Hi Mark,
I noticed the oversize caps on top.. it is cramped i don't know whether it will have a long term effect on the SQ since it used a glue stick.
Yes they did. After I burn it in. I will try to audition the lower THD OPAMP. I presumed that the former were suitable to my collection of music; I don't bother listening to many audiophile recordings .. they are not my poison though. Also, my system is not so resolving enough to perceive the minuscule difference compared to the ivy leaguer setup (beyond $5k). i shall give it a try though.
For now Im burning in the Volt + D amp to be paired with this new Katana.. 24/7 of long playing...
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@soundcheck, I'm not sure where you got the impression that I was saying Miniboss beats/equals Katana. I was merely saying that it has a similar sonic character (i.e warm and rounded). And that's with the SQ optimized output stage. It still had more detail and oomph. And with the THD+N optimized output stage, it's a different league.
I request that you please not quote a fellow forum member with your own interpretation.
I request that you please not quote a fellow forum member with your own interpretation.
That's the nightmare feedback Allo was afraid of.
"MiniBoss beats/equals Katana"
Wow.
I hear all alarm bells ringing on the Allo tower.
If that verdict is becoming a common opinion, Allo would do better to rethink it's "sound
quality" stage shipment and sales strategy.
It'll save them a lot of money - and potential bad press!
However.
It's just a first feedback. Let see what others think.
And not to forget. The devices require quite some time for break-in.
First impressions might change over time.
Anyhow.
Good luck Allo!
@absolutk
I very well understand how tempting it is to be the first on stage pushing a review into the world.
And guess what. You made it!
Writing reasonable, adequate and rather neutral reviews is an art of its own though.
And it takes a lot of time, effort, knowledge and experience to do it properly!
Serious reviewers should refrain from outlining equivocal, thus potentially open to interpretation, misleading or even potentially damaging findings and conclusions - assuming these are not done intentionally!
If you're not able to put your overwhelming enthusiasm and wisdom into proper words, you better stop writing reviews altogether.
However. You're not alone. We had a similar discussion about that IMO really poorly done 1st Katana Rev1 review by a "Pro" - Volumio-Michelangelo.
Just look at it this way: I've just been putting a mirror in front of you about how wrong things can go if you're not careful.
Next time you might do better!
Just enjoy your new toy!
I very well understand how tempting it is to be the first on stage pushing a review into the world.
And guess what. You made it!
Writing reasonable, adequate and rather neutral reviews is an art of its own though.
And it takes a lot of time, effort, knowledge and experience to do it properly!
Serious reviewers should refrain from outlining equivocal, thus potentially open to interpretation, misleading or even potentially damaging findings and conclusions - assuming these are not done intentionally!
If you're not able to put your overwhelming enthusiasm and wisdom into proper words, you better stop writing reviews altogether.
However. You're not alone. We had a similar discussion about that IMO really poorly done 1st Katana Rev1 review by a "Pro" - Volumio-Michelangelo.
Just look at it this way: I've just been putting a mirror in front of you about how wrong things can go if you're not careful.
Next time you might do better!
Just enjoy your new toy!
Every protection diode has a voltage drop. We calculated that drop to be at 4.8V. While you might see the undervoltage LED , software will show there is no under voltage.
Received it last night... had to travel 200 miles to pick it up and encountered slight altercation with Saudi Postal personnel.. but worth it.
Im still breaking it in to allow optimal SQ as recommended. Contrary to the earlier remarks, i found the unbroken-in sound to be leaner than the Katana v1. I am yet to verify this in terms of clarity with my Marantz HD DAC - USBRIDGE with ifi purifier & jitter bug in the chain which slightly overtook the tripowered Katana v1.
First impression on the katana v1.2 (fresh from the box) using the SQ optimized OPAMP.. Hugh Masekala's Stimela attained the same chocho train realism when I first heard it in Chord Hugo 2 DAC ($2500). The hasp of Masekala's voice was awesome. I am yet to listen on more tracks. 24 hrs of break in may not be sufficient.
I also notice the blinking red LED in the Pi side after Isolator v1.2. I really need to understand why this is the case on my RPi 3b+.
All in all. Great job allo.
The overall presentation of Katana is a value for money with killer quality electronic parts.
Have a quick glimpse at the new Katana here...
View attachment 713740
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Nichicon caps.. (Nice Allo)
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The complete stack (SQ Opamp)
View attachment 713746
Marudo , it was a long and sometimes frustrating road . I hope it was worth the wait. Enjoy your Katana and thx you for your patience.
What we found , is that power rails of opamp were oscillating while playing music. So if you had a steady load..no noise. However when playing a 1Khz tone you could see an oscillation at 1Khz of about 900uV. So we used 2 caps in parallel (audio grade) at more than 1000uF and oscillation become almost nill at noise floor (noise floor is 250uV) + small ceramic
Instantly Katana improved its SQ (even though THD+N barely changed)
Also I want to say that all caps where chosen not only to be specifically for audio but also to be resistant to temp (since this is a class A)
@absolutk
I very well understand how tempting it is to be the first on stage pushing a review into the world.
And guess what. You made it!
Writing reasonable, adequate and rather neutral reviews is an art of its own though.
And it takes a lot of time, effort, knowledge and experience to do it properly!
Serious reviewers should refrain from outlining equivocal, thus potentially open to interpretation, misleading or even potentially damaging findings and conclusions - assuming these are not done intentionally!
If you're not able to put your overwhelming enthusiasm and wisdom into proper words, you better stop writing reviews altogether.
However. You're not alone. We had a similar discussion about that IMO really poorly done 1st Katana Rev1 review by a "Pro" - Volumio-Michelangelo.
Just look at it this way: I've just been putting a mirror in front of you about how wrong things can go if you're not careful.
Next time you might do better!
Just enjoy your new toy!
Soundcheck , we never attempted to influence any reviews or try to get that perfect one. It has been the way we done business since the beginning. We try to be open , transparent and welcome anyone's opinion good or bad.
We are bound to get some bad reviews , but overall if the product is good , more people will say so. Absolutk just gave an opinion , I don't think it was a bad one at all.
That being said , I perfectly understand your thinking .
Guys , we are a bit late with Katanas due to multiple holidays in India . Please rest assured that we are doing everything in our power to have them in stock asap.
India had multipe holidays. We have a lot of manpower on the Katanas but it takes time to program modify each board by hand. Soon..
Technically speaking, that doesn't sound like an oscillation. If instead of playing a 1kHz tone, if you played music then what would you see on the power rails, a small music signal? If so, then not an oscillation problem per se. More of a power rail voltage modulation by the signal being amplified problem.
Good that the sound quality improved, in any case.
This discussion is not about you guys.
It's about us - the crowd - potentially being influenced on buying decisions based on stuff like that.
I do understand very well the impact of a diode.
* first there's a supply voltage
I just recently mentioned how easily that one drops on a USB power line and poor PS.
And by using a 3B+ the voltage situation is getting worse compared to older models
What's the actual minimum voltage required for your device?
* then there's the forward voltage drop of the protection diode, which sits in series on the
the power rail.
The diode voltage drop is ???
* and finally there's the minimum voltage of the DC/DC converter or regulator
That one gets calculated by "supply voltage" - "diode voltage"
#######
And then you got me completely lost with this one:
Are you measuring supply voltage via software (MCU)? Where does "software will show" it ? Will the MCU turn on the undervoltage LED?
Then there's a undervoltage LED and a protection D !?!?
I'm lost.
Sorry for my ignorance.
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Yeap thats what we see, power rail is modulated by whatever tone is playing. From what I understood , the current draw happened too fast/deep and DC convertor + LDO did not react fast enough. So we stiffened the local rails with 1000uF + 100uF on opamp board and we added another 100uF cap before LDO.All audio grade.
Previous "haze" is gone . Fatiguing sound as well.
Hehe , no issue Soundcheck , happy to answer your questions
I do understand very well the impact of a diode.
* first there's a supply voltage
I just recently mentioned how easily that one drops on a USB power line and poor PS.
And by using a 3B+ the voltage situation is getting worse compared to older models
What's the actual minimum voltage required for your device?
* then there's the forward voltage drop of the protection diode, which sits in series on the
the power rail.
The diode voltage drop is ???
* and finally there's the minimum voltage of the DC/DC converter or regulator
That one gets calculated by "supply voltage" - "diode voltage"
#######
And then you got me completely lost with this one:
Are you measuring supply voltage via software (MCU)? Where does "software will show" it ? Will the MCU turn on the undervoltage LED?
Then there's a undervoltage LED and a protection D !?!?
I'm lost.
Sorry for my ignorance.
Isolator has a diode in series (for the dirty side only) that feeds RPI. Diode drop voltage is 0.25V depending on current draw. Now RPI has a LED that shows undervoltage that seems to be triggered differently (before) than software undervoltage. So while you might see the LED , software will now show it. You can use up to 5.5V on our isolator .
Now on DC/DC convertor we feed clean 4.5V (we have an LDO before ) but all our boards are designed with a maximum of 5.5V input.
Wait a minute, so that protruding Cap glued at a random angle on top of the otherwise clean board is factory installed?
I think that afterthought components are perfectly fine for proto-boards and DIY projects, but not on a $250 DAC.
If that is user installed, then its perfectly fine, everyone puts things as they see fit.
Rafa.
I think that afterthought components are perfectly fine for proto-boards and DIY projects, but not on a $250 DAC.
If that is user installed, then its perfectly fine, everyone puts things as they see fit.
Rafa.
Gosh if one sentence, intentionally adorned with subjectivity becomes reviews by which the community makes decisions, we are all doomed .
Rule #1 of the internet: do not get caught up with trolls. Hence I will not engage with this utterly value-less post. Hope you feel better soon!
. Rule #1 of the internet: do not get caught up with trolls
. Hence I will not engage with this utterly value-less post. Hope you feel better soon!