Allo DigiOne

Product Information

We started designing a digital (S/PDIF) transport for RPI with one goal in mind: Absolut best S/PDIF output. When you use the internal WiFi of the Pi, or like me use a small USB Nano WiFi dongle, you have all the wires exiting on one side, facing the rear of your desk, hiding the wires and looking super neat. Another big reason for using a Raspberry Pi is that it is MUCH cheaper than any full-sized computer.

It is therefore very easy to browse through your audio files, change playback options or volume from anywhere, as long as a network connection exists.Additionally, DigiOne has a double relocking of the S/PDIF stream (one of them taking care of metastability and the second one taking care of realigning the data). To honor these points, a daily technological watch is carried out by our team composed of passionate and specialized people. I then decided to redo the SD card image and started from scratch, just to make sure I did not corrupt the SD card when I unplugged the power so unceremoniously while it was busy with the initial setup. Galvanic isolation would have been the best solution for coupling the card with DAC (floating circuit, non interference distribution), but the choice is to use digital isolation.

Recapping, if the JustBoom HAT’s coaxial is the equal of the AURALiC Aries then the Allo DigiOne surpasses it; a polished ease making more agreeable work of listening to The Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Teenage Lust” or Throwing Muses “Bright Yellow Gun”, just as Wyred4Sound’s souped-up Sonos Connect does. Also, it’s be helpful if you stated what DAC you intend to use with the Allo as this may help determine whether USB or S/PDIF is best.

For instance, if your DAC is powered by the USB cable, as with the AudioQuest Dragonfly series, you have actual electrical coupling issues to consider. It can be configured freely with extensions and includes many features and comfortable controls through a browser or a smartphone.

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. 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. With a bare minimum system, you can allocate all the resources towards your audio processing functions, and also switch off anything else not being used, and enable these low powered computers to excel at audio processing without breaking a sweat and be super responsive and reliable. So, any improvement that manifests would be to do with timing of the digital signals and to accurately represent the zeros and ones.

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Allo DigiOne Raspberry Pi digital audio (S/PDIF) interface. 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). If you like the comfort and versatility of streaming your music via Raspberry Pi, but your appetite for a slightly cleaner digital source grew past it, Allo DigiOne might be just the thing you need. Cleaner imaging overall and more realness to 3D objects like musical instruments and person signing. Now, first things first, if you’re not familiar with using Raspberry Pi as an audio streamer then this talk could be a little bit confusing.