Allo Sparky USBridge

[ambre]

11 hours ago, volpone said:

 

ALLO (Johan i think) had technical explanations about USBridge native Ethernet port  limitation,  but i'm unable to retrieve his post.

@ALLOaudio  ?

 

this was posted by Allo in december

 Ethernet to USB dongle required and provided ? What about SQ differences with the dongle ? Ethernet to USB dongle  will allow more bandwidth .  Native ethernet on USBridge works at about 60Mbs. Depending on DSD rates , its possible to be close the the maximum and have packets drop and other errors that will affect the sound reproduction.
By using a Ethernet to USB dongle , we achieved 600 Mbs of transfer (usb 3 from Sparky) or 260 Mbs on USB 2.0 (Sparky) . Thats more than enough for anything that you might need.

 

Regards Andreas

[volpone]

Thank you @ambre.

ALLO is aware ...

See also: 

and also this one:

and ... 

 

[Lobbster]

13 hours ago, tboooe said:

After 22 seconds, the next song will play, then after 22 second it stops, and the cycle continues for all the songs in the playlist.  If I only choose 1 song to play, after 22 seconds it stops.  Roon shows an error that the song is taking too long to load which is odd since I've never had any issues like this using HQP.  I will post this question at the Roon forum so as not to clutter this thread.

This makes me think network Flow Control (STP/RSTP). It sounds like your main switch/router is interpretting the traffic as a problem and trying to "manage" it. Does it drop for everything or only Roon/Tidal ?

 

Roon/Tidal can blast a lot of data thru your network.

[tboooe]

9 minutes ago, Lobbster said:

 Does it drop for everything or only Roon/Tidal ?

Drops for everything. It doesn't bother me since I don't use Roon for conversion.  I use HQP which has no issues.

[tboooe]

58 minutes ago, volpone said:

Thank you @ambre.

ALLO is aware ...

See also: 

and also this one:

and ... 

 

What's frustrating is that Roon playing DSD512 seems to work.  The real max throughput of the USBridge is 60mbps which means it should be able to handle 45mbps which is DSD512.

[ambre]

27 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Drops for everything. It doesn't bother me since I don't use Roon for conversion.  I use HQP which has no issues.

Hi tboooe,

HQ-player played from Roon or as stand-alone?

[tboooe]

26 minutes ago, ambre said:

Hi tboooe,

HQ-player played from Roon or as stand-alone?

HQP played from Roon.  Never had a problem.  My wireless is AC so I know network speed is not an issue.  When I play from Roon to my other endpoints like Sonos I also don't have an issue so this is most likely a USBridge problem.

[Allander]

@tboooe 

The  poly-sinc-xtr-mp filter was no issue over here. I went through all the -2’s filters and no glitches or performance issues. No issue at a friends place with the Usbridge and those filters either. 

Both using data base and tidal. 

I will try and track down some higher Rez Dsd and see if that creates an issue. 

[ambre]

2 minutes ago, tboooe said:

HQP played from Roon.  Never had a problem.  My wireless is AC so I know network speed is not an issue.  When I play from Roon to my other endpoints like Sonos I also don't have an issue so this is most likely a USBridge problem.

And as stand-alone without Roon Core?  What kind of filters do you use within HQ-player and delay in ms? 

[piripiri82]

12 minutes ago, tboooe said:

HQP played from Roon.  Never had a problem.  My wireless is AC so I know network speed is not an issue.  When I play from Roon to my other endpoints like Sonos I also don't have an issue so this is most likely a USBridge problem.

Greater speed is not a guarantee of a stable connection. After having my Sparky/USBridge working well with an older B/G/N router, because of other issues in the house we decided to upgrade to a more modern router. This router certainly had a better reception and faster speeds but it also dropped packets like nobody's business.

If you must run your USBridge from WiFi you could try what I did. Split your network between your faster 5ghz and slower 2.4ghz and use the slower, longer range connection.

This may or may not work for you but it worked well for me.

[Allander]

33 minutes ago, tboooe said:

HQP played from Roon.  Never had a problem.  My wireless is AC so I know network speed is not an issue.  When I play from Roon to my other endpoints like Sonos I also don't have an issue so this is most likely a USBridge problem.

I must have missed something along the way. Wirelessly? Or have I misinterpreted?

 

Is anyone doing this successfully upsampling to Dsd 512 using HQP/ROON and streaming it wirelessly to Usbridge? 

 

Using an Aries Mini in a second system I have successfully done dsd 256 through Roon but that’s a long way off. 

 

In my system, If possible,  it would eliminate the use of two Fmc’s, 1 Lps an Lps1 if not 2 of each depending on weather an ISO Regen is necessary at that point. Not to mention the associated  obvious cables in use. 

[tboooe]

50 minutes ago, Allander said:

I must have missed something along the way. Wirelessly? Or have I misinterpreted?

 

Is anyone doing this successfully upsampling to Dsd 512 using HQP/ROON and streaming it wirelessly to Usbridge? 

 

Using an Aries Mini in a second system I have successfully done dsd 256 through Roon but that’s a long way off. 

 

In my system, If possible,  it would eliminate the use of two Fmc’s, 1 Lps an Lps1 if not 2 of each depending on weather an ISO Regen is necessary at that point. Not to mention the associated  obvious cables in use. 

Yes, my music is stored upstairs on my NAS.  I have a Dlink DAP-1650 wireless AC bridge.  My HQP/Roon pc is downstairs and is wired to the bridge via cat6 cable.  My NAA (pc, USBridge, etc) is connected directly to the HQP/Roon pc.  I have tried connecting the NAA directly to the wireless bridge and a Netgear switch and the results are the same, dropouts and stutters.

 

I have a USB3-Wireless N adapter that I can try on the USBridge...I will report back.  

 

BTW, I also tried playing a music file stored on a USB stick attached to my HQP/Roon pc and the results are the same so this rules out issues with receiving the music wirelessly.

[tboooe]

 

1 hour ago, Allander said:

@tboooe 

The  poly-sinc-xtr-mp filter was no issue over here. I went through all the -2’s filters and no glitches or performance issues. No issue at a friends place with the Usbridge and those filters either. 

Both using data base and tidal. 

I will try and track down some higher Rez Dsd and see if that creates an issue. 

Thank you for looking into this.  The only other variable i can think of is my network cards.  I have dual fiber nic installed that is wired to my wireless bridge.  I use the builtin mobo copper ethernet port to connect the USBridge.  I cannot use the second the fiber port because the FMC I have is gigabit only.  I was thinking about getting a 100/1000 FMC to see if using the same nic would help.

 

1 hour ago, ambre said:

And as stand-alone without Roon Core?  What kind of filters do you use within HQ-player and delay in ms? 

No I always use Roon core.  However, i did try using HQP to play music directly from a USB stick with the same results.

 

1 hour ago, piripiri82 said:

Greater speed is not a guarantee of a stable connection. After having my Sparky/USBridge working well with an older B/G/N router, because of other issues in the house we decided to upgrade to a more modern router. This router certainly had a better reception and faster speeds but it also dropped packets like nobody's business.

If you must run your USBridge from WiFi you could try what I did. Split your network between your faster 5ghz and slower 2.4ghz and use the slower, longer range connection.

This may or may not work for you but it worked well for me.

I do exactly what you recommended and split my network.  The only device on the 5ghz channel is my HQP pc.  Using a Windows based PC as NAA I've never had issues playing DSD512 files.  The only change in my system is the addition of the USBridge.  Both HQP and Roon seems to have issues playing DSD512 through the USBridge only.  All other endpoints work fine.

[jhwalker]

1 hour ago, Allander said:

I must have missed something along the way. Wirelessly? Or have I misinterpreted?

 

Is anyone doing this successfully upsampling to Dsd 512 using HQP/ROON and streaming it wirelessly to Usbridge? 

 

Using an Aries Mini in a second system I have successfully done dsd 256 through Roon but that’s a long way off. 

 

In my system, If possible,  it would eliminate the use of two Fmc’s, 1 Lps an Lps1 if not 2 of each depending on weather an ISO Regen is necessary at that point. Not to mention the associated  obvious cables in use. 

 

Just a quick comment - I have struggled with HQP for some time, trying to stream DSD512 across my wireless network.  I just get a second of music, couple seconds of silence, or continuous "stuttering" - unusable.

 

I thought all along it was something to do with the network; i.e., not enough bandwidth across the wireless connection, not a "stable" enough connection, etc.

 

On a whim, I decided to try DSD512 via Roon, IOW, bypassing HQP+NAA and doing the upsampling with Roon and streaming via RAAT from the same source computer.

 

Voila - perfectly stable streaming, no dropouts whatsoever, plays all day and sounds great.

 

Conclusion?  It's not the network, at least in my situation - my MacMini simply doesn't have whatever it takes to run HQP smoothly (even though it shows plenty of remaining capacity via Activity Monitor) but it's just fine with Roon.

 

I just share this to make sure you don't focus solely on the network side of things - a 5GHz wireless connection is plenty to stream DSD512.

[tboooe]

6 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

 

Conclusion?  It's not the network, at least in my situation - my MacMini simply doesn't have whatever it takes to run HQP smoothly (even though it shows plenty of remaining capacity via Activity Monitor) but it's just fine with Roon.

 

I've noticed that with HQP, once the cpu usage gets above 50% issues occur.  Seems odd since like you mentioned it looks like there is plenty of cpu horsepower left.  A few of us have noticed there an inverse relationship between cpu usage and send rate using HQP.  As the cpu usage increases, the send rate of the music stream decreases which I think causes dropouts and stuttering.  I don't know why this occurs.

[jhwalker]

37 minutes ago, tboooe said:

I've noticed that with HQP, once the cpu usage gets above 50% issues occur.  Seems odd since like you mentioned it looks like there is plenty of cpu horsepower left.  A few of us have noticed there an inverse relationship between cpu usage and send rate using HQP.  As the cpu usage increases, the send rate of the music stream decreases which I think causes dropouts and stuttering.  I don't know why this occurs.

 

Just a quick test, Roon vs. HQP, using my "favorite" settings for each:

 

Roon

Smooth, Linear phase, 7th order (CLANS)

 

Network 6-7 MB / sec, very steady

CPU utilization 109%, rock steady

Only using CPUs 1 and 3 (2 and 4 are idle)

 

RESULT:  Perfect playback

 

HQPlayer DSD512

Poly-sinc-xtr-2s, AMSDM7 512+fs, Multicore DSP, Auto rate family

 

Network 6-7 MB / sec, very steady

CPU 225-260%, variable

CPUs 1 and 3 running at about 70%, CPUs 2 and 4 running at about 50-60%

 

RESULT:  Continuous stuttering

 

HQPlayer DSD256

Similar settings (only changed the modulator to DSD7 256+fs)

 

Network 4-4.5 MB / sec, pretty steady

CPU 200-210%, pretty steady

CPUs 1 and 3 running about 65%, 2 and 4 about 40%

 

RESULT:  Perfect playback

 

 

[volpone]

28 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

Just a quick test, Roon vs. HQP, using my "favorite" settings for each

 

Very interesting @jhwalker.

What is your server CPU setup ?

Seems HQPlayer is eating twice CPU ressources as ROON isn't it ?  (with your particular filter/modulator settings)

CPU stats are "average", in my understanding if one CPU Core is 100% used, even very briefly,  stuttering risks.

[jhwalker]

1 hour ago, volpone said:

 

Very interesting @jhwalker.

What is your server CPU setup ?

Seems HQPlayer is eating twice CPU ressources as ROON isn't it ?  (with your particular filter/modulator settings)

CPU stats are "average", in my understanding if one CPU Core is 100% used, even very briefly,  stuttering risks.

 

It's just a loaded late 2014 Mac Mini - 3GHz i7, 16GB RAM, SSD hard drive.  I know there are more powerful servers available, but I really like the macOS and associated accoutrements  so our house is all Mac.

 

re: filter / modulator settings - I haven't found a single one that plays smoothly with my hardware for DSD512.  Whereas any of the Roon options plays just fine.

 

I have a new DAC / headphone amp coming in tomorrow (Questyle CMA400i) so probably won't matter any more - it only goes to DSD256

 

[volpone]

37 minutes ago, jhwalker said:

I have a new DAC / headphone amp coming in tomorrow (Questyle CMA400i) so probably won't matter any more - it only goes to DSD256

 

It's a pity ... Best USBridge / NAA / DSD512 test, to really know where is the bottleneck, would be to use upstream a very powerful server (Ryzen or I8). 

 

[tboooe]

Ok more testing to try and get my system to play DSD512 through the USBridge  Whenever I start a song it will play for 15 seconds before drop outs occur.  This behavior is very consistent and repeatable.  I'm not sure what it means though. Perhaps some buffer is getting filled up too fast?

[tboooe]

For anyone who is successfully playing DSD512 through the USBridge without the USab-gigabit adapter, may I ask what version of Dietpi you are on?

[tboooe]

BINGO!!!  DSD512 playing through the USBridge!  The issue was somehow related to the network bridge I created so that I could connect my NAA directly to my HQP pc.  Once I deleted the network bridge and connected the USBridge to the switch instead DSD512 plays just fine.  Whats odd, is that before deleting the network bridge, I did try having the USBridge wired to the switch but still had dropouts.  Even more odd is that my windows based NAA pc worked fine with the network bridge and direct connection to the HQP pc.

 

Now I need to figure out if this configuration sounds better than a direct connection to the HQP pc.  In previous tests I preferred the direct connection.  

 

Here was my previous network setup

Wireless AC bridge >> Cat 6a >> HQP PC >> Cat6a >> NAA

 

Here is the new network setup

Wireless AC bridge >> Cat 6a >> switch >> Cat 6a x2 >> HQP PC & NAA

 

Thanks to all that tried to help me through this process.

[antonellocaroli]

I have these messages in the dmesg

23.506193] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   23.506887] set_mac_according_aneg
[   23.506895] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   23.507237] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   23.507919] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   23.507933] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   23.508280] link established.
[   23.508289] ethernet link state:linked
               
[   23.508332] IPv6: ADDRCONF(NETDEV_CHANGE): eth0: link becomes ready
[   23.508506] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   24.405510] ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   39.105764] exit
[   39.106112] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   39.106794] set_mac_according_aneg
[   39.106800] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   39.107141] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   39.107812] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   39.107816] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   39.108154] link established.
[   39.860858] read phy reg-4
[   39.861205] read phy reg-0
[   39.861547] read phy reg-5
[   39.862542] nf_conntrack: automatic helper assignment is deprecated and it will be removed soon. Use the iptables CT target to attach helpers instead.
[   39.865618] read phy reg-4
[   39.865973] read phy reg-0
[   39.866314] read phy reg-5
[   42.911195] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   42.911489] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   43.613363] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   43.613436] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   43.613570] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   43.613627] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   39.108158] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   52.010998] exit
[   52.011355] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   52.012046] set_mac_according_aneg
[   52.012056] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   52.012403] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   52.013087] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   52.013096] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   52.013445] link established.
[   53.377382] ec_netdev_set_multicast_list 2741 
[   52.013463] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   70.305769] exit
[   70.306117] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   70.306799] set_mac_according_aneg
[   70.306804] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   70.307146] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   70.307817] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   70.307821] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   70.308159] link established.
[   70.308164] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   78.105823] exit
[   78.106171] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   78.106853] set_mac_according_aneg
[   78.106858] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   78.107200] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   78.107870] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   78.107875] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   78.108213] link established.
[   78.585125] haven't setup linkage
[   78.845125] haven't setup linkage
[   78.108218] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   80.205759] exit
[   80.206108] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   80.206790] set_mac_according_aneg
[   80.206796] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   80.207137] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   80.207808] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   80.207812] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   80.208150] link established.
[   80.838968] iso_packets:0, bInterval:1, urb_interval:1, reg_con:0x4
[   80.839047] iso_packets:0, bInterval:4, urb_interval:8, reg_con:0x4
[   92.948305] read phy reg-4
[   92.948661] read phy reg-0
[   92.949010] read phy reg-5
[   80.208155] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[   98.505786] exit
[   98.506135] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[   98.506817] set_mac_according_aneg
[   98.506822] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[   98.507164] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   98.507834] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[   98.507839] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[   98.508177] link established.
[   98.508182] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[  101.805775] exit
[  101.806124] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[  101.806811] set_mac_according_aneg
[  101.806817] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[  101.807158] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  101.807828] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  101.807833] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[  101.808171] link established.
[  101.808175] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[  107.205768] exit
[  107.206116] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[  107.206803] set_mac_according_aneg
[  107.206809] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[  107.207150] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  107.207820] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  107.207825] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[  107.208163] link established.
[  107.208167] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[  115.605769] exit
[  115.606121] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[  115.606804] set_mac_according_aneg
[  115.606809] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[  115.607150] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  115.607820] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  115.607825] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[  115.608163] link established.
[  115.608167] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[  132.705769] exit
[  132.706117] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[  132.706800] set_mac_according_aneg
[  132.706805] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[  132.707146] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  132.707817] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  132.707821] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[  132.708159] link established.
[  132.708164] ethernet link state:linked
               ethernet link state:disconnected
               
[  169.605773] exit
[  169.606126] ecp->autoneg:1
               autoneg -> speed:100, duplex:full, pause: non-supported
               
[  169.606809] set_mac_according_aneg
[  169.606814] opmode regs old value - 0x2202
[  169.607155] old MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  169.607825] new MII_BMCR: 0x3100
[  169.607830] hw_regs->er_opmode:0x2202
[  169.608168] link established.

I use dietpi, and I often interrupt even at 384Mhz

[simis307]

Hi,

 

I have unpacked a new USBridge (w/ Volumio) and tried to get it running with my KEF X300AW. The USBridge booted and setup went smoothly. The KEFs are recognized and I can choose them in the GUI. However, there is no sound, only some cracks and pops.

 

I tried editing the file /boot/uenv.txt as suggested here and in Volumio forums by adding "aotg.aotg1_speed=1"

 

uenv.txt:

Quote

uenvcmd=setenv os_type linux;
bootargs=earlyprintk clk_ignore_unused selinux=0 scandelay console=ttyS3,115200n8 console=tty0 loglevel=0 real_rootflag=rw root=/dev/mmcblk0p2 rootwait imgpart=/dev/mmcblk0p2 imgfile=/volumio_current.sqsh
aotg.aotg1_speed=1

 

Unfortunately this didn't solve the issue. Did I miss a step?

 

Thanks.

[ALLOsupport]

3 hours ago, simis307 said:

Hi,

 

I have unpacked a new USBridge (w/ Volumio) and tried to get it running with my KEF X300AW. The USBridge booted and setup went smoothly. The KEFs are recognized and I can choose them in the GUI. However, there is no sound, only some cracks and pops.

 

I tried editing the file /boot/uenv.txt as suggested here and in Volumio forums by adding "aotg.aotg1_speed=1"

 

uenv.txt:

 

Unfortunately this didn't solve the issue. Did I miss a step?

 

Thanks.

check the volumio version on settings ->system

volumio 2.348 onwards only this paramter settings will work.

volumio web GUI settings->system->check updates

this GUI system update was not working , now its solved.