Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

[johan]

Hello Amir

if /when possible , can you take another reading of Jtest with the new earth ?

 

[maty]

Allo Boss2 + Shanti power + 16GB (Moode)

*** 392.00 $ -> (0,83 $/€) -> 323,43 € at home ***


The same pack from Audiophonics: 377,5 € at home

 

[FrantzM]

Europe

ALLO BOSS2 DAC CS43198 32bit 192kHz DSD64 with Aluminum Case and Raspberry Pi 4
https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/dac-...aluminum-case-and-raspberry-pi-4-p-15142.html

View attachment 126991

Welcome back!

 

[vkvedam]

Very nice, tempted indeed at a UK retail price of £129 incl VAT ;-)

 

[vkvedam]

But is Allo a French company or an Indian one? If it’s Indian, maybe a cricket bat would be more appropriate!

It's French with offshore development wing based in Bengaluru, India.

 

[Audioagnostic]

RPI needs at least 2.5A , USB cannot supply that much power .

Johan, I am using a previous version of the allo Boss, 1.2, with a pi3 and use it with a standard 3A usb C powersupply. Happy with it, works very well. I have a pi4 for multimedia playback, libre elec, that I also use with a USB powersupply.

Will a USB powersupply not work with the boss2?

I am thinking of upgrading because the cases of my current Boss is falling apart. This looks much better. Sonically I do not expect a lot of benefit...

 

[johan]

Yes it will work. I advise to use the DC jack in(back plate) instead of RPI usb-c DC in.

Do expect a sonic benefit vs Boss1..

 

[Audioagnostic]

Yes it will work. I advise to use the DC jack in(back plate) instead of RPI usb-c DC in.

Do expect a sonic benefit vs Boss1..

Thanks for the info. I am tempted...

 

[cbhere]

Hello

Is it possible not to use a computer, but instead plug a 2to hard disc, and manage playing songs from a smartphone with application?

For this you don't need a computer, once its booted up just point the browser on the smartphone connected to the same network to the respective site(in my case I use moode audio so http://moode.local/) and it loads the interface for playing the files on the SD card or any USB drives connected to the device.
You also have option of Airplay and Spotify, once activated through settings your phone will directly stream to the player from the respective apps.
It's a great device and I enjoy using it..

 

[milosz]

Yes a handy device. One could be seated in the "sweet spot" in whatever room your system is in, and using a notebook or a tablet or even a phone you could play Internet streams through the thing, or you could play stored tracks from a NAS or PC on your network that has ample storage. Nice to see such a machine with a very good DAC at such a friendly price.

 

[Matias]

DAC is the Cirrus Logic CS43198. These CS4319x models are excellent, as we can see by entry level priced DACs performing ~115 dB SINAD and excellent jitter when well implemented, such as this case and some dongles.

 

[Katji]

But is Allo a French company or an Indian one? If it’s Indian, maybe a cricket bat would be more appropriate!

It's both, but HO in France, company registered in France. AFAIK, but pretty sure. You know, like "designed in XYZ" but made in PRC, in this case manufactured in India. ...Not sure about R&D centre though.

 

[PeteL]

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.

Thanks, I am not familiar with PI streamers. On my own streamer and on others (no need to disclose here and induce competition in your own thread), I don't stream direct from my tablet, my files and streaming application are located on a remote host computer or in the cloud, and my tablet just host a remote control application. Can you do this easily in the RPI environment?

 

[johan]

Its not RPI..its software . I am able to stream anything from my network to the device. I dont have any cloud music but it should be possible. Check Moode or Volumio

 

[Dogen]

Performance aside (which is excellent) I really like the distinctive design. I think appearances sell a lot of products, and this is a fresh, clean design that helps it stand out from the pack.

 

[Martin]

This little box and a pair of the surprisingly well measuring Klipsch The Fives would make a nifty little mid-century modern second or third system for a bedroom or small den.

Martin

 

[Labjr]

Nice review! USB dongle allows wireless streaming? I wonder how well it would perform compared to Ethernet?

 

[johan]

Yes WIFI dongle allows wireless streaming. No change in THD+N

 

[mash]

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?

 

[johan]

Yeap Moode allows Spotify connect . (using GUI)