Allo Boss DAC 1.2 or HifiBerry DAC2 HD

Hi,

I want to assemble an economic but good DAC based on the Raspberry Pi 4B for a year 2000 Bang & Olufsen audio system that delivers the sound throughout the home. My B&O Beosound 9000 has only analog audio inputs.

As the Roon Core I have a NUC8i5BEH with 2 SSD.

I am thinking about the Allo Boss 1.2 or the HifiBerry DAC2 HD. In any case mounted on a Raspberry Pi 4B with 4 Gb RAM. Which one do you consider a better alternative for what I am looking for… Thanks!

P. D. :I also want the new Sony 1000XM4 headphones but the B&O does not have Bluetooth. Do you know whether exists another good DAC mounted on Raspberry but with Bluetooth connection?

I cannot comment on the Allo Boss choice.

I have assembled a Raspberry Pi 3B+ with a HifiBerry DAC2 HD to play into an old Arcam A19 which only has analog audio inputs. I used a steel HifiBerry case. I ran an ethernet cable to the location.

Following the instructions, it went together easily, started without any problems and plays nicely with Roon. It sounds really nice to me out of the Arcam into GoldenEar SuperSat 3s.

+1 for allo boss

Hi,
using ROON you simply can:
Activate “this phone”, “this iPad” or whatever remote with Bluetooth under ROON audio settings.
Music played on this device can be sent to a paired speaker connected via Bluetooth.
You don’t need a special DAC or extra device.

Thanks Axel. You mean, ie. playing Roon on my smartphone which is connected via Bluetooth with my headphones, right?

Right. No need for an extra device.
For Sony headphones the best codec would be LDAC, here’s something how to get it:

Thanks Axel. Now I am waiting for the new Sony headphones to reduce their price a bit for Black Friday or whatever.

My Roon Core is an INTEL NUC 8i5BEH and my Bang Olufsen sound equipment is connected with an analog cable to my NUC 8i5BEH minijack audio output and then distributed to different B&O speakers in my home.

Suddenly I have a doubt, can the Allo Boss DAC 1.2 improve the audio quality of my NUC 8i5BEH minijack audio output?. I can not find any detail of the audio quality of this minijack output. All I have found is that NUC HDMI output is 7.1 capable but nothing else. At present, the HDMI ouput can be played only in living room B&O audio equipment but not thru the rest of the house. That it is why I need both audio outputs.

Thanks for all your help.

Have never tried it with the nuc myself, but usually this type of audio output is really bad.
The following discussion might be helpful for you:

I can’t see the built in DAC in a NUC being up to any dedicated DAC , certainly my PC jack sounds awful . I use an Audioquest Red that makes a massive difference

Cannot comment on the HifiBerry DAC, but I have been using the Allo Boss DAC 1.2 for two years on an RPI2. Zero complaints. Was using an Audioengine D1 USB DAC on the RPI2 previous to the Boss and the Boss was a step-up to my ears. Later upgraded the power supply to an iFi iPower and noticed another bump in clarity.

I will get the Allo Boss 1.2 with the Rapsbery Pi 4B with 4 Gb of RAM , the iFi Power 5v 2,5 A and the Case HiFiBerry / Allo Raspberry Pi 4 - black matt

That s all! right? Or do I need also the regular Rapsberry power suply too?. I mean, the iFi for the Allo only and the other one for the Rapsberry, keeping in mind that I have to disconnect the power connections between the Rapsberry and the Allo hat.

Thanks.

I personally just have a single power supply for the RPI2/Boss combo. But I think (?) the RPI4 recommends/requires a power supply with a higher amp rating compared to the RPI2, so perhaps you’ll need two power supplies for the RPI4/Boss combo.

The plug and play solution from Allo comes configured for 1 power supply. It’s a usb c located on the DAC, and that also powers the RPi.

I have the HiFiBerry DAC 2 HD and it sounds pretty much identical to my Chord Qutest DAC. I’m very happy with it. I went with the DAC 2 over the Boss DAC because I wanted a standard size HAT. The Boss dac has that large capacitor on it that sticks up. The DAC 2 has better specs for SNR and dynamic range and has hardware volume control although you won’t need that with the B&O volume.

I’m running on a raspi 4B 4Gb (probably don’t need 4GB) with Ropieee XL and the raspi display. The raspi 4B comes with a slightly beefier power supply than the raspi 3 and that’s been plenty for the display, raspi, and DAC in my system.

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For those seeing in the future, I can attest to the large size of the allo. Had to mod the highpi case to make it fit, looks fine though.
Boss with a ifi power supply is sublime though

Adding to this thread.

I choose a PI4B and HifiBerry DAC2 HD connected similarly through a B&O BS9000 AUX input. RoRieeeXL provides the Roon endpoint. The DAC Hat was a choice narrowed down to what was available.

For those familiar with B&O I also run Masterlink to pipe this sound to all rooms. Each room has different speakers so Roon is setup with different Parametric EQ filters saved under room names.

Very happy with the results.

Actually looking at the Boss 2 now.

Cheers.