ALLO USBridge Signature

[Heckyman]

@gstew

 

That was actually helpful as I was not even aware of these SD card players, neither did I really understand the point of the ER. I totally get it now.

[zackthedog]

With Moode, I've loaded files directly to the eMMC public folder and played them back directly from the OS drive.  I know this isn't supposed to be best practice, but the results are pretty amazing.  I haven't heard the SD card player, though I'd like to at some point.  I wonder how close this comes.  I still use Audirvana with the USBridge/Digione Sig as a renderer because I like the drag-and-drop capability of Audirvana, but of course you can do this with LMS as well.

[Facel]

On 12/6/2019 at 10:19 AM, Facel said:

Playing Issue with DieptPi  on USBridgeSig..

 

The DietPi version can't play correctly Flac Files hosted on an Intel Nuc running Jriver as Media server.

The USBridge is connected to my DAC (Amanero 384 driver) and used as DLNA renderer with GMRender.

 

The problem is still there after installing JRiver on DietPI and playing through JRiver instead of GMRender.

 

When I switch to volumio on The USBridgeSig its plays flawlessly

 

Is allo aware about this problem .??...

 

 

 

I have made further investigations and installed Volumio and Moode Audio for testing DLNA Mode

 

 The issues is with High rez (>96 Khz) files Flac playing through DLNA on a USBridge Signature.
The music stops and starts again , as if there ware not enough flow rate on my gigabyte network ..

 

     1) Volumio (DLNA mode) = Plays flawlessly all Flac Files  (*)

     2) moOde Audio (DLNA Mode) = same problem as DietPi  with High rez flac

 

(*)  There is no problem for playing files, but there is an other slight audio problem.

     When playing I can here from now and then some "little audio scratches" as if I was listenning to a Vinyl!

     I did test with and without linking Shanti Ground to USBridge Sig Ground but it does change anything.

 

[alecm]

On 12/7/2019 at 1:18 PM, allo.com said:

Our clocks are low jitter NDK , that are feed separate LDOs. In addition the clock itself is buffered and feed indepandant power rail LDO.

 

Thanks 

 

What about backward compatibility with pi 2 and pi3? And even more interesting what about pi4 compute modules in the future?  I mean, Ramroot with 4gb ram does good sq improvement on pi4, current pi3+ module seems not able to have ramroot due to a lack of memory. 

[allo.com]

There us no CM4 yet and as such we don't know. It is compatible with CM3 and CM3+

[GaryL83]

Hi All,

Received my USBridge Signiture and Shanti yesterday.

Firstly the Usbridge Sig was nicely preinstalled in the case I bought, which was a nice touch!

I wish to use it for Roon end point only (at this stage). I had it installed with Moode via SD card. I tried to install RoonBridge for ARM v8, however this failed as the architecture was incorrect. I took a look in the properties and this was reported as ARM v7l. I thought that the Signiture was based on the RPI Compute Module 3+ (hence ARM v8).  @allo.com what is going on there? Installed RoonBridge for ARM v7 and this installed.

Initial thoughts, compared to Oppo 203 optical out, both into an Anthem STR preamp. I have not done this blind yet, so might be biased. The sound using the Signiture appeared warmer, deeper and there was more space around the different sounds. This was subtle but I felt (subjectively) it was there. However the USBridge Signiture had added pops and static style noise randomly to the track that usually appeared at least every 30 seconds and to varying degrees. Played around with the settings, and after a quick Google, I found an article on Roon Knowledge Base, saying RPI is well known for this, and not really a hard and fast solution. I updated Moode which failed and needed to re-image the SD card, this didnt help. Setting the CPU to performance (I.e. always 100% power), the problem decreased but was still present.

I swapped to using Ropieee, the pops appear to have disappeared. I would say the sound quality (minus static style pops) was less than that of Moode. However at this point it was 2am and I was getting grumpy, so this may not be doing Ropieee justice, will try again at the weekend and report back. (Note for non IT people Ropieee is lot easier to set up for Roon).

At one point I connected a keyboard with a backlight to the usb marked as wifi. The backlight on the keyboard caused humming in my centre speaker (Note using stereo preamp into 2 channels on 3 channel  amp, the noise appeared on the 3rd channel). Changed the backlight settings on the keyboard, brighter the backlight more noise appeared. I have not connected the Usbridge Sig ground to shanti ground yet but @allo.com shouldnt the clean USB be isolated from noise from the noisy usb ports, I thought that was where the added value over a stock RPI was coming from?

Next and final issue the shanti, after about 3 hours of running I noticed an electrical hum coming from it (sat over 6ft away) in quiet house it was still easily audible at over 15ft away. This was audible during quiet parts of music. I turned it on this morning, and the noise was still there, albeit slightly less, but still more than audible from my listening position. @allo.com is this normal, does it need to break in, or is it faulty? It's set to 230v (I'm in the UK), the noise is coming from inside near (ish) to the power socket. It sounds like an aged florescent tube trying to start.

Thanks,
Best Regards, Gary

[allo.com]

Hello GarryL83

 

 

  if you have some pops/clicks please switch to Moode using kernel 4.14 . That should remove any clicks you hear

 

On the WIFI/BT ports , please do not use anything thats noisy (and yes that means some keyboards)...this is why we marked as wifi/bt. If you have to use them please remove them after usage.

 

  You can use those ports without a problem on wifi/bt dongles .

 

Shanti is a transformer based linear psu. As such , some noise will be made by the bulk transformer . In out test setup , I can only hear the "hum" if I have my ears close to the casing . We also found that it slightly decreases after a few days.

 

 

[Heckyman]

@Gary,

 

I use both Moode  and Roipeee XL (DNLA, AirPlay, Spotify, but not Roon) and Roipeee doesn’t sound worse than Moode.

 

My Shanti hums too but I can only hear it a couple of feet away in a quiet room. It’s not audible from the listening position or during the day when there is ambient noise. The hum did not decrease noticeably during “break in” except perhaps for the first few minutes of use.

[allo.com]

One more observation on Shanti . near AC inlet , you have a fuse (you can see the symbol next to AC inlet) try removing and reinserting the plastic (make sure your Shanti is not AC powerd) , it might be the one making noise .

[Facel]

25 minutes ago, allo.com said:

Hello GarryL83

 

 

  if you have some pops/clicks please switch to Moode using kernel 4.14 . That should remove any clicks you hear

 

 

Does Moode 6.4.0 is using kernel 4.14 ?  (in case of a no answer what should you do in order to have kernel 4.14 ?)

 

[reelben]

Hi Gary use only Ropieee without XL 

I want only a clean os for play roon. 

This I use only roon bridge to my nuc. 

It's plays fantastic 🎶 

My Shanti I have no hum.. Only the first brake in with power on. 

Now it plays a couple of weeks,,.. Than must I  must put my ear on it, before I it hear. 

I never turn the switch off  for my Shanti or usb bridge,, it's only play 🎻🎶 

 

[Audio_Allo]

27 minutes ago, Facel said:

Does Moode 6.4.0 is using kernel 4.14 ?  (in case of a no answer what should you do in order to have kernel 4.14 ?)

 

You can download Mood with 4.14.92 kernel from below link.

 

http://3.230.113.73:9011/Allocom/moode/4.14.92-OS/moode-r531-rpi-41492.img.7z

[GaryL83]

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

if you have some pops/clicks please switch to Moode using kernel 4.14 . That should remove any clicks you hear

Thanks, I'll try downgrading tomorrow and see if this helps? @allo.com any idea why Moode currently thinks it is a ARM v7, should a software reinstall fix this or is it a firmware job?

 

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

 

Shanti is a transformer based linear psu. As such , some noise will be made by the bulk transformer . In out test setup , I can only hear the "hum" if I have my ears close to the casing . We also found that it slightly decreases after a few days.

 

 

 

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

One more observation on Shanti . near AC inlet , you have a fuse (you can see the symbol next to AC inlet) try removing and reinserting the plastic (make sure your Shanti is not AC powerd) , it might be the one making noise .

 

1 hour ago, Heckyman said:

My Shanti hums too but I can only hear it a couple of feet away in a quiet room. It’s not audible from the listening position or during the day when there is ambient noise. The hum did not decrease noticeably during “break in” except perhaps for the first few minutes of use.

 

If I have to put my ear near the case or even 2ft away to hear it in a quite room, that would be more than good enough! I'll try reseating the fuse see if it helps and give it a few days. If it doesn't quieten down, are you happy to replace it after that time, or should I send it back straight away just in case?

 

1 hour ago, reelben said:

Hi Gary use only Ropieee without XL 

I want only a clean os for play roon. 

This I use only roon bridge to my nuc. 

It's plays fantastic 🎶 

My Shanti I have no hum.. Only the first brake in with power on. 

Now it plays a couple of weeks,,.. Than must I  must put my ear on it, before I it hear. 

I never turn the switch off  for my Shanti or usb bridge,, it's only play 🎻🎶 

Great to hear! I'm planning on using mine in a similar way, always on! I'll need to give Ropieee a fairer chance!

 

Thanks all!

Best Regards, Gary

[allo.com]

Hi GarryL83

 

 

  we stand behind our products. From what you describe , it seems that your fuse is not making good contact (my best guess at the moment) , try resetting , then we will PM you with a solution. In the worst case , we will exchange it of course.

 

 Arm v7 ..I don't know why but you have definitely a RPI 3b+ CPU inside .

[GaryL83]

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

Hi GarryL83

 

 

  we stand behind our products. From what you describe , it seems that your fuse is not making good contact (my best guess at the moment) , try resetting , then we will PM you with a solution. In the worst case , we will exchange it of course.

 

 Arm v7 ..I don't know why but you have definitely a RPI 3b+ CPU inside .

Good to know, I'm hopeful it will work:-)

 

Regarding ARM, as long as I'm trying to solve a genuine discrepancy, rather a deliberate design decision.

 

Thank you for your support!

[shang_2000]

1 hour ago, allo.com said:

Hi GarryL83

 

 

  we stand behind our products. From what you describe , it seems that your fuse is not making good contact (my best guess at the moment) , try resetting , then we will PM you with a solution. In the worst case , we will exchange it of course.

 

 Arm v7 ..I don't know why but you have definitely a RPI 3b+ CPU inside .

The USBridge Signiture player  I ordered on December 1st, and the order status is still:Preparation in progress，When will it be shipped?

[odonnell]

10 hours ago, allo.com said:

On the WIFI/BT ports , please do not use anything thats noisy (and yes that means some keyboards)...this is why we marked as wifi/bt. If you have to use them please remove them after usage.

 

  You can use those ports without a problem on wifi/bt dongles .

 

Do you regard USB powered disk drives as "noisy" for this purpose? What about powered USB hubs?

 

I currently have a powered USB hub connected to one of the WIFI/BT ports, with the Allo-supplied Wi-Fi dongle and a Seagate Backup+ Portable 5 Gb disk, which contains the 2 Gb of music that I play. I added the powered hub because the Wi-Fi dongle is wide and when it is in one of the WIFI/BT ports it obstructs the other one. The hub has also probably prevented occasional spontaneous unmounts of the disk that I experienced early on with the disk directly connected to the WIFI/BT port, no dongle present. I did not diagnose those unmounts carefully, so they could also have been due to system configuration that I changed later.

 

I have not noticed a noise that I would associate with the WIFI/BT ports. I have some bad ambient noise from my refrigerator which would mask subtle problems in the sound system, and I may be more sensitive next year when I move to a quieter house.

 

If this is not a good way to connect a USB disk, please suggest the better approach.

 

Thanks,

 

Mike O'Donnell

 

[allo.com]

Yes USB hard drives are very noisy . The easiest way is to use another USB hub between Usbridge Sig and noisy device

 

  Best solution In case of HD , I would suggest move the HD anywhere on network (does not have to be attached to USBridge , data can be anywhere on the network( think a pi4 with HD or PC with HD attached) ,  ethernet acting as a galvanic isolator)

 

 

[zlib]

How should I configure piCorePlayer v6.0.0-b5  with USBridge Signature? I see the device in local network, Squeezelite works, but there is no sound. I've chosen USB Audio, but maybe I have to write something in output settings?

 

 

By the way, my DAC is L.K.S. Audio MH-DA004. 

[dkskl]

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Posted October 23

Reposting my question from a couple of months ago, hoping someone will be able to answer 🙂

 

 

Hi all!

 

A little on the fence here.

I am really tempted to hit the buy button, but I have a question to you experts first.

 

My plan is to use a WLAN Raspberry Pi 4 as a LMS server and connect it to a PiCorePlayer driven USBridge Sig / Digione Sig with a short ethernet cable.

 

So. Is it possible to reach the PCP OS through the Rpi/LMS/ethernet cable?

Wired connection is not a possibility for me as of now.

 

Thanks in advance.

[Richard Dale]

2 minutes ago, dkskl said:

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• Report post
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•  #162

Posted October 23

Reposting my question from a couple of months ago, hoping someone will be able to answer 🙂

 

 

Hi all!

 

A little on the fence here.

I am really tempted to hit the buy button, but I have a question to you experts first.

 

My plan is to use a WLAN Raspberry Pi 4 as a LMS server and connect it to a PiCorePlayer driven USBridge Sig / Digione Sig with a short ethernet cable.

 

So. Is it possible to reach the PCP OS through the Rpi/LMS/ethernet cable?

Wired connection is not a possibility for me as of now.

 

Thanks in advance.

I'm not clear what you question is. You say you would like to reach PCP running on an Allo Signature via an ethernet cable from LMS running on a Rasberry Pi via ethernet cable. But then you say "Wired connection is not a possibility for me as of now". Do you mean you want to connect the machines via WiFi? If so there is a USB slot in the front of the Allo that you could use for a WiFi dongle.

[dkskl]

22 minutes ago, Richard Dale said:

I'm not clear what you question is. You say you would like to reach PCP running on an Allo Signature via an ethernet cable from LMS running on a Rasberry Pi via ethernet cable. But then you say "Wired connection is not a possibility for me as of now". Do you mean you want to connect the machines via WiFi? If so there is a USB slot in the front of the Allo that you could use for a WiFi dongle.

Yes. I want to connect the RPI/LMS via WIFI and then connect the RPI to the USBridge via ethernet cable.

My only concern is, if I will be able to reach the PCP OS insalled on the USBridge for setting/updates, if I connect the devices like this 🙂

 

[Judelow]

Why could not you? 

[dkskl]

3 minutes ago, Judelow said:

Why could not you? 

Sorry?? 🙂

[Richard Dale]

17 minutes ago, dkskl said:

Yes. I want to connect the RPI/LMS via WIFI and then connect the RPI to the USBridge via ethernet cable.

My only concern is, if I will be able to reach the PCP OS insalled on the USBridge for setting/updates, if I connect the devices like this 🙂

 

You would need to give the LMS Pi and PCP Pi static addresses of something like 10.0.0.1 and 10.0.0.2 with a netmask of 255.255.255.0 and it should just work. But you wouldn't be able to access the internet from the USBridge Pi. If it is only for occasional OS updates, it might be easiest to temporarily move the USBridge near your router and connect with an ethernet cable to do the updates. Alternatively, you could use a WiFi USB dongle on the front USB port to connect to the internet. You would need to run Samba or NFS with the ethernet cable IP address of the LMS of '10.0.0.1' on the USBridge.