Hi All,
My first post here and a complete noob… I have just stepped my foot into the world of hifi and especially DIY Hifi. I was looking to build a headphone amp on a budget. Was wondering if the combination of RPI with a Allo Kali reclocker and a Cheapo amp on top of it would sound good or even work… If there are any other suggestions id appreciate any recoommendations.
Thank you all
The Allo Cheapo does not work on RPI’s, it is intended for their own Sparky SBC.
For a relatively cheap introduction to RPi HiFi, I’d suggest something like the Innomaker DAC. It’s a Master DAC, in that it has it’s own clocks (ie a Kali is not required) and has both RCA and headphone outputs. It uses the Allo Boss driver/overlay.
Unfotunately the Innomaker is not available where I live. Wont the allo cheapo work on top of the Kali? Read that it is compatible with the Kali.
Was also looking at the pi-dac+. Apparently it is a dac+amp. Any thoughts on it?
The Cheapo will work on a Kali, but only when the Kali is attached to a Sparky SBC. The Cheapo will NOT work with an RPi.
The IQAudio Pi-DAC+ is a good choice; it was my first RPi DAC. You may also wish to consider the Pimoroni Pirate Audio headphone amp hat:
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/pirate-audio-headphone-amp
It is limited to being a headphone amp only, but is a cheap introduction to RPi HiFi.
Whereabouts are you, as Innomaker products seem to be available globally, through Amazon, AliExpress etc…
I am in India and shipping internationally in this covid situation will take ages. In normal times aliexpress takes about 2 months to deliver.
I just found that the allo piano 2.0 is available online here… it has a headphone out with 138mW of power. Connected to a pi3 it should suffice? What do you think?
The Piano 2.0 will be fine (I use a number of Allo products) and will work with a Kali as an upgrade.
It’s a good choice if you can get it quickly at a reasonable price.
So Piano 2.0 is a slave DAC and therefore compatible with Kali?
Just one more question… Will a standard pi3 case fit both the pi and the piano dac? if not do you know of any case that would
Almost certainly, a standard RPi3 case will not fit, as they are for the RPi itself.
Unless there is one on ‘thingiverse’ for example, I think your best bet is to ask Allo, as one of their cases may be suitable.
The other option, of course, is to make your own…
Is the Pi4 a good upgrade over the Pi3? and will the Piano 2 be compatible with the Pi4?
You don’t need an RPi4 to run Volumio, so if you already have an RPi3, there is no need to buy an RPi4. If you don’t already have an RPi, then it makes sense to buy an RPi4, of any memory size.
The Piano 2 will work with the RPi4.
https://jimsaudio.com/low-distortion-0-0001-preamplifier-headphone-amp/
Here is what I have been using and couldn’t be happier. A real DIY project but the results are worth it. My DAC is the Minidsp 2x4 HD.