Allo Boss2 Review (Stereo Streamer)

[jimuhhroonie]

Are Allo is in business?

They've been really quiet on some of their official forum presenses

Great company - hope they are still doing well.

Has anybody ordered anything very recently, like past month ?

Crickets here too. I have a warranty issue and they seem to have gone dark. That's a shame because I liked their streamer and am very disappointed that the company doesn't seem to be responding to customer inquiries anymore.

 

[Fahzz]

My guess is that the company is a Covid Casualty. Hopefully just corporate, not personnel. They certainly weren't scammers or they would have charged 1000 bucks for the Allo Boss2 Player, and they contributed to this site regularly.

 

[ahofer]

Everything is out of stock on the website. I know the Pi is still in short supply.

 

[Music1969]

Boss 2 is (or was) indeed a good streamer and I enjoyed using it. That was until last week when the left channel went out and I tried to contact the company about getting it fixed or replaced under warranty. Unfortunately, Allo's customer service seems to have gone dark. So please be aware that other users have attempted to reach out to the company and met a similar lack of response. As other customers tell it, the company hasn't provided any answers to inquiries or complaints since spring of 2022. Unfortunately, resolving any technical issues after purchase seem to be DIY from here on in.
I'd be very interested to know what's going on with Allo. This is disappointing because I really like their streamer and miss having it in my music setup.

Keep us posted with your complaint in Canada

I guessed they were impacted by COVID too since Manufacturing and Support was in India and India went through really tough time during COVID

Plus Pi and general parts shortages

 

[Doodski]

Boss 2 is (or was) indeed a good streamer and I enjoyed using it. That was until last week when the left channel went out and I tried to contact the company about getting it fixed or replaced under warranty. Unfortunately, Allo's customer service seems to have gone dark. So please be aware that other users have attempted to reach out to the company and met a similar lack of response. As other customers tell it, the company hasn't provided any answers to inquiries or complaints since spring of 2022. Unfortunately, resolving any technical issues after purchase seem to be DIY from here on in.
I'd be very interested to know what's going on with Allo. This is disappointing because I really like their streamer and miss having it in my music setup.

Have you done a Google Map search. It appears the address has changed hands in the recent times or perhaps it has always been populated by a lawyer's address for the business owner's convenience. On the topic of taking the business owner to court you must first find the CFO or the owner and having a address to serve is nice too. Then approach the court clerk(s) and request a small claims file # and documents to open the file. You must serve the defendant their copy of the file within a period of hours or the document expires and you'll need another. If you are a low income person you can usually get a cut rate on the court fee but you will need to provide proof of that income otherwise telephone ahead and figure out the fees. Then when you return to the court clerks and give them the copy signed by you stating you served the defendant (It's nice to have a witness but not required.) the court clerks will schedule a hearing that occurs before the small claims court hearing. The pre-hearing is to look into the matter a bit and determine if it is worthy of the court's time. If you think you have a case then you can attend this informal meeting and plead the case. There will be a judge there but it is 100% informal. If the judge determines it is worthy of the courts time the judge will tell you at that meeting. Some defendants lawyers will not represent a defendant in court if there is no lawyer present pleading the file. So it would be you and the business owner or CFO in court.

 

[jimuhhroonie]

That's enough right there for me to not consider them anymore. That's ridiculous. Guess I'll look elsewhere for a dac hat.

Same. I really liked the Allo Boss but never will buy from them again.

Have you done a Google Map search. It appears the address has changed hands in the recent times or perhaps it has always been populated by a lawyer's address for the business owner's convenience. On the topic of taking the business owner to court you must first find the CFO or the owner and having a address to serve is nice too. Then approach the court clerk(s) and request a small claims file # and documents to open the file. You must serve the defendant their copy of the file within a period of hours or the document expires and you'll need another. If you are a low income person you can usually get a cut rate on the court fee but you will need to provide proof of that income otherwise telephone ahead and figure out the fees. Then when you return to the court clerks and give them the copy signed by you stating you served the defendant (It's nice to have a witness but not required.) the court clerks will schedule a hearing that occurs before the small claims court hearing. The pre-hearing is to look into the matter a bit and determine if it is worthy of the court's time. If you think you have a case then you can attend this informal meeting and plead the case. There will be a judge there but it is 100% informal. If the judge determines it is worthy of the courts time the judge will tell you at that meeting. Some defendants lawyers will not represent a defendant in court if there is no lawyer present pleading the file. So it would be you and the business owner or CFO in court.

Better business bureau is not a legal enforcement organization. It's an organization that keeps tracks on customer complaints (and praise) about businesses. A company that gets bad reviews on BBB doesn't suffer any legal consequences, but BBB's ratings carry a lot of weight, so there's bound to be a certain amount of reputational damage if enough complaints are lodged.

 

[jimuhhroonie]

My guess is that the company is a Covid Casualty. Hopefully just corporate, not personnel. They certainly weren't scammers or they would have charged 1000 bucks for the Allo Boss2 Player, and they contributed to this site regularly.

Oh no. I never meant to imply that they were scammers. What they are is a well-regarded company which for one reason or another has stepped away from the customer service and fulfillment part of its business and so left its most loyal customers guessing.

We in Allo's loyal customer base would likely cut them a lot of slack if we just heard from them directly that supply chain and staffing are both in a crunch right now, but if we hang tight, they'll sooner or later complete repairs, ship or refund outstanding orders and extend existing warranties to get past the current support bottleneck. But going silent is the worst possible response to a situation like this.

 

[Music1969]

Allo is alive?

DigiOne Signature - Random Audio Drop Outs

I have two Allo DigiOne Signature streamers, both Running Ropieee. One work fine with no problems - the other has random, periodic audio drop outs. During the dropouts, the DAC ceases to receive signal. I have re-flashed Ropieee several times to no avail. I believe it's a failed DigiOne Signature...

audiophilestyle.com

 

[Videoteque73]

Let's hope they survive! The Allo Boss2 is great!!!

 

[Music1969]

Anyone heard from Allo recently ? @johan ?

 

[kchap]

Allo would be struggling. Apart from the supply chain issues affecting most vendors, a lot of their products rely on the Raspberry Pi, which is very hard to get. In addition, they specialised in HAT style DACs; it's hard to compete against SOA USB DACs flooding the market. There are still users who want a HAT, but I suspect that is a shrinking market.

 

[Music1969]

Yeh hit hard twice - first COVID (especially India was hit hard, where Allo have some processes done, even though they are Canadian based I think?) then RPi and general components shortages.

I hope Pi situation improves next year and Allo can bounce back.

I was really interested to see where the HAT market goes for SOTA performance

Ethernet input DAC running distro of your choice, is still appealing

Sadly Pi shortage is not forecast to change much the next 12 months some people think :-(

 

[antcollinet]

You'd think though that if they haven't completely folded, they'd at least be able to update their webpage to say what is going on.

 

[Music1969]

You'd think though that if they haven't completely folded, they'd at least be able to update their webpage to say what is going on.

They should be maybe they are working on alternate SBC products

A bit risky - RPi is so well supported (other than stock issues atm)

 

[DilbertPugh]

The global aftershock from Covid has been brutal for so many companies especially those who were not large enough to ride the Tsunami or clever (sly) enough to profit from it.

So let's not write off ALLO too quickly, I've just received a notification from Audiophonics that the Digione Signature is back in stock!

If you look on the Audiophonics website you'll see many ALLO products available to buy: https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/179_allo

The ALLO/Pi streamers are brilliant; just enough Crysal Radio/Meccano set fun to make you feel like you're 10 again but actually not remotely hard to build or run.

In the years BC (before covid) I added a Digione Signature spidif board to a USBridge Signature and the delivery from Ropiee via Roon is rock solid and indistinguishable from an SOTM SMS-200 Ultra selling for four times the price. I'd picked that up quite cheap after a certain deluded Dutch Guru (do you know who I mean) had led me believe in fairies; thank goodness Amir and ASR brought me to my senses.

Anyway, I've been keen to get another Digione HAT for a different room and it would be great to support ALLO as well, they pioneered high quality cost effective audio while the hifi industry was encouraging us to press our noses against the Chord & DCS sweet shop windows.

I'd also like to know what has become of Johan, their brilliant designer, his contribution on ASR was always a pleasure to read.
I hope he's still able to work on projects for ALLO.

 

[kchap]

If you have an Allo Boss2 you have streamer/DAC combo that that is more than adequate for human ears. If it's working keep it. However I do feel that Allo are trading on a premise that is no longer true (if were ever true), the superior performance of their devices. An SBC in conjunction with a current USB DAC, RME, Topping, SMLS etc will have superior measured performance and sound the same as the Allo.

In addition, using an external USB DAC is just more flexible; balanced/unbalance, voltage levels, do I need a built in HPA, physical volume control etc.

 

[tjcinnamon]

I have a Denon X4700, is it possible to plug the RCA outs of this into the Denon and have the Denon go to my Amp?

I don’t want to have to add Y cables to have my AVR and Allo Boss2 to feed the amp a signal.

Second question: can this run Volumio and is it possible to put the volumio UI on the TV screen with this box?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I have a Denon X4700, is it possible to plug the RCA outs of this into the Denon and have the Denon go to my Amp?

I don’t want to have to add Y cables to have my AVR and Allo Boss2 to feed the amp a signal.

Second question: can this run Volumio and is it possible to put the volumio UI on the TV screen with this box?

It is technically possible. Just you won’t gain anything in terms of sound quality.

 

[tjcinnamon]

It is technically possible. Just you won’t gain anything in terms of sound quality.

Yeah, that’s okay, it’s just less wires going to my amp?

When having an AVR and wanting to use a DAC/streamer like this, what are the set up options outside of plugging it into the AVR?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Yeah, that’s okay, it’s just less wires going to my amp?

When having an AVR and wanting to use a DAC/streamer like this, what are the set up options outside of plugging it into the AVR?

Not sure I understand the question. You can either hook up a Streamer DAC to an AVR via RCA or via a digital connection eg Toslink. But again don’t expect any improvements, just use the AVR DAC / Streamer.

Or alternatively without using an AVR you can hook up a DAC to either a power amp or to active speakers. However you loose the RoomEQ from the AVR and would need a separate box eg MiniDSP or do the RoomEQ via software eg Camilla DSP etc.