Outstanding work and skills! I've seen most of your videos including the ones about your DIY speakers and have nothing to say but... brilliant!!! Well done indeed!
Man I’ve got about hundred of those 26650s A123 systems batteries. Best batteries on the market in my opinion. I’ve been wanting to use them for portable power amps. Then I stumbled on this thumbnail. Thank you for showing me what I already knew possible. Great stuff. God Bless.
Thanks for your works! Can I just simply connect super capacitor with batteries in parallel if voltage limit of both of them is not existed safety level?
Thank you for the video. I tried using a RPi with an audiophilleo adapter and the sound is not good. How is the sound compared with a high-end cd transport?
Hi Gaby, impressive project I suppose the sound with a decent DAC is amazing. But how do you manage to charge the batteries, I couldn't see any mains power supply for this ? Do you connect an external one, if so which kind of connectors do you use (banana ...) ? Tks !
Congratulations on the build, you have inspired me to undertake a slightly less complicated version of this. I am wondering why you chose to use 10 AWG wire?
It was from eBay I don’t see the same listing now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look The dimensions are External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
Wow!!! Bravo!!!! Can anyone point me toward simple instructions on how to build a super cap linear power supply for an rpi 4.......something similar to the allo shanti? Thanks!!!
You can use Ian’s linear pi power supply and UC mate conditioner super cap it is way better then Shanti Follow the link on this video and read the pdf manual of both Hope that helps
Congrats Gabster again, may I ask you how you connected the GPIO 40 pins USBridge (or RPi) outputs "remotely" to the FifoPi etc.. package ? In my understanding - once the Pi and FifoPi group are power supplied separately - mainly the following x6 pins have to be considered : Ground (eg pin#39), Data (#40), S or B-Clock (#12), LR-Clock (#35) and I2C DA (#3) + I2C CL(#5). Other pins no need to be extended. Is this correct ? Will this apply in general for all audio cards ? Do I miss something ? Btw is the wire length/quality for this connection important ? Sorry to ask so much 🙂IMO for a couple of reasons it's a good idea to offset the audio cards. Thanks !
On the Allo USBridge Signature board there are PCB soldering points for a capacitor between the GPIO and the USB out. You will see the holes labelled positive and negative. Also, if you flip the board upside down you will see markings closer to the USB/SD Card side for an additional capacitor as well. Despite what Allo says, adding capacitors there makes a monumental difference. I've tried various configuration of capacitors on my system and finally settled on the following. USB Output side is using an Audio Note Kaisei 4700uf bypassed with a Duelund JDM Pure Silver Foil. The SD/Card side is using something interesting that took some time to work out. I'm using one 10,000uf Mundorf AG 63V, along with an additional 1,500uf Mundorf AG at 100V which is also bypassed with a JDM Duelund Tinned Copper Foil 600V. Don't forget those points, nobody talks about it on the forums but they make a big difference. I'm feeding the USBridge with a Shanti LPS and the Ian Canada 5V ultracapacitor that is feeding the GPIO mounted ConditionerPi. Not as extreme or awesome as yours, but I mentioned it because I'm already starting with pretty good power and these extra Allo capacitor changes really made a huge impact.
Thanks Allen for the detailed upgrade I will try those changes that sounds very interesting really apreciate sharing the info. I am not sure if it will have any effects for my system as I am only using the Allo just for the RPI part then reclocking the signal but I will look more into it. There are also 3 capacitors by the GPIO as it seems the main 5V goes into various 3.3v rails not sure if adding more capacitors there would improve things I was not sure if the circuitry can handle a lot more as very large capacitors have a shorting effect at the start.
@@Gabster1 I'm in the process of building my streamer with the FifoPi Q7 and I was wondering where you found out exactly which pins from the Allo are needed for the FifoPi to work. Thank you, love your videos!
@@isobutylquinoline I can not remember the exact pins as I added some epoxy over it about 7 of them but Ian has a schematic of the StationPi you can also use a 40 pin extender github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/Adapters/StationPi/StationPiUsersManual.pdf in My new build I am using a RaseberryPi 3B on the StationPi as I did not see much difference in sound Quality a much simpler way also running a 7 inch monitor from it a lot simpler
@@isobutylquinoline I took a photo of mine but not that clear due to epoxy on the wires but at least it will help a bit gabphoto.smugmug.com/Models/Links/Pi/
It was from eBay I don’t see it listed now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look The dimensions are External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
Amazing build, I wish I could build it.. Gab can I ask what parts will I need if I decide to build it with one RPI and without the super capacitors, can I use the piestation from Ian?
What's the midrange driver in the speaker looks like b&w. Have you thought about making it open at the back dipole. If you set it in horn and waveguide in the front about 3 inches set in from the edge of the waveguide with a nice gentle slope with two and a half inch round edges, keeping the horn to slight opening and rounded off at the edges 7 inches from the magnet to the opening a slight taper like a Venturi near the magnet about an inch to the back of the magnet and sides, Venturi a inch narrow to the opening give or take, I don't think you cannot do this on a computer only if you got fancy equipment, you would need to have Aerodynamic flow software. you can have the sides completely open between the front and back as well by supporting the speaker in 4 points and a layer of open cell foam around the speaker between the Venturi and the speaker basket. They look like nice speakers nice job! Anyway getting away from what I was thinking the streamer possibly you could make storage capacitors like run capacitors, and just have it fed from the mains. What would be good is to have a phase correction circuitry working very fast I don't know if there's anything out there like that? keeping the mains current and voltage line-up Try AP-Linux in the Raspberry Pi? it's audiophile Linux, they cut out a lot of noise used in computers as streamers should be no problem in the Raspberry Pi..
Yes the mids are BW I created a very unique design that brings it to a new level you will see it when I post the Video in a few weeks it is also a modular design so I could one day try the open back as you suggest. You could possibly run the Fifopi that holds the clocks on huge super capacitors but the run time may be shorter as of know the entire system can run for 8h on batteries then goes to auto charge after shutdown. You can check this huge multi page thread link there is a big community working on various similar projects. www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/327105-develop-ultra-capacitor-power-supply-lifepo4-battery-power-supply-124.html
That’s a great model forming all fancy parts of audio pi hats. Those hats really confessed me as a pi beginner. BTW, I think the background music in the video is a bit distracting since the recording of your voice is already not so clear. Kind of difficult to hear what u re saying clearly.
It was from eBay I don’t see the same listing now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look The dimensions are External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
Great video! Just a question regarding the clocking module? I’m using an Allo USBridge Signature to get the “clean” USB out to my DAC. Feeding it with a high quality 5,1VDC DIY LPS. Can this clocking module be added to the USBRIDGE Sig. and will it improve the clean USB out signal (I.e. lower jitter)? Or is the clocking module only active for the additional hat with I2S or SPDIF out? Thx
It will not affect the USB output but you can simply add the FifoPi(clocking module) and I2S Spdif on top they will plug on top the 40 pi GPIO of the USbridge Sig. I am sure it will be a good improvement.
Looks great! I am going in this direction of a streamer. I have the same transmitter, where did you find the caps that you replaced? Do you have a link about this mod?
Got them from mouser simply replace the second and third capacitor with these low ESR big caps here is the link :) www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/647-UHW1A123MHD
Wow, Thank you for your tutorial. This helps me a lot! One quick question - Did you not choose the UCadapter so the UCConditoners can fit in the chassis?
By the way, Japanese Symphonic-Mpd software produces much less jitter over Pi's I2S than Volumio. Because it works at the lowest possible level of Linux. Despite, there is a resampler and purificator (PLL), this might improve a sound a little bit. PS I personally waited a bit more details about Pi that outputs to a screen. What kind of a software is used there, and how does it communicate to the "sound server" on Usbridge-signature, pls? Perhaps, via a router?
@@Gabster1 Thanks. So, both Pies have Roon installed, and one of them has RoPieee? As I can see, usbridge plays via GPIO (I2S). If this is true, so there was no real need to use a clean USB, right?
@@Gabster1 I have been using Volumio with my RP3B+ but Volumio is so UNSTABLE with my DAC hat, that I am about to throw the thing out the window. Is Ropieee/Roon stable?
I would like to build/purchase a mostly IanCanada based music streamer, I have a good DAC in the Hugo2 but have known for years I am not getting the best out of it I could be due to the nature of having it wired to my Macbookpro. I don't know where to begin as I have never gotten into streamers, I currently have a PI2AES but would like a setup like your streamer but with a variety of outputs not just I2S so I could connect it to my Hugo2/future chord DACs. Would you be interested in building such a unit for me? I don't mind how long it takes or cost, I would consider such a streamer end game. Do you have an email or contact where we could discuss further? Thank you, Ike.
Thank you :) unfortunately I have no time got too many personal projects. I suggest you build something simple first or use a Node2I as a streamer or other ready streamers.
While I love a great project, and this certainly is. It is way overkill. But a FANTASTIC build nonetheless. I assume from looking at you that your are mid 40s to mid 50s. Your ears suck, as do my own, being 57, and also an audiophile (I can still hear 18khz but not 16khz). Specs are outstanding, of course. But simply attaching a high quality DAC hat to a RPi4 with good p/s would not yield any audible differences to both pairs of our ears, I am pretty sure. Great video. Cool stuff! I am a DIY'er myself. I have considered doing something similar many times over, but I always come back too, can I really hear the difference? The short answer is NO, probably not.
Most musical instruments high notes rarely pass 10khz there are exceptions your hearing is excellent don’t let that stop you Anything up to 12 kHz is great what makes a sound better is not related to the frequency I never heard a difference till I got good revealing speakers and sources.
@@Gabster1 While you are correct in that most musical instruments do not exceed 10khz directly, it is not uncommon at all for the harmonics to be of much higher frequency. This is probably a part of the reason some people say CDs at 16/44 are not good enough. CD players have a hard 20khz cutoff filter so any harmonics above 20khz are automatically dropped (if they even made it this far to begin with). While we humans cannot hear above 20k, harmonics CAN and DO affect lower frequencies which can be heard. Try looking at a guitar being strummed on a decent spectrum analyser and you should see (depending on the mic being used) frequencies well exceeding 20khz.
Superb tutorial. I enjoy the content you put out there in general. I also use Ian’s products to great effect within my dac build. Could you please share your email as I would like to consult you on a few things audio. Appreciate your work a lot. Thanks.
Outstanding work and skills! I've seen most of your videos including the ones about your DIY speakers and have nothing to say but... brilliant!!! Well done indeed!
Man I’ve got about hundred of those 26650s A123 systems batteries. Best batteries on the market in my opinion. I’ve been wanting to use them for portable power amps. Then I stumbled on this thumbnail. Thank you for showing me what I already knew possible.
Great stuff.
God Bless.
Thanks
They are great Batteries for sure
hey buddy, i like speakers behind you, pretty cool.
Wow fantastic ! a lot of Ian Canada gears inside ;)
Wow, great channel - it needs a bit of promotion I think. Fantastic material
Thanks for your works! Can I just simply connect super capacitor with batteries in parallel if voltage limit of both of them is not existed safety level?
Not really. When the capacitors are empty they act like a short for a good few min depending on how big they are and could damage the batteries
Wonderful. Thank you!
Thank you for the nice inspiration on building a dac, superbe work...Could you ad a link to the alu case as well?
Does it support HDMI ARC and CEC, so I can use it as a preamp/DAC
This is a streamer only with only one output I2s but could put other output cards for Coax Optical can not use it as a preamp
Thank you for the video. I tried using a RPi with an audiophilleo adapter and the sound is not good. How is the sound compared with a high-end cd transport?
Thanks so much for uploading.
I was looking at Aya 5 board and pi4 running moode. Pihut have two slim touchscreens, as an option
Hi Gaby, impressive project I suppose the sound with a decent DAC is amazing. But how do you manage to charge the batteries, I couldn't see any mains power supply for this ? Do you connect an external one, if so which kind of connectors do you use (banana ...) ? Tks !
I use a linear 15v power supply externally just a normal connector Pigtail Barrel Plug Connectors 2.1mm x 5.5mm
Great video! How do you think the sound of this unit compares to your PS Audio Bridge II?
I use a pc with an external usb dac as my streamer. I get all apps and benefits of a pc and great sound. No batteries required.
T hi s looks great 👍
Congratulations on the build, you have inspired me to undertake a slightly less complicated version of this. I am wondering why you chose to use 10 AWG wire?
Just had some around, you also need short thick shielded connections a 12 or 14 AWG twisted May be better I might add some shielding to the wires.
Great build guide, thanks! May I ask where you got the enclosure from?
It was from eBay I don’t see the same listing now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases
I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look
The dimensions are
External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm
Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
Wow!!! Bravo!!!! Can anyone point me toward simple instructions on how to build a super cap linear power supply for an rpi 4.......something similar to the allo shanti? Thanks!!!
You can use Ian’s linear pi power supply and UC mate conditioner super cap it is way better then Shanti
Follow the link on this video and read the pdf manual of both
Hope that helps
Congrats Gabster again, may I ask you how you connected the GPIO 40 pins USBridge (or RPi) outputs "remotely" to the FifoPi etc.. package ? In my understanding - once the Pi and FifoPi group are power supplied separately - mainly the following x6 pins have to be considered : Ground (eg pin#39), Data (#40), S or B-Clock (#12), LR-Clock (#35) and I2C DA (#3) + I2C CL(#5). Other pins no need to be extended. Is this correct ? Will this apply in general for all audio cards ? Do I miss something ? Btw is the wire length/quality for this connection important ? Sorry to ask so much 🙂IMO for a couple of reasons it's a good idea to offset the audio cards. Thanks !
You are correct you need to keep the wires as short as possible and similar length also you need the ground wire very important not to forget that one
@@Gabster1 OK, thank you !👍
On the Allo USBridge Signature board there are PCB soldering points for a capacitor between the GPIO and the USB out. You will see the holes labelled positive and negative. Also, if you flip the board upside down you will see markings closer to the USB/SD Card side for an additional capacitor as well. Despite what Allo says, adding capacitors there makes a monumental difference. I've tried various configuration of capacitors on my system and finally settled on the following. USB Output side is using an Audio Note Kaisei 4700uf bypassed with a Duelund JDM Pure Silver Foil. The SD/Card side is using something interesting that took some time to work out. I'm using one 10,000uf Mundorf AG 63V, along with an additional 1,500uf Mundorf AG at 100V which is also bypassed with a JDM Duelund Tinned Copper Foil 600V. Don't forget those points, nobody talks about it on the forums but they make a big difference. I'm feeding the USBridge with a Shanti LPS and the Ian Canada 5V ultracapacitor that is feeding the GPIO mounted ConditionerPi. Not as extreme or awesome as yours, but I mentioned it because I'm already starting with pretty good power and these extra Allo capacitor changes really made a huge impact.
Thanks Allen for the detailed upgrade I will try those changes that sounds very interesting really apreciate sharing the info. I am not sure if it will have any effects for my system as I am only using the Allo just for the RPI part then reclocking the signal but I will look more into it. There are also 3 capacitors by the GPIO as it seems the main 5V goes into various 3.3v rails not sure if adding more capacitors there would improve things I was not sure if the circuitry can handle a lot more as very large capacitors have a shorting effect at the start.
@@Gabster1 I'm in the process of building my streamer with the FifoPi Q7 and I was wondering where you found out exactly which pins from the Allo are needed for the FifoPi to work. Thank you, love your videos!
@@isobutylquinoline I can not remember the exact pins as I added some epoxy over it about 7 of them but Ian has a schematic of the StationPi you can also use a 40 pin extender
github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/Adapters/StationPi/StationPiUsersManual.pdf
in My new build I am using a RaseberryPi 3B on the StationPi as I did not see much difference in sound Quality a much simpler way also running a 7 inch monitor from it a lot simpler
@@isobutylquinoline I took a photo of mine but not that clear due to epoxy on the wires but at least it will help a bit gabphoto.smugmug.com/Models/Links/Pi/
@@Gabster1 Gabster, you're the man. Thank you this is great. Really appreciate it!
Could you please tell us about the enclosure ? I find the most challenging part of building an audio component is the box it's in !
It was from eBay I don’t see it listed now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases
I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look
The dimensions are
External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm
Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
@@Gabster1 thanks, I'll look.
Did you tryed also 5.25V insteed 5.1V for both DAC and streamer, if it's make any difference?
No, it may be hard to implement
Awesome
Amazing build, I wish I could build it.. Gab can I ask what parts will I need if I decide to build it with one RPI and without the super capacitors, can I use the piestation from Ian?
Yes the PieStation is the way to go in this case will make life simple and still very good. The pdf of each part has a lot of setup info.
So same parts list minus allo minus ucHybtid
Minus linear Pi can also skip the screen
Ottimo lavoro..........non ci hai fatto vedere le connessioni del pannello posteriore
What's the midrange driver in the speaker looks like b&w. Have you thought about making it open at the back dipole.
If you set it in horn and waveguide in the front about 3 inches set in from the edge of the waveguide with a nice gentle slope with two and a half inch round edges, keeping the horn to slight opening and rounded off at the edges 7 inches from the magnet to the opening a slight taper like a Venturi near the magnet about an inch to the back of the magnet and sides, Venturi a inch narrow to the opening give or take, I don't think you cannot do this on a computer only if you got fancy equipment, you would need to have Aerodynamic flow software. you can have the sides completely open between the front and back as well by supporting the speaker in 4 points and a layer of open cell foam around the speaker between the Venturi and the speaker basket. They look like nice speakers nice job!
Anyway getting away from what I was thinking the streamer possibly you could make storage capacitors like run capacitors, and just have it fed from the mains.
What would be good is to have a phase correction circuitry working very fast I don't know if there's anything out there like that? keeping the mains current and voltage line-up
Try AP-Linux in the Raspberry Pi? it's audiophile Linux, they cut out a lot of noise used in computers as streamers should be no problem in the Raspberry Pi..
Yes the mids are BW I created a very unique design that brings it to a new level you will see it when I post the Video in a few weeks it is also a modular design so I could one day try the open back as you suggest. You could possibly run the Fifopi that holds the clocks on huge super capacitors but the run time may be shorter as of know the entire system can run for 8h on batteries then goes to auto charge after shutdown.
You can check this huge multi page thread link there is a big community working on various similar projects.
www.diyaudio.com/forums/power-supplies/327105-develop-ultra-capacitor-power-supply-lifepo4-battery-power-supply-124.html
That’s a great model forming all fancy parts of audio pi hats. Those hats really confessed me as a pi beginner. BTW, I think the background music in the video is a bit distracting since the recording of your voice is already not so clear. Kind of difficult to hear what u re saying clearly.
Hy Can you show link for that alu enclosure? Thanks in advance
It was from eBay I don’t see the same listing now but there are a lot of choices if you search for cases
I also replaced the front with wood I cut and shaped it. I wanted a vintage look
The dimensions are
External dimensions: Width 430mm Height 80mm Depth 330mm
Internal dimensions: Width 414mm Height 72mm Depth 314mm
he, where can I get compatibility chassis?
Great video!
Just a question regarding the clocking module?
I’m using an Allo USBridge Signature to get the “clean” USB out to my DAC.
Feeding it with a high quality 5,1VDC DIY LPS.
Can this clocking module be added to the USBRIDGE Sig. and will it improve the clean USB out signal (I.e. lower jitter)?
Or is the clocking module only active for the additional hat with I2S or SPDIF out?
Thx
It will not affect the USB output but you can simply add the FifoPi(clocking module) and I2S Spdif on top they will plug on top the 40 pi GPIO of the USbridge Sig. I am sure it will be a good improvement.
Looks great! I am going in this direction of a streamer. I have the same transmitter, where did you find the caps that you replaced? Do you have a link about this mod?
Got them from mouser simply replace the second and third capacitor with these low ESR big caps
here is the link :)
www.mouser.ca/ProductDetail/647-UHW1A123MHD
Wow, Thank you for your tutorial. This helps me a lot! One quick question - Did you not choose the UCadapter so the UCConditoners can fit in the chassis?
Thanks, that is correct a height issue.
What design would you use for a synchronized video + audio streamer?🤔
By the way, Japanese Symphonic-Mpd software produces much less jitter over Pi's I2S than Volumio. Because it works at the lowest possible level of Linux. Despite, there is a resampler and purificator (PLL), this might improve a sound a little bit.
PS I personally waited a bit more details about Pi that outputs to a screen. What kind of a software is used there, and how does it communicate to the "sound server" on Usbridge-signature, pls? Perhaps, via a router?
The usbridge signature is only used as a Pi almost a overkill I am using Roon via Roopieee . they have a simple way to connect screens.
@@Gabster1 Thanks. So, both Pies have Roon installed, and one of them has RoPieee? As I can see, usbridge plays via GPIO (I2S). If this is true, so there was no real need to use a clean USB, right?
@@sc0or That is correct both Pi have Ropieee (Roon) The clean USB is good but not as good as a Reclocked I2S signal with good Clocks.
@@Gabster1 Aha. Now I've got this. Thank you
@@Gabster1 I have been using Volumio with my RP3B+ but Volumio is so UNSTABLE with my DAC hat, that I am about to throw the thing out the window. Is Ropieee/Roon stable?
Interesting
I would like to build/purchase a mostly IanCanada based music streamer, I have a good DAC in the Hugo2 but have known for years I am not getting the best out of it I could be due to the nature of having it wired to my Macbookpro. I don't know where to begin as I have never gotten into streamers, I currently have a PI2AES but would like a setup like your streamer but with a variety of outputs not just I2S so I could connect it to my Hugo2/future chord DACs. Would you be interested in building such a unit for me? I don't mind how long it takes or cost, I would consider such a streamer end game. Do you have an email or contact where we could discuss further? Thank you, Ike.
Thank you :) unfortunately I have no time got too many personal projects. I suggest you build something simple first or use a Node2I as a streamer or other ready streamers.
While I love a great project, and this certainly is. It is way overkill. But a FANTASTIC build nonetheless. I assume from looking at you that your are mid 40s to mid 50s. Your ears suck, as do my own, being 57, and also an audiophile (I can still hear 18khz but not 16khz). Specs are outstanding, of course. But simply attaching a high quality DAC hat to a RPi4 with good p/s would not yield any audible differences to both pairs of our ears, I am pretty sure. Great video. Cool stuff! I am a DIY'er myself. I have considered doing something similar many times over, but I always come back too, can I really hear the difference? The short answer is NO, probably not.
Most musical instruments high notes rarely pass 10khz there are exceptions your hearing is excellent don’t let that stop you
Anything up to 12 kHz is great what makes a sound better is not related to the frequency
I never heard a difference till I got good revealing speakers and sources.
@@Gabster1 While you are correct in that most musical instruments do not exceed 10khz directly, it is not uncommon at all for the harmonics to be of much higher frequency. This is probably a part of the reason some people say CDs at 16/44 are not good enough. CD players have a hard 20khz cutoff filter so any harmonics above 20khz are automatically dropped (if they even made it this far to begin with). While we humans cannot hear above 20k, harmonics CAN and DO affect lower frequencies which can be heard. Try looking at a guitar being strummed on a decent spectrum analyser and you should see (depending on the mic being used) frequencies well exceeding 20khz.
Waiting very much the next part qhere people who can not solder and dont do shit about capacitors could still put together a nice hifi streamer
Superb tutorial. I enjoy the content you put out there in general. I also use Ian’s products to great effect within my dac build. Could you please share your email as I would like to consult you on a few things audio. Appreciate your work a lot. Thanks.
Gabster, I would really like to talk to you about this but your email is not on the about page?