Just want to say thank you

[dabassgoesboomboom]

Showing (off) your Roon setup - description and photos

You’re feeding this great DAC off an iPod touch?

Just to continue

iOS vs Allo in this setup?

iOS as endpoint sounds great. Don’t…“by all means, upgrade to something better.” This is a pointless recommendation. My iPad/iPhone as end points were better than any direct Mac/PC connection I’ve tested. I have also tried RPi, SOtM endpoints. There is no reason to spend extra money at least not unless you want to try something that re-clocks/re-generates your USB signal…like I have settled on. iOS as endpoint is a brilliant solution and not to be marginalized.

I completely agree with guerph above and I’ve previously used SOtM and Sonore USB output endpoints.

The ultraRendu + Uptone UltraCapacitor LPS-1 linear PSU is about as good as it gets (in all my tinkering) for a permanently mains connected USB endpoint.

But the iOS endpoint running off internal battery or powered by a large powerbank (NOT being charged at the wall) provides perfect isolation from mains power and sounds better for it to my ears. iOS devices are power frugal too, by design, which helps keep noise low (so I’m told by some experts)

My iPod Touch (6th) has been completely stripped of all apps essentially to only function as a Roon endpoint for critical listening. There’s 6 or so apps that I can’t delete. It’s permanently on Do Not Disturb Mode and all sounds and all notifications have been disabled.

I had a question mark whether playback was truely bit perfect on the USB output (not what Roon was reporting) but when I had the little Pro-Ject S2 Dac which I bought for the old man (dad) and was playing with for a couple of weeks, Brian gave me a great idea to test bit perfect playback capability for myself.

MQA needs playback to be bit perfect for an MQA DAC to decode, so MQA playback to an MQA DAC is a great bit perfect playback testing tool ! And indeed I was able to confirm with my own eyes the iPod Touch output to the MQA DAC was bit perfect.

The reason I stripped back the iPod Touch so much is that iOS doesn’t allow Exclusive Mode (something else I learnt from Brian). But with the way I’ve stripped it back, there’s nothing that can take over the sound of the iPod Touch so it’s essentially in Exclusive Mode with Roon.

So for critical listening, my source is:

iPod Touch 6th Gen + Apple USB3 adapter + Mophie powerbank

Someone somewhere measured and said Mophie consistently have the lowest noise among powerbanks.

I tested once and that powerbank can get me 20+ hours continuous iOS Roon endpoint listening over WiFi My listening sessions are typically 1-2 hours max, maybe 3 hours continuous on the weekend, so I’m covered with letting it re-charge to full overnight.

If you’re someone that can’t be bothered with re-charging all the time it’s a pain. This is why I shipped my ultraRendu to the old man. It’s a permanent solution that needs no maintenance and that’s about as good as it get so SQ from a permanently mains connected USB source, so he can enjoy that.

But I don’t mind a little bit (not too much) of QUICK fussing around to get better SQ, and for me this does sound better.

I use a 2meter Supra High Speed Certified USB 2.0 cable to give it 2m of separation from the DAC, just for feel good factor (some distance is better than no distance I figured)

There are ways to get an Pi3 B/B+ and Allo USBridge to working wirelessly as USB sources of course, since both only need 5Vdc power, which a powerbank can provide. But the iOS’s WiFi reception is much more reliable than WiFi dongles I’ve used before and the Pi3 B’s internal WiFi is shaky. That’s critical for me, because if I had one single dropout, I would have abandoned the iOS endpoint idea and kept the ultraRendu for myself. I have no patience for anything that gets in the way of enjoying the music, once I hit the play button.

So far though, not a single dropout to this day, so I can safely say it’s a rock solid solution in my setup and sounds great!