Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

[Audiofool1Q84]

Hi all:
First time poster long time lurker here. After reading about the Boss2 I thought this would be a good solution for music in my wood shop. I have no internet connection at my wood shop so streaming is out of the question. What I do have is a SSD connected locally to the Boss2 with all on my flac files on it.

I did not want to use my phone as an interface because it is small and I often forget it when I go to my shop. So I picked up a cheap Kindle fire 7, stripped everything Amazon off of it to use strictly as an interface with the Boss2. I wanted something that could be carried around the shop with me it needed. I built a quick stand and connected it to my cheap shop stereo. I am very impressed with the sound from this little device.

Before taking it to my shop I had it plugged into my system at home and was pleasantly surprised.View attachment 136784

This looks awesome. Could you please explain what connection did you use and how did you prepare the Fire tab (in terms of os/software) to interface like this?

 

[Winvieh]

OK, that is interesting, I thought that you were limited to only the software choices on the Allo.com website, Moode or Dietpi+Allo, can anyone else confirm, can you use any Raspberry Pi style OS, can you use Picoreplayer with the Logitech Media Server loaded on the SD card?

Yes, runns fine. Installation get an error, if you don not have resized filesystem. that's it.
Regards Winnie.

 

[Winvieh]

Well, i like the piCore-player.

This is robust. You can interrupt the power supply without any trouble. This is not true if you run the LMS on same device.

Also it is very small, with resized filesystem about 380 KByte.

This means, you can store the image with Win32Diskimager (only allocated) fast and small on your PC. Also you can use a quality SD card, fast and with every size, and there is only this small amount allocated.

Also it is easy to define the SOX parameters. I allowed rates specified, and the doubling with filtering. The results are better, for my ears, when i do not enable to extend from 44.1 KHz to 192 KHz, it's better to realize 24 Bit with 88.2 KHz.

Change in squeezelight settings:
Max sample rates: 44100,48000,88200,96000,192000 and
Upsample settings: v::3.5:28:95:100:45

if you change v in vX, than you enhance to expand everything to 192 KHz.

Other OS are bigger on SD's, sometimes they take the whole SD.

Best regards Winnie.

 

[Fahzz]

I'd like to know as well. In fact a few comments here on filters but I can't seem to find any documentation anywhere on what each of the 4 filters actually do

Same for me. I'd like an explanation as well. Anyone?

 

[Winvieh]

Well,

those 4 filters, rechable via menue, are not well defined.

Somehow like my expensive Sony cd player, long time ago, there have been a lot of filters, with explanation, but understand what they are doing or what for, is another chapter.

There it was terrible, in every cd there was onother filter sounds good. But they system dosn't help reminding....

My way is simple, find a good combination and leave it.

Regards Winnie.

 

[Dyabolikal]

Maybe Look at Max2Play? It will run Kodi and Logitech Media Server. There is a small license fee for the software.

Apple TV 4k hdmi for the video. And a streamer with AirPlay for the audio. Isn't that what you want?

not sure if it helps, but rpi can be booted from multiple sd cards. You will have to maintain separate SD cards for the different scenario. I dont know specifically about allo boss, but don't see any reason for it not to function.

There are other options to boot from multiple OSes. You can check this for reference - https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/how-to-install-multiple-oses-on-a-single-sd-card-for-raspberry-pi/

Thanks everyone for the options and input, much appreciated! I obviously have some more research to do. Part of the appeal for me is learning to tinker with a Raspberry Pi in general, so maybe I'll end up with more than one Pi down the road to satisfy different functions.

 

[Gaspar74]

Same for me. I'd like an explanation as well. Anyone?

For filter selection I find that Pase compensation is off. High pass filter is off. De Emphasis is on and Non Over sampling is on. this seems to work best for me.

 

[Fahzz]

Ok. Thanks I'll try that combination.

 

[Gaspar74]

Ok. Thanks I'll try that combination.

Sorry De emp is off

 

[Audiofool1Q84]

Sorry De emp is off

Yes, I was wondering. I dont have a super resolving setup but of all the filters that's the one that really has an obvious impact. Completely kills all dynamics. I'm going with all off for a while. Though the question on what does non os sampling do in the above case remains largely unknown.

 

[JohnYang1997]

why the 32 tones test has testsignals which double in frequency? this way you hide the second harmonic peak.
It would be better to use 32 test tones which dont mask anythingView attachment 152107

The frequencies of these tones are not at each others harmonics. They are spaced slightly off to not mask anything.

 

[Fahzz]

Sorry De emp is off

Got it. Now there are other settings that are not filters-Roll off etc. what do I do with those?

 

[NiagaraPete]

I turned them all off and it sounded awesome.

 

[NiagaraPete]

I have one for sale https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/allo-boss2-for-sale-bo.26976/

 

[Gaspar74]

Got it. Now there are other settings that are not filters-Roll off etc. what do I do with those?

Preference. I use slow roll off. Then settings were as I listed previously. HV En i leave off thats output voltage. High sends 2.1v output reg is 1.8 I tihnk. Pase compensation I have ON. HP filterer off, DE emP is off, Non oversampling is perference. I have it On as in no oversampling.

 

[rafacq]

Thanks Amir.
Is it possible to have a teardown of the device? Also, I associate with 617 about curiosity on power supply effect on overall performance.

Ale.

You can watch Hans video for a look inside the Allo Boss2.

 

[rafacq]

I haven't heard much from Allo @johan the past year (no doubt COVID has caused issues) so it's nice to see their name again and good engineering on display again.

A version with balanced out would be really nice.

The Orchard PecanPi has balanced outputs but at $350 more!

 

[rafacq]

I would like to explain how a streamer works . RPIs hardware is a small computer that has an open sourced OS. Many audio players , like Moode , PCP . Volumio etc build on that OS using open source software .

From your tablet/phone , you can stream direct to our Boss2 using airplay , upnp/dnla , spotify plug in , roon and more coming . You can swtich at any time betwen players by flashing the SD card with the new image.

I ordered my Allo Boss2 with MoOde installed. MoOde comes with an Airplay, a Spotify, a Bluetooth and Squeezelite renderers. The ROON renderer was not installed from the factory but a quick Google search I found the instructions how to download and install it.

Here is the link.

Installing Roon Bridge on Moode (updated Feb 2023)

 

[rafacq]

Looks really nice!

to date, I've been using Ropieee with my RPis to stream Roon. Was looking to set one of these up for my daughter. She streams Spotify. Does anyone know if Moode allows you to setup Spotify connect through the gui or do I need to dive down into manual RPi package install/config land?

Spotify renderer is included with MoOde but I use my Allo Boss2 as a ROON endpoint.

 

[rafacq]

Please forgive my ignorance, but I can’t find whether this device supports Airplay. I have been frustrated with the lack of inexpensive devices for Airplay. Also, are there opinions about how robust this solution would be, ie will it last or will I be looking for a new solution soon. Thanks for any answers.

Yes if ordered with MoOde.