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Allo Sparky USBridge

jtwrace

By jtwrace
in General Forum

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JohnD

JohnD

Posted
Posted
On 12/5/2017 at 3:29 PM, JohnD said:

Hi,

 

I need some help with my newly acquired USBridge. Everything looks good, v158 performed, "usb audio" DAC detected as far I can see in the GUI. My target is to use GMRenderer with Audirvana. Audirvana detects "dietpi" bridge. I have have set the corresponding max bit depth and frequency for my DAC (Benchmark DAC1). When I try to play music, Audirvana seems to stream correctly (no time skipping,...) but the DAC1 blinks its LEDs and then lights off. Not a single blip of music. "usb audio" still looks like connected in the GUI.

 

The DAC1 usb interface is working with my laptop and I had a successful trial of Volumio on a RPi few months ago. I have tried the USBridge on another DAC, Aune T1. This one is less elaborated and when I play I got noise as output, nothing more.

 

I also try to stream through Airplay from my iPhone. This renderer crashes instantly. I have restarted but it crashes as soon as hit play on my phone.

 

Does someone have some advice for me to try especially for GMRenderer/Audrivana ? Right now I have USBrick...

 

Regards.

 

 

On 12/5/2017 at 3:58 PM, allo.com said:

I would suggest a full flash of the eMMC.

 

I was trying to solve my "noise output" issue and I have performed a full flash as suggested by allo.com with a fresh v159 image. By looking to this thread, I have also forced USB 1.1 mode.

 

Right now, I can stream music from Audirvana BUT as soon as I seek into the track, music stops. Audirvana is in limbo as dietpi web gui. DietPI becomes unresponsive. No way to get something back. I have to remove USBridge power cord and force stop Audirvana who is waiting for dietpi...

 

It happens with or without resampling to native DAC spec. It does NOT happen with 16/44.1 tracks !? All these are playing flawlessly when Audirvana is hooked directly into the DAC.

 

I am still with my USBrick :(

 

Any advice, support? Thank you!

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ALLOsupport

ALLOsupport

Posted
Posted
21 minutes ago, JohnD said:

 

 

I was trying to solve my "noise output" issue and I have performed a full flash as suggested by allo.com with a fresh v159 image. By looking to this thread, I have also forced USB 1.1 mode.

 

Right now, I can stream music from Audirvana BUT as soon as I seek into the track, music stops. Audirvana is in limbo as dietpi web gui. DietPI becomes unresponsive. No way to get something back. I have to remove USBridge power cord and force stop Audirvana who is waiting for dietpi...

 

It happens with or without resampling to native DAC spec. It does NOT happen with 16/44.1 tracks !? All these are playing flawlessly when Audirvana is hooked directly into the DAC.

 

I am still with my USBrick :(

 

Any advice, support? Thank you!

@JohnD

please update to latest kernel and check.  did you connected USBridge onboard ethernet  or wifi ?

ssh login , update kernel

root@DietPi:~#wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparky-sbc/sparky-test/master/dragon_fly_check/uImage -O /boot/uImage

root@DietPi:~#sync

root@DietPi:~#reboot

 

Allo.com Tech. Support

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piripiri82

piripiri82

Posted
Posted

Way ahead of you! :D I was hoping for a case for my currently naked Pi3 and Boss but I figured I could use the top and bottom of the acrylic case for the USBridge in the mean time before a case for it is released. 

I adore the boost in sound quality the USBridge has given me. It's as big a leap in sound quality as I had between owning a gatorized Beresford DAC and a Chord Mojo: I Still own the Mojo and it is this that the USBridge is feeding the signal to. 

The Boss kicks ass also! Anyone on a budget and who is relatively computer savvy or who has a willingness to learn new skills should absolutely seek out the Boss as an audio source. It's as musical as hell (even though this is a cliche now) and, as others have mentioned, has a sweet bottom end which is deep yet still reasonably accurate to the timbre of the recorded instrument. 

Keep it up guys and dolls!

 

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wdelec

wdelec

Posted
Posted

Hello,

 

Just got an Usbridge, and I can't figure out what the jumper J28 actually does.

Ok, I powered Usbridge & Sparky by two separate power sources, and yes I pulled out the jumper J28.

I find out that even I just turn on only the power source to DC jack of Usbridge board, both Usbridge & Sparky are still working properly! 

It seems that both boards are still somewhat connected. Then, what the point to separate two power supply sources? 

 

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asdf1000

asdf1000

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, wdelec said:

Hello,

 

Just got an Usbridge, and I can't figure out what the jumper J28 actually does.

Ok, I powered Usbridge & Sparky by two separate power sources, and yes I pulled out the jumper J28.

I find out that even I just turn on only the power source to DC jack of Usbridge board, both Usbridge & Sparky are still working properly! 

It seems that both boards are still somewhat connected. Then, what the point to separate two power supply sources? 

 

 

Yup that sounds normal. From the manual (available online):

 

Power feed Methods for USBridge board:

 

1. Power feed through DC jack only (USBridge) - J28 to be open

 

2. Power feed through Micro-usb only on Sparky SBC - J28 to be CLOSED

 

3. Individual power feed to Sparky and USBridge separately. J28 to be open

 

 

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ALLOaudio

ALLOaudio

Posted
Posted

@Skywatcher

congrats on the purchase!

 

as you may have noticed, the Sparky has 2 heat sinks assembled on the board.

one over the main CPU and another over the PMU chip.

these should be carefully removed by gently prying them upwards, before you can use the new alu case.

We used thermal double sided tape to hold in place, so is pretty easy.

 

tips:

use a plastic tool (i find that the cap of a ball pen works best) and wedge it under the heat sink in the corner where the small allo.com logo is on the sparky. then using a twisting motion, gently dislodge the heat sink.

use thin nosed pair of pliers to gently twist the smaller heat sink on top of the PMU.

i will soon upload a video showing the above.

 

any questions, let me know.

 

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asdf1000

asdf1000

Posted
Posted
3 minutes ago, ALLOaudio said:

@Em2016

 

thanks for that !

 

No problem!

 

I had this question, which I asked on another forum too.

 

From the website:

 

"How about RPI? RPIs are great and very energy efficient, but on USB they have 2 major flaws. First is that bandwidth is shared between the 2 USB ports (so in fact there is only one USB), and second is that ethernet is also shared on same bus! Of course, you also have the noise on USB at about 60mV.

Maybe Sparky? The 2 USB ports (next to the ethernet port) share one input to the CPU (split by a hub). Noise on USB bus is about 27mV (pretty good) and ethernet is completely apart (bus is not shared). So it’s ok, but not great.

So we developed a new board that is connected to the bottom of Sparky. Sparky has 2 independent USB controllers (2 highways), and we connect to the second one. Then we use a new USB IC that reclocks the stream using hi quality NDK Oscillators, and everything is powered by independent LDOs and hi frequency filters. The final noise of the USBridge is lower than the noise of a battery."

 

What is the final noise of the USBridge, at max power output, like when it needs to provide 5V at nearly 500mA to a DAC that is bus powered?

 

Many thanks in advance

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volpone

volpone

Posted
Posted
9 minutes ago, ALLOaudio said:

as you may have noticed, the Sparky has 2 heat sinks assembled on the board.

one over the main CPU and another over the PMU chip.

these should be carefully removed by gently prying them upwards, before you can use the new alu case.

We used thermal double sided tape to hold in place, so is pretty easy.

 

Hi,
Any bundle (USBridge + Alu case) already assembled available from your european website ?

No interest in acrylic case, and mounting seems a pain ..

ROON > HQPlayer > USBridge > T+A DAC8 DSD > NAD M22 (Ncore Hypex) > Harbeth SLH5+
Setup details

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deathdisco

deathdisco

Posted
Posted

Hey first of all, just wanted to post to say how fantastic this transport sounds — it really does punch well above its price point.

If anyone reading this is on the fence, Its definitely worth your consideration if using a network attached renderer will work for your needs.

That said, unfortunately, in my setup though I'm noticing a sporadic issue with some sort of clicking/interference from my usbridge which only occurs while music is playing. My best guess is it's RFI noise that's travelling along my Supra Cat8, though I haven't found any passive lan isolation devices in my budget to test this theory — has anyone else had any similar issues with their USbridge? This occurs regardless of the DAC i use. 

I'd love to get to the bottom of this as the sound I'm getting is really great otherwise!

In case it's of interest, my topology is as follows: 

D-Link Wi-Fi (DAP1620) extender > Supra cat8 > D-Link Switch (DGS-1005A) > Supra cat8 > USBridge

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asdf1000

asdf1000

Posted
Posted
33 minutes ago, deathdisco said:

My best guess is it's RFI noise that's travelling along my Supra Cat8, though I haven't found any passive lan isolation devices in my budget to test this theory

 

Hi, do you have any bog standard Cat 5e or Cat 6 ethernet cables that you can try in the chain? Replacing both the Supra's, just to test.

 

Or if you only had 1, just replacing the last Supra cable feeding the USBridge?

 

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Mike Pinkerton

Mike Pinkerton

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, ALLOaudio said:

@Mike Pinkerton

was that the price you got in the shopping cart or was it an estimate?

the price will change at the last stage of purchase depending of your shipping address.

anything before that is an estimate the system makes.

 

regards

 

Um, when I created an account and went to choose shipping, the price went up!! It’s now $24 to ship. So what is going on here?

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deathdisco

deathdisco

Posted
Posted
9 hours ago, Em2016 said:

 

Hi, do you have any bog standard Cat 5e or Cat 6 ethernet cables that you can try in the chain? Replacing both the Supra's, just to test.

 

Or if you only had 1, just replacing the last Supra cable feeding the USBridge?

 

 

Hey Em, I tested my setup with standard cat5e cables in place and the issue still occurs ?

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Mike Pinkerton

Mike Pinkerton

Posted
Posted
4 hours ago, ALLOaudio said:

@Mike Pinkerton

hi

so you created the account, added to cart and checked out  ?

please PM me your details and what you are ordering so i can confirm shipping cost.

 

regards

 

 

Yes, created an account, added to cart, checked out, and suggested shipping went from $22 to $24. Only choices were FedEx and some other company. This is for a USBridge. 

 

I'll DM you. 

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