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KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 05 Dec 2016, 16:06
by Audiohrdwr
Hello RUNEaudio members,

For those who dont know us, we are ALLO, the manufacturer of the KALI reclocker board and PIANO/PIANO 2.1 DACs.
We would like to better introduce our hardware to this community, so what better way than organizing a giveaway.
The rules are very simple...
1> be an active and involved member of the RuneAudio community
2> be willing to share your feedback ( in this thread) about our hardware with the rest of the forum
3> PM me with a few words about yourself and why we should chose you

the prizes...
1 KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC
1 KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC
1 KALI reclocker and PIANO 2.1 DAC

you can read more info about the hardware on our site allo.com

Looking forward to receiving the entries, I will announce the winners once we have selected them. Your private info (name and address) will be kept private.

regards,
Andre

And the winners are:

hondagx35
pelliott321
Lurk

thank you for participating and please contact me with your shipping addresses.

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 06 Dec 2016, 16:09
by Yatsushiro
Having recently benefited from Andre's and Allo's generosity, I would recommend anyone and everyone to participate in this giveaway.

I have been running a Kali with a Mamboberry LS DAC+ for some weeks now, to great effect; they are a great combination, giving my music great clarity and extension on my equipment. I do have a Piano 2.1 to try, in fact a complete Vana system, but I will have to run Volumio to get the full benefit, as neither Rune nor Moode can drive the Piano 2.1 or the Sparky SBC to full effect. I had hoped to have it all running by now, but a combination of a long holiday, researching and buying a subwoofer (for the 0.1!) and waiting for a working Violumio release has delayed things a bit.

If you need any more motivation, check out the relevant threads on DIY Audio, Art Of Sound and, dare I say it, Volumio fora/forums; there's a lot of good things being heard and said out there...

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 06 Dec 2016, 17:37
by hondagx35
Hi Yatsushiro,

I do have a Piano 2.1 to try, in fact a complete Vana system, but I will have to run Volumio to get the full benefit, as neither Rune nor Moode can drive the Piano 2.1 or the Sparky SBC to full effect.

Can please be more specific on that, what is the problem?
It should be not a big deal to make it working.

Frank

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 06 Dec 2016, 18:10
by Yatsushiro
Hi Frank

The Piano 2.1 DAC will function under Rune (and Moode) but only as an 'emulated' Iqaudio DAC (or a Ti PCM5122 DAC). The Piano 2.1 DAC has 4 RCA outputs, each pair driven by a separate PCM5142. This DAC can be used as a 'standard' stereo DAC, using just two of the RCA's, a 2.1 output device (2 monitor speakers and a mono sub) using 3 of the RCA's or as a 2.2 output device, using all four RCA's. (Its better described here: https://www.allo.com/sparky/piano-dac-2-1.html ) This configuration, and the selection of the frequencies at which various filters/crossovers kick in are mostly usually configurable (currently via Volumio).

As a confirmed Rune, & Arch, user (I've tried the others and keep coming back), I would be ecstatic if Rune could make full use of the Piano 2.1 DAC

Would it help if I wrote a nice letter to Santa? ;)

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 07 Dec 2016, 11:35
by Blackfear
Yatsushiro wrote:Having recently benefited from Andre's and Allo's generosity, I would recommend anyone and everyone to participate in this giveaway.

I have been running a Kali with a Mamboberry LS DAC+ for some weeks now, to great effect; they are a great combination, giving my music great clarity and extension on my equipment. I do have a Piano 2.1 to try, in fact a complete Vana system, but I will have to run Volumio to get the full benefit, as neither Rune nor Moode can drive the Piano 2.1 or the Sparky SBC to full effect. I had hoped to have it all running by now, but a combination of a long holiday, researching and buying a subwoofer (for the 0.1!) and waiting for a working Violumio release has delayed things a bit.

If you need any more motivation, check out the relevant threads on DIY Audio, Art Of Sound and, dare I say it, Volumio fora/forums; there's a lot of good things being heard and said out there...

Hi Yatsushiro
I have also the same combination Kali with a Mamboberry LS DAC+ and Kali with a Piano DAC (but not 2.1)
How would you describe these two DAC againsts each other ? I found Piano sliglty wider in the terms of stereo effect (like a more 3D) and sligtly warmer on low mids...but it can be only my subjective opinion, but what i found is that with rune audio (ACX profile) is not sound so pronounced in the high as it is by using last MOODE player, with rune it is more balanced...finally prefer rune for better SQ and overall for its visual clarity and also for fast loading....

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 07 Dec 2016, 11:59
by Audiohrdwr
Hi,
the Piano 2.1 is superior to the PIANO for a number of reasons, it will deliver superior sound quality when paired with the KALI.

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 07 Dec 2016, 12:58
by Yatsushiro
Blackfear wrote:Hi Yatsushiro
I have also the same combination Kali with a Mamboberry LS DAC+ and Kali with a Piano DAC (but not 2.1)
How would you describe these two DAC againsts each other ? I found Piano sliglty wider in the terms of stereo effect (like a more 3D) and sligtly warmer on low mids...but it can be only my subjective opinion, but what i found is that with rune audio (ACX profile) is not sound so pronounced in the high as it is by using last MOODE player, with rune it is more balanced...finally prefer rune for better SQ and overall for its visual clarity and also for fast loading....


Hi Blackfear

I haven't quite got there yet...

My progression has been iqaudio Pi-DAC+, through Mamboberry LS DAC+ then Mamboberry LS DAC+ & Kali; each step has brought a noticeable improvement. Like you, I prefer Rune to the other 'similar' players; the overall sound presentation is better, clearer, and the Arch Linux base provides for a faster overall system.

I've held off from trying the Piano 2.1 DAC to date, as I believe on Rune it will act much as the iquadio DAC. At the moment, I think it is only Volumio that supports all of the features offered by the Piano 2.1 (although I'm heartened by Franks response, above!). I'll hopefully get a chance to try it this weekend, and report back...

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 08 Dec 2016, 11:08
by Audiohrdwr
Hi to all,

On the new Runeaudio we will try to incorporate all the setting of Piano 2.1

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 08 Dec 2016, 11:26
by Yatsushiro
Audiohrdwr wrote:Hi to all,

On the new Runeaudio we will try to incorporate all the setting of Piano 2.1


I assume this is a Pi image?

Would it be too much to hope for a Rune image for Sparky? :o

Re: KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

PostPosted: 08 Dec 2016, 20:55
by MarkBegins
Hi all,
I bought the piano 2.1 With the Kali reclocker for the raspberry 3 with Rune audio.
Just enabeled the I2S and the iqaudiodac+ in the config and it works perfectly.
Now I am comparing it with my Teac VRDS10 with Musical Fidelity Digilog dac.
Both heavely upgraded with clock, tubes, capacitors etcetera.
First impression is that they are good competitors.
At the moment I let it play for some time. After a few days there will be more info.

Greetings Mark