ALLO USBridge Signature

[matthias]

Hi,

 

the new USBridge Signature is launched:

 

https://allo.com/sparky/usbridge-signature-pcb.html

 

Matt

[matthias]

4 hours ago, zacho said:

Will there be any advantages to using this compared to the RPI when attaching a DigiOne Sig? (SQ wise)

 

IIRC, cdsgames on diyaudio mentioned the improvement with the new USBridge Sig will be very small in this case.

 

Matt

[matthias]

33 minutes ago, Tintinabulum said:

Not clear about what is proposed above, you wouldn’t use

them together ? Is this then a comparison USB vs SPDIF? Any out in the wild yet?

 

I mean the main purpose of the new USBridge Sig is to offer an optimised USB output. The second purpose is to offer a platform for all devices which need a RPi as a base. The SQ advantage of the Digione Sig is mostly caused by the board itself and not by the base like RPi or USBridge Sig.

 

Matt

[matthias]

Guys, here the original answer of cdsgames on diyaudio:

 

Usbridge is optimized for USB output
I2s bus (connecting to your Digione) shows a marginal improvement(noise reduction). (thats what our test data show)
How will that translate in sound quality ? 
By connecting your Digione/Digione Sig to USBridge Sig , I would say that you will get a marginal improvement . (based on test data available to me)
Also I am attaching test data of latest version of USBridge Sig (mass production) PCB vs last revision (3 months old). 350uV of noise reduction .It is the most extreme case the rest of rails only lost 75uV of noise
Every rail is under 450uV (thats almost the limit of our CRO)
We used better common mode chokes with dampening . Test data shows a further reduction in noise. 
Folks ,we are at the floor of every machine that we have.
I am very proud of what USBridge Sig/ Audiophile SBC has achieved .

 

Matt

 

[matthias]

Looking forward to the first listening impressions and comparisons to the Sparky/USBridge.

 

Matt

[matthias]

1 hour ago, uniquesnowflake said:

I believe cdsgames stated that improvements in measurement is marginal, but he did not comment on subjective SQ.

 

 

How will that translate in sound quality ? 
By connecting your Digione/Digione Sig to USBridge Sig , I would say that you will get a marginal improvement . (based on test data available to me)

 

I had the Impression that because the question was about SQ the answer of cdsgames was referring to SQ as well.

 

Matt

 

[matthias]

1 minute ago, zacho said:

But that was still based on test data, not on actual listening. Guess we'll have to wait till consumers give real world feedback

 

Yes, based on test data he would think that there might be a marginal improvement in SQ as well.

That was my Interpretation of the post.

 

Matt

[matthias]

@allo.com

Did Allo perform listening comparisons between the old USBridge and the new Signature?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

5 hours ago, clipper said:

I have the new USBridge Signature and the old USBridge.  

In my opinion, the USBridge Signature is significantly better in the sound quality Department.

Also, it sounds great with Allo's Shanti power supply.

 

Which OS do you have for the SIG?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:53 AM, chauphuong said:

No user review yet?

 

Gregs review:

 

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendor-s-bazaar/337859-shanti-dual-lps-5v-3a-5v-1-5a-60.html#post5929601

 

Matt

[matthias]

On ‎10‎/‎9‎/‎2019 at 6:53 AM, chauphuong said:

No user review yet?

 

weavers review:

 

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/vendor-s-bazaar/337859-shanti-dual-lps-5v-3a-5v-1-5a-64.html#post5934007

 

Matt

[matthias]

22 minutes ago, matthias said:

double post

 

[matthias]

23 hours ago, clipper said:

My preferred OS is GentooPlayer.  That's what sounds best (to me) with a Digione Signature.  It has, among other things, a great ramdisk mode.

See GentooPlayer Link if interested (and use a browser that will translate the page unless Italian is your language).

I know that the author, antonellocaroli, is working to get everything working well with the USBridge Signature.

 

As MoOde has also Sqeezelite renderer did you compare MoOde and GentooPlayer?

Thanks

 

Matt

[matthias]

15 minutes ago, nbpf said:

But I do not understand why they have decided not have WiFi on board in the USBridge Sig. 

 

AFAIK, with on board WiFi you can not use an aluminum case without external antennae. 

External antennae would increase price and complexity.

 

I have plans to pick up the WiFi signal with a MBP/Audirvana and stream via a short ethernet cable to the SIG.

 

Matt

[matthias]

1 hour ago, Koomy said:

I have the original Sparky/USBridge and use this WiFi Dongle.

Will it work with the USBridge Sig?

 

Thanks

 

 

 

Maybe it works but it is IEEE 802.11N only.

I would buy a Comfast CF-912AC. This one was tested by MoOde Audio with the SIG.

 

Matt

[matthias]

Some impressions posted today:

 

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/329911-getting-allo-coms-katana-dac-40.html#post5945670

 

Matt

[matthias]

16 hours ago, biosailor said:

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!

 

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

 

 

[matthias]

7 hours ago, biosailor said:

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.

 

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

 

 

[matthias]

32 minutes ago, biosailor said:

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.

 

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

 

Matt

[matthias]

18 minutes ago, biosailor said:

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

 The set-up guide is here:

 

https://github.com/moode-player/moode/blob/master/www/setup.txt

 

Otherwise you can contact Tim Curtis here:

 

https://www.diyaudio.com/forums/pc-based/271811-moode-audio-player-raspberry-pi-1496.html?s=114876cea8c0efe880df97e572b57b6b

 

or via his direct email: tim at moodeaudio dot org
 

 

Matt

[matthias]

1 minute ago, biosailor said:

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.

 

IMO, the best is to go via his direct email.

ATB

 

Matt

[matthias]

8 hours ago, odonnell said:

Can you point to instructions for finding and installing the driver? On my Lenovo laptop running Ubuntu, the relevant drivers appear to come from a linux-modules-extra-* package with lots of irrelevant ones. None of them is called 8192eu, but my system recognizes the rtl8192eu dongle, so perhaps it is a more generic driver?

 

 My advice would be to change to Moode Audio.

Moode has the driver for Comfast 802.11AC WiFi dongle for USBridge Sig.

 

Matt

[matthias]

59 minutes ago, biosailor said:

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!

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

 

Matt

[matthias]

3 hours ago, biosailor said:

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.

 

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

[matthias]

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

No problem as such.

But from an engineering point of view , your SSD is a load. In fact at a minimum of 3W (rather low) your SSD will introduce noise in the USB hub. Not only on the DATA lines (rx tx) but also on the power lines (if you feed it from USB)

Now on Digi Sig , there is a separation of power and Gnd (galvanic isolation), so its better (less influence)

Usbridge Sig (USB side) is NOT the same. No galvanic separation . Use a noisy device on USB ports and it WILL bleed

 

With the same logic the use of a WiFi dongle will also not be recommended?

It is a noisy device as well.

Thanks

 

Matt