First of all, forget about all the power supplies and USBridge signature offered by Allo, it's just snake oil.
Second of all, since you're very determined to use I2S over HDMI then the
Pi2AES is perfect for you. I'm also not sure why would you need a reclocker in your case.
1. I always believed that the
quality of a power supply makes a good difference in the sound of an audio component. While I do not have measurement data to back this up, I have been part of several blind listening tests (in my younger days) that led me to arrive at this conclusion. This is not limited to amplifiers where the reason may be obvious but several source components too. For example, I was part of a blind test that put the newly minted CD63
KI Signature against Ingo Hansen's Phonosophie CD player that was in effect a CD63 with an upgraded/modified power supply (without all the copper shielding in the KI version of the CD63). Since the much venerated Ken Ishiwata was present all of us wanted his 63KI to win the test but it didn't. All 6 listeners preferred the Phonosophie. Of course, I believe everything has to be within "reason". As long as a power supply has the
capacity, is well
regulated and
clean it should be more than up to the task.
2. As far as the clock was concerned, I assume (maybe even believe) that the DAC and the Player need to be in sync. If they are operating on 2 different clocks they wouldn't be. A
common clock transmitted via I2S would keep them in sync as long as the cable is
very short. Or do I not need an additional clock? Does the DAC send the clock over I2S to the Media Player to ensure they are both in sync? I thought an external clock is essential to ensure this. Gustard even has a clock product called the C16 (see link).
GUSTARD C16 10M Clock Audio Clock OCXO (shenzhenaudio.com)
Ian Canada has a short video on his products which may help explain the need for a clock.
Ultra Low Jitter Digital Audio Transport DIY, FifoPi Q3, TransportPi, StationPi, LinearPi and more - YouTube
HDMI is far from perfect but it is what the Topping has as an I2S connector. Gustard also has the same standard. The object of using I2S was primarily to free up the DAC's USB, CoAx (SPDIF), and TosLink connections for other devices. Since the media player will be sitting next to the DAC it's cable can be
very short and hence I2S "compliant".
My last argument to build the "best" possible media player (that can serve as a server and streamer) is that if one is going to invest any time into this, the least one can do is ensure they have the best parts they can afford (in this case within a budget of $500). Allo's USbridge + Kali + Shanti come under this price point (you still need a box to stick it all in but there are several project boxes available for this).
When it comes to software, about 5-6 years ago a friend of mine had XBMC (precursor to Kodi) running on OpenElec and was able to use that to play both audio and video files (aka movies, albums, playlists etc). The UI wasn't very friendly but it worked.
Now there is software like Jellyfin, Emby, Plex, etc that I am told can do the same with more friendly UI. I think one can run Prime, Tidal and Netlfix alongside Plex/Jellyfin/Emby and it more the
OS that needs to be suitable. I don't know of an OS that is. Help here would be greatly appreciated. Various friends have told me to try Linux distro, OSMC, Raspbian, Chromium (Media Edition) etc. but I figured I would get better direction here.
