ALLO USBridge Signature

[uniquesnowflake]

For those proficient with a soldering iron (or can find someone who is), there's a lot to be gained through modding. 

1. While I appreciate Allo making the USBridge Sig backwards compatible with the Digione Sig, it results in a lot of connectors that degrade the sound. I chose to skip all the USB-C nonsense and supply power directly to the board. If you're up for it, an additional CLC filter at the input will help to further clean up the power.
2. Os-Con caps play well with digital circuits, and I chose to replace some of the SMD caps on the WM8805 side of the Digione Sig.
3. More Os-Cons on the top side of the Digione Sig. Last but not least, the SPDIF output cap and series resistor were upgraded to Auricap XO and TX2575. This mod provided the biggest jump in sonic performance. There was a clear improvement in linearity, details, and extension.

[antonellocaroli]

@allo.com @Allo @ALLOsupport

it appears that the driver does not compile with the 6.1.x kernel

 

drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c: In function ‘ax88179_set_mac_addr’:
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:1742:19: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘memcpy’ discards ‘const’ qualifier from pointer target type [-Wdiscarded-qualifiers]
 1742 |         memcpy(net->dev_addr, addr->sa_data, ETH_ALEN);
      |                ~~~^~~~~~~~~~
In file included from ./include/linux/string.h:20,
                 from ./include/linux/signal.h:7,
                 from drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:1:
./arch/arm64/include/asm/string.h:35:21: note: expected ‘void *’ but argument is of type ‘const unsigned char *’
   35 | extern void *memcpy(void *, const void *, __kernel_size_t);
      |                     ^~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:1746:47: warning: passing argument 6 of ‘ax88179_write_cmd’ discards ‘const’ qualifier from pointer target type [-Wdiscarded-qualifiers]
 1746 |                                  ETH_ALEN, net->dev_addr);
      |                                            ~~~^~~~~~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:267:46: note: expected ‘void *’ but argument is of type ‘const unsigned char *’
  267 |                              u16 size, void *data)
      |                                        ~~~~~~^~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c: In function ‘ax_access_eeprom_mac’:
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:2392:37: warning: passing argument 1 of ‘memcpy’ discards ‘const’ qualifier from pointer target type [-Wdiscarded-qualifiers]
 2392 |                 memcpy(axdev->netdev->dev_addr, buf, ETH_ALEN);
      |                        ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~
./arch/arm64/include/asm/string.h:35:21: note: expected ‘void *’ but argument is of type ‘const unsigned char *’
   35 | extern void *memcpy(void *, const void *, __kernel_size_t);
      |                     ^~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c: In function ‘ax_get_mac’:
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:2440:64: warning: passing argument 2 of ‘ax_access_eeprom_mac’ discards ‘const’ qualifier from pointer target type [-Wdiscarded-qualifiers]
 2440 |                 ret = ax_access_eeprom_mac(axdev, axdev->netdev->dev_addr, 0x0, 1);
      |                                                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:2360:62: note: expected ‘u8 *’ {aka ‘unsigned char *’} but argument is of type ‘const unsigned char *’
 2360 | static int ax_access_eeprom_mac(struct ax_device *axdev, u8 *buf, u8 offset, int wflag)
      |                                                          ~~~~^~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:2469:50: warning: passing argument 6 of ‘ax88179_write_cmd’ discards ‘const’ qualifier from pointer target type [-Wdiscarded-qualifiers]
 2469 |                           ETH_ALEN, axdev->netdev->dev_addr);
      |                                     ~~~~~~~~~~~~~^~~~~~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:267:46: note: expected ‘void *’ but argument is of type ‘const unsigned char *’
  267 |                              u16 size, void *data)
      |                                        ~~~~~~^~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c: In function ‘ax88179_probe’:
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:2539:9: error: too many arguments to function ‘netif_napi_add’
 2539 |         netif_napi_add(netdev, &axdev->napi, ax_poll, AX88179_NAPI_WEIGHT);
      |         ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In file included from drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:4:
./include/linux/netdevice.h:2562:1: note: declared here
 2562 | netif_napi_add(struct net_device *dev, struct napi_struct *napi,
      | ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c: In function ‘ax_intr_callback’:
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:529:17: warning: this statement may fall through [-Wimplicit-fallthrough=]
  529 |                 netif_device_detach(axdev->netdev);
      |                 ^~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.c:530:9: note: here
  530 |         case -ENOENT:
      |         ^~~~
make[4]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:250: drivers/net/usb/ax88179_178a.o] Error 1
make[3]: *** [scripts/Makefile.build:500: drivers/net/usb] Error 2

 

[Ronald Vergeer]

On 12/21/2022 at 10:14 AM, uniquesnowflake said:

For those proficient with a soldering iron (or can find someone who is), there's a lot to be gained through modding. 

1. While I appreciate Allo making the USBridge Sig backwards compatible with the Digione Sig, it results in a lot of connectors that degrade the sound. I chose to skip all the USB-C nonsense and supply power directly to the board. If you're up for it, an additional CLC filter at the input will help to further clean up the power.
2. Os-Con caps play well with digital circuits, and I chose to replace some of the SMD caps on the WM8805 side of the Digione Sig.
3. More Os-Cons on the top side of the Digione Sig. Last but not least, the SPDIF output cap and series resistor were upgraded to Auricap XO and TX2575. This mod provided the biggest jump in sonic performance. There was a clear improvement in linearity, details, and extension.

I am very interested in these charges you made. Can you shareware more details on it?

[uniquesnowflake]

On 1/2/2023 at 2:39 AM, Ronald Vergeer said:

I am very interested in these charges you made. Can you shareware more details on it?

 

Hi Ronald,

 

The mods are pretty much covered in the post and attached images. Do you also own the Digione Signature, or just the USBridge Signature?

[Ronald Vergeer]

8 minutes ago, uniquesnowflake said:

 

Hi Ronald,

 

The mods are pretty much covered in the post and attached images. Do you also own the Digione Signature, or just the USBridge Signature?

I own both

[uniquesnowflake]

If you have the skill and willingness to do so, I'd recommend upgrading the onboard TPS7A4701 LDOs to high quality discrete regulators (e.g. Sparkos Labs) in addition to the mods. 

 

Otherwise, considering replacing/adding Os-Con caps and bypassing the plethora of connectors first.

[Ronald Vergeer]

8 hours ago, uniquesnowflake said:

If you have the skill and willingness to do so, I'd recommend upgrading the onboard TPS7A4701 LDOs to high quality discrete regulators (e.g. Sparkos Labs) in addition to the mods. 

 

Otherwise, considering replacing/adding Os-Con caps and bypassing the plethora of connectors first.

Thans. I will pass this information through to a friend Who can make the modifications.

[Cosmin]

Hello,

I just try different versions of piCore (Tiny Core), it boots, but the LAN doesn't work. I also tried piCorePlayer and it works. What did I missed?

Thanks

[4est]

I have a USBridge running Ropieeexl and cannot get it to play dsd512 without occasional glitches but it works fine with dsd256. It will play 512 fine using Ubuntu and requires about 58mbs at that rate. Flow is: Win 11> d link 1210 switch>USBridge. It’s an older switch and router, and I cannot seem to access the web interface on the switch.  I’m hoping that I can adjust packets/ frames or priorities in the Win NIC. Any help would be greatly appreciated,

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, 4est said:

I have a USBridge running Ropieeexl and cannot get it to play dsd512 without occasional glitches but it works fine with dsd256. It will play 512 fine using Ubuntu and requires about 58mbs at that rate. Flow is: Win 11> d link 1210 switch>USBridge. It’s an older switch and router, and I cannot seem to access the web interface on the switch.  I’m hoping that I can adjust packets/ frames or priorities in the Win NIC. Any help would be greatly appreciated,

Hi 4est, this seems like a Ropieeexl issue doesn’t it? If 512 works on Ubuntu but not Ropieeexl, perhaps there’s a Ropieeexl setting to be adjusted?

[4est]

11 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi 4est, this seems like a Ropieeexl issue doesn’t it? If 512 works on Ubuntu but not Ropieeexl, perhaps there’s a Ropieeexl setting to be adjusted?

Ty Chris !

 

I tend to agree but my instance of Ropieee does not have access to the network. There is a pull down on the web interface but it’s empty.  I’ve heard of others having a similar issue and I was hoping there was a simple adjustment somewhere.  

[pl_svn]

... try asking the developer here 😉

[4est]

26 minutes ago, pl_svn said:

... try asking the developer here 😉

I am not committed to Ropieee as I use this with HQPlayer >NAA.  If another OS is is a better option, I’d try it gladly. 

[stefano_mbp]

11 minutes ago, 4est said:

I am not committed to Ropieee as I use this with HQPlayer >NAA.  If another OS is is a better option, I’d try it gladly. 

You can try DietPi with NAA addon

[4est]

21 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

You can try DietPi with NAA addon

Thank you! Very true and I intend to do so. Sadly I only have the one micro SD card. I’ve ordered some already. I’ve heard of others having this issue and was hoping or a real fix.  Ultimately I do not care which OS as long as it can be used headless long term.