@allo.com good job with your new website design, I like the graphic that shows the different products!
Is the DigiOne worth getting if there isn’t a super-fancy DAC on the receiving end?
My main AV receiver is a Denon AVR-x4100w (which has a TI PCM1690 DAC). Thanks to a few excellent Roon control extensions, I no longer feel compelled to replace it, but I would like to optimize the sound quality. This receiver is currently being fed by a Pi3B+ and a JDS Labs OL DAC (AK4490EQ DAC, linear power supply) into an analog input. I’m not super-impressed with the sound quality; it’s not much better (if any) than listening to Roon via AirPlay input.
Would it be a noticeable improvement to put an DigiOne on the Pi and feed it directly into the Denon’s coaxial input?
it depends on the capacity of your dac in rejecting/eliminate jitter coming from the source, if it is sensible to it (jitter) you will hear a difference right away, imo you should give it a try.
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I don’t think the DigiOne would be worthwhile in this scenario. With my Chord 2Qute the difference between RPi USB and the DigiOne was small (although ticks and clicks were completely eliminated.)
You may fair better using an RPi DAC hat and bypassing the internal DAC. For instance a PCM512x based hat is likely to give you some improvement for less than $50.
Not entirely sure i agree. Airplay is pretty crap. A lot of what you hear Martin may be due to the Chord DAC processing USB input well (or is is just crap at everything which I doubt). All these things sound different in different systems and the only true way is to suck it and see. If you don’t like the Digione sell it. You can hardly lose a fortune condidering its pretty small initial cost.
I never said I dislike the DigiOne. Quite the contrary. But that doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for everyone and I’m certainly not going to push people toward the products I use. I aim to be objective wherever possible.
Adding complexity to the signal has yielded no tangible benefit … your point about Airplay is misplaced. So I stand by my suggestion that a DAC hat is likely to have demonstrable improvement over the other add-on components. They are fantastic value for money and compare very well with retail products costing 10x more, e.g Bluesound Node2. Indeed the DigiOne has outstanding value/ performance for the same reasons.
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And you didn’t read my response. I said it is different in different situations so the only real way to know is to try it in yours (as you did). Oh any my comment re airplay is not misplaced. It is crap but you may not hear any difference in your setup.
I don’t care what people buy.
Over and out.
I agree with Tony. Definitely worth a try for the money. If this hobby has taught me anything, it is that anytime you can reduce jitter and cleanup the power before the DAC, the better the results.
I have no experience with either gear, but at the end I think you would like to
- compare the built in DAC from your receiver with the stand alone DAC and know if it would make a positive difference for you.
- If the answer were yes, the second question would be if a purchase of a DigiOne would be benficial.
Just a suggestion, could you use/borrow a CD or DVD/BluRay player and use the same digital (optical?) output to the receiver vs. dac to make a fair comparison between the two. This way you can experience if the dac in the receiver is noticably better.
If the receiver really is much better, then it might make sense to think about purchasing a DigiOne, or under circumstances maybe the cheaper HifiBerry Digi+ if you can’t justify the cost for the DigiOne.
Good luck and happy listening!
Have people tried the iFi iSPDIF purifier? I have it between my DAC (Modi Multibit) and the output of my RPi HAT (HiFi Berry Digi+pro). Sounds pretty good. I’m wondering if the Allo DigiOne would make a difference in this context.
I’m trying to decide between a Usbridge or a Digione to a Benchmark DAC3 HGC.
I saw the jitter plots for both but couldn’t understand them (available here https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/bgBjaPs2LVGrfNcBRQgbN2rjneLgqFaCmX2aG1N6tTo?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy and here https://www.amazon.com/clouddrive/share/d9tQW6evXqxeRTAB9jxBb8XyndL2PF7nlcVZGNSMnTz?ref_=cd_ph_share_link_copy).
Seems that @allo.com themselves are more proud of the DigiOne:
"DigiOne has 2 outputs: BNC and plain RCA (coaxial). On both, we have achieved jitter of 0.6ps (1 picosecond – time taken by light in a vacuum to travel approximately 0.30 mm).
Noise. 50uV (batteries have about 12uV of noise).
What we achieved, in our opinion and based on public measurements, is the best transport at any price point (yes, even when compared with 5k USD/EUR transports)."
For UsBridge, they only write: “The final noise of the USBridge is lower than the noise of a battery.”
The Benchmark’s coaxial and usb inputs should be indistinguishable (both go up to 192 kHz PCM sample rates at word lengths up to 24-bits and also accept DSD 64 in DoP 1.1. In addition, the coaxial digital inputs are DC isolated, current limited, and diode protected. The RCA body is bonded directly to the chassis to prevent currents in the internal ground system. This direct bonding also maximizes RF shielding. Upstream would be a battery-operated switch connected to an iMac Roon server and Synology NAS. I don’t know if the Benchmark’s USB port is galvanically isolated, but adding an Olimex isolator I did not (could not) detect a difference in a brief test. The Olimex made it necessary to use a cheap USB cable in addition to my Supra USB cable (source: Macbook Pro on Wi-Fi with Roon Bridge).
UsBridge works with a Sparky while DigiOne with RPI3. I wonder whether this has any implications for sound quality or practical considerations (e.g. PSU upgrades etc).
Many thanks for any experience or views you care to share.
Some will continue to claim that jitter and noise have a detrimental effect on your listening experience. However, common sense goes a long way.
We’re looking at differences in the region of a few trillionths of a second and a few millionths of a volt. Both will do the job admirably. And these figures are based on switching power supplies too.
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The Allo RPI/DigiOne stack makes for a great Roon endpoint.
Since I use it in my bedroom, though, the LED’s disturb my sleep at night.
Is there any way to turn them off completely?
(I’m running the web-based DietPi interface v6.7)
Thanks for any suggestions.
You could try the following. Doesn’t work for Ropieee, but may for DietPi.
echo none > /sys/class/leds/led0/trigger
echo none > /sys/class/leds/led1/trigger
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Electrical tape?
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Yeh, probably the most reliable solution. 
Well, I just (re)joined the Digione club. A little while ago I tried the Digione and really liked it, but then I got a really good offer on a Lumin D1 and went for that streamer. Since I only use the digital out on the Lumin I was not using it to it’s full potential but it really sounds good. Compared to the Digione it add a certain fluidity /warmth to the music that just sounds right. But after a few months the clean and uncolored sound of the Digione kept ‘haunting’ me when listening to certain songs. And when the new aluminum cases became available I bought a new one. Yesterday I connected it in stead of the Lumin and in no way I can say it sounds less, just different. And the Lumin was powered by a Sbooster and the Digione by an iFi. The rest of the setup remained the same (digital out to a pair of Dynaudio Focus 60 XD).
In short: HATs off to Allo for building such a good product.
A little sidenote is that the aluminum case looks very nice but there is not a lot a lot of room around the micro USB connection for cables with a bigger plug like the iFi iPower. A little bit of controlled pressure makes it fit just fine but a little more space would be very nice.
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Anyone using their DigiOne with a Mojo? I just bought one. Mounted it on the back of one of these (some case modification required)
But, Wouldn’t work with my Mojo. Thought I had a bumb board. But then I decided to pair it with my DacMagic Plus and it works like a charm.
I tried a few different RCA to 3.5mm mono adapters. Could my Mojo not be working right? Do I need a special rca to 3.5mm I didnt know I need, that maybe forgot I have?
^^^ this is your issue: It has to be a coaxial cable (digital, 75 Ohm)
Looks pretty much the same as an RCA to minijack but it is not
Bought the one I use (Black Dragon Mini Coax) from Moon Audio, but you can find less (… or more) expensive ones
Hi yes I do, using Diet Pi. It works fine but as the Mojo is battery powered I usually switch it on then restart the Pi to get it to recognise the Mojo.
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