ALLO USBridge

Volumio runs mpc update in the background. When we press update library. It takes lot of time to update and build library. Best way is to not use it while it's updating. updation takes lot of cpu and I/O. How big library of files have you got? I have around 4.5 tb of music files and it take few hours to update. What do you experience when you say it crashed? Does it restart or get unresponsive?

completely hangs, ofcourse it was on RAPI2 and not on the sparky
 
completely hangs, ofcourse it was on RAPI2 and not on the sparky

I have tried the update on rpi3 model b as well. It works fine. Rpi2 has same RAM as rpi3 but slower cpu. Did you try logging using ssh. Does ssh also hang?
 
I have tried the update on rpi3 model b as well. It works fine. Rpi2 has same RAM as rpi3 but slower cpu. Did you try logging using ssh. Does ssh also hang?
Did lots of stuff...been long back, so do not remember too much details.
 
maybe because of high cpu and I/o utilisation, you may have experienced the unresponsiveness.also as you say it was long back, new versions have many issues fixed and I dont find any issue with new versions. It may be worth to check out if you can once again.
 
I run picoreplayer on a rpi3+digione. Entirely controlled by browser. Admittedly not a huge library (200gb or so), but a full rescan takes only about 3mins, with the rpi playing flac at the same time.
 
Not possible to browse and select music files. Another way to playback is to use volumio as dlna renderer and use software such a bubbleupnp to control but you will need a dlna server which contains the music files maybe on a NAS
One more option is to use Emby Server, I originally had mpd (with O!mpd based Web browser UI) on DietPi, but after trying out Emby Server rarely use mpd. Btw, in addition, have ReadyMedia/MiniDLNA, MinimServer and Kodi, but still Emby seems to serve my music use cases best, without any need to use any of these...
 
The ALLO USBridge arrived yesterday evening.
It has been a revelation so far.

Since my main music hard disk is fixed inside the Mac Mini, I have just copied a few songs in pen drive for listening, but have installed the youtube plugin to listen to songs (mainly been listening to Thaikkudam bridge).

It is definitely a step up when compared to PC as a source.

It shipped with Volumio, not my favorite actually. Will get another eMMC to download and install dietpi and try that aswell.

Also plan to get another adapter from ALLO to use the dual power configuration offered by USBridge.

Will update after completing the full configuration.
 
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

You will be surprised with what change can a psu bring. Trust me I have experimented a lot with psu's and battery's and they definetely matter and definetely bring smoothness to sound. Psu is definetely better than a battery. batteries IMO make the sound thin on bass with what I have heard. Also battery will not supply the 5v required for rpi/sparky and need to be voltage regulated that induces noise. Usbridge has a jumper setting to allow 5v external psu. I have also ordered some replacement elna caps for the psu that i have, said to make it even better. PSU at digital source have the most astounding effect on sound. Some guy on below forum uses a 3x psu to power his rpi/digione and says it's better than rpi/singxer su1.

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/37205-allo-digione/?page=10
 
Also allo is said to be working on a psu that they say will be the best in market. It will be released in coming weeks, not sure of the price though. This means that they themselves are of the opinion that psu matters alot.
 
Also allo is said to be working on a psu that they say will be the best in market. It will be released in coming weeks, not sure of the price though. This means that they themselves are of the opinion that psu matters alot.

That is good indication of the worth of a PSU.
Thanks for sharing the information.
 
Completely agree with @firearm12 about benefits of using a good PSU , a liner PSU instead of a switching wall wart for a digital transport or a dac
 
Also allo is said to be working on a psu that they say will be the best in market. It will be released in coming weeks, not sure of the price though. This means that they themselves are of the opinion that psu matters alot.

Am also eager to know what they come up with
Makes perfect business sense for them as well as many audiophiles are liking their transports if not the dacs and all reviewers have written about a clear benefit sound wise when used with LPSU
 
MY USBridge came with Volumio on the eMMc card, and I also have dietpi/ALLO GUI configured into a SD card.

By default Sparky boots off emmc card, so after getting guidance from ALLO, I have edited the bootmanager to first boot off SD Card.

Setting SD Card as 1st boot: (Advantage: Easy removal unlike eMMC)
I am showing for Volumio via eMMC, if you have dietpi, change accordingly. I think with dietpi also, the first boot is off eMMc card.

1. First boot from eMMC card and check that the OS has fully booted through the web interface ( volumio.local or via 'ipaddress' ). To find ip address, check the client table in your router configuration.
2. If booting Volumio for first time go to the page 'volumio.local/dev' in your browser or 'ipaddrees/dev' if volumio.local does not work.
3. In the 'volumio.local/dev' page, click enable against SSH as by default SSH is disabled in Volumio.

Here is the screen shot

ssh_enable.png

The above steps not needed for dietpi as SSH is enabled by default

4. Start SSH application in your PC.
5. Login to terminal with ipaddress and do the following steps
do SSH login:
- username: volumio
- password: volumio
- su
- password: volumio
- cd /usr/src
- wget https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sparky-sbc/sparky-test/master/boot-device/install.sh
- sh install.sh
6. that's it, now you can shut down at SSH terminal and restart, or reboot Volumio from the web interface.
Now your default boot is set to SD card

I have Volumio configured for playing files both from a NAS HDD and a hard disk connected to USB.
But Volumio continues to be notorious when it comes to managing big libraries, and can often crash and you will need to reinitialize your library once in a while.

Volumio is by default configured as a DLNA renderer, so you can use it as a endpoint with bubblepnp server or even simply through Tuneblade TuneBlade - System-wide audio streamer
installed on your PC and use any music player like foobar or JRiver. Set output to default and Tuneblade will direct the output to Volumio.

You can also use other MPD clients with Volumio, but I have not tried them yet.

Dietpi with ALLO GUI
This flavor comes pre-installed with multiple software endpoints like Roon, O!MPD, squeezelite, HQPlayer and more.
With Roon, HQ player etc. you need to buy the PC side of the software.
O!MPD is totally free and access is through web interface.

But unlike Volumio which has a GUI interface for adding USB drives and NAS drives, you need to run dietpi-software via SSH to mount USB hard disks and samba (NAS) drives.
All the mounted drives will be accessible in O!MPD

Configuring O!MPD for all files playback.
This is the best part of O!MPD for me as I prefer explorer like option to choose and play files instead of the library way.
By default, this is disabled in O!MPD.
To enable, get into the configuration file by clicking on 'Settings' and go down to
'Allow access to all files' and set it to 'true' in the command line.

Screenshot
all files.jpg

That's it, now you can access you entire music library if in a USB hard disk or NAS drive without the need for library management.
 

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Do check out picoreplayer + lms. Fast and stable. Excellent audio quality. My config is raspi 3 + digione - > bryston dac/pre - > peeceebee v4
 
Do check out picoreplayer + lms. Fast and stable. Excellent audio quality. My config is raspi 3 + digione - > bryston dac/pre - > peeceebee v4
picoreplayer does not work with sparky which is what USBridge ships with
 
Slightly off topic
Pardon me for that
I hope all of you are aware of the new digione SIGNATURE
Better clocks and power regulator's
Also a reclocker

I feel a new usbridge will be launched in very near future
 
Buy from India's official online dealer!
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