Grif Posted June 22, 2020 Share Posted June 22, 2020 Hi Folks, Just got my Volt+ D and Allo Boss Player. Volt+ D uses a 24v 5Amp PSU Set them up initially testing Boss Player->Volt+D and very very happy with the audio quality. Quite amazed in fact. However, I bought the units to run on different systems... the Boss Player will be added to my main HiFi set-up. The Volt+D Amp will be used for Computer audio to a Pair of B&W speakers. My next step was to plug in my trusty MacPro 5,1 directly into the Volt+ Amp via line audio out (minijack) to phono. A setup I had running flawlessly previously with an old Arcam amp. This seems to cause an issue with the Volt+D where there is a very audible buzzing sound. So the first thing I did was move the Volt's PSU to a different plugboard. This seemed to make things better but there is a small buzzing sound still audible between tracks. The attenuator is set to about 2 O'Clock - if I jack it up to 5 O'Clock the buzzing is very loud. I've also tried a couple of different minijack to phono cables with no change. There is almost zero noise when using the Arcam Amp. So I'm wondering what I can do to get around this or how to figure out the noise issue. I did occur to me to try USB audio out of the MacPro to the Boss Player. Is this possible? So MacPro->USB Cable->RaspberryPi USB3 input->Boss DAC->Volt+D->Speakers... the thinking being that I would hope to use the Boss as the Mac's DAC.... You might ask why not use one of the wireless transports like Airplay? This is because I don't want any audio lag as I use various audio apps on the Mac. Here's a recording of the buzzing with Attenuator cranked up full. NOISE.m4a Link to comment
Audio_Allo Posted June 23, 2020 Share Posted June 23, 2020 12 hours ago, Grif said: Hi Folks, Just got my Volt+ D and Allo Boss Player. Volt+ D uses a 24v 5Amp PSU Set them up initially testing Boss Player->Volt+D and very very happy with the audio quality. Quite amazed in fact. However, I bought the units to run on different systems... the Boss Player will be added to my main HiFi set-up. The Volt+D Amp will be used for Computer audio to a Pair of B&W speakers. My next step was to plug in my trusty MacPro 5,1 directly into the Volt+ Amp via line audio out (minijack) to phono. A setup I had running flawlessly previously with an old Arcam amp. This seems to cause an issue with the Volt+D where there is a very audible buzzing sound. So the first thing I did was move the Volt's PSU to a different plugboard. This seemed to make things better but there is a small buzzing sound still audible between tracks. The attenuator is set to about 2 O'Clock - if I jack it up to 5 O'Clock the buzzing is very loud. I've also tried a couple of different minijack to phono cables with no change. There is almost zero noise when using the Arcam Amp. So I'm wondering what I can do to get around this or how to figure out the noise issue. I did occur to me to try USB audio out of the MacPro to the Boss Player. Is this possible? So MacPro->USB Cable->RaspberryPi USB3 input->Boss DAC->Volt+D->Speakers... the thinking being that I would hope to use the Boss as the Mac's DAC.... You might ask why not use one of the wireless transports like Airplay? This is because I don't want any audio lag as I use various audio apps on the Mac. Here's a recording of the buzzing with Attenuator cranked up full. NOISE.m4a 51.65 kB · 1 download Forwarded PM please check Link to comment
Grif Posted August 11, 2020 Author Share Posted August 11, 2020 Just a quick followup on this. Buzzing gone once I Got myself a Khadas Tone Board to handle the computer audio. Love this amp! Link to comment
panino Posted November 9, 2020 Share Posted November 9, 2020 Hi there, just wanted to ask more details about your system, as I'm looking to build my first: Thinking of doing Pi4B+ / Compute module 8GB + Khadas Tone + Volt+D in 1-2 cases Setup Is it similar to yours? TIA Link to comment
Grif Posted November 9, 2020 Author Share Posted November 9, 2020 Depends on what your source is. The reason I went with KTB was for Audio directly from my computer (with no lag) so no need for a RPi. It just replaces the crappy computer DAC. so.. MacPro -> KTB -> Volt+D -> Speakers +Sub I also use an RPi as an endpoint for another Amp - there I use the RPi/Allo Boss DAC setup, works great. If you're going to use a RPi as an endpoint for streaming etc then I would use an Allo Boss DAC and not the Khadas Tone board. Any Source -> Allo Boss Player (RPi4/Allo Boss DAC) -> Vol+D -> Speakers Hope that helps Link to comment
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