MINIBOSS DAC For PI ZERO Review

[TheBatsEar]

Review and Measurements of DACPort HD and Dragonfly Red

This is a review and detailed measurements/comparison of AudioQuest Dragonfly Red and CEntrance DACPort HD portable, "thumb drive" sized DAC and headphone amplifiers. Both are kind loan from members. The Dragonfly Red retails for USD $200 from Amazon and DACPort HD for $179. Physically the...

www.audiosciencereview.com

is it uncommon for dongles to output 2V? I don't think so.

$179.
Yes, i think most in the same price range for the Miniboss (less than $50) don't make it to 2V sadly.

To those who are looking for RPI Zero 2W alternatives, I'd recommend Rock Pi S.

Does Volumio support it? Does Moode?

 

[IAtaman]

Does Volumio support it? Does Moode?

I don't know. I don't use either of them. I will check later if Volumio or Moode can be installed on Rock Pi S.

 

[solderdude]

is it uncommon for dongles to output 2V? I don't think so.

The device was measured with volume at 97 so at max volume might be 1.94V or so maybe even higher ?
The DAC chip can do 2.1V (it has internal charge pump to create -3.3V so 6.6V is available and a rail-to-rail out opamp should be able to provide 2.2V.

 

[mash]

Is Allo still alive as a company? There has been online speculation on this point. They have not been responding to support requests on their official support forums (audiophilestyle.com)....at least for their Boss2 DAC product (which I own and love). Unfortunately, it has known OS compatibility issues that Allo has been silent on.

I can understand how the RPi supply chain disruptions must have thrown them for a major loop but ignoring support for your existing customer base is NEVER a good strategy.

 

[Berwhale]

That's right.
Sadly the RPi Zero 2W is rarely on the market. Get a RPi 3 A+ instead, costs 30€ and is available everywhere, same CPU power.
The DAC works with any RPi, even very old ones. The streaming software is zippier with newer RPis however.
Also, Moode is an alternative to Volumio and adds CamillaDSP.

Here is a source for RPis:

Find Raspberry Pi computers in stock - rpilocator

Find Raspberry Pi computers in stock - rpilocator

rpilocator.com

Eben says they are upping production to 1 million units per month (although it doesn't say what models this covers)...

Raspberry Pi production rate rising to a million a month

CEO stands by decision to keep prices steady instead of scoring sweet, sweet, windfall profits

www.theregister.com

*edit* There's a lot more detail here: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/r...scusses-stock-updates-industry-prioritization

 

[TheWalkman]

Thanks for reviewing this @amirm.

The Pi Zero version was a bit slow but the 2W works great.

I’ve been running Volumio on several variations of streamers based on Pi Zero 2W since they first introduced it and couldn’t be happier. They’re unobtrusive, responsive, energy efficient and sound great. I also store/ serve my 300 CD collection on the internal 64 GB high endurance SC card with half of the storage to spare.

When I read about people using a Synology NAS, x86 PC or even a Pi 4 to do the same, I honestly chuckle. I guess you can use tractor trailer to haul a case of beer, but a little red wagon like the Allo Pi, does the job quite well for me!

 

[TheWalkman]

$179.
Yes, i think most in the same price range for the Miniboss (less than $50) don't make it to 2V sadly.


Does Volumio support it? Does Moode?

Volumio works great. Haven’t tried Moode but I’m guessing it should.

 

[charleski]

$179.
Yes, i think most in the same price range for the Miniboss (less than $50) don't make it to 2V sadly.

TemptoTec Sonata pro:

Tempotec Sonata HD Pro Review (headphone Adapter)

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Tempotec Sonata HD Pro. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $54 on Amazon including Prime shipping. The Sonata HD Pro comes in the usual rectangular dongle size: The differentiation as you can barely see are the volume control...

www.audiosciencereview.com

2Vrms for $54.
Fiio KA2:

Measurements of FiiO KA2 USB DAC/HeadphoneAmp - L7Audiolab

便携设备 FiiO (飞傲) 作为业界典型的大厂，其产品线一直很长很长很长……乃至于我都不知道它家出了 KA2 这个小尾巴。这台KA2是网友送测的，我去了解了下价格和官标参数……不得不感慨这些大厂是真的很能卷

www.l7audiolab.com

4Vrms (balanced) for $60
iBasso DC03:

Measurement of iBasso DC-03 - L7Audiolab

便携设备 在测DC03 先给翻车预告：DC03两声道相位爆炸，整体相位打了滚…… 最好不要用在任何音箱上……否则……

www.l7audiolab.com

2Vrms for $70
If you look around there are quite a few, but you do need to check that it's been properly measured.

 

[charlielaub]

Name one that does 2V.

USB dongles that provide 2Vrms output have been around for a good while now. For example:

HiFimeDIY Tiny USB DAC - Hifime Audio

HiFimeDIY Sabre Tiny USB DAC.

hifimediy.com

I first purchased one from HiFiMeDIY 7 or 8 years ago. The fact that the product is still around after all this time should tell you something. The company sells similar DACs that also can output audio at up to 2.2Vrms.

 

[juliangst]

Moondrop dawn 3.5 or 4.4mm is also a good alternative.
I'm using the 4.4 balanced version because that was the cheapest way to get 4V balanced outs with SOTA dac performance

 

[VQR]

But how does it sound?

No, telling people this DAC is transparent is very rude and disingenuous!

 

[Billy Budapest]

not bad, but unless very specific housing i don't see a reason why one wouldn't prefer a regular „dongle dac”. similar price, likely better performance.

Likely because you could not use that as a Roon endpoint, which you can do with this setup.

 

[juliangst]

Having a small all in one box is the main selling point for a DAC like this one. But getting any Pi nowadays is nearly impossible unfortunately

 

[Billy Budapest]

To those who are looking for RPI Zero 2W alternatives, I'd recommend Rock Pi S. It is not the same form factor so you can not use your case and other accessories for it however it uses USB-C for power instead of micro USB, and USB OTG and power delivery is on the same port, meaning that you can power it from the same device that is the source of digital audio, and it can output audio from its USB 2.0 port meaning that you can connect it to any DAC you want that has USB input. And it is available on AliExpress for $27 delivered.

That unit really opens up possibilities for DIY Roon endpoints.

 

[shuppatsu]

not bad, but unless very specific housing i don't see a reason why one wouldn't prefer a regular „dongle dac”. similar price, likely better performance.

I don't know about the RPI Zero 2W, but I know RPI 3s have problems with dongle dacs because wifi and usb share a bus and have limited throughput. So there's value in having a HAT version. Also, at least with the original RPI Zero W, people were having power management problems with USB Dacs.

 

[enricoclaudio]

Thanks for reviewing this @amirm.

The Pi Zero version was a bit slow but the 2W works great.

I’ve been running Volumio on several variations of streamers based on Pi Zero 2W since they first introduced it and couldn’t be happier. They’re unobtrusive, responsive, energy efficient and sound great. I also store/ serve my 300 CD collection on the internal 64 GB high endurance SC card with half of the storage to spare.

When I read about people using a Synology NAS, x86 PC or even a Pi 4 to do the same, I honestly chuckle. I guess you can use tractor trailer to haul a case of beer, but a little red wagon like the Allo Pi, does the job quite well for me!

View attachment 290765

Pi Zero V1 is fine for low demanding tasks. I just got yesterday a pair from Amazon that I use with our cameras tally lights system at church. They work great with ATEM Constellation 8K video switcher.

 

[MCH]

First little surprise trying to use a modern dongle with a pi zero (any model) is that it only has microusb host ports, and most cables the C side is the host side... yes, there are solutions, but it can take a couple of iterations to find the right one if you don't pay attention from the start.

On the other hand, you need a zero with header to use the miniboss, that limits even more your chances of finding one if you are not willing to solder 40 pins...

 

[Barrelhouse Solly]

Does anyone know it this supports Linux kernel 6.1? I know that the Boss2 does not. Allo is completely silent on this problem. I'm currently running a version of Moode Audio that's two point revs behind the current one because of the kernel support problem.

 

[doug2761]

could you explain why often a level below 100% is optimal?

Many DAC chips, especially the ESS ones, don't handle full scale digital signals gracefully so backing off just a hair often gets better performance. The folks at RME talked about this when they switched to ESS chips from AKM. Having a max digital volume to the DAC that's a few DBs below full scale avoids these problems.

 

[juliangst]

Do streaming OS like Volumio or moode run significant worse on a Pi Zero compared to a Pi 4 or do they require so little computing power that there won’t be a difference?