ALLO USBridge Signature

[biosailor]

Just received the new Allo USBridge Signature today. I tried to get it to work, unfortunately in vain. I flashed the latest Ropieee XL (that seems to support USBridge Signature) onto a micro SD card, but after starting up the USBridge Signature, it does not appear in my network, and hence, Audirvana will not see the device.

When I use the SD card supplied with the USBridge that runs DietPi, the USBridge is visible in my network, but when connected via USB to my Devialet, I hear no sound from my speakers. Needless to say that the Raspi 4 works flawlessly with Audirvana having the latest Ropieee XL version installed.

Bit of a shambles!

Any input is appreciated! Thanks!

[biosailor]

Sorry, sorry, sorry for my previous post. My mistake, accidentally I flashed Ropieee and not RopieeXL onto the micro SD card. After re-inserting the proper card, all was fine and I am now listening to Audirvana via the USBridge signature connected to the Shanti LPS. Give me a bit time and I get back with my listening impressions.

[biosailor]

After just a bit of listening, I like what I am hearing! The first thing that was immediately evident was the level of detail I could hear. Listening to the Aurender N100H with its own app (Conductor), I was always under the impression the musi was a bit muddled, I was missing the details present in the music. 
This changed when I switched to the Raspi 4 and streaming through Roon. Much more detailed than the Aurender. However, the Raspi 4 sounded a bit harsh with Roon. It improved a bit when I fed the Raspi with the Shanti LPS. The Raspi became quieter, but it still sounded a tad harsh.

Then came the upgrade of my Mac Mini 2018 to Catalina! No functioning Roon any more! So I switched to Audirvana 3.5 and to my surprise, my system sounded more pleasant, albeit with a bit loss of detail. Nevertheless, I preferred Audirvana over Roon due to its ,milder‘ sound characteristics. Yet, there was a tiny bit of treble glare and a bit of ringing remaining.

And now the USBridge Signature: the loss in detail when going from Roon to Audirvana is totally compensated if even improved. What is truly wonderful is the total lack of the slight ringing that was persistent with the Raspi 4. The sound is extremely clean, but not over-detailed into clinical sounding. And TOTALLY quiet! Fascinating!

I need to listen more into the bass region. My first impression is that the bass is bit drier, more focused and better discernable in the entire sound ‚gemisch‘. In a ‚brightish‘ system as mine (Devialet Expert 120/ ATC SCM19 speakers) these improvements count a lot!

 

One thing I must say: Allo‘s service is outstanding, period! For both, the Shanti and the USBridge Signature, ordering and delivery went smoothly and extremely quickly: after mailing off the order, two days later I received the items. Outstanding service!

 

To be followed with more impressions...

[biosailor]

I just tried Roon with my new USBridge Signature/Shanti LPS! Because my library is small (around 350 FLAC/AIFF files), I copied my music onto the Mac‘s internal SSD (1 TB) to avoid the issues with file permissions on the new Catalina OS.

Went the like a charm, Roon recognizes the Ropieee XL USBridge instantaneously.

While listening yesterday to Ausirvana 3.15, I very much liked the sound (and the newest iPad remote is great), even though I found the sound almost hyper-detailed. With Roon, however, the sound is just right! Perfectly balanced, smooth, full of fine delicate details. I listened totally emerged for hours, after which I said to myself: that‘s it, I don‘t need to go and further!

I also concentrated myself on the Bass. It is particularly good, focussed, so that every pluck of a bass string can be heard. I listened to Jimmy Giuffre‘s ‚The Jimmy Giuffre 3‘. If the bass is not well processed in your system, it‘s an indiscernible rumble in the background. Nothing like this with the USBridge Signature: well defined, dry bass. A joy!

The Aurender N100H has to go, no way I enjoy it as much as my new USBdrige. It‘s darkish, slightly muddled sound is just not good enough. I‘ll try to sell it, and with a bit of luck, I‘ll have one more change in my system: the Harbeth Monitor 30.1! I‘ll have an audition this coming week.

[biosailor]

5 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Thanks for sharing your listening impressions.

 

Interesting that with the USBridge Sig you prefer Roon over Audirvana.

 

Do you think that Ropieee is a better match for Roon and maybe another OS like Moode a better match for Audirvana?

 

I am just curious.

 

Matt

 

 

The difference between Audirvana and Roon isn‘t large. I perceived Roon to be a tad more pleasant. If Audirvana had a tiny bit of edginess, Roon lacked it entirely. As in both sessions, Ropieee XL was used, the, admittedly small, difference I heard must reside in the different algorithms. Roon uses RAAT as the streaming protocol, while Audirvana uses a different one. 
 

I‘m almost convinced that a different OS like Moode, etc. will produce a slightly different SQ. I‘ll try this suggestion out in the next weeks and report back.

[biosailor]

2 hours ago, matthias said:

 

Yes, I am sure the differences are small, so it is a matter of fine-tuning or matching.

 

Audirvana uses UPnP. Searching different forums I found Audirvana and Moode to be a good match.

 

Thank you for trying it and sharing your impressions.

 

Matt

 

 

Yes, you are right, of course. The differences could be due to different transport protocols (UPnP vs RAAT).

 

I'll try Moode and see how it goes with Audirvana. Thanks for the tip!

 

However, based on Roon's vastly better GUI, I might be sticking to Roon for the time being. But  it's always fun to optimise things. While I'm typing, I am downloading Moode.

 

Till soon and thanks!

[biosailor]

2 hours ago, clipper said:

I could never give up Roon (because of the interface), but I prefer the way it sounds when outputting to Squeezelite.  

 

To enable this, go to Roon Settings, Setup, Enable Squeezebox Support = Yes.  In Device Setup (under Advanced), I also set Use Flac Compression to No.

 

Many of the audio OSs have Squeezelite built in.

 

 

 

If I understand correctly, setting 'Enable Squeezebox' in Roon requires a Squeezebox music player, correct? I don't have one, so I can't try.

[biosailor]

25 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

Squeezelite renderer is integrated in Moode, so you can use Moode for Roon via Squeezelite and for Audirvana via UPnP.

 

Matt

Tried moOde, flashed it onto an SSD, inserted it into the USBridge Sig, but couldn't get it to work at all. Is there some walk-through how to do it?

Thanks

[biosailor]

Thanks for your help. I'm afraid, the github link is gobbledegook for my limited raspi knowledge. I shall contact Tim Curtis. Maybe he is patient enough to help me.

[biosailor]

Quick question: I managed to install moOde audio on a Raspberry 4, I can access the moOde player via web interface, start play, but I don't get any sound on my Devialet Expert 120 connected via USB. Would I need a driver to get it to work? Sorry if I'm in the wrong forum!

[biosailor]

2 hours ago, matthias said:

 Just curious, did you get moOde to work now on your USBridge Sig?

 

Matt

Not yet. I am practising with a Raspi 4 first. Once I get it to work, I‘ll tackle the USBridge Sig.

Keep you posted.

[biosailor]

Got moOde working on a Raspi 4. Now I'm trying to set it up for the USBridge Sig.

[biosailor]

Can't get moOde running on my USBridge Sig. I don't know how to mount my library located on my Mac Mini so that moOde can get access to it.

 

Any ideas?

[biosailor]

6 minutes ago, allo.com said:

Hi Biosailor

 

  Tim is very responsive you should ask in the Moode forums.

Will do that!

[biosailor]

Just listening to moOde via my Raspi 4/Shanti. Very much like the sound! It sounds a bit softer than Roon via Ropieee XL and has a bit more flesh, a bit meatier. All the more I‘d love to implement moOde on my USBridge Sig!

 

[biosailor]

Thanks to the moode community, I got the right hint for getting the USBridge Sig to work with moOde: apparently the USBridge has two USB ports that can be either used for connecting a USB SSD. I wrongly thought those two would only be for WiFi dongles. Once the SSD was connected, setup of the USBridge was easy (I learnt a lot yesterday).

Now this is where listening impressions become interesting. Last night, I listened to moOde via my Raspi 4. I very much liked the sound of moOde: smooth, natural, pleasant, and a bit meatier than I was used to Roon via USBridge Sig running Ropieee. 
 

So after getting the right hint from the moOde community, I eagerly set it up, imported my library, and once finished, I started to listen. Immediately, I noticed a difference: the USBridge Sig sounded too lean, a bit aggressive, and too bright. Gone was the natural, pleasant and well rounded sound of last night’s session with the Raspi 4. 

 

Of course, I immediately switched the system back to the Raspi 4, and there it was again, this smooth natural sound I so much liked.

 

Now I have to do a bit more listening to decide what I like better: moOde via Raspi 4 or Roon via the USBridge Sig that sounded great in my previous sessions.

[biosailor]

1 hour ago, matthias said:

 

Can you try to connect the USB SSD to your Mac?

I do not think that you get maximum SQ with connection to RPi4 or USBridge Sig.

Use Roon or Audirvana for management of your library and Moode as UPnP renderer only.

 

Matt

I am working on it. Need to get more infos from the Moode community. But I'll get there!

[biosailor]

Finally managed to set up a remote library on my Mac (see attached file). I had to make adjustments in the 'File Sharing' menu on my Mac.

 

Now, on to having Roon streaming to Moode. But only tomorrow. Now I need to listen to some good music!

[biosailor]

Just streaming from my library on my Mac Mini to moOde. Amazing how much better the sound is when compared to an SSD drive attached directly to the USBridge Sig. 

 

Bravo, Allo, the USBridge Sig is GREAT!

[biosailor]

43 minutes ago, allo.com said:

 Yeap from a technical point of view . your SSD has DC/DC convertors (3.3V to 1.8 digital logic). Our USBridge has NO switching elements . Zero.

 

 We did filter the USB (wifi/BT) ..but once you have noise you can only mitigate..not cure.

 

Clear ?

Sort of clear 😊

[biosailor]

OK, finally got it to work that Roon streams via Squeezelite to moOde (see attached file)!!!

 

I can now use Roon and combine it with moOde. Great!

 

I shall do some critical listening later on.

 

Thanks for everyone's help!

 

Best regards,

 

Paul

[biosailor]

19 minutes ago, matthias said:

 Congrats,

did you get to work Audirvana via UPnP to MoOde as well?

Thanks

 

Matt

 

Will tackle that tomorrow. At least I saw that Audirvana recognised moOde as UPnP, but I couldn't get Audirvana to play. I'm sure it'll work. More tomorrow.

[biosailor]

3 hours ago, matthias said:

 Nice,

I am curious about your impressions:

Roon vs. Audirvana both with moOde and UBS.

 

Matt

Got the problem with Audirvana solved: somehow my remote app was corrupted. I re-installed and it works fine.

 

Just one first short impression combining Roon with moOde: through Squuezelite UPnP one loses a lot of detail! Maybe not the way to go, but I‘ll listen more tomorrow.

 

I am also curious to see how Audirvana pairs with moOde, setting up UPnP with Audirvana is a piece of cake!

 

More to come tomorrow.

[biosailor]

Tried To get Audirvana to UPnP to moOde. Even thhough Audirvana recognizes moOde‘s UPnP, it wouldn‘t start playing tracks! I have to get advice from the moOde community.

 

As pointed out yesterday, Roon via Squeezelite zone is no good. Whatever you gain with the USBridge Sig is lost and the sound becomes less detailed.

 

For the moment, the simplest solution is Ropieee XL on the USBridge Sig. This allows to use either Roon or Audirvana. From the two, I prefer Audirvana. Although the difference between Roon and Audirvana is slight, I find Audirvana to be a tad quieter and a bit better in bass. Also, Audirvana‘s new remote app is more reliable than Roon‘s, at least on my iPad Mini.

[biosailor]

Can someone tell me what the ssh credentials for RopieeeXL are (user name/password)?

 

Thanks!