David McGown wrote:
Setup issues should be straight forward. There are a number of music distros on the Linux-ARM platform (Raspberry Pi) that can be setup. Volumio, Moode, DietPi, PiCorePlayer, etc. Download and image on an SDCard, plug in to the SD Card slot, boot, and point your controller or webbrowser to the IP address of the Allo to configure. Obviously it has to be connected to the network. Typically, it is run headless as an endpoint to a music server, so you need to have something working on that end, and storage is typically NOT connected to it for best results (though could be via USB). I believe two 5V power supplies are recommended, a 5V 3A to power the mainboard and peripherals, and clean power 5V 1A for the USB bridge for output to the DAC. The Allo Shanti LPS provides both, but one can rig up a something like a low noise switcher (like the iFi iPowerX 5V) on the computer side, or a battery or LPS for the clean side.
David
Yes, it's just an RPi3 module on a custom board. You only need a second PS if you have the coax board installed. Jim's does not.
The one isssue with the Allo is the ethernet driver, which is tricky if you want to stream all the way up to DSD. The current versions of Moode and Volumio ahve the correct driver and work fine. In gentooplayer, the standard kernel works fine, but some of the RT kernels do not. The latest version of DietPi also works.
For most of us the setup would not be a challenge, but Jim quickly loses patience with computer/network issues. The little wifi streamer he bought is completely plug-n-play. Download their app to your phone, login to Tidal and you're done. He primarily listens to CDs anyway, the streaming is just for convenience when friends are over, or for casual listening.