Allo Digione Signature

[quanghuy147]

10 minutes ago, clipper said:

I don't have any of this clicking or datastream interruption (in between every song) with a Digione Signature connected to a Yggdrasil.

 

I'm not saying it's Volumio, but I don't use Volumio...  

 

The DAC does click when the sampling rate of the song being played changes from one song to the next.  But it does this with every source I have ever had hooked up to it.  

 

Can you share which music server OS(?) do you use for RPI?

[zacho]

For those using the battery pack powering the clean side. What spec of battery do you use and how long have they lasted on a single charge? I'm using 3400mah Panasonic 18650 and they've been on 24/10 so far. 

[clipper]

2 hours ago, quanghuy147 said:

 

Can you share which music server OS(?) do you use for RPI?

Sure.

 

I use the Raspberry Pi version of GentooPlayer.  See GentooPlayer Thread.  It's in Italian so you might need to translate.  Google Chrome is good for that...

 

I run Squeezelite-R2 on it and send music to it from Roon. 

 

Here are the players it supports:

 

 

I run it with Kernel choice 10 (Realtime Kernel RT1 for Pi 3B+), and in RAM (ramdisk) mode.  I think the ramdisk mode makes a big difference.  The scripts make these changes easy.

 

Highly recommended...  Best sound I have gotten from the Digione Signature.

 

If you try it, download the correct version (depending on whether your Pi is a 3B or 3B+).

 

 

 

[InfinitelyBaffled]

16 hours ago, quanghuy147 said:

 

The source of USB Signal is laptop .

 

Laptop -- usb -- Yggy -- Amplifier -- speakers . This setup has no 'click'

 

Volumio -- Allo Sign -- Yggy -- Amplifier -- speakers . This setup has a 'click'

 

Thank you.

 

 

I am guessing that in your second setup that Volumio is running on the Raspberry Pi?  Looks like you've taken your laptop's USB completely out of that setup and that's probably why it sounds so much better. Laptop USB directly to the Yggy probably has tons of jitter in the signal. The Signature cleans all that up before sending it out SPDIF.

I run Roon on my network over to the Pi/Signature setup (running Riopeee) that runs into my Yggy. I get the clicks when the bitrate changes or when I pause or stop the music stream. Normal operation for the Yggy.

[InfinitelyBaffled]

6 hours ago, clipper said:

Sure.

 

I use the Raspberry Pi version of GentooPlayer.  See GentooPlayer Thread.  It's in Italian so you might need to translate.  Google Chrome is good for that...

 

I run Squeezelite-R2 on it and send music to it from Roon. 

 

Here are the players it supports:

 

 

I run it with Kernel choice 10 (Realtime Kernel RT1 for Pi 3B+), and in RAM (ramdisk) mode.  I think the ramdisk mode makes a big difference.  The scripts make these changes easy.

 

Highly recommended...  Best sound I have gotten from the Digione Signature.

 

If you try it, download the correct version (depending on whether your Pi is a 3B or 3B+).

 

 

 

 

Wow, looks complex. Have you compared Gentoo against Ropieee? I run Roon as well. Looks like a fairly steep learning curve to try Gentoo. Not that I am against it, just not sure it would be worth the effort. Metrum Acoustics is using a modified version of Ropiee for their Ambre, so I figured it should be an optimal player for the Pi/Signature setup.

[quanghuy147]

Thank you clipper! I will try that out, the steps kind of discouraged me

 

@InfinitelyBaffled Do you have to pay to use Roon or Ropieee? Thanks!

[clipper]

5 minutes ago, quanghuy147 said:

Thank you clipper! I will try that out, the steps kind of discouraged me

 

@InfinitelyBaffled Do you have to pay to use Roon or Ropieee? Thanks!

I will try to put together a walkthrough.

[01svtL]

Sorry to butt in here, but can a couple of you take pictures of how your power connectors are attached to your Signature Players?  I saw Darko's Youtube review, and the way he was powering his was not how I was told by Allo to hook mine up.  I know he purchased his Signature card separate, whereas I have the Player, but I think they are the same thing at the end of the day so it shouldn't matter?

[quanghuy147]

25 minutes ago, clipper said:

I will try to put together a walkthrough.

 

Hi Clipper,

Thank you for the kind offer but you don't need to do that, I will use Google translation.

 

 

[InfinitelyBaffled]

1 hour ago, quanghuy147 said:

Thank you clipper! I will try that out, the steps kind of discouraged me

 

@InfinitelyBaffled Do you have to pay to use Roon or Ropieee? Thanks!

Hi quanghuy147:

 

Roon is a music server system from Roonlabs. Its definitely not free, but there is a trial version. Ropieee is free but is not a standalone music player - it is an "endpoint" for Roon.

[InfinitelyBaffled]

1 hour ago, 01svtL said:

Sorry to butt in here, but can a couple of you take pictures of how your power connectors are attached to your Signature Players?  I saw Darko's Youtube review, and the way he was powering his was not how I was told by Allo to hook mine up.  I know he purchased his Signature card separate, whereas I have the Player, but I think they are the same thing at the end of the day so it shouldn't matter?

 

Power locations circled in RED.

 

You should not have to hook power up to ANY other connector on any board, especially the Pi. 

[quanghuy147]

6 minutes ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

 

Power locations circled in RED.

 

You should not have to hook power up to ANY other connector on any board, especially the Pi. 

 

Wow, this looks very professional. Are they power purifier? Where can I buy the boards and the transformer?

[quanghuy147]

13 minutes ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

Hi quanghuy147:

 

Roon is a music server system from Roonlabs. Its definitely not free, but there is a trial version. Ropieee is free but is not a standalone music player - it is an "endpoint" for Roon.

 

I see, Roon is about $100/ year. Do you think it's better than Volumio or Foobar?

[InfinitelyBaffled]

6 minutes ago, quanghuy147 said:

 

Wow, this looks very professional. Are they power purifier? Where can I buy the boards and the transformer?

 

The two power supplies are Twisted Pear Audio Centaur models with their 9v/9v toroidal transformers. Provides galvanic isolation between the two power inputs as well as the incoming power. And the large inout and output capacitors provide plenty of ripple smoothing "purification." (http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/power/centaur.aspx).  You have to assemble them yourself, but it only takes about twenty minutes if you know how to solder. I used an EMI filter from Amazon on the incoming power. I posted a pic below. The Amazon listing for this one doesn't exist any more, but I am sure you can find another one easily. The case was an eBay purchase.

[InfinitelyBaffled]

8 minutes ago, quanghuy147 said:

 

I see, Roon is about $100/ year. Do you think it's better than Volumio or Foobar?

 

I think Roon is in a whole different class than Volumio or Foobar. It provides so much more than just playing music files. However, I have been playing around with Volumio and it makes a great little file based music server for next to nothing in cost.  Their is so much to Roon, you'll really have to read up on it. It truly makes for a "whole house" music system. I'll never go back to not using Roon - really takes the whole music listening experience up a level.

[01svtL]

37 minutes ago, quanghuy147 said:

 

Wow, this looks very professional. Are they power purifier? Where can I buy the boards and the transformer?

 

43 minutes ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

 

Power locations circled in RED.

 

You should not have to hook power up to ANY other connector on any board, especially the Pi. 

 

The connector on the left (or bottom in the pic) is the clean, and the one to connect to first, right?  Shouldn't I see lights come on as soon as it's connected?  I only see lights come on once I connect the one on the right (top in the pic).  

[quanghuy147]

54 minutes ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

 

The two power supplies are Twisted Pear Audio Centaur models with their 9v/9v toroidal transformers. Provides galvanic isolation between the two power inputs as well as the incoming power. And the large inout and output capacitors provide plenty of ripple smoothing "purification." (http://www.twistedpearaudio.com/power/centaur.aspx).  You have to assemble them yourself, but it only takes about twenty minutes if you know how to solder. I used an EMI filter from Amazon on the incoming power. I posted a pic below. The Amazon listing for this one doesn't exist any more, but I am sure you can find another one easily. The case was an eBay purchase.

 

Thank you for your valuable info. I will have this as my upcoming project.

[Reverso]

On 1/31/2019 at 1:14 PM, quanghuy147 said:

Another thing is I use Allo Sign with Volumio, whenever a song ends and it moves to the next songs, Schiit will with produce a 'click' sound and the signal led blinks once. I dont' know why it has to be like this. This does not happen when I use Schiit USB 3. Can anyone help me to avoid this 'click' issue?

 

I have not tried Volumio, but I have tried the DS controlled by iPeng/LMS and Roon.

 

iPeng/LMS causes the same clicking in my Yggy when switching songs of the same bitrate (within the same album).  The clicking also occurs when I jump to a selected time within the song and when I pause a song.

 

The clicking does not occur when I use Roon except for when the music is paused for 5-10 seconds.

 

 

-Reverso

[Tintinabulum]

10 hours ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

 

Power locations circled in RED.

 

You should not have to hook power up to ANY other connector on any board, especially the Pi. 

That looks really neat. Nice 90 degree power connectors there, could I ask where from? Those going to a male/female connector, what sort of wire from PS terminals? Budding DIYer here...And the case? Nice job.

[InfinitelyBaffled]

5 hours ago, Tintinabulum said:

That looks really neat. Nice 90 degree power connectors there, could I ask where from? Those going to a male/female connector, what sort of wire from PS terminals? Budding DIYer here...And the case? Nice job.

 

Here's the entire parts list for my build. I included the exact descriptions to make it easier to search for it.

 

Item	Source
CanaKit Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (B Plus)	Amazon
Full aluminum power amplifier enclosure WA57 chassis/AMP box 227*225*92mm	Ebay
Allo Signature Board	Chicago Electronic Distributors
Philmore DC Coaxial Plug No. 250 2.5mm(ID) X 5.5mm(OD) (qty 2)	Fry’s Electronics
Centaur power supply kits (2) and (2) 9v 30a Avel Lindberg transformers	Twisted Pair Audio
Noise Suppressor Power EMI Filter Termianl Single-Phase Line-Conditioner JREle AC 115/250V 10A CW2B-10A-T	Amazon
Neutrik NE8FDP etherCON RJ-45 Feedthrough Chassis Connector	Amazon
StarTech.com Cat6 Patch Cable - 6 in - Black Ethernet Cable - Snagless RJ45 Cable - Ethernet Cord - Cat 6 Cable - 6in	Amazon
Poyiccot (2-Pack) 90 Degree USB C Type C Male to Female Adapter, Right & Left Angled 90 Degree USB-C USB 3.1 Type-C Male to Female Extension Adapter for Laptop & Tablet & Mobile Phone   The only other items would be standard hookup wire to go from the output terminals on the power supplies to the input on the Allo supplied power cords with the barrel end and the USB C ends.   The Centaur power supplies are high quality and work perfectly with the Pi. Using the same power supply for the clean side is overkill, but it was a very easy way to supply high quality, galvanically separated power to the clean side. I have tried a simple battery pack, but I did not notice any difference in sound. On the pi side power, I run the Centaur at 5.3 volts. On the clean side, I installed the resistor to set it at exactly 5 volts instead of using the voltage trimmer, just to insure there is no additional noise or fluctuation in the power. They include both options in the kit. This setup has been running Riopeee since I built it and is rock solid, runs cool and sounds terrific.	Amazon

[Tintinabulum]

That's very kind, thanks IB!

[01svtL]

19 hours ago, InfinitelyBaffled said:

 

Power locations circled in RED.

 

You should not have to hook power up to ANY other connector on any board, especially the Pi. 

 

So when you flip the power button, it all gets turned on at the same time right? Aren’t we supposed to power the clean side first?

 

Can you please tell me if that bottom plug is the clean side?  When I plug power to that port, no lights come on in the unit. 

[linuxfox]

On 1/31/2019 at 7:14 PM, quanghuy147 said:

Does Allo Sign sound sharp in your system?

 

It did at the beginning because of a "very" noisy power supply connected to the dirty side. Even using the battery on the clean side, If I do not keep the noise away from the dirty side and from the network cable, I get an hint of sharpness.

My advice is:

- change the power supply connected to the dirty side, it doesn't have to be expensive or audiophile... first try the smartphone/tablet usb chargers that you already own.

- try to minimize the noise coming from the network cable using ferrite chokes. You can further lower the noise using "low noise network switches" (cisco catalyst switches have a good reputation for being low noise).

 

[RX8R3ROD]

46 minutes ago, linuxfox said:

 

It did at the beginning because of a "very" noisy power supply connected to the dirty side. Even using the battery on the clean side, If I do not keep the noise away from the dirty side and from the network cable, I get an hint of sharpness.

My advice is:

- change the power supply connected to the dirty side, it doesn't have to be expensive or audiophile... first try the smartphone/tablet usb chargers that you already own.

- try to minimize the noise coming from the network cable using ferrite chokes. You can further lower the noise using "low noise network switches" (cisco catalyst switches have a good reputation for being low noise).

 

Totally agree, 👍 IME the dirty side does make a significant difference (albeit less than the clean side).

 

Even quite low-cost items like an Apple iPhone charger have quite low noise and ripple (though not sure what ampage It can pump out) and can match or beat some (alleged) ‘audiophile’(ish) power supplies, so it’s not necessarily just a question of chucking a heap of money at the problem 😀

 

By way of example this is an interesting set of comparisons (clicking the graphic below should act as the link)

 

[InfinitelyBaffled]

6 hours ago, 01svtL said:

 

So when you flip the power button, it all gets turned on at the same time right? Aren’t we supposed to power the clean side first?

 

Can you please tell me if that bottom plug is the clean side?  When I plug power to that port, no lights come on in the unit. 

 

Yes, both power supplies are tied to the same power switch, so they both power up at the same time. I've never had a problem with that.  Could it be that Ropieee software is just more forgiving? I don't know, but no problems.