendu/Paul Hynes in my setup - in fact I leant towards AIR especially in the bass.

So let's see what the weekend brings.....

As an aside I asked Allo if running both at the same time worsened the specs in any way (jitter etc) but they said they don't have the facility to measure both outputs simultaneously, but don't expect it to. They also dont expect any perceotable difference between my cable combos but did say in audio the DACs may have a preference. I love how open they are about their measurements - it will be my first test of whether a digital source that measures well sounds good. If it does, I'll be sure to do some blind tests to confirm.

[Soniclife]

Can you plug the adapter directly into the bnc out, and then run aes to the dev?

[octaviars]

Looking forward to your impressions @Hifi_swlon regarding the DigiOne, even if I dont own a Devialet anymore my future needs some sort of endpoint to my new DAC.

If you run Roon perhaps you could try Ropieee aswell that seems to be really nice and only runs Roon Bridge so to say and support for 7" touch screen with GUI that looks really good.

http://www.ropieee.org/

[Hifi_swlon]

Looking forward to your impressions @Hifi_swlon regarding the DigiOne, even if I dont own a Devialet anymore my future needs some sort of endpoint to my new DAC.

If you run Roon perhaps you could try Ropieee aswell that seems to be really nice and only runs Roon Bridge so to say and support for 7" touch screen with GUI that looks really good.

http://www.ropieee.org/

I did think about that. I kind of stopped following its development progress since I wasn't setting up new devices and already had Dietpi sorted out. Seems like it's evolved and love the idea of web gui, but I really like device level static ips and it can't do that yet. If I get some time and a spare SD card I might try it for fun.

Some plans have come up for the weekend so that might have scuppered my digiOne time (assuming it arrives tomorrow)....

Can you plug the adapter directly into the bnc out, and then run aes to the dev?

That's a good plan I hadn't even thought about that. Although if it's anything like my other pi HATs the digiOne will probably have fairly fragile connectors - I doubt it would last long with the beast that is the neutrik hanging off it let along with an aes connector/cable attached. I can't even try it in any case as I don't have an aes cable. Something for the future. Well, until October 17th anyway.

[Hifi_swlon]

The digiOne is up and running now.
Have it running BNC cable out into Neutrik convertor into AES input. Yesterday had it same cable with a BNC>RCA adapter into one of the digi inputs.

Not much to report so far really. The margins/differences between this and AIR are smaller than I'd hoped (or should I say lead to believe), but at the same time there does appear to be a difference - certainly in the bass department - which I really can't rationalise since these are all digital signals but no point getting into the theory right now since I have something to listen to and measure.

It's slightly trickier as I re-enabled SAM shortly before the Allo arrived, and so my setup already sounds slightly different to what im used to.

Anyway, I plan to listen some more, maybe take a few measurements and try and do some blind comparisons too, and see what unfolds... will report back down the line after I've had it a while longer.

[ just to clarify from above, the BNC socket is actually pretty solid, and also perfectly lines up with the case wall and has a securing ring, sonits oribsbly stronger than I thought it would be. So I could try Neutrik at the source end and run an AES cable - apart from the fact I don't have one. Not sure what's the best or most technically correct way, since it's not really balanced, I assume the way it is us best?]

[octaviars]

The digiOne is up and running now.
Have it running BNC cable out into Neutrik convertor into AES input. Yesterday had it same cable with a BNC>RCA adapter into one of the digi inputs.

Not much to report so far really. The margins/differences between this and AIR are smaller than I'd hoped (or should I say lead to believe), but at the same time there does appear to be a difference - certainly in the bass department - which I really can't rationalise since these are all digital signals but no point getting into the theory right now since I have something to listen to and measure.

It's slightly trickier as I re-enabled SAM shortly before the Allo arrived, and so my setup already sounds slightly different to what im used to.

Anyway, I plan to listen some more, maybe take a few measurements and try and do some blind comparisons too, and see what unfolds... will report back down the line after I've had it a while longer.

[ just to clarify from above, the BNC socket is actually pretty solid, and also perfectly lines up with the case wall and has a securing ring, sonits oribsbly stronger than I thought it would be. So I could try Neutrik at the source end and run an AES cable - apart from the fact I don't have one. Not sure what's the best or most technically correct way, since it's not really balanced, I assume the way it is us best?]

What software are you running on the Pi?

I think Ropieee seems to be a nice Roon bridge software and also supports a screen but perhaps you already knew that 

When I bought my link cable for my D400 I talked to the guy at Cabledyne about this coaxial vs. aes cable and he suggested to use the cable that was right for the sender impedance 75 ohm as there were no transformer on the cable. As the input on the Devialet is transformer coupled he thougt it would make little difference but I went with his recommendation on the 75 ohm cable.

[Hifi_swlon]

Dietpi for now. I'll wait on the sidelines for the screen stuff and see how things evolve. If the digione stays for a while I was planing to hide it out if sight but at some point a screen showing what's playing and with basic transport controls always available might be a nice addition.

So maybe I should try an rca>rca 75 ohm (or as close as possible) so I can test without adapters - nothing expensive I'll probably go for a pro use cable if I can find one.

[octaviars]

You seem to really not know what to think about the sound the DigiOne makes. Was it a surprise that it is not so big difference to AIR or the differences between RCA and AES? 

I really look forward to read more about what you think of the DigiOne. 

Pi2 design is coming out with a Pi HAT with dedicated AES output in september it is called 502AES if one would like to skip the adapter.

What PSU do you use to power the Pi?