KALI reclocker and PIANO DAC giveaway

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.

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...

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

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?

Blackfear

Yatsushiro wroteHaving 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....

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.

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...

Audiohrdwr

Hi to all,

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

Yatsushiro

Audiohrdwr wroteHi 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?

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

Audiohrdwr

MarkBegins wroteHi 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

Very interesting!
Looking forward to more comparison.
I dare not ask the cost of the other system...
Regards
Andre

Yatsushiro

MarkBegins wroteHi 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

Hi Mark

What amp and speakers are you driving?

Are you using all 4 RCA's?

Audiohrdwr

Hello,

We updated the 1st post of the thread with the list of winners!
Please check for your name!

MarkBegins

Hi all,

Just now again listening. Rune audio is so convient to use. Just put some sacd files on the harddisk. 24 bit 96kHz and playing like crazy.
This was not possible with the MF Digilog (max 44.1 kHz).
Great detail. Placing instruments good. Greather stage then with the MFD Dac.
Confusion....????? Can this be as good as for this price?

System is:
Aragon 2004 amplifier.
ConradJohnson PV10 pre.
Xanadu AW11 Reference speakers.
Cables all NordOst.

Greetings Mark

MarkBegins

Just looking for a way to adjust the piano dac.
Using the standard line out without a sub I want to change the threshold for the low pass filter.
Back again later.

MarkBegins

Listening to Stan Getz With Antonio Carlos Jobin in DSD 352,8 kHz. No Problem.
There is a Saxophone in my livingroom. Beautiful.

Yatsushiro

Audiohrdwr wrote And the winners are:

hondagx35
.

I sincerely hope Frank has the 2.1 DAC, so that we can look forward to fully implemented output control (mode, frequency etc) in Rune

Lurk

And the winners are:

hondagx35
pelliott321
Lurk

Of course the 2.1 should go to hondagx35 , I couldn't hope to rival his knowledge and dedication to Runeaudio

but hot damn! the 2.1 would be a good fit for my FAST project

Lurk

Audiohrdwr

Hi guys
we decided to offer PIANO 2.1 to all 3 winners.

Yatsushiro

Audiohrdwr wroteHi guys
we decided to offer PIANO 2.1 to all 3 winners.

Are you Santa?