Allo Digione Signature

[burmar]

Today i tried a linear PS, a diy work... really good hand made from an audio forum friend..

I trigged it at 8v, less it is no good for it, don't want to burn it for heat dissipation, it is born for 12/24v, but... heatsink was really cold so i connect it to clean side and started to listen music.

Well, the first thing was more bass and punch, then focus and cleanliness respect to the solution with two 18650 batteries.

Maybe a friend that told me batteries have chemical noise was in right?????

 

[nbpf]

12 hours ago, Luke38 said:

After a few weeks of enjoying with  Signature in my audio system I must admit that Sig. worth every eur. But , here is my little problem :  from the very first day I use Sig.with Rpi2 b without any problem (Asus powerbank on clean side and Rpi stock psu for dirty side) and yesterday I tried to replace RPi2 b  with Rpi 3b+ but without success.Problem is const. undervoltage (red light blinking all the time).Tried with different psu (Ifi Ipower,etc.), tried with 3 psu as you mentioned : 

Posted September 6

"Quick fix so you can listen to music ...feed RPi uUSB AND dirty side type C usb (clean side keep on feeding the batteries) . All inputs are protected by diodes so you can feed it 3 ways as well. This will get rid of the undervoltage"

 

No success.Without Sig . Rpi3b+  work fine , but with Sig.-nothing.Anyway, I put Sig back on Rpi2b and continue to enjoy in music.

Do you have any idea where the problem might be?

 

P.S. Sorry for my poor english.

Do you have an USB drive attached to the Rpi 3b+ when undervoltages occur? Is it perhaps in an external enclosure? 

[Luke38]

15 minutes ago, nbpf said:

Do you have an USB drive attached to the Rpi 3b+ when undervoltages occur? Is it perhaps in an external enclosure? 

 

No.I don't have any USB drive attached to the Rpi3b+. Only ethernet cable .

[nbpf]

3 minutes ago, Luke38 said:

 

No.I don't have any USB drive attached to the Rpi3b+. Only ethernet cable .

This is strange. Even with an external USB drive attached, the power led of my  Rpi3b+ is not flashing. Which OS are you using? Perhaps you could try setting

 

dtparam=audio=off           # Disable internal audio

dtoverlay=pi3-disable-bt  # Disable bluetooth

arm_freq=1200                    # set the max CPU freq
force_turbo=1                       # keep the max CPU freq constant (no ondemand governor)
gpu_mem=16

 

in /boot/config.txt and adding

 

# disable HDMI 
sudo /opt/vc/bin/tvservice --off

 

to /etc/rc.local  as a last line before "exit 0"? Otherwise I would contact Allo, they are very responsive and helpful.

 

 

 

[Luke38]

Thank you nbpf for trying to help.I'm using DietPi with LMS. Planning to try with  Volumio and PicorePlayer and also with my "old" Allo DigiOne (not at home at the moment). Maybe I'll borrowed some decent LPS while I'm  waiting for secondhand LPS-1 to come.Most important thing is that everything works perfectly with Rpi2b and keep the smile on my face .

[RX8R3ROD]

On 11/2/2018 at 1:41 PM, nbpf said:

I'll give it a try later in the afternoon or during the weekend and report. You have tried feeding the clean side both with about 7V through batteries and with 5V. I have been wandering whether the differences that you have found relate more to the quality of the power supplies or to the different voltages.

Many thanks @nbpffor trying this. ? It’s really good to know that this is one variable we can discount.

 

The Signature is so transparent it seems to me just about anything makes a difference ... having one less parameter to play with is definitely helpful. ?

 

BTW, I tried removing the DC iPurifier that’s on the dirty side, and then adding it back in. It (in my system with my electric supply, yada yada) does make quite a difference.

 

More experiments to be done on this, I think. I imagine it’s to do with control of the rubbish that’s fed back into the mains from the Pi, but could easily be wrong there.

 

I will have to set up a test in a couple of weeks time to try and clarify that, and I’ll see if it’s visible on the oscilloscope. Certainly the DC iPurifier has a clearly measurable positive effect on the noise that’s going into downstream components, but I’ve not yet tried measuring its effect on what’s fed back.

 

Could be interesting ... ? or unmeasurable ? ... ?

[burmar]

wrong post, sorry

[burmar]

7 minutes ago, RX8R3ROD said:

The Signature is so transparent it seems to me just about anything makes a difference ... having one less parameter to play with is definitely helpful. ?

Yes... it's true

Today i discovered that my raspy was a little undervoltage, red led was blinking so i googgled for this

So i raised up a little the PSU at 5.10v

Sound is changed, in better.

[nbpf]

On 10/29/2018 at 4:24 PM, nbpf said:

Apart from the DigiOne and the DigiOne Signature, I have an Oppo-203 connected to the Naim DAC via S/PDIF.

 

The Oppo is, among many other things, a network transport. Thus, it is an ideal candidate to be compared to the DigiOne and to the DigiOne Signature.

 

What do you expect the results of such a comparison to be? Does the Oppo sound better than the DigiOne Signature? Does it sound worse than the DigiOne? 

I have now tried the DigiOne Signature against the Oppo-203. Both devices were connected via DC-1 cables of the same length to a Naim DAC. The DigiOne Signature was clearly the winner: a more natural and transparent sound. Bravo Allo! 

[RyanC]

Hi, I have had the Signature running for a few weeks now using the Allo switching PS.  This weekend I connected up a DIY LPS (Welborne Labs I think) that a friend built.  I was hoping for greatness.  After listening for a day I have realized that in some ways SQ is better but sibilance is now a problem.  Some tracks are now difficult to listen to. Is this likely to be: 1. because the revealing nature of the digione signature or 2. a problem with the LPS? or 3. showing my DAC (Firestone Spitfire Mk2) to be a weakens?  I hope you can help.

[allo.com]

On 11/3/2018 at 9:02 PM, Luke38 said:

After a few weeks of enjoying with  Signature in my audio system I must admit that Sig. worth every eur. But , here is my little problem :  from the very first day I use Sig.with Rpi2 b without any problem (Asus powerbank on clean side and Rpi stock psu for dirty side) and yesterday I tried to replace RPi2 b  with Rpi 3b+ but without success.Problem is const. undervoltage (red light blinking all the time).Tried with different psu (Ifi Ipower,etc.), tried with 3 psu as you mentioned : 

Posted September 6

"Quick fix so you can listen to music ...feed RPi uUSB AND dirty side type C usb (clean side keep on feeding the batteries) . All inputs are protected by diodes so you can feed it 3 ways as well. This will get rid of the undervoltage"

 

No success.Without Sig . Rpi3b+  work fine , but with Sig.-nothing.Anyway, I put Sig back on Rpi2b and continue to enjoy in music.

Do you have any idea where the problem might be? 

 

P.S. Sorry for my poor english.

Hi Luke

 

 RPI3B+ needs more juice compared with RPI2. Seems that none of the PSUs you tried can deliver it.

[allo.com]

13 hours ago, RyanC said:

Hi, I have had the Signature running for a few weeks now using the Allo switching PS.  This weekend I connected up a DIY LPS (Welborne Labs I think) that a friend built.  I was hoping for greatness.  After listening for a day I have realized that in some ways SQ is better but sibilance is now a problem.  Some tracks are now difficult to listen to. Is this likely to be: 1. because the revealing nature of the digione signature or 2. a problem with the LPS? or 3. showing my DAC (Firestone Spitfire Mk2) to be a weakens?  I hope you can help.

Not all LPSs are low noise. I think yours seems to be noisier than normal (normal for LPS). Try batteries to see if LPS is the issue

[nbpf]

51 minutes ago, allo.com said:

Hi Luke

 

 RPI3B+ needs more juice compared with RPI2. Seems that none of the PSUs you tried can deliver it.

My RPi3B+ with attached 1TB Samsung T5 and DigiOne Signature consumes less than 2W (7 to 8 VA) on the dirty side. The power led never blinks when the device is powered with an ifi 5V/2.5A PSU or with the Allo PSU.

 

If Luke's device constantly blinks, I would expect something to be wrong with his RPi3B+ or with his PSU.

[nbpf]

14 hours ago, RyanC said:

Hi, I have had the Signature running for a few weeks now using the Allo switching PS.  This weekend I connected up a DIY LPS (Welborne Labs I think) that a friend built.  I was hoping for greatness.  After listening for a day I have realized that in some ways SQ is better but sibilance is now a problem.  Some tracks are now difficult to listen to. Is this likely to be: 1. because the revealing nature of the digione signature or 2. a problem with the LPS? or 3. showing my DAC (Firestone Spitfire Mk2) to be a weakens?  I hope you can help.

I have no sibilance issues when powering the clean side with an UpTone Audio LPS-1.2. You should probably try to power the clean side with batteries, as suggested by Allo. If this solves the sibilance issues, you know that your problem is the DIY LPS. If not, you might have a problem with the DigiOne Signature or just a bad recording. 

[dmormerod]

Anyone tried this https://www.teddypardo.com/powersupplies/teddy7-2.html to power the clean side?

[nbpf]

On 11/5/2018 at 7:18 PM, dmormerod said:

Anyone tried this https://www.teddypardo.com/powersupplies/teddy7-2.html to power the clean side?

No but I have a 9V/2A Teddy Pardo that I used to power an M2Tech hiFace Evo and a 12V/4.5A Teddy Pardo that I used to power a fitPC3. The Teddy Pardo PSUs are very good devices and I can recommend them.  

[RyanC]

On 11/6/2018 at 12:50 AM, allo.com said:

Not all LPSs are low noise. I think yours seems to be noisier than normal (normal for LPS). Try batteries to see if LPS is the issue

 

Ok I will give that a try. On the Allo site is says to use LIFEPO (lithium iron phosphate) 18650 batteries which are 3.2v.  In Hans Beekhuyzen's review he uses Li-ion 18650 3.7v.  Is the LIFEPO recommended because they hold their charge longer or because of higher current etc.  Advice is appreciated.

[allo.com]

Both will work perfectly fine

[dmormerod]

Could you use something like this for the clean side?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LRQDAEI/ref=emc_b_5_t

 

 

[burmar]

12 minutes ago, dmormerod said:

Could you use something like this for the clean side?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LRQDAEI/ref=emc_b_5_t

 

 

Imho is not good, there are electronic voltage regulators inside and they introduce noise..

[dmormerod]

2 minutes ago, burmar said:

Imho is not good, there are electronic voltage regulators inside and they introduce noise..

 

Thanks.  I guess I'll plan on just using a battery pack!

[burmar]

On 11/7/2018 at 9:52 AM, RyanC said:

 

Ok I will give that a try. On the Allo site is says to use LIFEPO (lithium iron phosphate) 18650 batteries which are 3.2v.  In Hans Beekhuyzen's review he uses Li-ion 18650 3.7v.  Is the LIFEPO recommended because they hold their charge longer or because of higher current etc.  Advice is appreciated.

I think LIFEPO batteries are better than LI-ION 'cause they have less chemical noise...

[burmar]

1 minute ago, dmormerod said:

 

Thanks.  I guess I'll plan on just using a battery pack!

Yes, i think the best solutions are a battery pack or a very good linear PSU

[RyanC]

Hi, I think this has been mentioned before but couldn't see a resolution. I have the Signature player running DietPi + Allo GUI (unmodified  from the factory) and using the Allo supplied 5v PSU powering the dirty side.  The red power LED on the Pi switches off and on every few seconds randomly.  I assume that means the Pi is at times not getting the required volts.  Assistance would be appreciated.

[nbpf]

8 hours ago, RyanC said:

Hi, I think this has been mentioned before but couldn't see a resolution. I have the Signature player running DietPi + Allo GUI (unmodified  from the factory) and using the Allo supplied 5v PSU powering the dirty side.  The red power LED on the Pi switches off and on every few seconds randomly.  I assume that means the Pi is at times not getting the required volts.  Assistance would be appreciated.

Do you have a USB drive attached to the device?