ALLO USBridge

[surfatwork]

I feel a new usbridge will be launched in very near future

Likely. The sparky is at 50% discount (just $17.50)

 

[haisaikat]

ALLO being a digital transport, wondering if LPS will bring any major benefit.
Thanks for the link though.
I am also wondering how long a high capacity battery bank will last with the ALLO

Does the voltage of DC power banks remain constant with time? I think there are drops. So dc may not be pure dc like a straight line

 

[rikhav]

A very kind FM gave me the Allo usbridge to try with my setup
I used the supplied wall wart to power it but powered the USBridge add-on card which in turn powered the sparky
The sound is nothing short of brilliant
I could hear small nuances in the sound which I could not before. And I would be probably listening at 90 DB levels and it was not sounding harsh
I installed the dietpi and used the USBridge as a roon end point
So these are typically achieved with low noise and less jitter
So their claims are no marketing gimmick
Now I wanted to know if digione signature and USBridge are at par with components used or signature digione is step up
I know they are two different mediums being used but wrt to clocks and regulator's if they are at par
Also what is better to use, Allo sparky or RPI.
The way sparky is made it's more suited for audio
But the digione board won't run with sparky and the USBridge won't work with RPI

 

[Kannan]

digione signature

The essential difference between the USBridge and digione is that the boards can be powered individually. You can go with a low noise SMPS or even better a LPS or a battery bank with the USBridge board and the ALLo wall wart for the Sparky board.
The digione did not have this luxury. The digione signature offers the above USBriidge luxury.

But my guess is that the digione signature has a even lesser noise profile than the USBridge, but I will have look at the stats published on ALLO website.
But these both cannot be compared as the jitter factor is more influential in the USB section than the coax section and will also depend on the DAC it it connected to.

One FM who has both the USBridge and the digione signature says the signature sounds tad better, though I have not heard it as he is not in my town.

 

[rikhav]

Okay
I guess it would be very diffcult to know how much influence the SBC have on the final sound
I understand the differencees between USB vs coax and how the implementation in the DAC will differ
But what SBC is used is a very important factor to choose what board I will use is the answer I want

I understand differencees between sparky and RPI is that one of them acts as a master or slave wrt. to function of the clock

 

[haisaikat]

Also what is better to use, Allo sparky or RPI.
The way sparky is made it's more suited for audio

The RPI has more processor power, I could make out the difference when the library scanning works, RPI is done in less than a minute for my and sparky goes on for edges. Also RPI3 has bluetooth advantage for streaming from mobile phone via bluetooth although newer volumio images have UPNP streaming. I do not know sonic difference though

But the digione board won't run with sparky and the USBridge won't work with RPI

This is one bad thing I must admit, I did however compare USB Bridge (lent from a FM) with Digione (not signature) in my setup and almost sounded identical except that the female vocal was getting some undue smoothening in USBBridge than Digione and later sounded more natural on voices but unless someone hears both its difficult to comment.

The big problem I had was in making it read my almost 2TB of music data. I found its library implementation shoddy.
it never updated.

you are right, i have experienced this too even in recent volumio versions and I know the root cause is some specific file of specific album where there are special chars or too many chars in folder / file name that creates problem, at times some audio files have problems in ID tags and as a result this scan halts. Monitoring the last album scanned and alphabetically what the next track or album is the faulty files can be isolated and removed to avoid this problem

 

[rikhav]

Processor power is not big issue for me as I will be using mine as a roon end point
Infact I would prefer to underclock it which is very easy with diet pills

So I think as far as SBC is concerned the RPI or sparky does not make huge difference as far as an add-on card is used

 

[Kannan]

The library management has improved considerably. I have a 1TB hard drive connected to it.

 

[Kannan]

So I think as far as SBC is concerned the RPI or sparky does not make huge difference as far as an add-on card is used

For USB, yes, that is why ALLO developed Sparky with the USBridge.
For coax, it just has an add-on board over RPI, namely the digione and the signature upgrade.

 

[Kannan]

This is one bad thing I must admit, I did however compare USB Bridge (lent from a FM) with Digione (not signature) in my setup and almost sounded identical except that the female vocal was getting some undue smoothening in USBBridge

Both must sound similar as the approach with both is the same, one being USB transport and the other with coaxial output.
I believe the digione signature sounds closer to the USBridge.

 

[haisaikat]

Both must sound similar as the approach with both is the same, one being USB transport and the other with coaxial output.
I believe the digione signature sounds closer to the USBridge.

In my "not so resolving" setup I could make out difference. I suggest you try two side by side. I agree theoretically they must sound similar if their numbers match but does they match? Also ioved away from usb for neverending jitter, clock sync problems. Probably the signature would sound better for two power supply mode.

 

[Kannan]

I ordered the Allo Digione Signature around 3 weeks back. Along with the LPS power (board supplied by Hifivision member Ravikiran) for the RPI board and battery for the digione board, the SQ leapfrogged as compared to the AllO USBridge which too was powered similarly.
The essential difference is with respect to the presentation.
The highs have more sparkle without being sibilant or fatiguing, the mids are more lush and open, whereas with the USBridge it was very slightly leaning to the warmer side.
The lows are equally good in both.

Yesterday I improved on the LPS by adding another trafo as the board has two outputs, one 5 volt/5 amps for the raspberry-pi board and the other with CRC filtering for even more cleaner output to power the digione board.
Yet to run a comparison over LPS power over battery power.
Incidentally I also got the Shanthi LPS from ALLO in view of its superb specs and compact size, but again yet to make a comparison with the LPS I have made.

Here are some pics. May not be a great looking or a customized enclosure, but sturdy enough for 350 rupees.

 

[rikhav]

So which LPS do you use now?
Shanti or the one made by you ?

 

[Kannan]

So which LPS do you use now?
Shanti or the one made by you ?

Currently the DIY one. Will run comparisons sometime next week

 

[rikhav]

Usbridge signature page goes live

https://allo.com/sparky/usbridge-signature-pcb.html

 

[Surrealistix]

I just placed an order for the USBridge Sig.

 

[manniraj]

@Kannan
So currently I use the Pi3 powered by a very good LPSU via its USB out to the Amanero I2S (USB powered) to my Soekris R2R DAC. I am using the Volumio OS and sometimes mOode OS.
Now looking at your new setup, I am thinking how much of an improvement does pairing a Digione Signature over my Pi3 and taking out the Coaxial over to the Soekris compared to the replacing my Pi3 with USBSignture and taking the USB out to the Amanero I2S (USB powered) to the Soekris?

Thanks

 

[Weathered]

I just placed an order for the USBridge Sig.

Please post your comparisons with USBridge (later).

 

[Kushanava]

Looking for group buy of allo usbsig + shanti+ alu case...anyone interested?

 

[Kannan]

@Kannan
So currently I use the Pi3 powered by a very good LPSU via its USB out to the Amanero I2S (USB powered) to my Soekris R2R DAC. I am using the Volumio OS and sometimes mOode OS.
Now looking at your new setup, I am thinking how much of an improvement does pairing a Digione Signature over my Pi3 and taking out the Coaxial over to the Soekris compared to the replacing my Pi3 with USBSignture and taking the USB out to the Amanero I2S (USB powered) to the Soekris?

Thanks

I expect USB Signature to be equivalent to Digione Signature in term of design.
But is Coax inherently better to USB or vice-versa as far as digital transports are concerned is another matter.

In some DACs with multiple digital input option, sometimes one output sounds the better than the other, so will be hard to state if digione signature with trump USB Signature or the other way round...