Allo Digione Signature

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The Allo DigiOne Signature seems to require power cables with USB C connectors. Most power supplies (included Allo's own 5V/3A PSU, ifi iPower 5V PSU, UpTone Audio's JS-2, etc.) come with DC cables with barrel power connectors. Are DC cables with USB C connectors included in the DIgiOne Signature package? Which power cables are recommended for the DigiOne Signature? 

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6 minutes ago, ALLOaudio said:

@nbpf

the DigiSig player includes the following: Player includes: RPIB/B+, DigiOne Signature, Acrylic Case, 8GD microSD card or eMMC and 5V power supply with 2 x DC to type C USB connector cables https://allo.com/sparky/dc-type-c-usb-adapter-cable.html

Thanks!

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3 hours ago, Johnjc said:

Just to let people know got the signature up and running

I am feeding the dirty side with the supplied SMPS I might experiment later on as I have a spare battery I can use and could use a 12v to 5v dc converter Just need to find on with a USB C output or perhaps a adapter 

Sound wise it is a nice step up. The tonal colour is more richer, it gives more slam and micro detail. Both files and Spotify sound excellent. ...

You mean a nice step up from the DigiOne, I suppose, right? Thanks, nbpf

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42 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

I wait for the reviews too but I think the Digione Signature will outperform the USBridge.

At the moment there is a price drop on the Sparky SBC and the USBridge so I hope Allo will launch a Signature version of the USBridge as well.

 

Matt

In which sense can the Digione Signature outperform the USBridge? They are rather different devices with very different outputs ...

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2 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Both compared with the same DAC.

 

Matt

But in order to compare USBridge and DigiOne with the same DAC, you have to use a USB to SPDIF interface between the USBridge and the DAC which makes the comparison a bit pointless. I would rather compare the DigiOne with other transports with SPDIF outputs.

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22 hours ago, matthias said:

 

No, I would compare with a DAC with both USB and SPDIF inputs without any additional interfaces.

 

Matt

 

That's of course possible but it means comparing a USB source + USB interface with a SPDIF source + SPDIF interface. This makes judgements about the sound quality of the sources difficult because, for a given DAC, the quality of its USB interface can be quite different from the quality of its SPDIF interface.  

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@allo.comIs it meaningful to power both the dirty side and the clean side with the same 5V/3A high quality power supply (via a Y cable) or it is recommended to use two separated power supplies?  Thanks, nbpf

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9 hours ago, allo.com said:

Always use 2 PSUs since  otherwise you will make a ground connection defeating the galvanic isolation

 

Thanks!

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Has anyone compared the DigiOne Signature to a Schiit Eitr connected to a USB port of the same RPi hosting the DigiOne? 

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21 hours ago, olklei said:

I have compared the Digione Signature to USB over ifi silencer into a gen5 usb gumby. The schiit gen5 usb interface is essentially a eitr. I have found the digione Signature to be clearer and easier to listen to. I use a 7.4V battery on the clean side of the sig.

Thanks for the feedback olklei! Best, nbpf

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Are the measurements reported in https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-measurements-of-allo-digione-signature-and-diyinhk-pro3z.4660/ saying something interesting about the DigiOne Signature or are they irrelevant? Do the measurement suggest that the DigiOne Signature outperforms the DigiOne?

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19 minutes ago, SparkSpark said:

Ok So I got the Digione Signature a couple of days ago and would like to share some thoughts.

 

...

 

As to the sound, It's ok, I hardly notice an improvement, it's definitely not in the order of moving to the digione from Hifiberry - In my view not worth £300.

 

My set up is very revealing, I think: Digione (signature) -> BNC - Yggy V2 - Shiit Freya - ATI 6002 - ML electromotion ESL S/3.

 

Just my 2p

Thanks for the assessment! What have you used to power the clean side of the Signature? 

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@RX8R3ROD: thanks for reporting! I was about to order the DigiOne Signature last week but then I realized that I would need to get yet another adapter (USB-C to 5.5x2.1mm) and I just gave up. Why the hell have Allo decided to use USB-C connectors when virtually all PSU come with 5.5x2.1mm or with 5.5x2.5mm barrel connectors? Anyway: I understand that powering both the clean and the dirty side of a Signature from the same PSU via a Y-cable would defeat galvanic isolation. Do you know whether this also the case if the two sides are powered by the two rails of a JS-2?

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2 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

Hi nbpf,

 

All the chopping and changing around connectors is kind of frustrating, isn’t it? ?One hopes that USB C is the end of the changes (across many product lines) for a loooong time, but somehow one suspects it probably won’t be ...

 

Still, on the upside, it is at least always the right way round ? 

You are right! I do not actually mind USB C, I very much hope it will eventually replace the current mess. But if I had some of those fancy 75$ Oyaide DC cables (which I do not) I would like to be able to plug them directly into the Signature, not into yet another adapter. 

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2 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

Hi nbpf,

...

I’m not familiar with the JS-2 power supply in detail, but with Uptone’s reputation one would think it very safe to assume that if they state ‘2 rails’ both would be very tightly regulated and highly filtered with top quality components (unlike some LPS’s, I believe), so you shouldn’t experience the potential issues of a Y cable feeding crud into the clean side of the Signature.

Thanks! I do not have a JS-2 at the moment but if I'll keep on playing around with SBCs, I would like at a certain point to get rid of all the Allo, ifi, etc. wall wart PSUs and have just one device that supports different output voltages. The JS-2 seems a great value although it is rather expensive. 

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10 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

Have to say, it does look like a really fab bit of kit, doesn’t it? ??

Yes, well built and aesthetically appealing! The size of the JS-2 also suits my needs very well, many PSUs are just a little bit too deep for my shelves. 

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On 10/6/2018 at 4:45 PM, clipper said:

I am using an LPS-1 to power the clean side of a DigiOne Signature.  Great combination!

 

El cheapo 5v LPS being used to power the RPI side...

 

The DigiOne Signature is currently my preferred streamer and believe me when I say I have tried a bunch of them.

Thanks for the report! How do you connect the 5.5x2.1mm output of the LPS-1 to the USB-C input of the DigiOne Signature? Do you use adapters or the https://www.ghentaudio.com/part/dc29.html cable? I would like to upgrade my DigiOne to the Signature but I am a bit held back by the cable mess. Thanks, nbpf

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9 hours ago, clipper said:

Right now I'm using the adapter cables that come with the DigiOne Signature.  They are these: https://allo.com/sparky/dc-type-c-usb-adapter-cable.html.  I have a DigiOne Signature going in 2 different systems right now, and I had a few spare 2.1mm to 2.5mm cables (that came with some old SOtM battery power supplies) that I use to connect an LPS-1 to the DigiOne clean power input (using the barrel adapters).  I am going to order some Ghent cables, though...  

 

The inexpensive power supplies I'm using to power the RPI side have cables with a 2.5mm barrel plug, so they plug right into the adapter cables. 

 

If anyone has 2.1mm cables (like the ones that come with the LPS-1 or LPS-1.2), here are some 2.1mm to 2.5mm adapters to use with the included 5.5x2.5mm to USB-C adapter cables (https://chicagodist.com/products/2-1mm-to-2-5mm-dc-barrel-plug-adapter).  

 

I had the DigiOne, by the way, and the DigiOne Signature sounds significantly better to me.

Thanks a lot for the detailed information!

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3 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

... Someone has to be, I guess ?

 

Exactly as you say, the 5v iPower (at least for me, too) is sonically much better than the Allo wall wart (as it should be given the cost difference) and the Signature is a biiig improvement over the standard DigiOne.

 

IME experience you will not be disappointed with the battery supply! ??

 

What I find such a marvel is how good the Signature is in any form, and the better we can power it the better it gets. ? Like you, I’m eagerly awaiting the Allo power supply!

I have no idea what the Allo power supply will look like and how it will be priced but, among the commercial units available today, the LPS-1.2 seems like a perfect match for the DigiOne Signature.

 

What I find disappointing is that Allo are not offering any form of trade-up scheme for DigiOne owners. A trade-up scheme would not need to warrant significant monetary advantages to DigiOne owners. Rather, it could be a means of avoiding the proliferation of electronic garbage and of ensuring proper recycling of obsolete products.

 

I would like to see Allo setting new standards in matters of environment-aware manufacturing and trading. I would expect that part of the price that we payed for the DigiOne was to make sure that our devices will be taken back and properly refurbished or recycled when we opt to replace them with newer and more advanced products.    

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@RX8R3ROD, @rruffin: all good points, still I would like to see Allo offering some sort of return/refurbish/recycle scheme for old devices. I am not asking for money and my wish is not specific to the DigiOne product. Anyway, I have ordered a Signature, thanks to all who have so far contributed to this thread!

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20 minutes ago, smethley said:

So, based on recommendations, I've ordered the Signature and battery pack to compare to my original Digione.

 

If I understand the power sequencing needs from earlier in this thread, I will not be able to simply turn off the battery pack and leave the Pi running (via the mains adapter), since when I next turn on the battery, the system my not lock onto the correct clock ('50% chance').

 

2 questions:

1.  How would I know if the correct clock has been locked onto?  (Why waste time rebooting the Pi if not necessary).

2.  Is there not an elegant way round this?  (I tend to never turn off my Pis).

 

With respect to question 2, I would reboot the RPi after switching on the power on the clean side. If you do not want to reboot via remote login from a laptop or from a desktop, you can setup a ssh client on you mobile phone (ConnectBot, for instance) to reboot the RPi by just tapping the app's icon. I am not sure this is an elegant solution but it should work fine if you are not switching off/on the power supply of the clean side every few minutes.

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I have received the DigiOne Signature on Monday and wanted to replace the brass standoffs that come with the device with nylon standoffs.

 

I eventually decided to leave the brass standoffs in place as the main board and the child card appeared to be tightly connected through the 8pin GPIO connector. 

 

Still I do not like the brass standoffs together with my Pibow case and I'd like to replace them with nylon standoffs. 

 

Is it safe to take apart the two boards?

 

 

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1 minute ago, SparkSpark said:

so 2400/ 130 hours?

No: 2400 / 65 = 2 * (number of hours)

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9 minutes ago, SparkSpark said:

Thanks, but the idea is that a 2400 mah battery will last twice as long as a 1200 mah battery?

Sure, mAh is a measure of capacity. It has the dimension of a load (mA) times a time (h for hours). Thus, for a battery A to have twice the capacity of a battery B, precisely means that A can power a load for twice as long as B can power that load.

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Just now, allo.com said:

Yes its safe

Great, thanks!