Use Allo Digione or Usbridge in terms of sound quality?

This is a question for Allo, but I think that many people made this question.

Use Digione or Usbridge in terms of sound quality?

The majority of our dacs have both outputs, my experience has always been much better with spdif, but a headache has always been the choice of the most suitable cable. Although usb is more versatile, and most single dacs support native dsd for usb playback.

Do I also wonder if the output rca l conjunction is 75 Ohm believe that it is essential that, but I can be wrong, or maybe that sold separately bnc to rca adapter?

Thanks

USBbridge is only available for Sparky SBC and not for the RPi as far as I am aware.

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Yes it’s correct. But that is not a question or a problem for me.

Thanks

Nice!

Then it would be the DAC you plan to use that will be important in the decision.

In theory a good Master dac over USB (assuming a good Usb-to-I2S implementation in the DAC) could outperform SPdif as the timing is done by the DAC and not depending on the ‘embedded’ timing in the SPdif signal.

But I think with both options you can get a very decent result.

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Hi guys,

we have about 20 units on the way to customers. Hopefully they will be able to post reviews.

In my opinion best sound quality betwen USB and SPidif…depends on how both inputs are treated by your DAC. If Spidif is a better implementation (in the DAC) , then DIgiOne will be better and if USB has a good asynch with good oscilators and re clocking …then USB will sound better.

Both our solutions , DigiOne and USBridge are very high quality sources. In fact , we pride ourselves, that from a technical point of view , we are better than streamers that cost 600-1500$. We implemented a lot of filtering on each specific stage.

We did some testing …RPI USB+ DAC vs USBridge + DAC. We found that THD+N of the DAC increased 10db…every 6db of increase means double

Looking forward to seeing what you guys think on SQ.

Many thanks Allo, the question is not for me, but several people who have asked me. I follow with the piano 2.1 dual mono and hoping to buy the Allo Isolator soon. Although I would like to compare a good configuration i2s (Rpi/isolator/kali/piano 2.1 in dual mono with my dac ifi micro idsd with usbridge(and sparky). We have some review on that.

Best regards.

I just got my USBridge couple of days ago. Am not able to make it work with Volumio. Should i wait for next release of Volumio for Sparky?

If you have powered usbridge correctly, you have installed the software correctly and you have connected your dac to usbridge volumio you should recognize your dac without problem (in theory).

Is your software configured like this? (From usbridge manual)
Software :
Note : /boot/kernel.dtb has to be updated for enabling USB port-1
• Old version images sparky usb port-1 tied with wlan_8723bu.ko driver. On inserting this module
will enable this port. add wlan_8723bu on /etc/modules to insert it on every reboot
• OR download latest kernel.dtb from sparky github link and copy to /boot/
raw.githubusercontent.com/spark … kernel.dtb
For more info refer notes on github.com/sparkysbc/sparky_linux_images

I am powering the unit through USBridge. The sparky seems to power up fine as I am able to launch volumio, scan my music directory. I have tried both the jumper settings and both work fine in powering up the unit.

The volumio came preinstalled by Allo. Still i have replaced the kernel as per notes mentioned. Still no sound form my USB dac. Where should i see the dac being recognised? In the Volumio GUI? It is only giving me option of Piano and Piano 2.1 if i enable I2S.

I might be missing something obvious but am bit of a noob, so checking if am doing anything completely wrong.

Guys, the USB Bridge image is ready to be released, we’re doing the final touches to it. So please be patient.

But, there is a very important remark I need to do here.

We never release products on our shop before we actually have them working flawlessly into Volumio. We do this to protect our customers from false expectations and because we want to deliver only 100% tested hardware which works great and sounds good.
This is because we did not release the USB Bridge yet into our shop.

Then, you all know that the only way you can actively support volumio is via purchases on our shop. If you consider what I just wrote, that means that for the rush of getting new products you have 2 disadvantages:

  • You can wait some time before being able to actually use it
  • You’re not supporting Volumio in any way

So I would ask anyone here, to purchase such products in our shop, not only to receive them when they are actually working and supported, but also to contribute back what you’re getting for free in Volumio.

It makes me a bit sad and disappointed to see people which buy elsewhere then coming here to ask for help.

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USBridge its not to i2s dac. Try “usb:audio” in “output device” no in Dac mode, this is only i2s dac.

If your dac usb is connected to usbridge and you do not see it in "output device "something is wrong in your configuration.
I advise you to start configuration from the beginning, you may not have done something basic.

Hi Michelangelo,

I never thought of it that way. Am very new to the sbc scene. I got to know about Allo products just a couple of months ago and about volumio after getting the vanaplayer.

I definitely concur with you said. I love Volumio and Allo products. Would definitely do my bit to support. Thanks a ton for all the good work.

Thanks
Satya

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I appreciate! :wink:

USBRIDGE is clearly a fine product that cleans up and reclocks the audio data stream from the Sparky SBC. In my setup the USBRIDGE feeds an Amanero combo384 sound card with supported sample rates of 44.1Khz 48Khz 88.2Khz 96Khz 176.4Khz 192Khz 352.8Khz 384Khz. The output format is I2S 32bit or DSD64,DSD128 for Linux, but is also up to DSD256,DSD512 on Windows. Downstream are two ES9038pro DAC chips for decoding.
There are always many subjective conversations on the relative audio quality of any audio ‘system’. In this case, the Allo USBRIDGE is excellent and keeps up with DSD128 with no problem. In short I like it. In the next release of Volume 2 for the USBRIDGE I hope to see DSD256 and DSD512 supported. Presently native DSD256 and DSD512 are dependent on the Windows ASIO driver for playing native DSD.
In my case, an S/PDIF input only supports PCM 44.1K~192K 16~24bit DOP 64x, so it is not as versatile as the USB. For the supported sample rates the audio quality is comparable.

We advertise 384Khz/ DSD 128, but it can go higher. However dsd 512…thats too high.

“We advertise 384Khz/ DSD 128, but it can go higher. However dsd 512…thats too high.”

A most interesting comment… Can you elaborate ‘higher’ and in particular where is the limitation?

Between DSD128 & DSD512 there is only DSD256.

My question was simple and designed so that Allo might respond with a more comprehensive answer. Here I provide a bit of technical background on DSD.
In the Windows world there is the ASIO driver that handles native DSD. I remain interested in how the USBRIDGE handles DSD256 and not DSD512. Without a driver (Linux), all the digital audio data on the USB port are seen as PCM data. How does the USBRIDGE work with Volumio to solve this problem? DSD native transmission needs an ASIO driver that communicates the start of a DSD stream. DoP has a big advantage, no driver. DoP uses PCM transmission so a driver is not required for MacOS or Linux. The limit is the maximum transmission speed. On the other hand the native DSD transmission pushes the speed beyond, but requires a driver.

For DSD256 a 48 kHz variant of 12.288 MHz exists. The exaSound e20 DAC was the first device capable of DSD256 playback at sampling rates of 11.2896 and 12.288 MHz.

DSD uses sigma-delta modulation.
DSD64 is 1-bit with a 2.8224 MHz sampling rate.
DSD128 is 5.6448 MHz sample rate is
DSD256 is 11.2896MHz sampling rate
DSD512, has a sample rate of 22.5792 MHz (512 times that of CD)
Hardware such as the Amanero Combo384 DSD output adapter is a USB to I²S interface, and with a USB software driver can handle native DSD at these advanced sampling rates. Advances to the Amanero combo384 firmware are ongoing.

DoP (DSD over PCM) requires high rate PCM capability to be able to playback high rate DSD files: DSD 64 requires a 176.4 PCM package, DSD 128 requires a 352.8 PCM package, and DSD 256 requires a 705.6 PCM package. Not a lot of DACs can do 705.6 PCM, so DSD 256 delivery is generally limited to Native DSD streams.

Hi

there is a patch on kernel that allows native DSD streams up to 256 (native) . However 512 there seems to be some problems depending on software you are using etc so we don’t recommend it.

The only DAC that we know has a problem on DSD 256 is Mytek Brookyn . (it plays but with some distortion )

Isn’t the software Volumio 2, the distribution provided for the USBRIDGE?

If possible, please let us know the significant changes to the next version of Volumio 2 for USBRIDGE, a transport that includes Sparky + USBridge. Where can one find the distributions for USBRIDGE and change logs?