Last week I came to the isolator, I have not yet been able to test it with lipo batteries, but with linear pOwer supply. I do not know if this will change anything my first impressions. I have declared myself as Allo fan, very fan of Cali, Boss and Piano 2.1, go this ahead. Just as I have no interest in favor, I do not have it against either.
I have not yet been able to test it with lipo batteries because the battery pack was defective and burned, but I do not think it is much better than my good line feed.
My team consists of active speakers studio monitors Neumann kh120A, with flat response so they are very revealing, my listening in the near field and I have acoustic treatments that give a great scene and detail.
I tested Isolator with Boss, and the Raspberry Pi powered with my linear power and battery. With Boss I have not noticed a big difference neither for nor against, but I think with isolator loses some of that musical “magic” that has Boss. The sound is a little cleaner, but I doubt that with other less revealing equipment you notice no difference.
With Piano 2.1 and Cali in dual mono mode there is more difference. The sound is cleaner with isolator, with less grain, that makes the sound a little sharper, it is possible to be more realistic, but I prefer with more grain because it sounds more analog and with more presence.
In the end everything is a matter of personal tastes. Isolator is not going to give more detail or more bass range, or more scene. It only provides a slightly different sound track, especially with Cali and Piano 2.1. If you buy isolator with battery pack plus 4 rechargeable lipo batteries and your charger is an investment of $180, totally unjustified for what you get in return.
When I receive the replacement from Allo of the defective battery pack I will extend this opinion in case of battery-powered power supply other than linear power. I hope this opinion is helpful to you. And remember, it’s only my opinion.
thx you for your review. Its to the point and very honest.
The isolator has one major reason and a smaller , secondary.
First reason to use an isolator is to break the grounds between the RPI and DAC. Any ground of SBC will have some pollution because of the Ghz sw of the CPU. So using the isolator means providing a clean ground to the DACs, Kali etc.
Second reason for using the isolator…is to have batteries (cleanest form of power) feeding the stage above (Kali Piano etc). In fact our isolator was specifically designed to be used with batteries (but yes it can accept PSUs linear or SMPS) In the end (right next to 5V/3.3V pins) we use the best LDO in the market LT3042 with some capacitance (for low impedance )
My main system nowadays is a RPI/Isolator with lifepo4 and Boss. For me, personally , this its the cleanest and most enjoyable system I used.
However Jazz is right. The difference its not day and night , it just sounds slightly better (better separation between instruments for example )
Jazz please keep is posted if any difference when using the batteries.
Already arrived the pack for lipo batteries. I have to give him the reason and congratulate Allo. It is very different the sound that is obtained with batteries than with linear power.
As Allo said there is better scene, you can clearly see the different layers of sound. There is more air and more space between the instruments. When you remove the isolator you hear it all more together, more back and flatter. Although this is not what I would highlight.
What I emphasize more is the sharpness. With the linear power I did not like it because it sounded more digital, with batteries you remove several curtains between the music and you (those who have experienced this know what I mean), everything is much cleaner without sounding more “digital”, to Contrary, now is a more real sound.
In traditional equipment you can get this same thing, with a rca cable of $ 1,500, a speakers cable of $ 2,000 or with filters and conditioners of electric power of $ 3,000, so now 180 $ seems a great price for what I have succeeded. With every great improvement in your system you remove several curtains between you and the music and in the end you can get what seems impossible, that the music in your house sounds as good as live (better than live if the acoustics of the concert is bad ).
We already saw with dual mono of Piano 2.1 that some people noticed great differences and others did not. The greater or lesser differences will depend on your equipment, your acoustics and your ears. Keep this in mind when evaluating these conclusions.
I am glad you got the same as me. I know your system is very revealing.
Yeap batteries/isolator make a difference…but for me its not night and day (like Kali)
Its more subtle…sound becomes refined.
Let me try a different way. You have a bottle of good wine. You keep it for 2-3 years (yeah right) at the right temp in the cellar.
You drink it. Same bottle, but somehow its more complex , better. Thats what isolator/batteries do for me. (and yes as you can see I do love a bottle of wine)
I have a problem with allo Isolator: I can only play music at 96khz as a maximum, it does not play 192 Khz or 384 kHz.
Boss without isolator reproduces without problems.
you should be able to play at 192Khz without a problem…on 384Khz because of the delays imposed by isolator you need a different driver to take that it in consideration.
Feet then I think something is wrong. With music at 192khz it makes noise, it sounds, but it sounds really bad. It happens with both Volumio and max2play, with music played in usb and also in streaming. I’ve even reinstalled the volumio again. It only happens when isolator is working.
Any help will be well received.
