Purpose built being the difference.
A cross post if I am allowed but my question in the dietpi section seems to be better suited here. In short: allo usbridge seems a fine option vs raspberry pi but the latest pi will have POE power. Will this be better than a highly priced power supply? And is a Windows 10 computer of around 400 dollars connected to a usb AC better than this allo usbridge?
Hmm, are you talking about a HAT or a splitter?
In either case, you will also need either a PoE switch or a PoE injector on the network side.
Some people will believe anything. 
It is a hat and i have a large poe switch. I wonder if poe has theoretically less noise as they say about dc power supplies?
Don’t have the background to speak to that, but it seems PoE would be just as, if not more, noisy than DC. Probably depends on the quality of the power supply.
There are people who can address that, @danny.
BTW - I have a i5 NUC I use as an endpoint. Can’t hear any diffrence either way.
I read a thread yesterday (on CA, I think) in which someone asked a similar question. John Swenson, noted for his work in Ethernet PHY design, replied to the effect that PoE was likely to be a rather noisy power supply. Makes sense to me because there’s no good reason for it to be engineered for particularly low noise in its usual application.
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Well the whole industry/commumity is based on that.
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I have no background here. I don’t think anyone on our team has much experience at that level with PoE.
Another data point regarding reliability of Pi based solutions. I’ve had a DigiOne running Ropieee in my girlfriend’s system for about 8 months without a hitch. There were some initial crashes which Allo found were caused by a little inductor and they changed their design and swapped boards for existing customers.
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TBH Ropieee has not been updated for quite some time. It was during its auto update or reboot process it would more likely fall over for me, other than that I agree it is the most stable of all the os versions out there.
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I agree it depends. The RPi is very sensitive to some factors. The so often included kit PSU is usually crappy and adds lots of switch noise. By using eg an ifi ipower PSU the noise is lowered significantly. I have added also a ifi idefender lifting the RPi USB 5V/DC output and inject instead a battery 5V/DC. Also the RPi is vulnerable to RFI and should never be implemented in a plastic house. There is a very lavish black or polished steel house for no money at all, that keeps most interference out. If the RPi is given the right circumstances I feel it meets high-end level end-points.
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My Pi3B, aluminum case. I have been using it as Roon endpoint(Ropieee) for 1 year without any problem. LPS is HDPLEX 200W. Great sound!
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Looks great! It is absolutely wonderful that an increasing number of devices getting small enough to not completely overwhalming the room. With a NUC, a RPi, in my case a ½ size Hegel HD12 and a larger Classé CA-2200, I have managed to get a reasonably compact playback chain. Much smaller envelope compared to my full-rig Rotel Michi, with numerous large and heavy devices. Makes my wife a lot happier, too
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Really? Makes me wonder how mine work at all with their ‘crappy’ power supplies and plastic cases. Do you have any measurements to demonstrate the claimed improvements of a lower noise PSU and a metal case? I want to see if it worth going to the expense and trouble (as I have five to do so it will get expensive).
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Hi,
off course it works, it does not perform at its best. I have no measurements, sadly. I could measure it at work, but that would require moving my rig to work.
I simply rely on my ears, especially the sibilance in high notes. The RFI does not affect the RPi digital performance, but since the RPi pcb is not connected to ground (floating), the closest ground potential is through the USB cabel shield to the DAC, hence spreading the ripple.
It would be interesting to make a prototype USB cable and lift shield at receiver end. The DACs I have checked seem to share the common problem “pin 1 problem” as balanced analogue transfers, ie connecting shield noise to the pcb, instead of leading it directly to chassis ground as it should.
Has anyone compared the iPad vs Allo USBridge as an endpoint. I compared the iPad with the Fanless NUC/ROCK Core directly connected to DAC and I prefer the sound of the iPad because it gives more texture to instruments and richer presentation overall. I use USB Regen and ISO Regen powered by LPS-1 using Y-splitter cable (USB regen connected to ipad/nuc and ISO regen connected to USBPCB to the DAC).
I would like to use the ipad as the controller thus I’m looking for an ipod to replace it as an endpoint. But if the Allo USBridge is better sonically than the Apple devices as a Roon endpoint then I might just get the USBridge. It is also cheaper than an ipod.
Do you have another Rock running as the server?
Make it three votes for Allo DigiOne and Ropieee. Ropieee is dead solid and has been consistently improved. Automatic updates; has never failed.
Be careful about the DigiOne Signature model unless you’re a golden ear wannabe.
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