BOSS v 1.2

[ALLOaudio]

Hi to all,

just in time for the holidays, we announce the launch of our BOSS v1.2 with improved features

THD+N was improved by +1.5db

Clocks were changed to the latest from NDK  NZ2520SDA with better jitter specs (http://www.ndk.com/en/products/search/clock/1190972_1433.html)

Extra SMD film capacitor in the analog stage for better mid/hi frequency details

Ability to feed power to the Boss only using a Type C USB connector (post the PDF file on power) or Boss + RPI from uUSB (or RPI) or Type C USB (on Boss)

 

Enjoy.

[ALLOaudio]

hi to all and all the best for the year which just started.

I wanted to share these case pics...

 

[stellablues]

:-(  i just got mine delivered last month... darn.

[gstew]

Looking forward to hearing the new Boss... the old one was already my favorite in-production 5V-powered RPi DAC HAT. It was so good that when I looked at modifying it, I decided I couldn't do much that might improve it. That's very rare for me!

Greg in Mississippi

[volpone]

On 04/01/2018 at 4:16 PM, ALLOaudio said:

hi to all and all the best for the year which just started.

I wanted to share these case pics...

 

 

Any ETA ?

[Panelhead]

2 hours ago, gstew said:

Looking forward to hearing the new Boss... the old one was already my favorite in-production 5V-powered RPi DAC HAT. It was so good that when I looked at modifying it, I decided I couldn't do much that might improve it. That's very rare for me!

Greg in Mississippi

  That is saying a lot. How do you handle the DSD files?

[gstew]

@panelhead,

Short answer... it doesn't, the RPi doesn't, and I don't.

Longer answer... the Boss uses the Burr-Brown PCM5122 DAC chip, which does not support DSD.

Also, the RPi, AFAIK, only provides limited DSD support with certain distro/software setups and then only DOD. If I'm wrong on this, please, someone correct me! Ian Canada makes a converter that fits on his isolator HAT that will translate DOD to pure DSD. I have one here, but as yet have not tried it as most (but not all) RPi DAC HATS don't support DSD. I do have 1 that does... but see below.

But I'm not really keyed into what the R-Pi does for DSD as I don't have any source in DSD.

I'm trying to get a Boss 1.2 here... I'll compare it with my older Boss's & other top RPi DACs & report back when I get it.

Greg in Mississippi

[ALLOaudio]

@volpone

we are preparing the web pages.

 

will keep you posted

[volpone]

On 08/01/2018 at 9:44 AM, ALLOaudio said:

will keep you posted

 

Great. Alu case for USBridge seems now available on website: https://www.allo.com/sparky/aluminum-case-usbridge.html

- Case dimensions ?

- I would like to order (from Europe) USBridge + Alu Case , any bundle available because i doesn't need acrylic case.
 

Thank you

[gstew]

1st impressions posted here:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/317577-allo-boss-dac-1-2-performance-post5323538.html

Short answer... very impressed!

Greg in Mississippi

[matthias]

16 hours ago, gstew said:

 

 

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/317577-allo-boss-dac-1-2-performance-2.html#post5323538

[matthias]

16 hours ago, gstew said:

1st impressions posted here:

http://www.diyaudio.com/forums/digital-line-level/317577-allo-boss-dac-1-2-performance-post5323538.html

Short answer... very impressed!

Greg in Mississippi

 

Greg, 

how does it compare to your Soekris?

 

Matt

[matthias]

@ALLOaudio

Any news about Katana?

Thank you.

 

Matt

[Panelhead]

  The Katana with a volume control using the internal digital control in the ESS chip would be over the top. Plus balanced output option. 

  Who needs more?

[ALLOaudio]

Hi to all,

a little update about the alu cases for the BOSS 1.2 and Digione.

we chose to go with the flat top and made all the little adjustments necessary to have the absolute best looking case out there!

the only glitch is that, starting next week, China is celebrating its New Year and all the factories are shutting down till Fed end.  

We wont be able to produce anything before the 1st week of March.

 

ALMOST there guys!

please share your thoughts. 

 

[Panelhead]

14 hours ago, ALLOaudio said:

Hi to all,

a little update about the alu cases for the BOSS 1.2 and Digione.

we chose to go with the flat top and made all the little adjustments necessary to have the absolute best looking case out there!

the only glitch is that, starting next week, China is celebrating its New Year and all the factories are shutting down till Fed end.  

We wont be able to produce anything before the 1st week of March.

 

ALMOST there guys!

please share your thoughts. 

 

Looks incredible! For reference to size can you include a beverage in picture?

  I need to look at your products to build a server/dac. 

  Enjoy the New Year Celebration!

[gstew]

On 1/29/2018 at 3:32 PM, matthias said:

 

Greg, 

how does it compare to your Soekris?

 

Matt

Matt,

 

Of course, it is not a fair comparison... the BOSS 1.2 has < 1 week burn-in and is being fed by a very good, but not top of the line RPi source. ***

 

The Soekris I have running right now is well-broken in, has some good mods (while needing upgrades on the local regulators), and is being fed via a top-of-the-line digital source, an SDTrans384 SD card player. 

 

The Soekris still has the advantages I've mentioned in other posts of the R2R sound... separation between different  instruments and a very lifelike sound. It also beats the BOSS 1.2 slightly in resolution. And note that my other Soekris setup, fed via an RPi setup similar to the BOSS 1.2 setup, sounds very similar to the SDTrans384 one, just not quite as good.

 

But I mentioned the Soekris needing regulation upgrades for a reason. There is a sense of calm and quiet coexisting with very good dynamics in the presentation of a setup with very good power supplies and local regulation. I can hear that in the BOSS 1.2, much less so in the Soekris. The work Allo.com has done here really shines through, IMHO.

 

My current BOSS 1.2 setup with the RPi, Isolator, linear supply for the RPi, and LPS-1 for the Isolator & BOSS 1.2 is roughly a $600-$700 DIY digital player as setup. This of course does not include the well-powered and somewhat tweaked networking setup that is also needed.

 

The SDTrans384 Soekris combo with 3 LPS-1s, a dual 3||LT3045 board, 2 serious linear supplies, and some other components, as it sits now, but discounting the current prices for the Black Gate caps I used in the VRef mod (needed on the Gen I boards) is nearly a $2400 DIY digital player setup. Add in the 28 Black Gates on the board at current street price of at least $30 each and it becomes almost a $3400 DIY digital player.  The local reg mods I've got planned add nearly another  $200.

 

I'd feel really embarrassed if it didn't beat the BOSS 1.2!!! OTOH the BOSS 1.2 is good enough I will happily use it in my system when I have the Soekris down for the next round of mods!

 

BTW, I put the original BOSS back into the setup with the same RPi -> Isolator setup and it was no competition. For as good of an effort the original BOSS was, the 1.2 is a significant step forward.

 

My take is that this $65 USD or so board on an Isolator (Allo.com's is great!) and well powered (2 good transformers and 2 Stammheim paralleled LT3045 board, 1 of the 6||LT3045 boards for the RPi and 1 of the dual 3||LT3045 boards with 1 half powering the Isolator and the other the BOSS 1.2) would be a very satisfying digital player, as long as one is ok with no DSD

 

Greg in Mississippi

 

***P.S. While I haven't done all of this yet, I expect these steps will take an RPi about as far as one can take  them:

 

1. Using a seriously good power supply. The best I've tried so far is 2 LPS-1's, each feeding 1/2 of a Stammheim dual 3||LT3045 board with those halves paralleled together. This is my reference RPi power source.

 

2. Modifying the RPi using something like the ldovr.com RPi mezzanine board to replace the switching DC-DC converters on the RPi with good regulators (LT3042/LT3045). I have a couple of these on order.

 

3. Further modifying the RPi by replacing the clock with a low-noise one. I haven't looked at this much, but am confident it will be a doable mod (though messy) and make a significant improvement in the SQ. 

 

[hurka]

sparky sbc Cpu can feed separate?

[matthias]

5 hours ago, gstew said:

Matt,

 

Of course, it is not a fair comparison... the BOSS 1.2 has < 1 week burn-in and is being fed by a very good, but not top of the line RPi source. ***

 

The Soekris I have running right now is well-broken in, has some good mods (while needing upgrades on the local regulators), and is being fed via a top-of-the-line digital source, an SDTrans384 SD card player. 

 

The Soekris still has the advantages I've mentioned in other posts of the R2R sound... separation between different  instruments and a very lifelike sound. It also beats the BOSS 1.2 slightly in resolution. And note that my other Soekris setup, fed via an RPi setup similar to the BOSS 1.2 setup, sounds very similar to the SDTrans384 one, just not quite as good.

 

But I mentioned the Soekris needing regulation upgrades for a reason. There is a sense of calm and quiet coexisting with very good dynamics in the presentation of a setup with very good power supplies and local regulation. I can hear that in the BOSS 1.2, much less so in the Soekris. The work Allo.com has done here really shines through, IMHO.

 

My current BOSS 1.2 setup with the RPi, Isolator, linear supply for the RPi, and LPS-1 for the Isolator & BOSS 1.2 is roughly a $600-$700 DIY digital player as setup. This of course does not include the well-powered and somewhat tweaked networking setup that is also needed.

 

The SDTrans384 Soekris combo with 3 LPS-1s, a dual 3||LT3045 board, 2 serious linear supplies, and some other components, as it sits now, but discounting the current prices for the Black Gate caps I used in the VRef mod (needed on the Gen I boards) is nearly a $2400 DIY digital player setup. Add in the 28 Black Gates on the board at current street price of at least $30 each and it becomes almost a $3400 DIY digital player.  The local reg mods I've got planned add nearly another  $200.

 

I'd feel really embarrassed if it didn't beat the BOSS 1.2!!! OTOH the BOSS 1.2 is good enough I will happily use it in my system when I have the Soekris down for the next round of mods!

 

BTW, I put the original BOSS back into the setup with the same RPi -> Isolator setup and it was no competition. For as good of an effort the original BOSS was, the 1.2 is a significant step forward.

 

My take is that this $65 USD or so board on an Isolator (Allo.com's is great!) and well powered (2 good transformers and 2 Stammheim paralleled LT3045 board, 1 of the 6||LT3045 boards for the RPi and 1 of the dual 3||LT3045 boards with 1 half powering the Isolator and the other the BOSS 1.2) would be a very satisfying digital player, as long as one is ok with no DSD

 

Greg in Mississippi

 

***P.S. While I haven't done all of this yet, I expect these steps will take an RPi about as far as one can take  them:

 

1. Using a seriously good power supply. The best I've tried so far is 2 LPS-1's, each feeding 1/2 of a Stammheim dual 3||LT3045 board with those halves paralleled together. This is my reference RPi power source.

 

2. Modifying the RPi using something like the ldovr.com RPi mezzanine board to replace the switching DC-DC converters on the RPi with good regulators (LT3042/LT3045). I have a couple of these on order.

 

3. Further modifying the RPi by replacing the clock with a low-noise one. I haven't looked at this much, but am confident it will be a doable mod (though messy) and make a significant improvement in the SQ. 

 

 

Hi Greg,

thank you very much!

I will send you PM today.

 

Matt

[ALLOaudio]

7 hours ago, Panelhead said:

Looks incredible! For reference to size can you include a beverage in picture?

  I need to look at your products to build a server/dac. 

  Enjoy the New Year Celebration!

hi and thanks

the overall size is 8cm x 11cm 

[Panelhead]

  I have to think in English measurements. So 3.15” x 4.3”. The size is deceptive. Looks much larger. 

[ALLOaudio]

its a little bit bigger then the RPI...