Allo Revolution Dac

[Hemi-Demon]

There is no DSD version. Just flash the for firmware on your DAC Rev

Thank you for the clarification, now I get it. I went ahead and ordered one.

 

[staticV3]

...and we achieved better THD than anyone else on ess9038q2m (THD is at -126)

Just a little something from IVX to keep it interesting

A single Q2M was used for testing, release should be in a couple months.

 

[m8o]

@ any Allo rep/empl:

Looking at the Allo website I'm surprised to find the Revolution isn't available as a bare board RPi HAT.

And any attempt to open a legacy link that Google gives me to the Katana is redirected to the turn-key Revolution system.

Are you out of the premium audiophile grade Raspberry Pi DAC HAT business? Or is this a temporary situation?

Thanx!

 

[Gjaz]

Hi,

manual attached

It needs to be powered with 5.2V at 1.2A and a 5.5/2.1 Jack. Is the Jack center positive? (5.5×2.1mm input/5.5×2.5mm output (‘C’ black)

 

[DeepSpace57]

@ any Allo rep/empl:

Looking at the Allo website I'm surprised to find the Revolution isn't available as a bare board RPi HAT.

And any attempt to open a legacy link that Google gives me to the Katana is redirected to the turn-key Revolution system.

Are you out of the premium audiophile grade Raspberry Pi DAC HAT business? Or is this a temporary situation?

Thanx!

i think Allo is killing itself with this product. If i have to buy a streamer like USBBridge, why the hell do i invest in such a mid-graded DAC?

 

[Nango]

Hello

I am the designer of Revolution Dac. First , thx you Gjaz for the kind words

Second THD+N of Rev is at a minimum at -116.5 THD+N . THD is at -126 , I think thats quite different than D10s . Not only THD+N but also jitter and THD+N vs frequency at 90Khz bandwidth is very flat . We think that Rev Dac is one of the best (if not the best) in the world in unbalanced output in measurements based on AP data

Amir has a unit and depending on his load he will measure and post for everyone to see.

Now regarding "audiophile mythology" Rev was based on long standing myths . Plenty of capacitance of power rails , low noise clocks , low noise tested on every rail...and we achieved better THD than anyone else on ess9038q2m .

How is it possible that those myths actually show an improvement on IMD and THD ?

Further there seems to be belief that HF noise is not audible . I design with HF removed from output because I am convinced thats the main cause of "fatiguing sound " or " bright sound" of ess dac ic. How is that possible ? No idea .

Why don't you ship a Shanti to Amir?

 

[Davide]

I took this DAC intrigued by the specs ... and was pleasantly surprised by the audio quality. I associated it with the Allo Nirvana SMPS.
The quality of the manufacture is a bit low, it is not a product for large distribution... also I think it is not even CE certified because I do not see the logo anywhere.
With that out of the way, however, I think the product aims a lot to bring out the best in audio.
I compared it with a Topping D10S, which mounts the same ES9038Q2M, but there is no comparison ... the Revolution is much more vivid.
With the D10s I don't feel this sensation even when the volume is turned up a lot, while with the Revolution even at low volume you can hear that it sounds good and realistic.
As for the various settings, honestly I can not notice big differences, if not with the filter bypass. But I think there is something wrong with this setting ... the sound is weird. As if something is missing. Maybe you need to upsamp externally, as the 9038 specification also says.

 

[BDWoody]

I compared it with a Topping D10S, which mounts the same ES9038Q2M, but there is no comparison

Is that the D10 that you modified?

 

[Davide]

Is that the D10 that you modified?

Yes it is.
But compared with stock LME49720 and same power supply (using iFi iDefender).

 

[BDWoody]

Yes it is.
But compared with stock LME49720 and same power supply (using iFi iDefender).

Any listening controls?
Hard to figure where the claimed differences would be coming from. Without more (any) controls there is no way to know...

 

[Davide]

Any listening controls?
Hard to figure where the claimed differences would be coming from. Without more (any) controls there is no way to know...

Maybe the best THD, noise and IMD parameters make a difference?
On components the Revolution has only the Opa1612s instead of the Lme49720 and a ton of supercaps from different farads of capacity.
At least that's what I seem to see ...

 

[BDWoody]

Maybe the best THD, noise and IMD parameters make a difference?

Starting from transparent, better specs aren't going to translate to the differences you described. Maybe something is broken, or maybe it's just the lack of controls. Without them, reported differences aren't very useful.

Have you ever tried a listening comparisons with controls? Meaning, levels matched and without peeking? If not, no time like the present!

 

[Davide]

At first I listened to the Revolution alone, then seeing that it sounded incredibly good I also connected the D10S to make a switch in real time. I didn't take the microphone to equalize the levels because there was no need ... the difference was very evident. Lower or higher volume of single DAC the Revolution was always better...
But it occurs to me now that the Revolution has modifiable THD compensation ... maybe it's not set to have the same suppression as the D10S.

 

[BDWoody]

I didn't take the microphone to equalize the levels because there was no need ... the difference was very evident. Lower or higher volume of single DAC the Revolution was always better...
But it occurs to me now that the Revolution has modifiable THD compensation ... maybe it's not set to have the same suppression as the D10S.

Maybe something got broken in the D10...

I'm not sure what you mean by modifiable THD compensation and suppression. These are both transparent DAC's.

So, have you ever tried a listening comparison with controls? Without them, results aren't going to have the credibility (here) you might want.

 

[Davide]

Tried this afternoon with levels matched and no doubts... Revolution sounds better.
My D10s is not broken obviously... it sounds in this ways since I bought it.
But also if I compare Revolution to Chord Qutest I hear differences ...Qutest is more musical and rhythmic.
Even my wife notices it, which is saying something ...

 

[johan]

Hi , I have spoken to CS they are aware of your case but they advised me that delivery to your country is a bit difficult and it takes some time.

Rest assured that we are here and doing everything we can.

 

[tolip]

Any ideas how Revolution compares to Katana? More interested in listening experience than setup. As I understand Revolution is more take it out of the box and enjoy type of thing and Katana needs a bit more effort but thats not a problem for me. At the moment using a RPI3B+Boss V1.0+First gen Volt amp in a stack but looking to improve my setup.

 

[ceausuc]

I've got a Revolution Dac for about a week now. Previously I had a Topping D50, a D70 and KhadasTB(the winner of the group ymho).
I must say that I wasn't expecting it to be that good...
I was prepared for spending hours of switching dacs back and forth, chasing small nuances or details.
Well, not this time. It's like .. two steps above all these dacs I had before and this can be clearly heard from the first song played.

The question now would be... Is the Revolution that good of a Dac or were the others that.. poor?

(for reference: I'm listening with KSE1200)

 

[quattr0]

I've got a Revolution Dac for about a week now. Previously I had a Topping D50, a D70 and KhadasTB(the winner of the group ymho).
I must say that I wasn't expecting it to be that good...
I was prepared for spending hours of switching dacs back and forth, chasing small nuances or details.
Well, not this time. It's like .. two steps above all these dacs I had before and this can be clearly heard from the first song played.

The question now would be... Is the Revolution that good of a Dac or were the others that.. poor?

(for reference: I'm listening with KSE1200)

Curious if you find the Revolution Dac has fuller/punchier bass than KTB? wider soundstage or more intimate?

 

[Vahd]

Any reason not to pair the Revolution to my Bluesound Node 2? Opinion on SQ change?