Anyway, things then progressed and because I could afford to, rather than needing to, I progressed to a DAC board for the PI. com are meant to provide the user with a high-quality digital audio SPDIF output signal, that needs to be connected to an existing external high-quality Digital to Analog Converter (DAC) via an RCA or BNC coaxial digital audio cable.

I've looked at the Pi a few times but I'm not sure how well it'll handle streaming services such as deezer etc. Was thinking of using either Chromecast Audio or Raspberry Pi (via wifi) for the first two DAC’s… For the Exogal i was considering the USBridge Signature.

In the past I was not happy with the performance of Volumio with huge music libraries, but they have come far with their development and the faster Raspberry Pi 3B+ runs it very well. I won’t be making any further comparison because it will be like comparing apple and oranges (the implementation of the USB Receiver and S/PDIF receiver of the same DAC can be of different quality level). What we have here is something that was not designed to sound good, but to sound as best as possible (on Raspberry PI), and this is not yet another case of over-engineering: they made clear design choices which my listening impressions confirm to be correct. Also, with this extra space we added a supercap on the “clean side” so most of the electrons come from this onboard “buffer” (there is so much power onboard that DigiOne Sig can run a few seconds without any power attached to the clean side). Allo claims there is no need (and they are probably right, considering the DC regulators and galvanic isolation) but I think this is anyway a Nice to have feature.

Probably, though, I’m never going to get to hear them and even then, I would probably still opt to spend additional cash on other items of hi fi kit. Not The Blue Nile’s sophomore LP but that given by Raspberry Pi to add on-boards for their small-board computer (SBC). To achieve this high-quality signal, timing of the bits needs to be precise and there must be little to no other electrical noise mixed in with the signal that could cause distortion or confusion within the DAC.

I don't know if it makes sense to go up to the Signature level, as I"d also want the extra power supply to avoid the use of batteries. The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network. So my conclusion is: the DigiOne is expensive when compared to similar solution, but it’s definitely worth every penny of it. The best part of all is that these compact purpose-built systems are ready to download and use immediately with very little effort or knowledge needed to get it working. They are completely different designs, but I would expect the better R1 DAC to be more resolving or indicative of the differences.

The sound quality will therefore be multiplied in comparison with that offered by a smartphone or a conventional tablet. Fast forward again - the BOSS DAC was sold and in its place a Schiit Modi 3 DAC (see John Darko’s video for the reason why). Isolate each stage of the signal path: there is a galvanic isolator separating the Raspberry PI from the clocks, and the clocks themselves are isolated from the WM8805 (which is the S/PDIF transmitter). This is because I believe that shorter the signal path, the better (as you might know from my earlier posts).

By doing so the clock (crucial for the time-domain musical message) will be way better than what the Raspberry PI can offer. This version of the Allo DigiOne Player is based on an SBC (Single Board Computer) Raspberry Pi 4 B. However, optical has galvanic isolation so we took the decision to use a digital isolator instead that separates the outputs from both RPI and WM8805.

I'm considering a change in my main hifi at the moment and this could be the approach I take regarding streaming. Based on the above prerequisites that you have established, you then choose a suitable Raspberry Pi system to download, copy it to SD card, start it all up and then configure it towards your needs. Where digital graininess, edginess and sharpness would be very apparent the improvements are most notable. I would say if you can get better power supplies, do so, even if you just want to make sure you have the small things covered at your source.

It sounded better and more pleasant than the Breeze, but it was all almost at the same level of better. To honor these points, a daily technological watch is carried out by our team composed of passionate and specialized people. I suppose if you have an old DAC or a poorly engineered one which is susceptible to analog electrical interference over its USB input, you might want something more like the USBridge device.