Upgrade from Allo USBridge to ?

[intermediatic]

I think it’s curtains for one of my two USBridges. No matter what Allo says, we can’t seem to get it to work (and since I’m an IT professional with 30 years experience, that’s bad news). Do you have any thoughts for under $1,000? The requirements are :

 

must operate over WiFi or WiFi dongle

Roon-ready

Apple Airplay compatible

USB out (feeds an Ayre Codex)

 

Sound at least as good as the USBridge.

 

[matthias]

11 hours ago, intermediatic said:

I think it’s curtains for one of my two USBridges. No matter what Allo says, we can’t seem to get it to work (and since I’m an IT professional with 30 years experience, that’s bad news). Do you have any thoughts for under $1,000? The requirements are :

 

must operate over WiFi or WiFi dongle

Roon-ready

Apple Airplay compatible

USB out (feeds an Ayre Codex)

 

Sound at least as good as the USBridge.

 

 

Do you mean the old Sparky based USBridge?

If yes you can at least try the new Signature.

 

Matt

[creativepart]

Your WiFi requirement is tripping over your $1000 price point.

[davide256]

I've owned the USBridge and the Digione, interesting toys but they weren't that good, the microRendu I had then was better sound and better behaved

 

For far better results in your $1k range you can buy a NUC i3/i5/i7 which will come with wifi ($400~$600 w/memory). The most critical part is to also get a good power supply, HDPLEX 200W is a good choice(~$500), I owned one before upgrading to a JS2 . Even with the best power supply for your NUC you will still

get some electrical nasties out through the server 5v USB but  you can use this cable below with a 5v tap from the HDPlex to provide an independent 5v USB

($39 with shipping to US).

Does look like the HDPLEX 200w are sold out online, might have to wait a few weeks or seek used.

 

That basically leaves the remaining choices of which music OS to use, Audio-linux  (~$50) or Euphony (~$300) plus a media storage drive. Both

support Roon server and perform better booted to RAM off USB stick (no OS drive needed although Optane memory as HD is nice as a way to get rid

of the external USB stick.)

 

https://www.audiophonics.fr/en/various-adapters/usb-b-adapter-cable-for-55-21mm-female-power-supply-p-8332.html

 

[intermediatic]

I'm even willing to give up on the $1,000 and/or the wifi. I won't buy another Allo product as, having jumped through a whole bunch of hoops to get this thing working again, I really don't want to that again. When I monkey endlessly with configuring a linux system, I want it to be for something fun and this isn't fun.  

[JonnieD]

Have you looked into the Pro-ject Stream Box S2 Ultra?

 

That looks like a nicely engineered product that has wifi and good integration into various servers and streaming software. I know John Westlake the designer of this has a good track record when it comes to reducing noise from USB and creating an accurate clock stream.

 

I would certainly favour this over a dedicated NUC or something, as those don't have anything to care of PS noise or decrapify the USB output. Even with the best power supplies, as the damage is done inside the PC itself.    

[firedog]

On 11/13/2019 at 6:05 AM, intermediatic said:

I think it’s curtains for one of my two USBridges. No matter what Allo says, we can’t seem to get it to work (and since I’m an IT professional with 30 years experience, that’s bad news). Do you have any thoughts for under $1,000? The requirements are :

 

must operate over WiFi or WiFi dongle

Roon-ready

Apple Airplay compatible

USB out (feeds an Ayre Codex)

 

Sound at least as good as the USBridge.

 

Volumio Primo

https://volumio.org/product/volumio-primo/

Fits all your requirements. Even has an on board DAC and a video out for a screen if you ever want to use them. Comes with Volumio installed which does meet your software needs. Volumio plugins allow the use of lots of different audio software, so you can find one that fits your needs if you find yourself wanting something in addition to Roon. 

[gellie]

On 2/1/2020 at 10:56 AM, firedog said:

Volumio Primo

https://volumio.org/product/volumio-primo/

Fits all your requirements. Even has an on board DAC and a video out for a screen if you ever want to use them. Comes with Volumio installed which does meet your software needs. Volumio plugins allow the use of lots of different audio software, so you can find one that fits your needs if you find yourself wanting something in addition to Roon. 

Are you sure that’s Roon ready?

[jcn3]

1 hour ago, gellie said:

Are you sure that’s Roon ready?

 

it has plug-ins for squeezebox lite -- you can enable squeezebox players within roon.

 

note that is very similar to what was recommended in the other thread.

[firedog]

Sirr

2 hours ago, gellie said:

Are you sure that’s Roon ready?

Sorry, it's not Roon Ready, it has a Roon Bridge plugin. The truth is, in actual use it makes zero difference. I've had endpoints with both. Roon Ready means Roon has extensively tested the device. 

So the Primo isn't Roon ready, but it doesn't matter. The bridge is the same software and as I said, if it works on a device (and it works on the Primo), your user experience is the same. 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, jcn3 said:

 

it has plug-ins for squeezebox lite -- you can enable squeezebox players within roon.

 

note that is very similar to what was recommended in the other thread.

That's not a good answer. It also has a Roon Bridge plugin, which is a much better way of implementing Roon. 

[gellie]

7 minutes ago, firedog said:

That's not a good answer. It also has a Roon Bridge plugin, which is a much better way of implementing Roon. 

Thanks for the clarification. 

[firedog]

https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/stream-box-s2-ultra/

I think this one fits your bill. Actually Roon Ready. 

[gellie]

28 minutes ago, firedog said:

https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/stream-box-s2-ultra/

I think this one fits your bill. Actually Roon Ready. 

Thanks. That looks very promising 

[jcn3]

2 hours ago, firedog said:

That's not a good answer. It also has a Roon Bridge plugin, which is a much better way of implementing Roon. 

 

Hmmm . . . it's actually a very good answer.  Many think that SQL sounds better.

 

Also, I didn't see in the documentation that Roon Bridge was a plug-in . . . .

[gellie]

18 minutes ago, jcn3 said:

 

Hmmm . . . it's actually a very good answer.  Many think that SQL sounds better.

 

Also, I didn't see in the documentation that Roon Bridge was a plug-in . . . .

Just out of curiosity why would SQL sound better? 

[firedog]

1 hour ago, jcn3 said:

 

Hmmm . . . it's actually a very good answer.  Many think that SQL sounds better.

 

Also, I didn't see in the documentation that Roon Bridge was a plug-in . . . .

Many think lots of things. Doesn't mean they have any basis in reality.

 

If you didn't see it, you haven't looked very hard. It's been an official plugin for a while. I loaded it from the Volumio interface myself. It's right there with all the other plugins.

[firedog]

7 minutes ago, firedog said:

mistake post.

 

[jcn3]

3 hours ago, firedog said:

 

NVM, not worth it. 

[JonnieD]

10 hours ago, firedog said:

https://www.project-audio.com/en/product/stream-box-s2-ultra/

I think this one fits your bill. Actually Roon Ready. 

Thats funny, just what I recommended earlier in this very thread! 

[gellie]

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reviews for the Stream Box S2 Ultra? Is it relatively new?

[firedog]

5 hours ago, gellie said:

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reviews for the Stream Box S2 Ultra? Is it relatively new?

try again. I saw several yesterday when I looked. 

It isn't that new. 

[JonnieD]

7 hours ago, gellie said:

There doesn’t seem to be a lot of reviews for the Stream Box S2 Ultra? Is it relatively new?

 

There are plenty of reviews, start at the Pro-ject product page, where they link to several. 

And there's a good one at HiFi News, which includes measurements: https://www.hifinews.com/content/pro-ject-stream-box-s2-ultra-network-bridge

 

[gellie]

5 hours ago, JonnieD said:

 

There are plenty of reviews, start at the Pro-ject product page, where they link to several. 

And there's a good one at HiFi News, which includes measurements: https://www.hifinews.com/content/pro-ject-stream-box-s2-ultra-network-bridge

Thank You

[nbpf]

On 11/13/2019 at 5:05 AM, intermediatic said:

I think it’s curtains for one of my two USBridges. No matter what Allo says, we can’t seem to get it to work (and since I’m an IT professional with 30 years experience, that’s bad news). Do you have any thoughts for under $1,000? The requirements are :

 

must operate over WiFi or WiFi dongle

Roon-ready

Apple Airplay compatible

USB out (feeds an Ayre Codex)

 

Sound at least as good as the USBridge.

 

You could invest the 1000$ in a JS-2 and set up a Raspberry Pi 3 or 4 (connected via USB with the audiophonics cable suggested by @davide256) to act as a Roon and Airplay endpoint. Later, and if funds allow, you could demo an UltraRendu and test whether it improves on the RPi.

 

What is the problem with the Allo USBridge? I use their DigiOne Signature hosted by an RPi 3 and powered by JS-2 (RPi side) and LPS-1.2 (clear side) and I never had any troubles with it. I have compared it with an ultraRendu (also powered by the JS-2) connected to a Naim DAC via a Mutec MC-3+ Smart Clock USB and I would not say that the DigiOne Signature straight into the nDAC sounds worse (or better) than the ultraRendu + Mutec combo. Perhaps a compatibility problem between USBridge and Ayre?