Fix For Pops and Cracks USBridge Signature?

[Mark Dirac]

43 minutes ago, HelioCentricWorlds said:

I'm afraid that this is the price to be paid once one goes down the Rasp Pi rabbit hole

I suspect it may not be better for customers of some/many? of the expensive streaming products. Eg I looked into the first Kef wireless speakers, and I get the impression the digital side just didn't work in many cases.   I have a lovely DAC (Pro-Ject "S2 Digital"), but when it was first introduced the support from Pro-Ject was as bad as Allo's. It was comrade left channel here who liaised with Pro-Ject and the designer and managed to get some fixes released before Pro-Ject lost interest and moved on to their next launch.

[HelioCentricWorlds]

I use a Pro-Ject S2 in one of my setups.  It's a lovely little DAC that's my goto when I don't have access to a Chord DAC.  If you're wanting greater ease of set-up you might explore the Sonore Ultra Rendu or the Bryston BDP-PI, much more money but still Rasp Pi at heart and with the tech support of a more mainstream manufacturer. Pro-Ject has an offering as well.  In my case, money is less of a concern than my deep loyalty to Logitech Media Server, which Allo does quite well once one gets them working.  There are relatively few streaming offerings on the market that offer LMS.  I had assumed that my Allo purchases were to be nothing more than stepping stones to much better engineered products down the road but they have shown themselves to be exceptionally good values. In my main set-up, the USBridge Signature Player with a Shanti power supply offers a black background that is very satisfying and pairs exceptionally well with the rest of the system.  Allo's support sucks to be blunt but the I have a hard time faulting the engineering in their products.  

[Mark Dirac]

 

3 minutes ago, HelioCentricWorlds said:

I have a hard time faulting the engineering in their products

Agreed. In between the occasional clicks, I am amazed at the performance of the hardware (even with "only" the Nirvana PSU).

[Zauurx]

I had some problems at startup and I remain convinced that the integration of the ASIX chip developed for integrated USB3 with a Texas USB2 chip was not easy.
For months, going under GentooPlayer, I have no more problems.
My RME DAC receives DSD 128 or 256 via HQPlayer  and Allo SIG. I even configured the 2 ethernet chips (NUC and ALLO) in 100mb
.
I also have a Shanti upstream.

[Mark Dirac]

9 minutes ago, Zauurx said:

I had some problems at startup

Thanks Z. Roughly how many months ago did you have those problems?

 

I ask because I get the impression that Allo and Asix and Moode have tried several solutions over the months. And, I believe, though with no evidence, with success.

[Zauurx]

I have had my Allo SIG for a year. And pops and cracks appeared on high pcm flow (705 or 768 equivalent to DSD 256 or 512) with an ethernet load of 25 / 30mb (only).
With the ASIX 2.0 driver integrated in several OS, things are better. For me, from February.
But I think the settings of other network sources also have an impact.
Today, no more worries. (IPV6 with HQPlayer, direct without switch, full duplex, 100mb)

[Mark Dirac]

Allo have provided a workaround to the issues I had of hearing clicks on my new USBridge. The workaround was to revert to an old version of Moode (or an old version of Allo's build of Moode?) - namely 4.14.92.  Now rock-solid. Lovely!

 

Further details:

• I tried both settings of Moode's "USB (UAC2) fix" - no difference. Can anyone tell me what this does?
• Clicks were worst at 192kHz and rare at 44.1kHz - hence clicks not being caused by mains-borne electricity-supply noise.
• The issue was manifest when playing from USB flash drive, as well as from Qobuz - hence issue not caused by ethernet, or broadband, or router.
• Qobuz plays fine to my DAC from Qobuz's win10 application - hence issue not caused by DAC or USB cable.
• I didn't experiment with Moode's "CPU governor" option. (I note on the workaround version 4.14.92 of Moode it is set to "performance".)
• A small minority of the clicks are in the recordings - even modern digital recordings such as "Venice Bitch" at 7:21, 7:32 and 8:34 (with both versions of Moode).
• Moode 4.14.92 even plays clickless for me when playing a 2L test track from USB flash drive at 352kHz.

Furthermore, I reckon, clicks aside, that my new USBridge sounds even better than with the Allo-supplied Moode version. Sounds rock-solid, to a pleasing extent. Although of course I accept that this could be a psychological artefact.

 

My DAC is "Pre Box S2 Digital" by Pro-Ject:   Pre Box S2 Digital – Pro-Ject Audio Systems     (XMOS and dual ESS9038)

 

@Audio_Allo - what is it about the latest version of Allo Moode that might be causing the clicks please?

[Mark Dirac]

I have installed the new (weeks old) moOde 7.0.1 - and the clicks is fixed!  moOde 7.0.1 incorporated Linux kernel 5.4.77-v7+ #1371      I imagine that something has been fixed in this kernel release? Or perhaps in moOde? Although I am sure moOde would have mentioned if they had found a fix to the "clicks & pops" bug, which has been discussed so much.

[pap83]

On 12/15/2020 at 3:13 PM, Audio_Allo said:

Forwarded PM please check

Hi,

 

My setup is Allo usbridge signature + Allo revalution dac + shanti PSU + Volumio(allo stock os came with usbridge sig) when i streaming Tidal some bit cracking sound coming up. can you provide the guidance for fixing this.

 

brought this setup on OCT 2020.

 

Thank you.

[Audio_Allo]

1 hour ago, pap83 said:

Hi,

 

My setup is Allo usbridge signature + Allo revalution dac + shanti PSU + Volumio(allo stock os came with usbridge sig) when i streaming Tidal some bit cracking sound coming up. can you provide the guidance for fixing this.

 

brought this setup on OCT 2020.

 

Thank you.

Can you please login to volumio through ssh and share below command result.

 

sudo modinfo ax88179_178a | grep version

 

Also forwarded PM please check

[Trebor]

6 hours ago, Audio_Allo said:

Can you please login to volumio through ssh and share below command result.

 

sudo modinfo ax88179_178a | grep version

 

Also forwarded PM please check

 

I'm also experiencing the occasional clicks and pops since I switched from a Cambridge CXA81 DAC to an Amanero based DAC. With the CXA81 I have never experienced any clicks and pops.

 

Running the Allo version of DietPi (v7.0.2). I ran the command to check the driver version.

version:        v2.0.0
srcversion:     54F748FF414BD3C621436B9
vermagic:       5.10.17-v7 SMP mod_unload modversions ARMv7 p2v8

 

This looks like the correct driver to me, so are the any other suggestion to fix the problem?

 

[HelioCentricWorlds]

Anyone else update Moode to the newer kernel without issues?

[HelioCentricWorlds]

Still running Moode 5.3.1, the version from Allo to fix clicks and pops in the sound.  I've recently added Qobuz to my LMS and the clicks and pops have re-emerged, but only when using Qobuz.  Is there a fix for this?

[Mark Dirac]

I am running the last moOde v6 release: 6.7.1 and it works perfectly. With Qobuz via BubbleUPnP and Radio Paradise. (I don't use LMS.)  Possibly because of its newer Linux kernel. I gave up with the next couple of moOde releases 7.0.1 and 7.1.0 - too buggy.

[lousyreeds1]

Hi all,

 

I'm having bad clicking/popping/pitch stability problems with my Allo USBridge Signature, Volumio, and the Denafrips Ares II DAC.  I'm using Volumio version 2.878.  I've tried Moode as well, and that was better but not perfect.  The USBridge/Volumio setup works much better with my Schiit Bifrost DAC, so the issue has something to do with the combination of the USBridge and the Denafrips Ares II.  I know the Ares II isn't defective - the USB input sounds perfect through other sources.  

 

I don't want to revert to an earlier version of Volumio as the newest version is the only one that supports Tidal Connect.  
 

Would appreciate any advice.  Thanks!

[Audio_Allo]

1 hour ago, lousyreeds1 said:

Hi all,

 

I'm having bad clicking/popping/pitch stability problems with my Allo USBridge Signature, Volumio, and the Denafrips Ares II DAC.  I'm using Volumio version 2.878.  I've tried Moode as well, and that was better but not perfect.  The USBridge/Volumio setup works much better with my Schiit Bifrost DAC, so the issue has something to do with the combination of the USBridge and the Denafrips Ares II.  I know the Ares II isn't defective - the USB input sounds perfect through other sources.  

 

I don't want to revert to an earlier version of Volumio as the newest version is the only one that supports Tidal Connect.  
 

Would appreciate any advice.  Thanks!

Can you please login to volumio through ssh and share below command result. Also forwarded PM please check

 

sudo modinfo ax88179_178a | grep version

 

 

[douginreston]

one of my 3 digione players has developed the pop/crackle issue.  i tried flashing a new gui image from the allo site and ran the upgrades.  the player started working but then the pops/crackles started up and got worse and worse.  the odd thing is i have substituted one of my other players in this rig and it is working fine. (so it not the DAC, cables, power supply, etc).

i am using the digiones as roon endpoints and qobuz is my streaming service.

from reading this thread it sounds like i should perhaps try moode from the allo site? 

[douginreston]

hmmmm, i put the digione that was doing the pop/crackle into my living room rig and now it is playing fine.  different DAC, different cables.  basically i swapped the location of 2 of my digiones and for now both are playing fine.  will report back if either one develops a problem.

[HelioCentricWorlds]

Given that Allo has had nothing to say regarding my own issues using Qobuz, which include dropouts as well as pops and clicks, I've decided it's time to switch to a Bluesound streamer.

[douginreston]

OK, caught it in the act.  Have run it for about an hour and a half and now it is starting to stutter.  not the crack/pop from before (though maybe that is next).  Will see what it does.

[douginreston]

never mind.  i think the culprit was GD microsoft pushing out a windows 10 update on my roon server PC (hoping to switch to a linux machine soon).  now why that would impact only 1 of my 3 digione players i don't know.  all very odd.

[avangerx]

I have just purchased an Allo USBridge Signature replacing my old usbridge with sparky. I use it with an S.M.S.L M500 and Volumio with the latest release (V.2.882). I also experience very little pops and cracks. I have never ever experienced such pops and cracks with my Usbridge sparky version. Please advice. 

[Audio_Allo]

25 minutes ago, avangerx said:

I have just purchased an Allo USBridge Signature replacing my old usbridge with sparky. I use it with an S.M.S.L M500 and Volumio with the latest release (V.2.882). I also experience very little pops and cracks. I have never ever experienced such pops and cracks with my Usbridge sparky version. Please advice. 

Please login to volumio through ssh and update the Asix driver.

 

Please follow the steps below and reboot the player

 

cd /usr/src

 

sudo wget http://3.230.113.73:9011/Allocom/USBridgeSig/install.sh

 

sh install.sh

 

And reboot the player

 

You can refer below document link for volumio ssh access

 

https://github.com/sparkysbc/sparky_linux_images/blob/master/volumio_ssh_enable.pdf

[avangerx]

27 minutes ago, Audio_Allo said:

Please login to volumio through ssh and update the Asix driver.

 

Please follow the steps below and reboot the player

 

cd /usr/src

 

sudo wget http://3.230.113.73:9011/Allocom/USBridgeSig/install.sh

 

sh install.sh

 

And reboot the player

 

You can refer below document link for volumio ssh access

 

https://github.com/sparkysbc/sparky_linux_images/blob/master/volumio_ssh_enable.pdf

Is the link you are provided for sparky SBC? I'm not using sparky my problem is with Usbridge signature we are clear on that right?

[Audio_Allo]

5 minutes ago, avangerx said:

Is the link you are provided for sparky SBC? I'm not using sparky my problem is with Usbridge signature we are clear on that right?

It is common document .Volumio SSH enable steps for sparky and USBridge signature are same 

 

Please find the attached document.

 

 

volumio_ssh_enable.pdf