Building a better streamer than Node 2i

[Chrotto]

I don't know how much you want to pay. Personally I trust technical data and my hearing. I would be interested to hear these USB DACs, most of which have been reviewed on Page Redirection

- Sonqoz LS-QXD1
- allo revolution
- Sonqoz SGD1
- Topping D90
- SMSL M400

I a sorry, I see that I miswrote. I meant to say that I already have an external DAC, so I was actually curious about the products, given I am going to use them as a transport/streamer without D/A conversion

 

[TNT]

But is it better than the Allo USBridge which is based on the Pi3?

Why do you ask - you din't want a "bit is bit" discussion so you should only ask for "how does it sound"... No?

//

 

[Chrotto]

Why do you ask - you din't want a "bit is bit" discussion so you should only ask for "how does it sound"... No?

//

What I didn't want, was a discussion regarding wether or not it makes a different to use different hardware or not, because some people still believe that "bits are bits", and that no amount of hardware in a digital product kan change it.

What I did want to know was, what sounds best - and the question was asked because I thought the changes to the USB bus in the Pi3 (compared to Pi2) might have made som of the improvements, 3rd party products tries do accomplish

 

[SimonInd]

I was using few hat dacs and i was always sure, that hat dac for pi is the best. Than i connected Tone Board to pi 4 and this experience has changed my opinion ...

The Khadas is connected over USB right?

Like you I've been messing around with i2s based DACs connected directly to the PI, firstly a Curryman then an ESS9038Q2M HAT from AliExpress - the latter sounds great, even with a USB SMPS for both it and the PI.

What's the rest of your system to notice the difference? Mine's Hypex UCD400HXRs and PMC AB2s so it's pretty revealing but I'm starting to think I'm splitting hairs with these DACs now.

Cheers
Simon

 

[Bigun]

I had the Node 2i here for a week and was able to compare it with my Allo Katana (THD version).
While the Node 2i has a nicer sound signature (somehow richer sound), it was also more tiring for me. The katana has a cleaner, more revealing sound with better hights and base and more depth and width. Note that the Node 2i uses TI 5102 DAC chips, which are fairly simple (and cheap).
I suspect an allo Boss v1.2 (TI 5122) already sounds better than the Node 2i. Before the Katana, I used the allo Boss v1, which was similarly pleasant to me in terms of the sound signature as the Node 2i.

I've read that the power supply and analogue output chain are critical in forming the sound signature, so what is the analogue output chain and psu for the Node 2i ? Wouldn't it be a good idea to start there before looking at a whole new DAC ?????