SPDIF Transport: Allo Digione or Allo Digione Signature Bundle (seeking opinions)

[Weathered]

Curiously, Allo lists a cleaner SMPS called Nirvana on their Allo website.
This one is not available locally, at first glance.
Will have to call the dealer (FabToLab) and find out what other options are there for power supply.

Basically there are 3 options from Allo: Stock RPi wall wart, Nirvana & Shanti.
Nirvana is the most recent launch of Allo having one 5V output (2.8 amps), so may not be in the Indian market yet. It's like a competitor to iFi iPower priced in the same ballpark, both being SMPS.

The designer says it took 2 years & a true competitor to lps. He also mentions this,
PS: I often get asked, what’s better, Nirvana or Shanti. Well Nirvana is a small SMPS vs a big LPS. Cheaper to ship. Shanti is slightly better to my ears, but it depends on how good your system is. See the link below for more info.

Nirvana SMPS

Nirvana SMPS

allo.com

Shanti is linear regulated, with two galvanically-isolated 5V outputs (3 amps for RPi board & 1 amp for Digione).

 

[Kannan]

If someone owns CCA's never give it off. I am yet to find such a good VFM device. That said its analogue output is also exceedingly good and with healthy 2 volt output to drive most active speakers or power amps.

Coming to the part of power supply for ALLO transports like the USBrisdge, Digione, and their signature variations, a good LPS of course improves the output by a wide margin.
The background will be as much more darker with a clear audible perception is instrument separation and between them, especially in congested sessions. The stage gets that much wider and deeper.

That said, those who do not want to that route, go with a high current battery bank (around 4 to 5 amps) or get four LIFEPO 18650 batteries with a charger. You can buy the battery holder from the ALLO distributors.

 

[Yogesh]

If someone owns CCA's never give it off. I am yet to find such a good VFM device. That said its analogue output is also exceedingly good and with healthy 2 volt output to drive most active speakers or power amps.

Shut up Already! Guys don't listen to him. No harm in getting rid of something you don't need!

 

[raghupb]

@venkatcr
Thanks for the detailed impression of the Allo ecosystem.
My router has one LAN port free and sits on the AV rack.
So I should be able to use it, correct?
I can play around with SW options, if need be.

@Weathered, @Kannan
Will explore more about these PS flavors.

On a general note:
In the words of John H. Darko
" Allo – they are based in Bangalore, India. Their Raspberry Pi HAT is as good an example as any of ‘you get what you pay for’ but also a device that puts the boot into cultural preconceptions about a product’s country of origin being a reliable indicator of quality. British is best? Not ‘ere it ain’t. "

Puts a smile on my face.
If the opportunity clicks, yes would definitely like to buy from Allo.
R&D and manufacturing in Namma Bengaluru.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Anshul_J]

@Kannan, would a better power source improve sq in digione(non signature)? Could you please guide me to the right source for LIFEPO 18650 battery and/or high current battery bank.

 

[premoddev]

Wifi connectivity on RPi 4 is pretty stable on Moode and Volumio. Nowadays Allo ships players with RPi 4 only, so connectivity part over Wifi should be fine.

I am using a BOSS DAC on my RPi4 , both are powering up by a mobile charger ( 5v 4 amp) over the USB C port on RPi. It's doing pretty well when playing FLAC files, also the web radios.

Power supply actually make difference, although I haven't tried any clean power supplies, but different mobile chargers and finally settled with an Oppo F11 Pro's charger. This is my clean power supply

 

[Kannan]

Quite a few FMs are I thing using the MI 20000 battery bank.
You can research. Look at the current rating.

 

[sandeepsasi]

Thanks @Anshul_J
I did a little more digging around on price.
This is what I have currently from FabToLab
Digione (default PS) - 11.5K INR
Digione (Shanti LPS) - 20.9K INR
Digione Signature (2 default PS) - 21.7K INR
Digione Signature (Shanti LPS) - 30.5K INR

Yes. There is something in 3 price ranges and 4 combos to choose from.
Curiously, Allo lists a cleaner SMPS called Nirvana on their Allo website.
This one is not available locally, at first glance.
Will have to call the dealer (FabToLab) and find out what other options are there for power supply.

Definitely will audition before committing.
I know the limitations and shortcomings of my setup.
My rig/room is nowhere perfect, so is are hearing abilities

Cheers,
Raghu

Hi,

Did you try contacting Allo directly for the prices? When I purchased Katana player, that is what I did. I said I am from Bangalore and they provided a quote in INR. It was cheaper than the price quoted on their website and I made the payment via online bank transfer. I also opted to pick up directly from their factory. Not that the cost of shipping was high, I just wanted to visit their place.

With regards,
Sandeep Sasi

 

[manniraj]

I went further crazy and got this kind of ethernet adapter for my FireTV stick 4k as well as CCA

4.15US $ 21% OFF|Micro USB2.0 to RJ45 10/100 Mbps USB Ethernet Adapter Network card LAN USB Adapter Lan RJ45 Card for Fire TV/Google Chromecast|TV Stick| - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

www.aliexpress.com

No idea if it improved or not but I do get the option of wired connection and it help with Stick 4k for better bandwidth and no harm so far but slight improvement even for the CCA. Next I have a spare LPSU which I built and will try to power the CCA

 

[raghupb]

Hi,

Did you try contacting Allo directly for the prices? When I purchased Katana player, that is what I did. I said I am from Bangalore and they provided a quote in INR. It was cheaper than the price quoted on their website and I made the payment via online bank transfer. I also opted to pick up directly from their factory. Not that the cost of shipping was high, I just wanted to visit their place.

With regards,
Sandeep Sasi

Ah!! Nice.
Let me check if they have a factory outlet

Wonder why they don't have greater visibility in India, given R&D/Manufacturing is local
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[premoddev]

Fabtolab is much cheaper than Allo's quoted price when I ask for BOSS DAC.. so went ahead with Fabtolab..

 

[manniraj]

FabtoLab prices listed on there website do not include the GST, so once you add you will get the on road price

 

[premoddev]

Yes, but it still costlier from Allo directly..

Allo quoted me 4950+GST for BOSS DAC and fabtolab it's 2730+GST...see the difference ...

 

[raghupb]

FabtoLab prices listed on there website do not include the GST, so once you add you will get the on road price

Prices I put up earlier from FabToLab website are inclusive of 18% GST
If I get anymore info will keep you guys posted
Cheers,
Raghu

 

[manniraj]

Allo quoted me 4950+GST for BOSS DAC and fabtolab it's 2730+GST...see the difference ...

I think the reason could be that Allo gives around 10-15% discount if you buy the items in bulk. So fabtolab may be passing on some of this benefit to the end buyers.

 

[premoddev]

But it's more than 40% here .. even you can buy from warehouse.com , they also cheaper than Allo.

 

[robin3989]

I've also connected a 500 GB USB HDD having my FLAC collection to Usbridge. I didn't find any major drawbacks with Volumio library management, though I downloaded an app called MALP to control the playback in Volumio for songs on HDD.

Is your HDD externally powered? That might work well with Volumio, but the problem occurs when a USB flash drive or a Portable HDD is connected to the rpi. Volumio takes a while to update the library for scanning through a 64GB flash drive and list 5 - 10% of the content stored. That's my experience and it was butter, I eventually switched to Mo0de per @Kannan advice and its been working seamlessly.

MI 20000 battery bank.

That's right, I use a Mi 10000mah power bank for the signature board and there were no issues.

 

[shyamv]

Hi Raghu,

I think you have been receiving some excellent inputs but here's my take on RPi+Allo Digione and RPi+Digione Singature.

I own both and have compared the Allo duo with a few other streamers and Digital transports - Chromecast Audio, Cambridge Audio CXN V1, Bluesound Node 2i, Audiolab 6000N. As a streamer plus digital transport, i believe either of the two Allo products hold out on its own and is overall excellent value. I would rate either of the Digione products over BlueSound Node 2i (more detailed and transparent), Cambridge Audio CXN V1(more balanced and less bright) and Chromecast Audio (no comparison really; Digione blows it out of the water). Audiolab 6000N is a few notches better than Allo but costs almost 3 times as much as Signature and 5 times as much as Digione.

Between the two, Digione Signature is more detailed and almost analytical. You need to be careful of upstream partnering equipment as I found that some metal tweeters, brighter amps and Signature veer on the too bright side for my taste. Regular Digione is more forgiving of its partnering equipment and is great value for money. I think a LPS like Allo Shanti does not make much difference for Digione while it is a must have for Signature. Even Allo does not recommended using a LPS with Digione.

A word of caution. Both of these need a LOT of burn-in time.. atleast 200-250 hours. Out-of-the-box they sound tinny and two-dimensional with any of the partnering equipment I tested it with.

Answers for your questions.
1. what's the best OS choice for streaming Spotify (Premium) & Amazon-Music (Prime bundle)?

I tried Volumio, Moode, Pi Musicplayer, Rune and found Volumio and Moode to the best in terms of sound. Support for Spotify and Tidal is included in both though in Volumio, Tidal comes with paid version only. As of now none of RPi players support Amazon Music as far as I am aware. So, you would need to do play over UPnP using BubbleUpnP or SqueezeBox. Volumio's library management and search leaves much to be desired though.

2. can it read a 2TB HDD and play music from FLAC/MP3/WAV?

Yes, I use a 8TB NAS and 2TB SD drive and both works well Volumio.

-3. does it make sense to go in for the Signature version? (price difference is about 4-5K INR)
As mentioned above, Digione and Signature have a slightly different sound. Signature is more analytical, transparent and resolution than Digione. If your upstream amps and speakers are not as revealing, then Digione should do. I have also read that master clock on these Allo products does not play well with some DACs though I have not witnessed it personally.

4. is there a big difference Digione and Signature, if paired with Allo Shanti (as recommended)?

With Allo Shanti, not so much with Digione but significantly with Signature. Another word of caution. Don't use either of these with iFi iPower. That combination is quite bad. Recommend that you stick to Allo LPS units.

5. no interest in their battery pack solution (not a practical solution for me)

Not sure, as I have not tried this with either of the Allo products.

Hope this helps.
Regards,
Shyam.

 

[raghupb]

@shyamv
Wow!! Thanks for the detailed impressions/review of both Digione and Digione Signature.
Most of technical doubts are cleared up for now.
Yet to figure out the availability and pricing of each bundle with the PS flavors.

Both sets of speakers, KEFs and MAs are, I would say on the bright/forward side of the experience.
My rigs are simple, no idea whether they are revealing or not.
One thing for sure they does not tolerate bad recordings or bad quality streaming.
Eg.
The same song on Spotify and Amazon music sound different.
Amazon being more fatiguing.
I guess its because of the nature of how each streaming service sends over the data?

@robin3989
Thanks for confirming the HDD behavior. The one I have is externally powered.

Cheers,
Raghu

 

[Kannan]

One more tip for rpi based transports. Boot off an externally powered high capacity hard drive drive with OS and music data on the same drive.
Yes there is one risk of OS getting corrupted means you will need to back up the music partition and then copy it back after reinstall.

But the possibility of corruption is infinitesimal as compared to SD card.

https://www.hifivision.com/threads/...ignature-usb-mass-storage-boot-support.79669/