ALLO USBridge Signature

[Aprobin]

Am I reading the website correctly, the usbridge signature player with aluminium case is only $10 more than the usbridge signature without case ($249 vs $239)?

 

I was an early adopter and received my Usbridge signature + Shanti earlier this week, and it’s working fine and performing brilliantly but I’m wondering how much I’m going to have to pay for a case now they are available. Hope I’m not going to be too financially disadvantaged for the sake of waiting a week.

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Hi @allo.com how about as a gesture of goodwill you allow early adopters, like myself, who ordered a usbridge signature before a case was available, the opportunity to order a case for the difference in cost between a usbridge signature and a usbridge signature player (I.e. $10 plus shipping or whatever the equivalent happens to be in euroland)?

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4 hours ago, Judelow said:

Thanks for your answer.

One more (probably stupid, I have not searched), it works with Roon right?

I’m using Ropieee on mine it works absolutely fine

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I was sufficiently pleased with my USBridge Signature that I ordered a 2nd to use with a Digione Signature in another system. My 2nd USBridge Sig has arrived, I’ve attached the Digione Sig to it and powered it up using a Shanti power supply.

 

I initially connected the Shanti 3A output to the USB-C on the USBridge and the the other output from the Shanti to the clean 5v connector on the Digione Sig. When powered up, the green LED on the Digione Sig board didn’t light and I couldn’t find the device in Roon (I’m using Ropieee on the USBridge) despite a couple of reboots of the USBridge and a reboot of Roon Core.

 

So, I unplugged the 5v supply to the USBridge and plugged it into the 5v dirty supply connection on the Digione Sig board. Now the Digione LED comes on, everything boots up ok, the device shows up in Roon and all is working fine. However, when I come to put the assembly into the case for the USBridge, how is the power arrangement going to work when I’ll need to power the USBridge itself from the USBridge’s own 5v connector, through the hole in the end panel of the case, instead of powering it via the Digione Signature?

 

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1 minute ago, allo.com said:

Hi

 

 when did you buy the Digione Sig ? A while back we used a second diode , I can send you some pics , you need to bypass it

Hi, it was quite a while ago, probably more than 12 months. Let me PM you my e-mail address and I’ll take a look and see what’s involved

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On 10/23/2019 at 3:46 PM, allo.com said:

Yeap at that time we had a second diode on the Digione. We removed after since it served no real purpose .

 

  If you wire the input to output (short) you can power from both RPI or "Dirty Side"

I've shorted across the diode on the Digione Signature middle board and everything is working fine now with the USBridge powered directly via it’s USB-C connector. Thank you.

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9 hours ago, suzywong said:

Hi Aprobin (& Allo)

 

I have the same problem. Did you get the pics from Allo?

 

Yes, I have them and it's resolved the issue. PM me your e-mail address and I'll forward them to you.

 

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5 hours ago, nbpf said:

I am interested in assessing the advantages/disadvantages of using a USBridge Sig instead of .What is your take after having tried the DigiOne Signature on the USBridge Sig? Have you found significant differences in sound quality, usability, etc.? Will you leave your DigiOne Signature on the USBridge Sig or put it back on a RPi? Thanks, nbpf 

I’ll just reply here to say it was a worthwhile upgrade for me and certainly no regrets or desire to go back to using the RPi. I was only expecting a subtle improvement with the very modest DAC I use in this particular system but was genuinely surprised at the degree of improvement I heard. For me, what was immediately apparent was the vibrancy and tonality of instruments and voices which seemed to just “pop” against an inky black background, which all sounds a bit cliche’d but that's what immediately sprung to mind, plus soundstage appeared less congested as sounds became more clearly defined in their own space.

 

in terms of degree of improvement, I thought when I upgraded from two stock 5v power supplies to a Shanti, the degree of improvement was like going from Digione to Digione Signature (perhaps Shanti might even have been slightly bigger than that), going from RPi to USBridgeSig was about the same again.

 

This is all using a.Schiit Audio Modi Multibit DAC ($249/£275). It’s just ridiculous the level of performance I’m seeing from this DAC just by making improvements to the digital source. Just when I thought I was getting everything it had to give, it just got better!

 

in my other system I’m using the USB output from a USBridge Signature into a Schiit Bifrost 2 DAC (the one with the new in house developed Unison USB input). In that system, when I compared it, using USB from the USBridgeSig was better than SPDIF from my RPi hosted Digione Signature. Now I’ve re-hosted that DigioneSig into it’s own USBridge I’ll do the shootout again and see how I feel. I’m hoping the USB chain is still better, otherwise I’ll only end up having to buy another Digione Signature to put in that USBridge as well!

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8 hours ago, matthias said:

Please share your impressions about Unison vs. SPDIF with the Allo devices.

 

It’s close. Very close.

 

More listening to do ...

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Ok, it’s done.

 

These are nuances, slight shades one way or the other. USB from the USBridgeSig sounds rich and robust, SPDIF from USBridgeSigDigioneSig sounds clearer, sharper, more incisive. Just preferences one way or the other at this point and probably downstream amps and transducers will likely impact the verdict on this one one way or the other. I’m feeding the Bifrost 2’s balanced outputs into a Schiit Mjolnir 2 balanced headphone amp, which in itself is a bit dark and chunky in comparison with the Lyr 3 in my other system which has that clean, clear, incisive character. SPDIF into the Bifrost 2 might be a bit much if the Lyr 3 rather than the Mjolnir 2 was in place for this comparison.

 

However, what swings it in favour of SPDIF for me is that I’m finding it just that bit more gripping, engaging and musical. One of the tracks that I used in the comparison sounded great on the USB input, but gave me goosebumps second time through on SPDIF.

 

Will I buy another Digione Signature? Probably ... sooner or later, but will just do a couple more comparisons tomorrow from fresh again.

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@Tintinabulum I’m using Ropieee here. For the USBridge with the Digione Sig installed, USB is disabled in the general configurations page and Allo Digione selected as the HAT.

 

If you are not using the Allo case, you can plug in both power supplies into the Digione Signature as before, or plug the dirty supply into the USB-C connector of the USBridge Signature if that’s easier. If you read back through the thread you’ll see that a couple of us have older Digione Signature boards that won’t work when powered from the USBridge, in which case there is a simple mod needed to the middle board 

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20 minutes ago, matthias said:

 

Interesting,

so Unison does not seem to be the last word for USB or the output of the DS is superior to the output of the UBS?

For me, SPDIF still has the edge, but as I say, it’s close. It just ticks my boxes, somebody else might tip the other way in this comparison. I think Unison USB is a big step forward and for most users it will be better than typical SPDIF sources. I think this is a bit trickier to call, extraordinarily good USB vs extraordinarily good SPDIF.

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49 minutes ago, matthias said:

so Unison does not seem to be the last word for USB or the output of the DS is superior to the output of the UBS?

some further thoughts about this ... Unison USB in it’s current form for sure won’t be Schiit’s last word for USB, hence the decision to make the Bifrost 2’s USB input module modular and upgradeable. And will we see a clean-powered USB HAT for the USBridgeSig from Allo in the future? I don’t think the USBridgeSig is the last word either. Always room for improvement. I think SPDIF and USB will continue to play cat and mouse for some time to come

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52 minutes ago, zacho said:

what case options does one have if not for the allo aluminium case. the extra umbilical cord connecting the ubs to the digisig irks me after making the effort of getting USB C connectors to terminate diy DC cables. 

Here’s a suggestion,

 

With the rear end plate removed from the case, file a notch in the top edge with a round file, with the end plate fitted, plug your existing USB-C terminated clean supply cable directly into the Digione signature and dress the cable through the notch, then fit the lid.

 

Maybe not the prettiest solution but it’s the rear panel so you’re unlikely to be looking at it much. If you ever need to transport the power supply and USBridge it’s easy enough to remove the lid and unplug the cable.

 

I’ll probably terminate the clean supply cable with a USB-C connector and do something like that myself when I get a bit of time.

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Anyone tried two Shantis with a USBridgeSig+DigioneSig, one for the clean supply, one for the dirty supply? 😃