Allo USBridge board

Hi @Wouter_du_Toit and @allo.com,

With wav files the noise is there as well, the same.

For your info, I am feeding the USBridge with an IFIPower and the included Adaptor for the Sparky.

@allo.com, any clue or news regarding this issue with the Dragonfly Red? As I said before I can try whatever suggestions to try to find out what’s going on.

Thx!
Regards
Enrique

Yeah I can confirm after doing some more testing last night, the issue is present playing WAV files using aplay also, but for some reason it didn’t happen in my previous test…don’t you hate those :slight_smile:

I am struggling with the USBridge, so I decided to order a Digione to try. Since I’ve had no luck with the Dragonfly Red or SMSL M8, I also ordered a Chord Mojo…so hopefully one of these combos will work.

I am also happy to try and experiment with options from @allo.com @rahulkc_s

You will not be disappointed. The Digione is sounding so amazing right now. It is the best source I have ever had in my system. I am using Ropieee which is so easy to use. Install it and forget it.

I just set up the dual power supplies for my USBridge exactly as you have described. It may be my imagination, but the MQA tracks I have played so far sound even better that they did before (Meridian Explorer²), instruments and voices sound more “real”, and there is a nice stereo spaciousness.

Having an issue with Roon (DSP enabled), USBBridge and an ifi micro BL. Today I installed the Allo USB Wifi dongle and if I enable any DSP via Roon the ifi attached to the USBBridge will start to play and within seconds lose audio and still visible in roon, I can repeat that issue over and over. Plays fine if I disable DSP in roon and never had the issue over ethernet.

Dietpi V159
ifi Micro BL DAC
Allo USB WIFI dongle
Plugged into USB 3.0

I assume this has to do something with the USB wifi dongle?

Thanks

@Govnah

please update kernel through SSH/terminal

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

and change CPU Governer to performance on Dietpi web GU system settings , reboot and check.

WIFI + USBridgeworks better on CPU Governor on performance mode.

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@rahulkc_s

Did not address the issue, same issues after performing the kernel update and CPU change to performance. Any other suggestions before I send this back?

Also:

DietPi CPU Info
Use dietpi-config to change CPU / performance options
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Architecture | armv7l
Temp | 64’c : 147’f | Running hot, not recommended.
Governor | performance

Even at “OnDemand” it is running hot, properly ventilated and ambient temp ~65F. Do I have a bad USBBridge?

DietPi CPU Info
Use dietpi-config to change CPU / performance options
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Architecture | armv7l
Temp | 63’c : 145’f | Running hot, not recommended.
Governor | ondemand
Throttle up | 50% CPU usage

Thanks

Damn you Gerald, you’ve probably just tipped me over into trying the dual supply option as well; another £50 ‘down the drain’!

wrt Dragonfly Red noise at 24/96:
One workaround, while this is getting looked at by @allo.com, is to upsample everything to 96/24…this means you only get the buzz on the first song, and it is fine from there on(Only endure the noise once every listening session)

Obviously it means you need the DSP engine on.

Great Gerald, I felt too it was a great improvement. I have another two IFIPower at home for other purposes, perhaps I may change the one of Sparky as well, if I see any difference I’ll come back

haha yeah I am running it this way too…I run the PSU supplied with the USBridge into the Sparky, and a cleaner linear PSU into the USBridge.

Not sure if a linear PSU into the Sparky would improve it even further as I don’t have another one to test with…if someone has tried it let me know.

I shouldn’t ask this question as no doubt it will cost me but…which linear supply are you using for the USBridge

Mine is nothing spectacular: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/USB-out-DC-5V-9V-12V-15V-AC110V-220V-25VA-HIFI-linear-power-supply/1000004741091.html

I would love an Sbooster or Ultracap(https://uptoneaudio.com/products/ultracap-lps-1) , but probably overkill for USBridge.

@Phil_Wright

I got this LPS from Music Direct, “open box” for $239…

https://ciaudio.com/product/vdc•5-mkii-upgrade-power-supply/

I connected the LPS directly to the USBridge, not to Sparky.

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Thx! @Wouter_du_Toit I’ll give it a try

BTW I just plugged the Dragonfly in the USB 3.0 and works flawlessly with any frequency, I suppose there should be a decrease in SQ respect the USBridge, I’ll do some comparisons and come back with impressions, if you check this I’d be interested in your outputs.

However more information to help @allo.com

Aaaah good find! I can confirm no noise when switching to 24/96 on my USB3 port, even though the device is still USB 1.1:
root@usbbridge:~# lsusb -t
/: Bus 04.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=aotg_hcd/1p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/2p, 12M
/: Bus 03.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=aotg_hcd/1p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Hub, Driver=hub/4p, 480M
/: Bus 02.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci-hcd/1p, 5000M
/: Bus 01.Port 1: Dev 1, Class=root_hub, Driver=xhci-hcd/1p, 480M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 0, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 12M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 1, Class=Audio, Driver=snd-usb-audio, 12M
|__ Port 1: Dev 2, If 2, Class=Human Interface Device, Driver=usbhid, 12M

As for sound quality it takes a hit on USB3 obviously…

Looks interesting - £65 including shipping to the UK.

Having looked at it I’m slightly confused as to the socketry on it. On the front there’s a knob (presumably on/off) and a USB socket (presumably the output to the device, USBridge in our case).

On the rear there’s the power cable input and also two identical centre pin positive sockets. What are these for? I got excited at first thinking it had dual outputs (which given it’s 3.5A rating means it could have powered both the Sparky and the bridge). Suspect that’s not the case though.

nah don’t use both…I don’t use the USB output atm(but it is convenient to use in the future). I just got a 2.1mm <> 2.5mm convertor for the DC barrel jack, and connected that to USBridge.

A slight upgrade to this would be this one with the Talema tranformer: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Breeze-audio-weilaing-audio-Linear-Power-Supply-Regulated-power-supply-Refer-to-STUDER900-5V-6V-7V/32811138687.html

Other option is iFi’s switched psu.

@allo.com I got strange issue with my USBridge which just got delivered yesterday. Everytime I reboot the unit via DietPi terminal or Allo GUI, unit freezes and I can’t get it to work without disconnecting power cords. Unit is powered by 2 PSU’s (default PSU powering Sparky board and iFi iPower 5V powering USbridge board). J28 jumper has been removed.

Unit seems to work just fine after I connect cords again, but I like to tinker with settings and such, so it’s a big annoyance…

Any ideas what could cause this behaviour ?

Edit. Latest DietPi version installed.

Hi johan @allo.com

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, say 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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