ALLO USBridge Signature

[Mark Dirac]

@suzywong I don't know - is it? I asked here because Allo sold me the dongle, and I have searched and cannot find anyone else selling the dongle, and so it seemed fair to assume that this is an Allo quirk. Surely others here in this thread have been curious about this?

 

I have been assuming that the version of Moode supplied by Allo is a custom Allo build for the Allo products - possibly only for the USBridge Sig. Am I right, or is Allo's version just the same as the one available from Moode?

[EMW1962]

@allo.com support - need help - please!  Loose audio and get white noise

 

I have my USBridge Sig with Shanti now approx for 9+ month without major issues.

Since a few days/weeks I'm getting spikes (like voltage spikes) and finally loosing audio signal at all and getting a very loud "white noise like hiss". When I pause and hit play again, its gone,... but coming back sooner or later.

 

My system:

Audirvana Remote App controlling Audirvana on my MacBookPro, streaming UPNP without upsampling via wifi to my router and via CAT7 to USBridge Sig. (powered by Shanti) running moOde 6.7.1. via USB to Chord mojo.

 

Nothing updated since August (moOde 6.7.1) other than latest Audirvana and macOS Catalina 10.15.7.

Connecting my MBP direct via USB to my DAC giving no problems at all, so I could eliminate Audirvana and Mac as source of trouble.

 

Problem seems to happen more often when streaming Qobuz Hirez files, but happens as well, when 16/44 files are played.

When I stream with mconnect directly to moOde the tiks/spikes are less, but loosing audio happens as well.

Problem seems to become more, the longer the unit is powered on /gets warm.

 

Tried all possible settings in moOde (low/high CPU; 32/64 bit; small/larger buffer; clean reinstall; etc) - so I think I can eliminate moOde OS as source of problem as well.

 

What can cause the loss of signal/ white noise hiss?

Is there a kind of static charge building up in the USBridge pcb?

 

Hepl from everybody is appreciated - Thx.

 

 

 

[Audio_Allo]

11 minutes ago, EMW1962 said:

@allo.com support - need help - please!  Loose audio and get white noise

 

I have my USBridge Sig with Shanti now approx for 9+ month without major issues.

Since a few days/weeks I'm getting spikes (like voltage spikes) and finally loosing audio signal at all and getting a very loud "white noise like hiss". When I pause and hit play again, its gone,... but coming back sooner or later.

 

My system:

Audirvana Remote App controlling Audirvana on my MacBookPro, streaming UPNP without upsampling via wifi to my router and via CAT7 to USBridge Sig. (powered by Shanti) running moOde 6.7.1. via USB to Chord mojo.

 

Nothing updated since August (moOde 6.7.1) other than latest Audirvana and macOS Catalina 10.15.7.

Connecting my MBP direct via USB to my DAC giving no problems at all, so I could eliminate Audirvana and Mac as source of trouble.

 

Problem seems to happen more often when streaming Qobuz Hirez files, but happens as well, when 16/44 files are played.

When I stream with mconnect directly to moOde the tiks/spikes are less, but loosing audio happens as well.

Problem seems to become more, the longer the unit is powered on /gets warm.

 

Tried all possible settings in moOde (low/high CPU; 32/64 bit; small/larger buffer; clean reinstall; etc) - so I think I can eliminate moOde OS as source of problem as well.

 

What can cause the loss of signal/ white noise hiss?

Is there a kind of static charge building up in the USBridge pcb?

 

Hepl from everybody is appreciated - Thx.

 

 

 

Forwarded PM please check

[blueninjasix]

I can happily report that the latest version of RopieeXL (16th Dec 2020) is working perfectly in the USBridge Signature. It's being fed via HQPlayer upsampling pcm to 705.6 and 768 to Chord Qutest.

[Branet]

Is there any information related perhaps to the new USBridge with raspberry pi 4? Has anyone managed to drive a USBridge with a D90 MQA connected via USB?

[hoobi]

Hi, is it possible to bypass USB C power Usbridge sig and connect power direct to Usbridge PCB?

 

best regards

[Crom]

16 minutes ago, hoobi said:

Hi, is it possible to bypass USB C power Usbridge sig and connect power direct to Usbridge PCB?

 

best regards

I would also like an authorative answer on this. From my personal experience, I powered mine for a long time through the USB connection to great effect. I think used one off Ian Canada's Ultra Capacitor hats to power via the GPIO. This definitely improved things but only lasted about 6 weeks before giving up the ghost!

[Audio_Allo]

Yes we can connect direct power to USBridge signature PCB by soldering wires to below mentioned point.

 

[hoobi]

Great, thanks for that explanation.

As I see, there is a place for additional capacitor? Am I right? If yes, what type/value?

 

Best regards

[Crom]

Thanks @Audio_Allo can you confirm that those pins you indicate are connected to the 40-pin GPIO connector in the same way that one can power a standard Pi board?

This is the device I am looking to use: https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/UltraCapacitorPowerSupply/ConditionerPi/ConditionerPi.pdf

Thanks.

[Audio_Allo]

21 minutes ago, Crom said:

Thanks @Audio_Allo can you confirm that those pins you indicate are connected to the 40-pin GPIO connector in the same way that one can power a standard Pi board?

This is the device I am looking to use: https://github.com/iancanada/DocumentDownload/blob/master/UltraCapacitorPowerSupply/ConditionerPi/ConditionerPi.pdf

Thanks.

No ,it is not the same pins.

[Yviena]

On 2/4/2021 at 7:23 PM, Crom said:

I would also like an authorative answer on this. From my personal experience, I powered mine for a long time through the USB connection to great effect. I think used one off Ian Canada's Ultra Capacitor hats to power via the GPIO. This definitely improved things but only lasted about 6 weeks before giving up the ghost!

Wait does the conditioner board fit on the Uxbridge sig, or do you need to modify the metal chassis?

[Crom]

7 hours ago, Yviena said:

Wait does the conditioner board fit on the Uxbridge sig, or do you need to modify the metal chassis?

No modification required. the conditioner board fitted into the 40-pin GPIO port and then I powered up the conditioner board (with the power supply that previously powered the USB signature board. Everything powered up as normal for weeks (I usually leave the Pi running continuously). About 2 months later, I powered down to do some tweaking and it wouldn't power up again.

 

This is why I was so surprised/confused by @Audio_Allo's response as it clearly worked (but sadly....then clearly didn't) ... so I'm trying to find out what happened and if it is a different pinout then how come it worked for a bit.

 

Why am  I bothered? Well, because the conditioner clearly improved the sound over merely using the existing power supply (which is pretty good in itself) and I would like to maintain that improvement if possible.

[szczemirek]

18 minutes ago, Crom said:

the conditioner board fitted into the 40-pin GPIO port and then I powered up the conditioner board (with the power supply that previously powered the USB signature board

Could you share any photo, please.

[Yviena]

1 hour ago, Crom said:

No modification required. the conditioner board fitted into the 40-pin GPIO port and then I powered up the conditioner board (with the power supply that previously powered the USB signature board. Everything powered up as normal for weeks (I usually leave the Pi running continuously). About 2 months later, I powered down to do some tweaking and it wouldn't power up again.

 

This is why I was so surprised/confused by @Audio_Allo's response as it clearly worked (but sadly....then clearly didn't) ... so I'm trying to find out what happened and if it is a different pinout then how come it worked for a bit.

 

Why am  I bothered? Well, because the conditioner clearly improved the sound over merely using the existing power supply (which is pretty good in itself) and I would like to maintain that improvement if possible.

Interesting, are you sure you had the correct voltage for the conditioner board, or maybe it just died due to some other failure?

 

What PSU did you use?

[jlt1947]

ALLO USBRIDGE SIG doesn't reconnect when switching sources on DAC 😕

 

Hello from a total newbie here,

I've had my Allo USBridge Signature Player for just a few days, and although there's still room for improvement (e.g. PSU and ground wire), the early results in terms of SQ are wonderful !   It took a bit of tweaking, nothing too involved though, thanks to the numerous blogs and forums available online .....

 

YET, contrary to my other streamers, this one doesn't seem to be able to hook back up when switching sources on the DAC (e.g. USB to SPDIF then back to USB)..... I've experienced this "flaw" with both DietPI and piCorePlayer on this unit, so I assume it's some kind of kernel issue (actually a similar issue was reported on the "old" Allo Sparky based USBridge back in 2019 and identified as a "kernel error").

Any ideas pleeease ? 

Thank you for your patience and dedication to this group's (and my) welfare.

[pl_svn]

45 minutes ago, jlt1947 said:

doesn't seem to be able to hook back up when switching sources on the DAC

USBridge Sig running RoPieee, here, connected to a Chord Qutest via USB. Qutest is also connected via Toslink to my TV: no issue at all switching back and forth between the two inputs 😶

[jlt1947]

4 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

USBridge Sig running RoPieee, here, connected to a Chord Qutest via USB. Qutest is also connected via Toslink to my TV: no issue at all switching between the two 😶

 

Good to know, thx !  Then it's not kernel related anymore, it must be some output setting...... Hopefully some PiCore/Squeezelite user will point to the solution.

[pl_svn]

2 minutes ago, jlt1947 said:

Then it's not kernel related anymore

 

different softwares might install different kernels 😉

no idea which one RoPiee uses, sorry

[Crom]

On 2/6/2021 at 11:39 AM, szczemirek said:

Could you share any photo, please.

Not right now as it's in pieces. Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see and I'll see if I have an old one. All it is, is the pi conditioner board plugged into othe bridge PCB.

 

 

On 2/6/2021 at 12:41 PM, Yviena said:

Interesting, are you sure you had the correct voltage for the conditioner board, or maybe it just died due to some other failure?

 

What PSU did you use?

5v Shanti plugged into Pi conditioner boards.

It could easily have just died for another reason but it seems like too much of a co-incidence. I'll see if @audio_allo can let me know what the differences in GPIO pin configuration are so that we can clear this up.

[Audio_Allo]

49 minutes ago, Crom said:

Not right now as it's in pieces. Let me know if there's anything in particular you'd like to see and I'll see if I have an old one. All it is, is the pi conditioner board plugged into othe bridge PCB.

 

 

5v Shanti plugged into Pi conditioner boards.

It could easily have just died for another reason but it seems like too much of a co-incidence. I'll see if @audio_allo can let me know what the differences in GPIO pin configuration are so that we can clear this up.

USBridge signature we can power only through USB-C connector or through two points which marked in the image. After this points some circuitry is there. If we are powering through GPIO pins means it will misbehave.

[SeanLL]

Has anyone tried running VitOS?  It was said for Pi4, I wonder if it would run on my Allo USBridge Signature which is based on Pi3B? 

[Cundis]

On 11/18/2020 at 11:07 AM, allo.com said:

Hello Cundis

 

  please note that D90 is not Linux compatible. Its not a question of streamer but a question of software on DAC side.

 

Going backin time a little bit now. I couldn't get the USbridge Signature to work with a couple of dacs I've had because of (claimed) Linux incompability. But yesterday I tried the USB out on the Raspberry Pi on my Digione Signature, and it works like a charm. No problems at all. DSD, 768 khz upsampling, MQA, everything works. So i guess this goes deeper than I thought..

 

USBridge is sold because of this problem, but I'll keep the Digione Signature and use the Raspberry Pi USB out on it. At least it works!

[Pogballistics]

On 12/15/2019 at 6:52 PM, Richard Dale said:

I would personally just try running the USBridge with a WiFi dongle so it would be on the same LAN as your router and LMS machine, and not bother with the ethernet cable. The Volumio team believe that a WiFi connection sounds better than wired ethernet AFAIK, and so the sound may even be better with a WiFi connection or at least the same as wired.

I was planning of adding an Allo Digione signature player to my audio chain to be used as a Roon end point.

 

I am having a lot of confusion due to ethernet cable mapping from one room to another since my WiFi setup is in a different room than my speaker setup.

 

Is it possible to simply use the Allo Digione signature player with a usb WiFi dongle so that can be on the same WiFi network? Will it work this way and is it advisable. Please guide, thanks.

[Mark Dirac]

11 hours ago, Pogballistics said:

Is it possible to simply use the Allo Digione signature player with a usb WiFi dongle so that can be on the same WiFi network? Will it work this way and is it advisable. Please guide, thanks.

Yes. I have an Allo USBridge Sig which works very well on wifi. One would not expect to hear any difference in sound quality between ethernet and wifi, and indeed on my set-up, I cannot.

 

I use moOde. It seem that some or most wifi dongles will not work with my USBridge - it may be the same with Digione and/or other players. Allo sell two wifi dongles which do work. But for some reason I have never been able to find out, Allo disable their cheaper dongle from working. They do not warn you about this, and it is a (week's) faff to undo their disablement. I bought their ComFast dongle elsewhere, at a much lower price, because I was determined as a matter of principle, never to give any money to Allo ever again.