Allo Katana DAC

[DRONE7]

A well deserved weekend of audio discovery... ! Enjoy the music !!!

[allo.com]

Enjoy the new Katana. We hope you like it.

[deafnut]

Hello Tim! 
It would be nice if you could also test the balanced output (and if both outputs can be used at the same time).

[Tim Curtis]

My Yamaha 2.1 studio speaks have balanced inputs so its possible that I could test but I'd have to purchase the connectors and wire them into the OPAMP board.

I'm sure there will be multiple guys in the diyAudio thread(s) that will test the bal outputs :-)

Btw, its going to be a few days before I'll have some pics and info on Katana 1.2 cuz I have to fab up an acrylic mount for a Rotary encoder to be able to take advantage of the nice low-distortion ESS volume controller. I'm also planning to use the new Pi-3A+ as SBC :-)

[Tim Curtis]

Hi,

Here's a few pics of Katana 1.2 :-)

Each board in the stack is listed below.

Microcontroller
Analog Output (SQ optimized version)
Katana DAC (ES9038Q2M in Master mode)
Isolator 1.2 
Raspberry Pi-3A+

It was apparent after listening to the first few albums that sound quality was in another league compared to my other DAC's. What struck me right away was bass quality, detail/realism and a very pleasing analog-like overall sound. I played Classical and Jazz Guitar for many years and I know how certain instruments sound and what I heard was very realistic and very dynamic :-))

After I get some more listening time under my belt I'll post my list of "reference" albums and I'll try to describe what I'm hearing in more detail. I'll also swap in the other Analog Output board (THD optimized) and see how that changes the sound.

Temperature levels off at a nice and cool 48C :-)

Code:

pi@rp3:~ $ ./sysmon.php
CPU: 1.4 GHz | LOAD: 1% | TEMP: 48°C | RAM_USED: 43% | DISK_USED: 35% | CORES: 4 | ARCH: armv7ll

               

-Tim

[RafaPolit]

Looking forward to your impressions. Everyone over at DIY forum has liked the THD section better than the SQ one (those that were lucky to get both female connectors on the boards).

Have you guys read the obsession Steve Jobs had with font families and esthetics on his products? While not sharing an inch of his genius, I share these obsessions to attention to detail. For me it's crucial that a company invests time in every aspect of a product and avoid after thoughts, half patches and other such practices.

Have you seen how the top acrylic sheet needs to be cut? Protruding caps, weird angles, three types of connectors, convoluted jumpers, contradicting PSU instructions.

That is all great for a prototype. Once you reach a final stage you are happy with, you re-layout the prototype and sell a 'finished' product. For me, this is a prototype stage product being sold to customers. The first batch of buyers has already been disappointed, and the next few will be as well.

The fact that there are two sound stages that Allo couldn't decide which is the one that represents 'the house expected level of finesse and quality' is further point that this is an unfinished product and they are even capitalizing on their doubts by selling both cards o customers.

I said it before, I'll not buy into this. Still, interested in the opinions of good ears as to how this "early prototype" sounds. I'll never call this a finished product as long as caps are glued on top of un-serviceable SMDs at random angles and Balanced connectors that are 'not really balanced' and are 'not adviced to be used... but there if you want to experiment' (another 'prototype' signature).

Rant over. Best regards,
Rafa.

[kit1cat]

In my opinion compared to the AUDIOPHONICS RaspDAC Mini Kit it looks awful. I noticed they both use the same Dac chip.

[TheOldPresbyope]

Yeah, but Tim's photos of this tinker's delight are absolutely first-rate!

@RafaPolit

I agree. Keep in mind though that Apple's early products had similar earmarks. It wasn't until they had a viable revenue stream that Steve could indulge his esthetics.

The case reminds me of what used to pass for a "good" Raspberry Pi case---perforated everywhere for easy access to every connection port, which are all over the SBC. Good for me; abhorrent to my significant other.


@kit1cat

As we know, the same DAC can lead to different sound depending on system design (witness the choice of Katana output stages). The damnable thing is I have to listen with my own ears and I can't afford to buy every board I'm interested in.

Waiting for the next exciting installment of Tim's report.

Regards,
Kent

[RafaPolit]

@RafaPolit
...It wasn't until they had a viable revenue stream that Steve could indulge his esthetics...

Regards,
Kent

Yes, but Allo has already created this: https://www.allo.com/sparky/digione-player.html .

So they were 'already there' and they are now walking backwards!

Not to mention that buyers purchasing from their website would get - at best - really surprised (if not REALLY PISSED!) that they received a completely different looking product than the one they ordered.

Rafa.

[TheOldPresbyope]

...

Not to mention that buyers purchasing from their website would get - at best - really surprised (if not REALLY PISSED!) that they received a completely different looking product than the one they ordered.

Rafa.

I'm with you all the way on this one.