Allo Katana DAC

[Onionhead]

Thank you Johan from what you describe I can get by with reasonable inexpensive power supply in the beginning and upgrade from there once I have the funds. I have three streamers with two Allo products Piano 2.1 and Digi Signature, the third is a 2015 Hifi Berry DAC +. From your description I need to make it 3 out of 3 in favor of Allo. Enjoy.... Tim

Hey Tim,

You're absolutely right: at the beginning you don't need to spend precious money to these expensive PS (December is already an expensive month, with all these presents…). In my case (I bought the plug and play version) it came with a PS adapter (5V/3A) which I don't even use. The Katana itself will give you better sound compared to all other RPi DAC's, even without the "perfect" power supply. Start small, grow big....later on you can always improve the sound slightly by getting a better PS.

Besides, if you don't buy the Isolator, one simple PS will suffice (cfr. Tim Curtis).
I'm using a USB charger for now, you can always use a decent powerbank as well.

In any case, if you want to profit from the 10% discount Allo is offering now, I wouldn't wait too long to order.... :-)

Johan

With the 10% off and for US customers no VAT how could anyone not pull the trigger.

[nassost]

Hi everybody, best wishes for a productive and happy new year!

I received my Katana (SQ stage + isolator) on new year's eve and have been doing some burn in since then playing back a 4000 tracks playlist.
I also tried for the first time to play some DSD files (downloaded from http://www.2l.no/hires/) but all I 'm hearing is noise. Are there any specific settings in the Audio or MPD settings that I have to adjust?

[CallMeMike]

Hi everybody, best wishes for a productive and happy new year!

I received my Katana (SQ stage + isolator) on new year's eve and have been doing some burn in since then playing back a 4000 tracks playlist.
I also tried for the first time to play some DSD files (downloaded from http://www.2l.no/hires/) but all I 'm hearing is noise. Are there any specific settings in the Audio or MPD settings that I have to adjust?

- https://allo.com/sparky/katana.html#downloads
- Katana Tech Manual
- page #17 (last page)
- DOP (DSD Playback)

[nassost]

Hi everybody, best wishes for a productive and happy new year!

I received my Katana (SQ stage + isolator) on new year's eve and have been doing some burn in since then playing back a 4000 tracks playlist.
I also tried for the first time to play some DSD files (downloaded from http://www.2l.no/hires/) but all I 'm hearing is noise. Are there any specific settings in the Audio or MPD settings that I have to adjust?

- https://allo.com/sparky/katana.html#downloads
- Katana Tech Manual
- page #17 (last page)
- DOP (DSD Playback)

Still cannot get it to work. Tried playing the files both from network and USB. These are my settings (using a Schiit Jotunheim as headphone amp):

[JST1963]

Hi moOde fans,

[nassost]

In my case (same setup as yours) it works fine if you set the SoX Resampling (in the MPD config) to 176.4 KHz (any bitrate, 16/24/32).
The option DSD over PCM (DoP) can be on or off.

The 352.8 KHz sampling frequency also gives noise here.
One thing though: don't use the slider to go forward in the song, it doesn't always responds correctly. And give it a few seconds (2-5) to let the music start (I think buffers have to be filled first...)

Johan

Hey Johan, thanks for the tip! It did the trick! I guess my complete ignorance on the DSD world is the most probable reason for not figuring out that SoX Resampling should be enabled

[Supersurfer]

Hi all,

I am looking to build a high quality portable battery powered headphone music player. The rpi with moode 44 will be a very nice source with the bluetooth and wifi functionality, controlled with a smartphone.

For the audio processing I need a super high quality dac/amp that can drive a headphone in a good way.
I use AKG K701 (impedance 68ohm), and Etymotic er-4p (impedance 100 or 27ohms depending on the use of impedance adapter).
If the project evolves I want to invest in better headphones like the planar types.

Would the katana with volume control and line output stage be suitable for driving headphones?

I plan to use 2 lipoly batteries to feed the pi-isolator and katana seperately. Battery size around 2500mAh @3,7v
Is this possible with acceptable playing time (4hours minimum)? What is the power consumption?

[JST1963]

Hi moOde fans,

[Tim Curtis]

Hi everybody, best wishes for a productive and happy new year!

I received my Katana (SQ stage + isolator) on new year's eve and have been doing some burn in since then playing back a 4000 tracks playlist.
I also tried for the first time to play some DSD files (downloaded from http://www.2l.no/hires/) but all I 'm hearing is noise. Are there any specific settings in the Audio or MPD settings that I have to adjust?

In my case (same setup as yours) it works fine if you set the SoX Resampling (in the MPD config) to 176.4 KHz (any bitrate, 16/24/32).
The option DSD over PCM (DoP) can be on or off.

The 352.8 KHz sampling frequency also gives noise here.
One thing though: don't use the slider to go forward in the song, it doesn't always responds correctly. And give it a few seconds (2-5) to let the music start (I think buffers have to be filled first...)

Johan

It's a side effect of the Isolator board limiting the rate to 192K. DSD64 will work fine but DSD128 which requires 352.8K will just be noise.

You should be able to leave SoX off.

[JST1963]

Hi moOde fans,