Thank you for response and help, sad that i didn’t find manual on their brand site:(
Their documentation is all over the place, I had a hard time finding any information when I got mine as well
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Thanks, i think manual will help a lot. I hope in my setup amp is bottleneck, and flux will give me much clearer presentation, because currently sound a little bit muddy, mojo is clearer, but not so fun to listen.
@M0N Did you notice sound improvement after burn in of dac and power supply? is it worth to leave it burning in?
Since you have a custom psu I can’t really say, wouldn’t hurt to leave it on if you feet the need. Regarding the clarity, try messing around with the 3rd order harmonics and also the oversampling filters, as that can add more clarity if needed (but I think you are due for an amp upgrade as well)
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That’s pretty shitty to have problems with 2 units, hopefully things speed up and it gets resolved
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Allo revolution sends me replacement unit, which arrived few days ago, now everything work properly, i can recommend this brand for so good service.
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So i picked this up together with the nirvana powersupply. It came in friday. My comparison is only the Topping E30 which i use for a few month now.
I had the itch to buy something but didnt want to shell out 860€ for a Denafrips Ares now so i just bought the allo because i had interest in it.
For now im sitting in a weird place with it tbh.
At first i listened mostly with oversampling bypass off and filters activated. The problem is that i can´t really differenciate the filters apart. There might be something different but i think i can´t heart it( unfortunatly, maybe my ears are not trained enough, maybe my tinnitus disctracts or i just can´t hear it :D).
Compared to the E30 it sounds almost identical to me. Some little things might change but i dont know for certain.
So any recommendations for settings? I´ve read that the 2nd harmonic should make the sound thicker and the 3rd makes it brighter the higher the number. Is that true?
Probably its really a little bit brighter in the very high frequencies if i turn it all the way up.
Its different if i switch the Oversampling bypass on. it sound totally different know.
I try to describe it compared to the E30.
The highs are a lot less forward now
Voices seem quite a bit less clear and somehow a bit muffled ( effect of lost clarity?) and drop a bit more in the background…its like the singer is a bit further away from the microphone - voices in general get a bit darker, the higher sounds fade a bit away. Probably its an increase in stage but i really struggle to understand.
Cymbals are not sharp anymore.
I played Escape from Tarkov in the morning and it was raining ingame. In oversampling mode the rain and the footsteps sounded like im used to, with oversampling bypassed the rain became quite a bit quieter, probably more natural. Probably, i can´t decide on that yet.
It doesn´t sound bad, it sounds good, no question. I think i have the problem, that i havent heard many other dacs ( modi 2) + i don´t really know what to expect from a Dac change. I will give it more time to see if i think its worth to keep or really take the higher step and import a Bifrost 2 or something else.
I use my T1.2 and my Focal clears and my Lake People g109S.
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It just takes time, they are more subtle tbh, the harmonics control is more noticable than the filters (and the difference between filter bypass on and off as you noted)
That’s been my experience, ideally you want to find a balance between them, it’s something you will just want to tune by ear, although when doing that I would make sure to spend some time with each adjustment
I would spend at least a week with it, and if you don’t find it worthwhile, it’s probably time to make that jump to something like the ares or bifrost. But the differences in dacs generally isn’t immediate, it’s something that you start to notice more as time progresses and it gets more worthwhile as you go on
I will give it at least one or two weeks before I form a decision. I will update here
So i have to decide what to do now. Im using the Allo since 3 weeks now and i really like it. I think i prefer the dac in oversampling bypassed ( OSF-B - ON), but if i have it on OFF, i like it aswell. So i have two totally different sound signatures in here. I think oversampling is better for gaming because it becomes a lot sharper if oversampling is enabled. Signature wise i would say is somewhat similar to my E30, but the allo sounds definetly better, fuller, more lively. The E30 is a bit dry in direct comparison. I honestly cant really hear much ( if any) difference when adjusting the filters or harmonics settings, or at least im not sure if i hear a difference. So i can almost treat the dac only with two main signatures - one sharp and analytic( oversampling) , the other one is a bit warmer, not as sharp, more relaxed, a bit thicker ( oversampling bypassed).
They both sound pretty good. I needed quite a bit of time to understand that there are actually differences between the allo and E30.
The thing is, that i somewhat tend to keep it for now, but on the other hand i think, that there can be more / better. It was 350€ with power supply for me. If i double that, i could import a bifrost 2 ( roughly 700-780 after import i guess), which is highly praised here.
Other options would maybe be the Denafrips Ares 2 which i can buy in germany for 860€.
Or maybe some of the local options in europe? Pro-Ject, Soekris etc…
Quite more expensive, but it would probably be the step that makes more sense for the future. Even if i really came to like the sound of the allo, i will definetly want a higher end dac in the future. Since i reached the point where i have headphones that cost a 1000€ and more ( Clears, T1 and future things :D) it might be the right step. I dont really know, but i have to decide in the next days.
I would need to wait a bit longer to buy a more expensive dac, but i get more comfortable in saving for something i want instead of shelling out money all the time for cheaper things, so no problem here.
What would interest me quite a bit, is how something like the bifrost 2 or the more affordable Soekris options are compared to the allo ( especially in Bypassed oversampling mode, since i think it sounds better).
I guess something like the Topping D90 would signature wise be similar to Oversampling mode on the allo - sharper, cleaner, more analytical - only better.
Or should i maybe just keep the allo since i like it and maybe buy another headphone…i know that i have to decide it in the end, but some advice would be lovely!
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It’s a much more sizable step up, it’s going to be a fairly bigger jump (a fair bit more significant than e30 to allo) would be a good way to sum it up
Somewhat yes, although you might find that it’s a very small or no jump up with the d90 imo, as personally I don’t find the d90 to give much improvement as over an e30 already. There are improvements on paper but not really in actual listening
If you are satisfied with your headphones it go for the dac upgrade, but if you find your wanting a different sound overall it could make more sense to experiment with a new headphone
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Im very happy with my headphones for now, i use my main three ones nearly every day ( Clear, T1.2 and ESP95/X). The only other thing i really want to try is the T1.3 but i want it to be a bit cheaper so i have to wait anyway.
I feel more like upgrading the dac since its the only piece that is in a “lower” tier for now. My amps will stay for a while aswell since they are all i need ( for now)
I guessed that…good to know! so i think i will skip options like the D90. I don´t really care for better measurements of a dac.
Thank you for your advice M0N, always appreciated!
I think i will send it back than and search for a higher end option.
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I was just playing escape from tarkov with my Topping E30 again after sending the allo back. I was wondering why the sound is weird since yesterday. I understood now. The allo was quite a bit better in spacial recreation and imaging i think. It was so much easier to hear the direction of sounds with the allo compared to the E30 - you just notice what you have lost when its gone 
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Yep that’s the easiest way you notice, when you switch back and notice things are missing lol
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Yeah, didnt thought that it made that much of a difference… im exited to hear the next stage of dacs than!
You might be able to get a Soekris 1321 used (discontinued) soon to be replaced by the 1221 (…which might be even less expensive actually? No info for now).
Im always searching for something Soekris and affordable, but i have literally seen one 1541 for sale in germany/ europe in months. I dont search head-fi, maybe they sell more there. I want to buy inside europe, US might be easier to find…
maybe there will be something up sometime, i will see
I’m going to share a candid picture I took in my dimly lit bedroom tonight with my new bed partners. Gentler viewers should look away.
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This is probably a dumb question (and yes, there actually are dumb questions), but if I’m using an upsampling feature in Roon, is there any reason or benefit to bypassing the oversampling in the Revolution?
Or should I turn both off?