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Can I please get some instructions for how to replace volumio with dietpi on my usbridge? I installed roonbridge on volumio, but it causes issues with skipping songs and delays. On a raspberry pi 3b+ running volumio, everything works perfectly. So I thought maybe to try a lighter system image and only use roon bridge on it with no other system services. Also the other thing that I wonder is whether USB gigabit ethernet would improve things? The RPi has gigabit ethernet, the allo usbridge only has 10/100 on the board. Thanks in advance! UPDATE: Installed a USB 3.0 gigabit ethernet adapter. Solved everything. The built in ethernet port on the Allo USBridge is not able to perform to an adequate standard. This should be addressed by Allo.

Also, here is a dropbox link to the buzzing sound: https://www.dropbox.com/s/lfk3yif6nijhc1g/crackle-mqa.m4a?dl=0

Please can I get some advice/help on this issue. The buzzing sound goes away after about a minute of listening but then comes back at the start of the next track. This functioned correctly on the Raspberry Pi I had as a transport. This seems to be the same issue discussed here: https://community.roonlabs.com/t/allo-usbridge-board/27487/497

Ok, so I did that, and music now plays back which is a good start. However, Tidal MQA files through RoonBridge have a horrible buzzing sound. On Volumio on my Raspberry pi MQA files would play back perfectly. I even tried disabling MQA decoding and rendering, adjusted different buffer settings, and tried upsampling on and off. Any help with this would be greatly appreciated. p.s. the same tracks played through shairport do not crackle. Although obviously airplay quality is not nearly as good as what proper MQA playback should be.

Hi, I just purchased two USBridges, one to use with my iFi Micro iDSD dac, and the other with my Dragonfly Red. Everything works fine with the iFi dac. But with the Dragonfly Red, if I plug the device into the proper USB port (connected to the daughter board), nothing will play back except with some weird clicking noises (like when you playback a file extremely slowly). It will only work when plugged into one of the USB ports on the Sparky. But that goes against the whole point of the device! This is running on Volumio. Please help me to get this working. p.s. I see there were kernel patches being applied to dietPi to make this device work (https://community.roonlabs.com/t/allo-usbridge-board/27487/506) .... I would prefer to stick with Volumio if possible please but assume a similar update is required for Volumio. This was in late 2017.

Have you heard the iFi Micro iDSD? A lot of other people have commented that up sampling is un-necessary with that DAC and that things sound best left untouched. That has been my experience so far. I did try up sampling PCM to 2xDXD with SoX resampler in Foobar and wasn't impressed. The same resampler on my HTPC with a customised Auzentech X-Meridian definitely improves the sound. I'm based in New Zealand

Interesting comments ... I wonder if I can get a Nad D3020 on loan from a local hifi store??? Can it really be true that the sound from a device rated at 2 x 30w will be better than my AVR which is rated to 150w x 7 channels but with only 2 channels being driven? I'm open minded with a small touch of curious scepticism As for the up-sampling, I prefer the sound of the iFi micro iDSD playing natively. I've experimented a bit with that and feel that the conversion process degrades the sound. Even 16 bit 44khz is best left untouched. This is different to my previous experiences with up sampling and a testament to the quality of the iFi micro.

Thanks, I guess what that is pointing to is that the issues could be due to smearing from reflections, busier/faster music is going to be filling the room with more sound energy so more likely to make these issues apparent? So I will experiment with speaker placement to see if it makes a difference. Unfortunately if room issues and/or speaker placement are causing this then I'm stuffed as there is limited space in the room (8.6 feet wide by 9.7 feet long) and I can't move the speakers (permanently) from where they are at the moment. As it's a living room not a studio so somebody else in the household might have a thing or two to say haha. Having said that I've heard this type of effect before with a much cheaper entry level set of speakers and ht receiver (although much more pronounced) -- so I still suspect I am hearing either amplifier or speaker distortion. Thanks!

Hey thanks for your input, and thanks to the people above. To answer that question, the SPDIF input and all DSP and room correction functions make the output sound significantly worse to my ears. All of those squash all the life and musicality out of the output and add significant extra distortion.

Hi all, I'm new to this forum I'm hoping for a wee bit of advice please on the next thing I should upgrade in my system to improve the playback quality. Currently most music sounds very lively and dynamic but the one area where things are let down is tracks that are particularly busy and fast - the soundstage seems to get a bit compressed and the articulation and space around instruments seems to get lost. Overall it can go from sounding exceptionally liquid and easy on the ears on less busy music to rather fatiguing on those type of tracks. As part of my collection I have some very high quality dynamic masters so I am ruling out it being excessive compression on the part of the mastering engineers. The following is the setup I am currently using: ------------- Macbook Pro Retina - running Audirvana configured for bit perfect playback ---> iFi micro iDSD (async USB dac) running on battery power (Micro – iDSD) --> Pioneer ASX-Avi home theatre receiver. This is purportedly a reasonably powerful receiver at 150w per channel at 8 ohms. Although that is specified at that rate to 1% THD so I'm not sure what a more realistic power rating would be. Everything set on source direct so no DSP. (VSX-AX4AVi-S (Archived) - Pioneer UK) --> B&W DM603 S3 floor standing speakers. These are bi-amped from the Pioneer receiver. (B&W DM603 S3 loudspeaker | Stereophile.com) ------------ I am leaning in the direction of the receiver being the component most likely in need of an upgrade, with speakers as the secondary candidate. I guess an option is that I use the pre-outs on the receiver to a couple of mono blocks to drive the front speakers. Any thoughts or recommendations here? I'd be very grateful for the community on the forum to provide their input. Nathan.