dear mark,
I cooled it a little bit. But I can hear the squeaking sound in the board itself.. I think the output stage is damaged too..
do u think a component breakdown?
Mark, can you please clarify what you mean by the SQ boars is more distorted compared to the THD+N board? Which one sounds more musical? What I mean does a Violin sound like one, what a cello, piano, drums, etc.?
To me, I don't like distortion. I want to hear what's on a record as it was intended to be heard by the artist and the producer. Cymbals sound like real cymbals, low level reverb tails are clearly audible, etc. All the little details are there and they all sound good. For that, very high quality accurate reproduction is required. As a reviewer, I tested Katana in various configurations and did listening comparisons between it and other very high quality dacs. The good news is Katana *can* be an excellent dac. As of this time, I only know one way to get the best sound quality out of it. What is best IMHO is Katana with the THD output stage (the one with less measured distortion, and it sounds that way too), with an optional 'Isolator' board, and with modest +-15v and +5v linear power supplies for Katana boards. The RPi can be run on SMPS (I used IFI brand). It also sounds clearly better with about 100uf of good quality film caps on each of the +-15v rails. The linear power supply I used was from a kit that cost about $70. The +15v regulator inside the power supply was an LM317, but was replaced with a bit better newer three terminal regulator at some point in the past. The power supplies may add (I'm guessing) maybe $150 to the cost of the dac system. The Isolator board is an extra cost too. A picture of the setup I tried that gave the best sound quality is attached below. The red block on the left is the film caps taped together.
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That's very interesting. Can you tell which board the squeak sound is coming from? It would suspect one of the +-15v switching inverter inductors. That is the type of thing that might be able to make noise. To see if that is the source or if the sound seems to be related to the +-15v, you could try turning off the little slide switch on the MCU board that can disable the inverter.
If not coming from there, then it might help if you could track it down to where you think it is coming from.
While thinking about this, what makes you say you think the output stage may be damaged? Is the sound distorted/noisy, etc.?
Also probably a good idea to separate the boards and examine them visually very carefully, and also check for any odd or burnt smells on any of the boards. Anything you can do to provide Allo with some more information may help them figure out how handle what sounds like it might be a warranty issue. Unless your wall wart power supply went over-voltage and caused a problem then about the only other possibility is that something went wrong on one of the Katana boards without any known cause. In other words, a warranty problem exists.
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thanks mark,
I will examine this later. By touching the acrylic near the film cap and the audiophile cap. I almost burn my finger on its temperature outside. I hadnt experimented on it. Im a plug and play kind of person. I dont toy with the 15v other than what was supplied by allo.
by the way.. Im using the walwart from allo.
in a two power configuration only.
im really frustrated.. it nay pose safety risk in my part.
gosh.. there is no output in the katana
I will examine this later. By touching the acrylic near the film cap and the audiophile cap. I almost burn my finger on its temperature outside. I hadnt experimented on it. Im a plug and play kind of person. I dont toy with the 15v other than what was supplied by allo.
by the way.. Im using the walwart from allo.
in a two power configuration only.
im really frustrated.. it nay pose safety risk in my part.
gosh.. there is no output in the katana
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I am currently using the Allo Boss 1.2 with a Military Grade Linear Regulated 5v 4 maps PSU and an IFI for the RPI. I also have the same company +/1 15 Volt PSU and I am building a LT3024 power supply. So you are saying the THD+N is better sounding thank the SQ board?
In my opinion, yes. They named one version of filtering 'sound quality,' but its just a name. To me, lower distortion sounds like higher sound quality. I think they should have named the 'SQ' output stage 'Colorated,' or something similar like it gives the sound a little synthetic color to make it sound in a way some people seems to like. That probably would have been a more accurate name.
Colored sounding like? In your opinion, it is more like say a Tube amp sound vs. a solid state sound? It is fatter or leaner? etc?
That would be very hard to say. At one time solid state amps didn't sound very good. Although THD may have been low, the spectrum of distortion may have included more high order harmonic distortion. That would make it sound unpleasant. Tubes, in hi fi amps, on the other hand produced much higher THD, but it was mostly low order and often sounded better. Things have come a long way since then and now there is no question that the best solid state amps can be unrivaled in distortion no matter how it is measured. Most of the amps in the Stereophile A+ recommended equipment list are solid state, including some that are designed to have a little euphonic distortion.
All I can do is tell you about my findings so far as best as I can. That can never be equal to you just listening for yourself to see what something sounds like to you. If you don't trust the recommendation I have given then I guess you could try asking other people, but the problem with that is everybody tests Katana differently, with different power supplies, power amps and speakers. Also, different people have different listening preferences. Probably, you will not find one other person who tested Katana with same power amp and speakers I did, or who compared in with the same reference dacs for sound quality comparisons. So it ends up that the information you get is pretty meaningless. If that bothers you then you should just take the option to buy both output stages and choose for yourself. In addition, your own preference may change if you use different power supplies or different power amp sometime in the future.
If it makes any difference to you, I compared Katana with Benchmark DAC-3, which is on the Audiophile A+ recommended dac list. I also used a Benchmark AHB2 power amplifier which is also on the Audiophile A+ recommended amplifier list. The speakers I used have been widely used for mixing hit records. In other words, I compared Katana with professional quality equipment using professional quality components. I don't know how to do it any better than that. It came out that using the exact setup of power supplies an Katana boards I described sounded best. Your experience under different circumstances might be different.
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Another viewpoint...
IMHO, in my system, and to my ears, the sound quality from the SQ board is more musical and musically authentic than the THD board, with a greater sense of space and depth, for those who notice that type of thing.
To my ears, the SQ from the THD board was less musical and less involving.
Markw4 and I clearly have differing opinions on what is right in SQ. I would not say either of us are right or wrong. This is a preference thing. Markw$ is exactly right in asking 'What kind of sound quality are you looking for?"
Mark has clearly provided his opinion of the differences, along with his Katana setup. I've done the same here and in this thread:
Getting the best out of Allo.com's new Katana DAC...
BUT what is right for you is something only you can decide.
Best to you in deciding!
Greg in Mississippi
P.S. AND as I said several times earlier today, yes, the SQ Opamp board can be powered by +-15V, just like the THD board.
IMHO, in my system, and to my ears, the sound quality from the SQ board is more musical and musically authentic than the THD board, with a greater sense of space and depth, for those who notice that type of thing.
To my ears, the SQ from the THD board was less musical and less involving.
Markw4 and I clearly have differing opinions on what is right in SQ. I would not say either of us are right or wrong. This is a preference thing. Markw$ is exactly right in asking 'What kind of sound quality are you looking for?"
Mark has clearly provided his opinion of the differences, along with his Katana setup. I've done the same here and in this thread:
Getting the best out of Allo.com's new Katana DAC...
BUT what is right for you is something only you can decide.
Best to you in deciding!
Greg in Mississippi
P.S. AND as I said several times earlier today, yes, the SQ Opamp board can be powered by +-15V, just like the THD board.
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Hi Cdsgames/andre,
Apparently, there is no music output from the THD. The sparko MC had been heating up so bad. I am running the katana stack with isolator ever since (almost 3 weeks since I recieved the THD stage) ysing 2 power configuration with the supplied smps from allo.
I dont know what is wrong with this wether this is a sparko or pi related issue.
Apparently, there is no music output from the THD. The sparko MC had been heating up so bad. I am running the katana stack with isolator ever since (almost 3 weeks since I recieved the THD stage) ysing 2 power configuration with the supplied smps from allo.
I dont know what is wrong with this wether this is a sparko or pi related issue.
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power sequence is not an issue in the new firmware for Katana v1.2.. katana v1.1 tend to have smurf sound using wrong power sequence. This isaue occured after a continous used.. approx 24 hrs using the allo smps.. acrylic heated up very bad with a noisy transformer like hiss on the background. after you cool it.. hissing sound vainishes but there is no music output.
Im using allo smps.
