After using a Raspberry Pi with a
HIFIBERRY DIGI+ PRO SPDIF board and iFi power supply (running Roon) for years to feed decently expensive DACs (e.g. Berkeley, SimAudio, Bricasti, Mojo Audio) I finally tried a streamer upgrade after spending less on my latest DAC than originally planned.
I purchased a Bricasti M5 and using the same Shunyata SPDIF cable heard a much bigger difference in sound quality than I was expecting.
Hind sight I should have upgraded my digital streamer years ago if I had known I would hear that much difference.
The Pi is amazing for the price and a Pi with the Allo Signature (requiring dual power supplies) is likely a step up from what I was using and is still super cheap compared to the M5 which is cheap compared to some other streamers... But, in the context of my system (Sim 740P+Pass 250.8+Spendor D9) and my ears the amount of improvement I heard with the M5 was up there with DAC, preamp, and amp changes I've made over the years. I hear a darker soundstage with much better detail retrieval. It is like I just washed a window between me and the music.
After this experience, I suggest you at least do what I didn't and compare some in your system to see what differences you hear (if any). My initial goal was to find one under $1K but since I want to use SPDIF that was a little trickier than USB only. The Project Stream Box S2 and Sonore UltraRendu were two cheaper units I was considering if switching to USB.
Good Luck...
I purchased a Bricasti M5 and using the same Shunyata SPDIF cable heard a much bigger difference in sound quality than I was expecting.
Hind sight I should have upgraded my digital streamer years ago if I had known I would hear that much difference.
The Pi is amazing for the price and a Pi with the Allo Signature (requiring dual power supplies) is likely a step up from what I was using and is still super cheap compared to the M5 which is cheap compared to some other streamers... But, in the context of my system (Sim 740P+Pass 250.8+Spendor D9) and my ears the amount of improvement I heard with the M5 was up there with DAC, preamp, and amp changes I've made over the years. I hear a darker soundstage with much better detail retrieval. It is like I just washed a window between me and the music.
After this experience, I suggest you at least do what I didn't and compare some in your system to see what differences you hear (if any). My initial goal was to find one under $1K but since I want to use SPDIF that was a little trickier than USB only. The Project Stream Box S2 and Sonore UltraRendu were two cheaper units I was considering if switching to USB.
Good Luck...