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Let’s start the year as we always do, with great music!

Check below our weekly album recommendations. And if you missed our 2020 album of the week compilation, you can check it out here

Week #1

 Released in 2013, Aleph by GESAFFELSTEIN takes us to the genre of IDM, electro and techno.

Debut album for the French producer Mike Levy aka Gesaffelstein.

The best gift of Mike Levy is certainly the versatility, the epic IDM of Piece of future is a bit the summa of the album that ranges between EDM (Pursuit and Obsession), UK bass rhythms (Out of line and Hellifornia) and industrial ambient (Hate Or Glory) to testify the ability to grasp the creative core of each style.

Not all of Aleph’s explanations are complete (Duel and Hellifornia): reconciling the ambient minimalism of some songs with the dance explosiveness of others is a titanic undertaking, but Levy is a character who could give us surprises in the future.

Electro milestone!

Purchase it on Amazon: Aleph by Gesaffelstein

Week #2

Listen to some electro-pop and folk with Eivør and her album Slør (English Version), released in 2015.

The artist has graciously shown to the world the Faroese folk and ballad through her music. This album we have chosen for this week was firstly done in an English version but later released in a second version that would be in her native language, Faroese. Nonetheless, even when we listen to the English version, the Faroese heritage is still beautifully appreciated in the album.

Eivør combines in a mysterious and -you could somehow say in a darker way- a style of different genres: starting from ease folk, with a touch of pop and electronic. You will notice that Slør, comparing to previous albums, is more instrumental than vocal. She provides something new in this experimental album, although always keeping her essence she still continues to evolve over the course of her career.

In Slør you can listen to a mix of both the old and new. “Trøllabundin” reflects the traditional folk, showing us a glimpse of her heritage. In addition, a mix of contemporary sounds is found with electronic beats. In “Petti Fyri Petti” (Piece by Piece), the song delivers an intimate scene with only a guitar, her distinctive voice and humming, giving a serene sensation. 

A well-deserving recognition must be given to Eivør. One of the most important achievements of an artist is to show their country’s tradition and culture through music, and Eivør has long reached the dream of many, to put her dearest country in the music scene and to make their traditional music a global success.

If you are one who enjoys discovering new music, “Slør” is a must album to put on your playlist, and the best part is that there are two versions to enjoy. We’ll leave you below the links for both versions. 

Must-tracks to listen:

• Broken
• Into the mist
• Piece by Piece

Purchase vinyl on Amazon: Slør by Eivør

ORIGINAL LANGUAGE VERSION: EIVOR Slor (Faroese version)

Week #3

THE KNIFE Shaking the habitual – electro pop, dance, trance – 2013

This week we bring you an album from The Swedish sibling’s duo known for captivating listeners with unconventional and experimental music: The Knife. The band has unfortunately dissolved after the release of the album Shaking the Habitual, released in 2013. Regardless, it should be a shame not to continue to appreciate the core of the album, a political message sounded in tune.

The electronic and dance duo were back on their game with Shaking the Habitual, after a long 7 years since the release of their first album Silent Shout back in 2006. 

For some, the album can be difficult to be listened to at first, but the wide range of uncommon sounds and electric pieces they created and combined nicely in each song and the whole album, with songs such “A tooth for an eye” or “Fracking Fluid Injection” send the listeners to the point where normal and strange meet (where we believe it’s a good point to be at).

A 19-minute track seems not bearable to listen to all, but “Old dreams waiting to be realized” gives a dark and pensive ambiance to isolate you with only the sound and your thoughts. Additionally, it seems to split the album into two parts

Besides the eclectic sounds, their words manifest a strong political message about different aspects of some issues in our current society, the corruption, modern consumption, and the problems with privilege, among others. As they expressed in the “Shaking The Habitual – The Interview” video: “Lyrics are inspired by 70s protest songs from our childhood or maybe our record poses the question what can I protest song be today.”

A challenging but excellent album for the audacious listener.

The must-track you should not miss: 

• Full of Fire
• A Cherry on Top
• Ready to lose

Purchase the vinyl on Amazon: Shaking The Habitual by The Knife

Week #4

This week we present to you the album ANAKRONIC/KRAKAUER by Anakronic Electro Orkestra. An album with a mix of acid electro, fusion and alternative, released in March 2016.

Brilliant and dark is the Balkan fusion sound of the Toulouse-based collective, Anakronic Electro Orchestra, featuring clarinetist David Krakauer.

We find in this mix the audacity of combining acid electro with ancestral sounds, and the people’s tradition. The result is an electro-klezmer ensemble with a mixture of styles such as jazz, funk, rap, rock.

Improvisation has always been a distinctive trait of the clarinetist, the histrionic musical fantasy that is created by the close artistic collaboration is something that reveals unique aesthetic energy and communicative power.

This is music at the state of the art, beyond all frontiers!

Purchase it on Amazon: Anakronic / Krakauer by Anakronic Electro Orkestra

Week #5

This week, listen to hip-hop-electro French duo Smokey Joe & The Kid’s album Nasty Tricks, released in 2013.

Smokey Joe (the boss of the Bordeaux musical mafia) and The Kid (Parisian turntablist), are a duet that transports us almost a century in time with the artifice of modern magic made of groovy beats, scratches and samples. This debut LP brings with it sonic manipulation, experimentation and a lot of gangsta attitude. Here … the image of a cocktail between 2Pac and Al Capone in Brooklyn street NYC is the perfect curtain for this sound.

For connoisseurs here we have the honor of excellent collaborations: Puppetmastaz, Youthstar (Chinese Man), Sugaray Redford, Random Recipe and many more ..
Strong the influence of 90’s hip hop and the swing of the early twentieth century creates the perfect setting for a rhythmic, cheerful, but unforgiving urban poetry …. Bang!

Start with a bang!

Purchase it on Amazon: Nasty Tricks by Smokey Joe & The Kid

So, the most important question, what are your thoughts on it? Is it related to your music preferences?

Tell us in the comments!

Reviews are written by DED@Volumio

Do you enjoy Volumio Album of the week? Then you will love Music Letter! Check it out.

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All photos courtesy of Lorenzo Chiccoli, follow him on Instagram

When we launched Primo, even though every feature was carefully thought-out, this was to us more of an experiment than anything else. Our goal was to understand if there was an interest for Volumio branded products. You can then imagine our surprise when we saw Primo’s first batch of 20 units go sold-out in less than 20 hours. Not even in our wildest dreams, we could have imagined that.

And our surprise kept on growing in the following months when we could not get the pace of incoming orders (you might have noticed, that Primo has been regularly unavailable in the first months… luckily we now know how to plan production a little bit better…). Our first year of Primo has been literally a rollercoaster of emotions: the joy of seeing it so appreciated by customers and the struggle to learn how to effectively distribute a product worldwide (keeping customer support and satisfaction as high as we could).

There was so much to learn: from logistics management to customs and duties calculations, production planning, certifications, packaging design, supply-chain, distribution agreements. Luckily, in the process, we met and worked with several great partners from production, to logistics, retail distribution and legal advice that helped us achieve what we wanted. So, it’s really fair to say that Primo would not have been possible without the help of our partners.

And most important, Primo’s biggest success is the satisfaction of our customers. So we want to say thanks to everyone that believed in us getting, reviewing, trying and listening to Primo.

But enough talking from us. We think that the best way of celebrating Primo’s first anniversary is by letting who tried it speak for it: we feel so proud about the reviews and comments, from the minimalist compact box design to the functionality in both hardware and software, the Primo has been reviewed as an all-in-one solution for the audiophile.

We received high praises from big members of the HiFi community, from John Darko saying that Volumio Primo is a “very good sound streamer both digitally and analog-wise and a nicely made product”, to Hans Beekhuysen telling the “Primo offers very good sound quality and build quality for the money.” 

AVGuide.ch expressed that “The Volumio Primo is an excellent streaming/player software in a modest device with outstanding sound characteristics and a neat GUI with many possibilities”. Primo has been reviewed as being an easy-to-use device, any music lover can get and use their Primo. According to Digiphonix, Volumio Primo is “an exciting and pleasant product, especially for a first time user of a networked streamer device, someone seeking a good music source that can grow with their audio gear acquisitions over time and also, for the avid listener that already makes use of lossless music files and streaming.”

The Volumio Primo was created to give three main fundamental properties every audiophile should enjoy: the sound quality, the practicality and the wide range of features, all by using best audio hardware combination made of the ASUS Tinker board S and the ESS ES9028Q2M DAC.

To this regard, AV Forums has described the Volumio Primo as “a seriously impressive product that comes enthusiastically recommended.” As well as HiFi Choice saying that “When you consider the flexibility and outstanding sonic performance on offer, the Volumio Primo looks like a very attractive option at the price.”

It’s called Primo not only because of the Italian meaning “first“, being the first of its kind created under Volumio qualifications, but also because Primo means “of top quality or importance”. Volumio’s purpose is to give our community that, the uppermost experience.

We are kindly grateful to you, because with your help, Volumio Primo came to life and now, according to all the reviews, it is one of the top HiFi music player streamers in the market. Needless to say, this gave us the strong motivation to keep on bringing new products to life (the next of which will be Motivo… ). We have many new products in the works and we are uttermost excited for the future ahead of us.

So, once again: thanks to everyone who made it possible. Thanks to anyone who’s listening to music with Primo. Thanks to anyone who talked about it. Thanks to anyone who believed in it. Thanks to anyone who waited impatiently for it.

And… thanks to anyone who hasn’t got it yet but will do it now.

Happy birthday Primo!

The post Volumio Primo Turns One! appeared first on Volumio.

The Allo Katana DAC is surely the most anticipated and waited I2S DAC this year. I won’t be boring you saying how much Allo is innovative, clever, etc. But sure they managed to get quite some attention when they announced their bold intention to create “The best implementation of ESS9038 DAC”.

Given the reputation they’ve established with their past products (Kali, BOSS and Digione, just to name a few), no wonder that this DAC has been awaited by many so badly, me included.

So after 7 months after their announcement, I finally got the Katana delivered to my doorstep. Allo sent me the full, ready to play Allo Katana Player and a Allo Katana DAC stack (DAC only).
I got therefore the chance to live the “customer experience on both products”, and I would like to start with that, since for this product it’s especially important.

THE KATANA EXPERIENCE

The Allo Katana DAC is definitely a learning experience: you have 3 boards stacked one on top of another (from the bottom: DAC, Output Stage, Microcontroller), and you immediately notice it’s full of Power Supply sockets, jumpers, selectors, wires…

So, in fear of making a mess, I immediately started to read Katana’s manual, immediately feeling like this thing needed a proper and cautious setup.

Long Story short: the Katana is not an easy plug and play DAC, it’s not for beginners and it’s not something you want to wire up the wrong way. Allo made sure their manual is clear and detailed, but surely I would not recommend to a novice of the Raspberry PI world to start with it (I will instead recommend getting the full player, we’ll see later why).

It reminds me the first sensations I had when back in the days I was restoring turntables: the constant feeling of dealing with a delicate equipment, that understanding how to treat it is fundamental to not make a disaster and that getting the most out of it is a matter of patience, study and effort.

If I shall make a remark to Allo: if there is a way to simplify the 3 boards, do it. As of now, it feels too complex even for expert users. I know for some this can be a good thing, but I definitely think that simplicity is the ultimate sophisticacy, and I don’t see an effort in this direction with the Katana.

With the Allo Katana Player instead, you get basically everything ready to play, configured, and packed in a nice case. I’ve no fear to say that at the moment, the Allo Katana Player (with Volumio of course) is the BEST Price\Quality ratio streamer on the market. And given how easy Volumio has become, and how good Allo packed this wonderful DAC, it’s definitely suggested for those wanting to get their first serious streamer.

THE ALLO KATANA TECH 101

The Allo Katana DAC consists of 3 separated components, working together and stacked one on top of another:

The DAC board itself

This board hosts the pulsing heart of the Katana: the ESS9038 DAC, probably the most praised piece of silicon in the industry today (at least by Audio designers…). On the same board, we find also the ultra-low phase noise NDK oscillators for the DAC.
This has been Allo’s trademark when it comes to design: make sure the DAC works in Master mode (making it immune from Pi’s poor and jittery clock) and put excellent oscillators in the mix.

In my experience, such design choice results in excellent instrumental separation and great rhythm (every audio sample is played in the very exact moment it’s meant to).

The Output stage

That’s the really interesting bit in my opinion. Allo went all-in with an extravagant, but brave, choice: a class A opamp output stage. The first contradiction here is that Opamps are usually associated with bad sound, while class A is usually a synonym of top-notch circuitry.

The second point is that you would not expect to place a current-sucking class A design on top of a low power device (with no trace of heatsinking) like the Raspberry PI.

Ioan from Allo repliying to my questions, commented:

• Opamps are usually associated with Monolitic opamps (really cheap semiconductors that just get the job done, used where price and board real estate is crucial), while Allo has teamed up with an analog designer (sparkoslabs.com) that designs Opamps made with discrete components (they actually contain transistors, capacitors and resistors). Add that the analog circuit is designed (and trimmed) by hand, using premium capacitors, premium resistors and it runs in class A, Allo states that this output stage is completely transparent.
• The Output stage can be eventually turned off, by operating a switch on the MCU board (except when fed with +-15 external power). I initially thought that the MCU had the capability to detect the DACs idle state and turn off the output stage, but it turned out not to be the case. But this can be a really brilliant feature (mainly for those who leave their unit on 24/7) and I would love if Allo manages to implement it.

The Microcontroller

The ESS9038 DAC cannot be easily integrated into pure i2s implementations (like all Raspberry PI Audio shields), for a variety of different reasons. So the most common way is to stack a microcontroller between the PI I2S BUS and the DAC itself, and this DAC makes no difference. Therefore nothing special here.

POWERING IT UP

The Katana is designed to be powered up in 3 different configurations (quoting Allo’s manual, from the worst in terms of Sound Quality to the best):

– Single power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board)
– Double Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI)
– Triple Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI + 5V 3A via black and red wire)
– Quad Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI + 5V 3A via black and red wire + -+15 Power Supply)

Quad Power supply is what theoretically will allow the best Sound Quality, although Allo specified that “A very good Power Supply must be used to get better results than our onboard regulators”. So what Allo recommends as best SQ in the manual is actually triple power supply, where no +-15 Volts requires to be fed. In this configuration, you need however to wire (and potentially solder, if you like clean jobs) two power wires carrying 5V.

I am trying the Katana Player in double PSU configuration, powering the PI with a generic 5V 3A power supply, and powering the Katana Controller board with an ifi iPower (to get the most out of this combination I’ve added an iFi groundhog, useful to get rid of any possible ground loop in my system).

My listening impressions are therefore related to this configuration (which is, with Allo’s words: medium Sound Quality settings), so I will try it with 3 different PSUs and update this review accordingly (although I won’t keep the system in this configuration, unless I see no less than Angels and Goddesses, since it will be a pain to have all those wires in my listening position, see later).

The worst part of this design choice is that achieving its full potential is quite a tradeoff: 3 different PSU are needed: 2 x 5V 3A power supplies, and a dual +15-15.

So, getting the most out of the Katana requires at least some electronic skills (playing with DIY power supply is potentially very dangerous if you don’t know what you’re doing), and you necessarily need to add about 100 euros to its base price ( to get the additional PSUs) and that the Katana player setup will involve a quite messy wiring scheme in your tidy electronic shelf.

THE SOUND

Enough talking, let’s get straight to the point of how the ALLO Katana DAC sounds.

In two words: resolution and quantity.

This is the first time the word “resolution” comes to my mind when describing a music equipment. The quantity of details, instrumental separation and micro-dynamic is unmatched in the whole I2S DAC world. I would say that also it clearly surpasses my main DAC (Opera Consonance Don Curzio, Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital) in this aspect. I’ve heard many details of my music which I never suspected the existence, and notably, it happened especially when I was not paying attention.

Some examples: in some tracks I’ve heard for the first time the tail of Charleston (Take Five), or an organ background (Mammagamma). This DAC is therefore not detailed, but rather Hyper detailed.

I am the kind of guy that love hearing every subtle detail, but the Katana experience is like a binge detailing session. It sometimes feels too much, and it easily becomes fatiguing.

Another double-edged quality of this DAC is that it’s able to deliver a hugely emotional experience: as always, this is one of the aspects I care the most (and it’s probably where the advantages of being a jitter-immune Master DAC comes into play). While listening to it my feet started to tap to the floor, and I was totally immersed in the rhythm.

This DAC catches your attention. It’s involving, demanding. This is probably what I like the most about it, because the emotional transport it’s able to convey it’s unmatched in my whole listening history.
But this is also what I don’t like about it.

It’s tiring: it throws at you a huge lot of information in the musical message. And, at least for now, I can’t sustain a listening session of more than an hour without wanting to stop the music and take a rest. Last but not least, as with all very detailed DACs, the quality of the recording is crucial: lo-fi tracks becomes quite tedious to listen, as you’re exposed to all their defects.

I’ve discussed with Allo about such aspects and they reported me that they all had the same impression: powerful but fatiguing. They then suggested to let it burn-in for at least for 24 hours, and the DAC will keep improving until about a couple weeks of use.

I am not a fan of burn-in, mainly because I can’t completely understand the reasons for such a phenomenon. But Allo’s Ioan explained that

“We have over 20 film caps and 2 Suprecaps which need to stabilize. The burn in period is 2 weeks. Dac will become slightly better because Supercaps need a longer period than film capacitors. Like a good wine Katana gets better with age”.

I really hope, and I have no reasons to doubt Ioan’s words (other past Allo products proved to improve considerably after some burn-in time), that this is actually the case. The Katana is on a whole new level on pretty much any aspect on anything on the I2S panorama, and if burn-in actually reduces this “too-much” effect that this brings in, it’s definitely my favorite DAC.

I will update my review after some days of usage to confirm if that actually happens, and what the change magnitude is.

The last mention of honor goes to the low-end of this DAC. That’s the best bottom line I ever heard. One of my favorite bass ever is in the song Allarme by CCCP, and boy this is the first time I ever heard it this way. If you’ve already heard the BOSS DAC, that’s the same bass signature, but multiplied per 10 (so I guess the Supercapacitor plays a role, and the difference is increased by the output stage).

A COMPARISON

The ideal candidates to compare against the Allo Katana DAC are the DACs I would place in the “Top-tier I2S DAC” category, namely:

• Orchard Audio – ApplePI DAC: A dual mono Burr Brown PCM1794A DAC, with a radical approach to clocking
• TERRATECHNOS – Terra-BerrYDAC 2+ : A refined AK4490 DAC implementation with onboard reclocking
• TauDAC-DM101: The only I2S DAC with Lundahl line output transformers

I will exclude the TauDac (since it costs about 4 times as the other contenders), and put the comparison this way:

The Allo Katana DAC outperforms the contenders when it comes to: detail, PRAAT (let’s call it rythm), bass response, ground noise floor, instrumental separation. The TerraBerry is a more suitable choice for those wanting a “relaxed” listening experience, while for those wanting overall tonal balance probably the ApplePi is to be preferred.

CONCLUSION

The Good

• Fantastic musicality
• Hyperdetailed: you will rediscover even the tracks you know best
• Amazing and powerful bass
• It’s the most “involving” DAC I’ve ever had, to me it’s a plus

The Meh

• It’s not for everyone, not totally beginner friendly
• To get the best out of it, 3 Power supplies are required
• It’s so good, that for some this can be “too much” (to be verified after burn-in)

I must admit: the Katana in itself is a revelation, it is a “different” listening experience. It is, without a doubt, the most interesting piece of equipment for music enthusiasts although it’s not for everybody (some skills are required to get the most out of it).

The Allo Katana DAC can be seen as the most revealing, musical and involving DAC currently on the scene, and its qualities can make it either the absolute love for some or a tedious overwhelming listening experience for others. I am, slowly, starting to love the revealing effect it is offering me.

As always, if you like Volumio and want to get the Allo Katana DAC or Allo Katana Player, by getting from our Shop you’ll be supporting our beloved project.

And you’ll be getting also a really nice bonus:
a voucher code for 4 months of MyVolumio (which is about to receive TIDAL support, BTW…). So you can test your brand new Katana with Hi-Res streaming…

I’ve no fear to say that Volumio + MyVolumio + Katana Player is without doubt the best quality\ratio streamer currently on the market. 

UPDATE 1

Errata corrige:

There have been some mistakes in my review (I’ve corrected in the main text, but I’ll write them down here for those who like diffs):

• I’ve erroneously mentioned that “The Microcontroller unit is programmed in a way that it turns off the output stage when not used, saving power.” That’s not true: the MCU cannot shut down the output stage, but it can be done manually by switching a selector on the MicroController board (J27, assuming you’ve not powered the Opamp stage separately, in which case this jumper would be set to off anyway, getting power from +-15 external source).
• I’ve erroneously mentioned that there are 3 ways to power the Katana, while there are actually 4:
  – Single power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board)
  – Double Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI)
  – Triple Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI + 5V 3A via black and red wire)
  – Quad Power (1 5V 3A PSU, USB type C connector to the MCU Board + 1 5V 3A PSU, Micro USB Type connector to the Raspberry PI + 5V 3A via black and red wire + -+15 Power Supply)

Quad Power supply is what theoretically will allow the best Sound Quality, although Allo specified that “A very good Power Supply must be used to get better results than our onboard regulators”. So what Allo recommends as best SQ in the manual is actually triple power supply, where no +-15 Volts requires to be fed. In this configuration, you need however to wire (and potentially solder, if you like clean jobs) two power wires carrying 5V.

• I’ve written that “Opamps are usually associated with cheap designs”, but it would have been better expressed with “Opamps are usually associated with bad sound”

I’ve now left the Katana to burn in for about 48 hours, and I am doing more (relaxed) listening sessions. I am taking some time to understand if and how things changed with the burn-in process, and I will report my listening impressions. In the meanwhile, I discovered 2 great tracks which will stay in my test track list for long time to come: Low by Lenny Kravitz and Opening by Philip Glass. And guess what: I am listening them via TIDAL native integration which has just been released into MyVolumio beta.

UPDATE 2 

I have the Katana in my listening room for 6 days now, so the “burn-in” effect should have made its way into my unit (Allo states however that Katana will keep on improving, although slightly for 2 weeks). Before moving on I would like to remind once more that those are my subjective opinions, and as such they should be taken (even though it’s my duty and ethical obligation to be as objective as possible, given the great responsibility I feel towards this community).

To be fairly honest I did not notice a tangible improvement after this burn-in process (except the fatigue which slightly dimished). What was immediately clear however was the difference in performance when powering it in triple mode (3 X 5V 3A PSUs): The Katana with triple PSU gains even more detail and instrumental separation. I’ve made sure I’ve listened to tracks I know very well, and for each one I’ve heard instrumentals in the background which I did not notice (or were not that intelligible) before. My assumption is that the DAC gets an additional bonus in signal\noise ratio, and the effect is clearly audible.

What’s worth noting is that powering the Katana player this way is a bit like of a ritual: first power up the Katana, then connect the type C USB PSU to the MCU board (top one) and finally (after the LED on MCU is lit) power up the PI. Those of you wanting to plug the 3 PSUs to a single multiple socket and turn this on and off to power the whole thing might, therefore, be out of luck (or maybe there is a way to do so, but I am not aware of it).

Another experiment I did was to change the DSP programs of the Katana. Volumio allows (from playback options) to change the DAC DSP on the fly, so it’s quite easy to evaluate their impact. You can choose between various DSP filters, and I found my sweet-spot on the “Apodizing Fast-Rolloff Filter” (if I recall correctly that should be the default one).

Coming to deemphasis, I noticed that selecting 44.1 kHz removed the “harsh” effect on the high range that I experienced in my Studio setup. On the other hand, selecting this value while playing on my main gear felt like removing “the real deal” from the musical message (so on my main setup, I do not use deemphasis by selecting “Bypass”).

Another very positive aspect of the Katana is 3d soundstage: the spatial reconstruction (on well-recorded tracks) is excellent.

Another point I noticed is that Katana was not a very good match with my Studio setup, while in my main setup it was giving its best. To me it looks like the Katana is one of those devices which require a “matching” setup: if your setup is on “the brigth side” then it might exacerbate the Katana tendency to offer great details in the high range (resulting maybe too bright and sometimes harsh). This is what I felt in my Studio setup (which is a near-field, monitor-like bookshelves setup, very generous on the higher range of the spectrum and with little bass response).

My main setup instead was giving justice to the Katana, and the overall balance whole chain resulted in a definetely pleasant listening experience. I want to remark once more: the Katana has one of the best bass ever, but combine this with the high quantity of details on the high range and you get sometimes that the two extremes of the band are in slight evidence compared to the rest.

The word that comes to my mind after 6 days of listening sessions with the Katana is “realism”. This DAC, more than any other I’ve ever listened to, gives me the illusion of the real deal. There has been one moment, while I was listening on Dope Noir by Waldeck, where I felt that what I was hearing was the actual original event: everything sounded so “vivid” and “true”. I recall this as one of the few “wow moments” in Hi-Fi I’ve had lately.

My conclusion with the Katana is: it’s probably the best I2S DAC on the market as of now when it comes to details, PRAAT and realism. The Katana gives its best with good-recorded tracks, and if fine tuned and with a matching setup it will deliver the “real deal”, what we audiophiles are always looking for. The only problem with that is that sometimes to me it felt “too much”.

In any case, the Katana is staying in my main gear, in place of my was-reference-DAC.

Side note: some have taken my words about the Katana not being beginner-friendly as it being “Expert only”. It’s not. Katana will suit the needs both of novices (especially the ready to play player) and the tinkerers, but bear in mind that getting the most out of it requires study, attention and a bit of pain (like 3 or 4 different power supplies and subsequently one of the worst WAF ever).

UPDATE 3

Welcome to this new episode of the “Katana Saga”. For those of you who lost previous episodes:
Allo, probably the most disruptive manufacturer of I2S DACs and accessories for Raspberry PI, set themselves with a bold goal: develop the best sounding implementation of ES9038Q2M DAC (one of the most praised DAC chips on the market).
They have been taking quite a long time to design it and released in late July of 2018 under lots of expectations by the DIY Audiophile community.

Katana has generally been praised of being an extremely well sounding DAC, and I wrote my review concluding that:
– It was not for everyone, as it’s inherently more complicated to operate than any other I2S DAC for Raspberry PI.
– It sounded very very good, but its hyper-analytical sound signature was somehow fatiguing

After just 2 weeks after its initial launch, Allo stopped sales of the DAC explaining they needed to tweak it further. Reactions ranged from sympathizing with Allo’s decision to extreme disappointment.

Now, the moment has arrived and Allo has resumed sales of their Katana 1.2. And expectations did not fade. End of previous episodes.

I received the new Katana about a week ago. Unfortunately, due to personal reasons I could not spend all the time I would have liked with it, but I totaled some 10 hours of listening sessions anyway.

I still need and want to spend more time with it, but I want to share my initial impressions.

As some of you might already know, Katana is in fact made up by 3 components: the actual DAC board, a Microcontroller board, and an output stage.

Allo decided for their second revision to offer 2 different choices of output stage: THD (which from what I understood is tuned to achieve maximum fidelity) and Sound Quality (which instead is somehow tweaked to a more euphonic signature). I won’t judge this choice, all that I did was listen to Katana with both output stages.

First, let’s clarify one thing: Katana 1.2 has a slightly different sound signature to me than the previous version. My only (but big) complaint with the previous version was that it’s hyper-detailed presentation resulted easily very fatiguing. This new version, luckily, is less fatiguing when compared to the original Katana. This effect was particularly evident in my studio setup (a monitor-like nearfield setup) where the previous version was very very hard on my ears, while with the new one I easily listened for many hours. Katana still offers the most detailed presentation I was ever to witness from a DAC. Praat is still fantastic. The lower end still is great (maybe even better in this revision).

It seems then from my initial impressions that Allo managed to solve the fatiguing issue without compromising on other aspects like detail and Praat. Still, the level of detail (personal opinion here) might sometime feel still too much. I still have some sort of mixed feeling about that. Before Katana, I thought to be the kind of Audiophile which likes a high level of details. Now I am not so sure.

Regarding the two output stages: I noticed a slight difference among them, and my favorite is the Sound Quality one. I am not sure for which reason as I could not identify a clear distinction among the two.

All in all I think that the tweaks that Allo made to Katana were positive and worth the wait. I appreciate them taking responsibility of their mistakes (they offered outstanding support to every single Katana customer, and I know many reactions were far from friendly). Still Katana is not a DAC for anyone: besides the complicacy of operating it (which however can be overcome with as much as 20 minutes of careful manual reading) I have the strong feeling that this will mainly suit the tastes Audiophiles with a strong preference for hyper-detail, while it might disappoint those who do not.

I will share further impressions in a future update.

Test Tracks:
Pink Floyd – Money (flac 24/96)
Stevie Wonder – Higher Ground (flac 24/96)
The Alan Parsons Project – Mammagamma (flac 16/44)
Tame Impala – Why won’t they talk to me? (flac 16/44)
Vivaldi – Le 4 stagioni – L’estate (flac 16/44)
CCCP – Allarme (flac 16/44)
Red Hot Chilli Peppers – Sir Psycho Sexy (flac 16/44)
Radiohead – Everything in its right place (flac 16/44)
Daft Punk – Giorgio by Moroder (flac 16/44)
Led Zeppelin – Since I’ve been loving you (flac 16/44)
Io sono un cane – Il corpo del reato (mp3 320)
Alabama Shakes – Don’t Wanna Fight (flac 16/44)
Sebastien Tellier – La Ritournelle (flac 16/44)
The Dave Brubeck Quartet – Take five (DSD64)
Yonderboi – No Answer from Petrograd (flac 16/44)
Ezio Bosso – Unconditioned, following a bird “Out of the Room” (flac 16/44)
Bob Dylan – Mr. Tambourine Man (DSD64)
Moderat – A New Error (flac 16/44)
Richard Wagner – The Ride of the Valkyries (DSD128)
The Rolling Stones – Sister Morphine (flac 16/44)
The Whitest Boy Alive – Island (flac 16/44)
Moon Duo – I’ve been gone (flac 16/44)
Royksopp – Remind Me (flac 16/44)
The Rapture – In the grace of your love (flac 16/44)
Pink Floyd – Wish you were here (flac 24/96)
Waldeck – Dope Noir (flac 16/44)
Rino Gaetano – E la vecchia salta con l’asta (flac 16/44)
Kraftwerk – Das Modell (flac 16/44)
Muse – New Born  (flac 16/44)
Nina Simone – I put a spell on you  (flac 16/44)
The Prodigy – Breathe (flac 16/44)
Tom Waits – Romeo is bleeding (flac 16/44)

My Setups

Main
Amp: Naim Nait 5i
Speakers: Sonus Faber Toy Tower

Studio
Amp: QUAD Artera
Speakers: Axiom Audio M3

The post ALLO Katana DAC Review appeared first on Volumio.

Well, that would be considered the ultimate I2S DAC when it comes to convenience. And that’s exactly what the NanoSound DAC does: it is an excellent sounding i2s DAC (same chip as Hifiberry DAC Plus) but with some uber-interesting extra features.

It features:

• integrated  OLED display for now-playback informations,
• 6 buttons for controls (next, previous, pause\ play, volume + and minus, power on\off)
• handy infrared remote control, with plenty of available control options (you can even turn the player on and off)

Also, thanks to its optional Amplifier, you can use your NanoSound Player to drive your loudspeakers without the need of a second Power supply (it’s so efficient that it can squeeze out 5W from a single 5V power supply, and power the raspberry PI, Display and amplifier with it).

Frankly, as soon as I saw it, I immediately fell in love with it: as you know I am really convinced that a big deal of the music listening experience is how you actually interact with the player, and the NanoSound gives plenty of options to interact with the player without even touching a phone or a PC. I know there are many people out there which would feel more comfortable in interacting with Volumio with physical buttons, or with a remote control.

Not to mention that this is the only DAC for the Raspberry PI which integrates an on\off switch. And it just works, even remotely with the IR control.

Last but not least: an OLED display that reports playback informations in real time.

And what about the sound? Nothing to worry about as it uses the widely adopted TI PCM5122 (the same used by Hifiberry DAC+). It’s not a giant when it comes to sound quality, but it’s indeed an excellent sounding package.

The NanoSound has been launched on Kickstarter (achieving a great success, kudos!) and when I saw it I immediately thought it could be the best all-round complete player with Volumio.

That’s why we partnered with NanoMesher to provide to Volumio users a complete, ready to play device: welcome the NanoSound Player.

You can tailor it to your needs: choose to have it with a case (black or white) and if you want, you can add the Amp to it. It will come to you ready to play and no further software fiddling will be needed: just install the companion plugin and the Infrared button, display and buttons will just work.

Nostalgics of SqueezeBox, buttons aficionados, remote control lovers: the NanoSound Player is the ready-to-play Volumio device for you. And this is the device I can mostly recommend to people curious to try Volumio and Raspberry PI as their audio player but they are frightened about it to be too complicated.

And the good news are not over: you can receive up to a 20% discount on the NanoSound by simply writing an honest review on it

As usual you can find the NanoSound Player on our shop or, if you already have a raspberry PI, you can just have the NanoSound DAC

The post NanoSound Player: the most convenient Volumio complete player appeared first on Volumio.

As I’ve said many times: it’s a wonderful time to be an Audiophile. The Raspberry PI has brought back lot of the fun we were missing with digital players, and I still remember that people used to laugh when back in the days I was writing that the PI could be a serious Audophile Media Player.

Luckily, time is a gentleman and it’s now widely accepted that thanks to this little computer we can build a very good Audiophile Music Streamer at a fraction of the cost of comparable commercial solutions. There is no doubt that the best way to maximize its potential is hooking it to a good I2S DAC. And I must admit I considered this the most sensible way to use the PI: thanks to I2S short path of communication, the signal would go straight from the Raspberry PI processor to the DAC, which is on paper the best way to do it (if we don’t mention the jitter problem… but that’s for another day).

So, of course I was  totally uninterested of another kind of I2S HATS (an hat is a little board that you snap on top of the Raspberry PI, and I2S DAC are part of this family): the transport HATS. Basically those HATs instead of producing an Analog signal (which you can use directly to feed your amplifier) do produce a S/PDIF digital signal, that is suitable for any S/PDIF external DAC.
The main reason was that many external (and expensive) DACs would also have a USB input: so why bother using S/PDIF? Considering also the fact that the digital signal goes trough multiple interfaces before being received by the external DAC?

But then came Allo DigiOne, and I needed to rethink my position on SPDIF transports.

What is the Allo DigiOne

The Allo DigiOne is a Raspberry PI HAT (see above) that directly connects on top of a Raspberry PI. The DigiOne takes the audio signal straight out from the I2S connection available on the Raspberry PI, and outputs an S/PDIF digital signal that can be fed into any S/PDIF external DAC.

There are many S/PDIF Hats out there that achieve the very same result than the DigiOne, but the DigiOne has several aces up its sleeve that make it probably the best S/PDIF transport HAT there is.
I’ve already written an extended review here, and here’s the sum of what makes the DigiOne so special:

• DigiOne has 2 high quality onboard Clocks, therefore its immune by the Raspberry PI I2S jitter problems.
• It applies a meticoulous filtering process on the DC coming from the Raspberry PI
• It isolates each stage of the signal path with a galvanic isolator  separating the Raspberry PI from the clocks and the clocks from the S/PDIF transmitter

Allo themselves quote that the DigiOne, in fact, is “a master codec with digital/electrical/ground isolation from RPI AND wm8805 and a reclocker”.

All the above means that the Digione truly is the most advanced and better sounding S/PDIF transport HAT currently available. As you can read in my review: this is the only S/PDIF transport that gave me comparable results than USB connection (with iFi iPurifier2), and that in itself is quite an achievement.

This is an extract of my full review:

I tried it on 3 “good enough” DACs, which I usually use connected via USB, in order to compare the outcome of the total chain.
I was impressed: never thought S/PDIF could sound that good. My previous experiences were with other shields and there is a very evident difference. Especially for the things I do care about: detail, soundstage and musicality.

Basically, for me at least, the DigiOne has become the only S/PDIF source that I would have in my system. I find the same level of enjoyment that I do have with the Mini86 and ipurifier (on the same DAC, but connected with its XMOS based USB receiver). 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).

So, sonically speaking, well done Allo: this is the only S/PDIF I managed to actually like.

Now, what I don’t like about this. I would have preferred to have a way to feed the DigiOne and the Pi separately. 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.

So my conclusion is: the DigiOne is expensive when compared to similar solution, but it’s definitely worth every penny of it. 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.

The DigiOne Player, a complete system based on Allo DigiOne and Volumio

If you’re scared that all the above means also that it’s very complicated to enjoy the DigiOne, well, keep on reading. I am writing this article because I’ve been asked many many times from people who were curious to try Volumio, but did not know where to start. Therefore there’s my suggestion: if you want a no-fuss, great sounding S/PDIF Audiophile Music Player / Streamer, this is your best chance to get the right one.

Basically, this can be seen as the quickest way to enter into the revolution of Raspberry PI based audio streamers, and from the main door.

The DigiOne Player contains everything you need:

• Allo DigiOne S/PDIF transport Shield
• Raspberry PI 3
• Allo Acrylic Case
• 8GB Micro SD Card with Volumio preinstalled
• 5v Power Supply

The Allo DigiOne Player can be purchased from our Shop, and every purchase will contribute to the sustainability of the Volumio Project.

For those of you who already have the Allo DigiOne Player, let us know how you like it via comments below, or if you have any question regarding this complete player, just ask!

[product sku=”DGONEPLAYER”]

The post Allo DigiOne Player is probably the best Volumio based S/PDIF transport appeared first on Volumio.

As you know, since Allo stepped into the SBC related audio scene, they proved to be a constant source of satisfaction. And they did not disappoint with their latest creation: the Allo Boss Master DAC.

A Master DAC does not take the clock from the PI itself but rather uses a separate clock (oscillators, 2 are needed, one for 22hz and 24hz and their multiples). This way the whole audio digital path is played with considerably less jitter. This is nothing particularly fancy, as almost any I2S DAC uses this approach.  But the Boss takes this concept to its pinnacle, by adding some rather clever stuff around this design principle:

– The BOSS features  3 different power rails, each one with its own individual filtering. One for the DAC chip itself and the digital side, one for the analog stage and one for the oscillators. This means very low noise floor and better clock accuracy. Basically this dramatically improves details, dynamics as well as rythm and pace of the musical representation
– Film capacitors on the output stage to reduce distortion, coupled with a super-capacitor to enhance bass reproduction
– Very good  NDK oscillators, to get jitter as low as possible.

Long story short, I love how the BOSS sounds. In my opinion the Allo Boss  is the real best buy for people wanting to get a great sounding I2S DAC for their Raspberry PI at a reasonable price. Its sound signature can be summarized as:

• Punchy yet controlled bass
• Balanced character
• Super silent, great dynamics and instrumental separation
• Amazing with acoustic guitars and bass guitars
• Very engaging musical representation, thanks to great PRat

You can read my full review here, another great one on Roon’s community forum
And the good news is that the BOSS is finally available on Volumio’s Shop. Shipping will start around 24 of February from India , while  EU orders will ship around 28 February.

You can get yours HERE

The post The Allo Boss Master DAC is now available appeared first on Volumio.

We’re extremely pleased to announce that the Volumio shop will feature another great piece of equipment: the PI2Design 503HTA – Hybrid Tube Amp!

I clearly remember when I saw it first time on Kickstarter : I immediately liked the idea, being a complete tube Junkie and having waited something like that (for the Raspberry PI at least) for a long time.

When I finally received it, I immediately started listening. And I must say I was really happy with what was coming to my hears. I might sum up my listening impressions to those bullet points:

• A nice and punchy bass, way more present than what you get with ESS 9023
• Great medium presentation. This thing sounds awesome with Rock and Jazz, bass-guitars, guitars and voices are really convincing!
• Average amount of detail, nearly not as good as ESS 9023
• It features an integrated DSP filter for High Frequencies roll-off, I definetely suggest to turn this off (via the plugin)

So, the 503HTA Hybrid Tube Amp sound signature is very euphonic, and I consider it the ultimate setup if you listen to Rock or Jazz. I think that the guys at PI2Design have made a really good job with it, and that is why it’s now featured in Volumio Shop: this is definetely one of the most interesting DACs at the moment. It has also other advantages:

• Can be used also as a line preamp
• Features a good quality Volume Potentiometer
• Has individuals Anode Bias Adjustment Pots and  selectable Series/Parallel Heater Configuration (tube geeks please applaude!)
• It can drive very high impedance Headphones, and has a selectable gain output

It however has just one shortcoming, if used with a Raspberry PI 3: unfortunately its FETs ends up just above the integrated wireless antenna, resulting in lot of noise when Wireless is in use. However, if you have a Raspberry PI3, you can just disable the Integrated Wireless (via network configuration in Volumio) if you don’t need it, or use an external wi-fi dongle.

All in all, I really like the 503HTA, it has a great look, sounds very well and it’s suited for tube rolling. So, if you’re like me and love tubes, Raspberry PI and Volumio you’ve just found the perfect toy !

The PI2Design 503HTA – Hybrid Tube Amp can be bought on our Shop and will be shipped directly from PI2Design. Let us know what you think about it in the dedicated thread!

The post A Tube Raspberry PI I2S DAC is finally here appeared first on Volumio.

I’ve been contacted by Ioan and Andre from Allo almost one year ago, and on our conversations it appeared that they were working on something quite innovative. They didn’t disclose so many details until Andre released this somehow cryptic post. Then of course curiosity startet to rise, both for me and the community…
Last week I finally received their package, filled with Allo’s range of product: a new single board computer called Sparky, a pair of DACs, Amplifiers, Power supplies and a misterious board.
We’ll cover in next articles all those products, let’s now focus on the last, strange item… The KALI I2S Reclocker.

What is a I2S Reclocker

In the digital Audio Domain, the accuracy of Clock is very important and it will greatly affect reproduction quality. To put in simple terms, a better Crystal Clock means better sound.
Things like sound details, instrumental separation, 3d image are hugely impacted by Jitter, and Clock directly impacts jitter. Most of the I2S DACs currently used with Volumio either feature a Master Clock integrated in the DAC, or an external Crystal. So, even if we use  I2S (the best audio connection) we are in a jitter-prone situation, especially when the clock is integrated in the DAC.

An I2S reclocker, and Kali is the first of its kind (at least for what I’m concerned), basically takes the I2S Audio signal and reclocks it , and sends this jitter-free signal to the DAC connected via I2S. In simple terms, reclocker makes sure (in the nanoseconds domain) that every bit of your track is played exactly at the moment it’s meant to.

Sound quality impacts of Kali I2S Reclocker

You might find all the above just a tedious explanation, when what really matters is what gets to your hears, right? Here’s my experience with it:

I was intrigued by this strange board, so I quickly read how to use it, I placed on top of my PI3 and attached the Collybia Mamboberry LS DAC+. Then fed the whole thing with Allo’s 5V PSU, enabled the DAC and started listening.

I was stunned, blown away like I never was before. And trust me, I’ve heard a lot of things. The immediate perception was that I was getting every fine detail out of my music. Mere example: on a guitar riff I could hear exactly guitair picks, and spot where a particular chord would stop and when the other would start. Or hear the singer taking its breath just before starting to sing. And this was just with my modest Headphone setup attached directly to the DAC ( Beyerdynamic DT 770 PRO, a less than ideal situation). When I tried the setup on my main system (also with the Piano DAC) I just confirmed my initial wonder. Also I could appreciate better the sound stage, at an unprecedented level.

I am not comfortable making this kind of enthusiastic statements, since I always try to be as objective as I can be. But this time I really mean it: the Kali I2S Recklocker is truly a gamechanger.

So, welcome Kali (the Indian goddes of Time), probably the most clever piece of equipment you can get for your Volumio powered PI. Why? For a reasonable price this little board will feed jitter-free music into your I2S DAC, resulting in a noticeable sound quality improvement. Not only that, power Kali with a 5V power supply, and it will directly feed clean Power both to the PI and your DAC.

And the good news is that it should theoretically work with any I2S DAC that uses Hifiberry DAC parameters, I am now doing compatibility tests with all the DACs I have (refer to the product page to see if yours is listed).

Unfortunately nor Hifiberry DAC Plus and IQ-AudIo PI-DAC+ work with the Kali (a driver issue), but we’re actively working to find a workaround. If you’re however curious to try the Kali, why not getting the Piano DAC or Collybia Mamboberry LS DAC+ as well?

Kali + Mamboberry LS

Kali + Piano DAC, the Allo Combo

To sum things up:

– It’s truly a gamechanger! The first time I listened to it, I was simply stunned (and this doesn’t happen that often…)
– Sound improvement is really noticeable: 3d image, details, instrumental separation are vastly better
– It works with virtually any i2s DAC you might have (tested with Mamboberry and DACs using Hifiberry DAC setting, to be tested with IQ Audio DAC+), refer to Compatibility section to know if your DAC has been tested with Kali
– With the Piano HiFi DAC, it makes a great bang\buck combo!
– With a single 5V Power supply, you will power the PI (or any compatible SBC) , the Kali and your I2S DAC. If you don’t have any, you can use Allo Power Supply

Available now from Volumio Shop

And yes, you can get the Kali I2S Reclocker on our Shop, together with other Allo’s products:

• Allo Kali I2S Reclocker
• Allo Piano HIFI DAC
• Allo 5V 3A PSU

I definetely thank Allo for bringing such a vent of fresh air into the Audiophile world, and I really think they are a great company (more of their products coming soon, you won’t be disappointed.

Be the first to review it and get it for free

Yes, you got it right. Get your Kali, then write a review on the product page sharing your experience, and if you’re one of the first 2 people doing it, you’ll get your Kali refunded!!!

I truly believe this is an amazing little thing, and I am really looking forward to see what your experience is as well!!!

The post Allo Kali I2S Reclocker: a true gamechanger appeared first on Volumio.