Allo Digione Signature

[dmormerod]

1 hour ago, 01svtL said:

So, I’m on my second Player, and on both, I have no lights come on when the clean side is powered.  Likewise, on both, I cannot get music to play through the coax.  It appears the D1S board is not receiving power at all.

Likewise I get no lights when just powering the clean side. I wait approx 30 seconds then power the dirty side. Red & green lights then come on along with the amber lights that shows activity of some kind during boot. Once things settle I see the device in Roon

[01svtL]

24 minutes ago, dmormerod said:

Likewise I get no lights when just powering the clean side. I wait approx 30 seconds then power the dirty side. Red & green lights then come on along with the amber lights that shows activity of some kind during boot. Once things settle I see the device in Roon

 

I’ve waited 20, 30, 40, 60 seconds etc.  Haven’t gotten any sound out of the coax yet.  It will play out of the headphone minijack after changing the settings.  Again supports my theory that the D1S board is not getting power.

[nbpf]

11 hours ago, 01svtL said:

So, I’m on my second Player, and on both, I have no lights come on when the clean side is powered.

This is normal, there are no LEDs on the clean side. A solid green LED on the lower board (near the 8 pins connector) should light up when you connect the power to the dirty side, though. Connecting the power to the dirty side should also start the RPi boot sequence, see 

 

[01svtL]

2 hours ago, nbpf said:

This is normal, there are no LEDs on the clean side. A solid green LED on the lower board (near the 8 pins connector) should light up when you connect the power to the dirty side, though. Connecting the power to the dirty side should also start the RPi boot sequence, see 

 

 

Seems odd, because several people in this thread of said they have a light come on when the clean side is powered up.

[nbpf]

2 hours ago, 01svtL said:

 

Seems odd, because several people in this thread of said they have a light come on when the clean side is powered up.

Unless Allo has introduced different boards, this cannot be the case. There is only one green LED in the DigiOne Signature and this is located on the lower board near the 8 pins GPIO connector. The lower board (and, therefore, the green LED) is powered through the dirty side (RPI POWER) , not through the clean side (CLEAN POWER).

[kotlarix]

Can confirm what nbpf said, green light comes when dirty side is powered not before. Same when you first disconnect dirty side the lights keep for few more sec then go off.

 

Connecting only clean side never shows by the light on lower board or pi it self.

[TomWoB]

Build the "DigiOne Signature" by your own:  Signature without power issues  😁

[RX8R3ROD]

TomWoB’s mods are, IMHO, very well worth a look as to what can be done with intelligence, ingenuity and a sprit of adventure! 👍🏻

 

One other alternative to this, assuming you are getting nice music out of your signature and not just silence or a pile of unmusical noise, is perhaps to try just not to worry so much about power lights, etc and enjoy the nice music?

 

 

[nbpf]

2 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

TomWoB’s mods are, IMHO, very well worth a look as to what can be done with intelligence, ingenuity and a sprit of adventure! 👍🏻

 

One other alternative to this, assuming you are getting nice music out of your signature and not just silence or a pile of unmusical noise, is perhaps to try just not to worry so much about power lights, etc and enjoy the nice music?

 

 

Very good suggestions! Still, the under-voltage issue is annoying and the level of support provided by Allo on this forum and on this issue has been so far quite miserable. Compare, for instance, to the support provided by UpTone Audio or Sonore on their forums. 

[TomWoB]

@RX8R3ROD

I agree, BUT ... I can not listen to music in a relaxed way in case of "I know there is potential problem with my system". I'm relaxed when I know everything is fine.

 

What ALLO und even CHORD must know and accept: we are Audiophiles !

• we love BIG power supplies (Sbooster, JS-2, ...)
• we love FINE cables (5N-silver, 7N-copper, ... which doesn't match e.g. with these cheap CHORD RCA connectors)

Maybe it makes no difference on their oscilloscopes, but it makes a difference in our emotions !

 

Back to ALLO:
I think they have great products and great engineers, but they think as engineers and not like audiophiles: Signatures decreases jitter from 0.6ps to 0.4ps (DigiOne Standard) ... wow (hand clapping), but the power line (up to 2A) has now two times go throught such little tiny connectors ... for me a step backward, not forward!
 

Correction:
In one point ALLO thinks audiophile: the price of the DigiOne Signature 😁

[Orangecrush]

That’s why I haven’t upgraded to the sig yet.  Learned that from the early Digione. After ‘field testing’ on consumers they made revisions.  

[Spenagio]

3 minutes ago, Orangecrush said:

That’s why I haven’t upgraded to the sig yet.  Learned that from the early Digione. After ‘field testing’ on consumers they made revisions.  

 one of the revisions should definitely be dealing with the issue when changing sample rates in Roon, completely destroys the experience to a point that I am considering selling my DS after just 2 months

[Orangecrush]

They have to get their act together quickly as there is more competition coming. Early reports are that the Metrum Baby Ambre could sound better. Waiting for more reviews.  No additional power supplies needed.  Unfortunately only coax rca and no BNC, but easy enough to change out. Also, no wifi as it is not a whole raspberry pi, just the raspberry controller board.  

 

Still no aluminum case for the sig offering.  Really disappointing.

[Tintinabulum]

1 hour ago, Spenagio said:

one of the revisions should definitely be dealing with the issue when changing sample rates in Roon

I don't have an issue changing sample rates? 

[Tintinabulum]

1 hour ago, Orangecrush said:

After ‘field testing’ on consumers they made revisions.  

That applies to many things (like apple os updates). You could say that they continue to improve a great product or you could say it wasn't ready for market. I think the purpose is to produce great sound, it does that with minor inconveniences. 

[nbpf]

7 minutes ago, Tintinabulum said:

That applies to many things (like apple os updates). You could say that they continue to improve a great product or you could say it wasn't ready for market. I think the purpose is to produce great sound, it does that with minor inconveniences. 

There is no problem with incremental improvements, on the contrary. However, improvements have to be dealt with in a transparent and understandable way. This requires clear and unambiguous communications, a reliable support and fair upgrade paths. I have bought both the standard DigiOne and the DigiOne Signature and I do not regret having done so. That said, my next transport will likely not be an Allo transport. 

[Orangecrush]

I have no problem with software updates, but the hardware revisions were simply untested bad design decisions. I have never had an unusable audio component from any other company. The first one was so sensitive static charge that they became unusable.  It took lots of owners complaints before they officially admitted it was a problem.  We’re not talking improvements here but defective, not fully tested problems.  I was an early adopter and had three revisions through my home in less then 6 months.  After that, the low cost and small sacrifice in performance compared to a higher cost products is no longer an advantage. 

 

I still love Allo, but when they start to play in the mid price market, they better get their business model refined ASAP.  The bad mojo on multiple sites is building now there other other attractive offerings in the market place. 

[Orangecrush]

I agree 100%.  They always play the low cost, so lower your expectations... But, with the sig, they are no longer low cost as they just offload the real cost to third party power supplies and solutions.  

 

Anyone do a direct comparison between the sig and the Baby Ambre? 

 

I can can sell my power supply and get the Baby Ambre for less then a bare bones Sig board. They have a great coupon code right now.  

[01svtL]

14 hours ago, RX8R3ROD said:

TomWoB’s mods are, IMHO, very well worth a look as to what can be done with intelligence, ingenuity and a sprit of adventure! 👍🏻

 

One other alternative to this, assuming you are getting nice music out of your signature and not just silence or a pile of unmusical noise, is perhaps to try just not to worry so much about power lights, etc and enjoy the nice music?

 

 

 

Seeing as I get only silence, with not much help out of Allo in the way of suggestions to remedy, my confidence is through the floor.  

If I unplug the coax cable from the D1S board and plug it into the back of my DirecTV satellite receiver just seconds later, I immediately get sound.  I’ve gone through all the option menus to verify it is set up correctly (though it’s supposed to come ready to go since I got the Player), and have verified the settings with a member on another forum.  This is my second unit, and Im still not getting sound.  I’ve been using the two SMPS’s that Allo sent with the unit with the intent to upgrade to a LPS later so I can hear the difference.  Need sound to come out at all at this point.

The first unit, btw, quit responding completely. I couldn’t even get Moode to come up in a browser anymore on that one.

[01svtL]

18 minutes ago, Orangecrush said:

I agree 100%.  They always play the low cost, so lower your expectations... But, with the sig, they are no longer low cost as they just offload the real cost to third party power supplies and solutions.  

 

Anyone do a direct comparison between the sig and the Baby Ambre? 

 

I can can sell my power supply and get the Baby Ambre for less then a bare bones Sig board. They have a great coupon code right now.  

 

Please share.  PM me if the details if you want to keep it out of this thread.

[Spenagio]

59 minutes ago, Tintinabulum said:

I don't have an issue changing sample rates? 

The issue occurs when there is a sample rate change from one track to the next, i.e. whilst listening to a playlist.

Going from a 44/16 to 96/24 or any other change results in a loud crackle from my speakers whilst using Roon.

 

[Orangecrush]

1 minute ago, 01svtL said:

 

Please share.  PM me if the details if you want to keep it out of this thread.

The real contender available right now with great discounts is the Metrum Baby Ambre. So far two comparisons made on the Roon forum said the Baby Ambre outperformed the Digione and made it look harsh. The second said it the more expensive regular Ambre outperformed the Signature. The internal comments are the same in both the Ambre and Ambre Baby, the Baby just has less outputs.  Those are the only two comparisons so far I can find. 

 

Right now now you can get an Baby Ambre for around $400 after discounts on their US store site.  They have other sites depending on where you live. One box unit. No external power supply needed.  Fantastic build quality.  Unfortunately no BNC and no wifi.  Both not deal breakers IMO.

 

They use a Rasberry card for industrial applications. Looks pretty cool. 

 

[nbpf]

27 minutes ago, Orangecrush said:

...

 

Anyone do a direct comparison between the sig and the Baby Ambre? 

 

I can can sell my power supply and get the Baby Ambre for less then a bare bones Sig board. They have a great coupon code right now.  

To be fair, the Allo web side does provide clear specifications and a user guide for the DigiOne Signature. The Metrum Acoustics web page (https://metrumacoustics.com), on the other hand, does not seem to provide any detailed specifications even for their Ambre product, let apert for the upcoming Baby Ambre. Not very inspiring.

[Orangecrush]

1 minute ago, nbpf said:

To be fair, the Allo web side does provide clear specifications and a user guide for the DigiOne Signature. The Metrum Acoustics web page (https://metrumacoustics.com), on the other hand, does not seem to provide any detailed specifications even for their Ambre product, let apert for the upcoming Baby Ambre. Not very inspiring.

Agreed and frustrating.  

[dmormerod]

20 minutes ago, Spenagio said:

The issue occurs when there is a sample rate change from one track to the next, i.e. whilst listening to a playlist.

Going from a 44/16 to 96/24 or any other change results in a loud crackle from my speakers whilst using Roon.

 

I've had this before but it was down to the DAC, not streamer. Can you try a different DAC?