Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

[rafacq]

I’m ignorant to streamers. Can this be used with my Iphone and Apple Music or any other audio from my iphone?

Yes. I ordered mine with MoOde and it has Airplay support.

 

[rafacq]

Ok. Thanks I'll try that combination.

DE-EMP EN sounds dull to me, I prefer DISsabled. Would love to see documentation from Allo on these filters.

 

[rafacq]

The Allo Boss2 is a nice product that sounds great. But I have two issues with it.
1. The Blue Aluminum cover kills wifi range. It's one of the worst case designs for RPi4 board level wifi use. An external USB wifi dongle works well to correct the issue. If you take the blue top off the Boss2, internal wifi range is restored.
2. My Boss2 RPi4 chipset gets HOT and shuts down after about 90->120 minutes of play time. Letting it cool for 20 minutes and starting it up again works for me. I have not heard this complaint from those using an ethernet connection which makes me wonder if a combination of wifi and the CPU chip heat adds to the issue? I had this same issue with a different RPi4 without a Hat in a Flirc case. I took it out of the case and placed it on top of an 80mm slow fan and never had the problem again.

Ive had mine running 24/7 for days at a time and it has worked flawlessly.

 

[rafacq]

I ordered my first Allo Boss2 with 4GB rPi (2GB out of stock) Sep 9 and shipped in 2 days. FedEx International took 5 days to deliver. Ordered my second one (2GB rPi) last night and it shipped in 2 hours! Wow, let’s see how fast FedEx International delivers this time, estimated delivery is Wednesday Oct 13.

 

[rafacq]

Is the OLED screen always on? Burnin on OLED screens is a major issue, my original SMSL M8 suffered from this and the screen became useless in under a year. Most devices with this sort of OLED screen have moved to turning the screens off after a short period of time (my lavaudio DS600 and SMSL SU-8 do this).

I use MoOde and screen display is off after a minute or so.

 

[rafacq]

If you will be sending the music stream to a DAC there is no need for the RPI4 HAT. Just take the USB output off the RPi4 and plug it into your USB input on the DAC. That's what I do with my RME ADI-2 FS DAC. If you are sending the stream to RCA inputs (single ended) on an amp, preamp or receiver then you will need a DAC HAT like the Boss2 offers.

Agreed! Thanks for pointing it out. Some folks prefer to use a SPDIF or optical connection to their DAC, and in that event a HAT can be used to output the SPDIF/Optical signal (as no such connection exists in the rPi).

 

[mdaley]

I ordered mine with Moode Audio as well. When I tried to set it up today, Airplay doesn't recognize Moode or the device. Any idea what I'm doing wrong? Thanks!

 

[rafacq]

You have to go to the MoOde settings and turn it on.

 

[mdaley]

Thanks, Rafacq! How do I find the GUI you screenshot? Do I need to remove the chip and access the Moode Audio program on another computer? Sorry to be so thick. I appreciate your help.

 

[rafacq]

Thanks, Rafacq! How do I find the GUI you screenshot? Do I need to remove the chip and access the Moode Audio program on another computer? Sorry to be so thick. I appreciate your help.

Do not remove the microSD card from Boss2. Make sure it is connected to your network. I have my Allo Boss2 connected to my network via wired ethernet.

On a computer in the same network, open a browser (I use a Mac so I open Safari), and type "moode.local". Look for an M on the upper right side. Click on it and choose Configure/Audio, scroll down to Audio Renderers.

 

[mdaley]

Do not remove the microSD card from Boss2. Make sure it is connected to your network. I have my Allo Boss2 connected to my network via wired ethernet.

On a computer in the same network, open a browser (I use a Mac so I open Safari), and type "moode.local". Look for an M on the upper right side. Click on it and choose Configure/Audio, scroll down to Audio Renderers.

My network is wireless. Should I make a wired ethernet connection between the Boss2 and my router? I'm not getting any connection to moode.local.

 

[rafacq]

Yes, connect it wired so you can get in the settings configuration.

 

[MCH]

Thanks, Rafacq! How do I find the GUI you screenshot? Do I need to remove the chip and access the Moode Audio program on another computer? Sorry to be so thick. I appreciate your help.

official instructions here. If you are like me, you'll hate to follow the text document:

moode/www/setup.txt at master · moode-player/moode

moOde sources and configs. Contribute to moode-player/moode development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

To connect via wifi, moode creates an access point that you can connect to in order to set up everything. Just follow the first 30 seconds of this video (but everything is in the document referred above):

 

[rafacq]

official instructions here. If you are like me, you'll hate to follow the text document:

moode/www/setup.txt at master · moode-player/moode

moOde sources and configs. Contribute to moode-player/moode development by creating an account on GitHub.

github.com

To connect via wifi, moode creates an access point that you can connect to in order to set up everything. Just follow the first 30 seconds of this video (but everything is in the document referred above):

Thanks for sharing the document. Guess I was lucky, I used a wired connection and was able to figure it out.

 

[rafacq]

My network is wireless. Should I make a wired ethernet connection between the Boss2 and my router? I'm not getting any connection to moode.local.

How did it go? Were you able to setup your Allo Boss2? Let us know.

 

[mdaley]

Thanks to both. "Moode Local" was not showing up as an access point on my WiFi network nor could I access with that URL. However, when I entered the IP address from the OLED display, I could access the Moode GUI. Wow, this is difficult for a newbie.

 

[MCH]

no worries, once set up, you can just forget. btw, moodeaudio.org has a forum where you can ask for help when you run into trouble. the guys there know a lot and are always willing to help.

 

[rafacq]

Thanks to both. "Moode Local" was not showing up as an access point on my WiFi network nor could I access with that URL. However, when I entered the IP address from the OLED display, I could access the Moode GUI. Wow, this is difficult for a newbie.

Glad to be of help. Like I said, I did a wired connection and I found it fairly easy. I use mine as a ROON endpoint and had to Google it to find the instructions how to add it. The good thing is once you set it up, like Marcos said, you can forget it.

BTW, my first time in MoOdeaudio.org, I was overwhelmed. There is a lot of information there.

 

[Pioter]

Can this product work just as DAC when needed (eg plugged to pc) if yes, is there any option to plug it somehow to TV?
I guess not but would appreciate if someone could confirm

 

[NiagaraPete]

Can this product work just as DAC when needed (eg plugged to pc) if yes, is there any option to plug it somehow to TV?
I guess not but would appreciate if someone could confirm

No I don't believe so and no to the TV.