Getting most from allo digione or usbridge

firearm12

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Guys,

Now that I am hearing differences between digital cables and what not, I am writing this guide for allo users (especially who use volumio but despise the volumio interface such as myself) to get better sound and simpler experience. It has worked for me. If you prefer volumio interface, this guide is not for you. I dont like volumio interface especially when it tries to scan the library on boot and was pissed off initailly when i did not find any option to browse files/folders. If you are not comfortable with ssh terminals and linux, you may want to avoid this unless you want some adventure.

Volumio has better sound imo than other players and it uses mpd in backend. If you are usng something else, try volumio atleast once, you will be surprised. Below is valid for both usbridge and digione users.

1) I assume you have latest volumio image on the microsd card. If not, then grab latest image and boot using the microsd card. Use ethernet cable for LAN connection to connect, no wifi please.

2) Once booted, it will get an IP from your router. You can check the ipaddress from router settings page and reserve it for allo device so that it gets same everytime its rebooted.

2) After its booted up, enter the ip address (of the usbridge or digione ) in your browser. http://<VOLUMIO_IPADDR>. Initial setup screen comes, you can select the audio output device. Dont scan your NAS or USBdrives for music yet. Press finish.

3) Once done, it will reboot or come to main volumio screen. Now, get the ipaddress of your allo device and enter http://<ipaddress>/DEV. Now press enable ssh.

4) Once ssh is enabled, you can access the allo device using ssh through a terminal or putty software. the default username password is volumio/volumio. Once login, get root access

volumio@volumio:~$ sudo su
[sudo] password for volumio:
root@volumio:/home/volumio#

4) Now we need to disable volumio service. This will disable web interface of volumio. We are disabling it because we need control mpd directly instead of volumio controlling it.

root@volumio:/home/volumio# systemctl stop volumio
root@volumio:/home/volumio# systemctl disable volumio

5). First, we try finding the ouput device using below command. For usbridge users, it wll show the dac description which is connected. this is the device that plays all the music.

root@volumio:/home/volumio# aplay -L
**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
hw:CARD=sndallodigione,DEV=0
snd_allo_digione,
Direct hardware device without any conversions

6) Now we need to get some music. It can be stored in locally connected usb harddrive or NAS. For sound quality, local usb music is preferred. If you are like me and like to store music on NAS , then I found sshfs is identical in quality to locally stored music.

6a) If you use local USB drive, identity local USB drive mount point once its connected. Make note of the name. Here its /media/USB_DRIVE1

root@volumio:/home/volumio# df -k
Filesystem 1K-blocks Used Available Use% Mounted on
/dev/mmcblk0p2 2275928 675848 1464752 32% /imgpart
/dev/loop0 299008 299008 0 100% /static
overlay 28129548 3111320 23560924 12% /
devtmpfs 485020 0 485020 0% /dev
tmpfs 497052 0 497052 0% /dev/shm
tmpfs 497052 17060 479992 4% /run
tmpfs 5120 4 5116 1% /run/lock
tmpfs 497052 0 497052 0% /sys/fs/cgroup
tmpfs 497052 36 497016 1% /tmp
tmpfs 497052 0 497052 0% /var/spool/cups
tmpfs 20480 32 20448 1% /var/log
tmpfs 497052 0 497052 0% /var/spool/cups/tmp
/dev/mmcblk0p1 61522 37184 24338 61% /boot
tmpfs 99412 0 99412 0% /run/user/0
/dev/sdc1 972879688 174133796 749907904 19% /media/USB_DRIVE1

6b). If you using NAS, sshfs is best way I found to access network music. It gives quality identical to locally stored music imo better than using samba or nfs shares. Playing through upnp/DLNA/bubbleupnp is strict no no. Install sshfs and mount the remote NAS folder that contains music. For it to work you need to have passwordless root authentication from allo device to NAS device. Google to enable ssh on NAS and setup keybased paswordless authentication.

root@volumio:/home/volumio# apt-get install sshfs

Setup password authentication to NAS (This is mandatory) Below command should work without any password being asked.
root@volumio:/home/volumio# ssh <NAS_IPADDRESS>

Mount the NAS folder which contains music to a mountpoint and make a note of it. Here its /mymusic

root@volumio:/home/volumio# mkdir /mymusic
root@volumio:/home/volumio# sshfs -o allow_other <NAS_IPADDRESS>:/MUSIC_FOLDER /mymusic


Put below line inside /etc/fstab file (open using command nano /etc/fstab) so that its mounted on every start.
root@<NAS_IPADDRESS>:/MUSIC_FOLDER /mymusic fuse.sshfs x-systemd.automount,_netdev,allow_other,cache_timeout=300 0 0

6). Now we are ready to configure mpd. Open /etc/mpd.conf using nano. Its a text file and needs to be modified. find and replace below lines according to your config

music_directory "/mymusic" # Name of mountpoint in step6. This contains all music
auto_update "no"
# Get rid of all auto library updates on reboot and so on.

Make sure below block has approprate values according to your device

audio_output {
type "alsa"
name "alsa"
device "hw:sndallodigione" # Name of the ouput device as is step 5
dop "no"

}

7) After making all changes to /etc/mpd.conf, restart mpd

root@volumio:~$ service mpd retstart

8) Now, we can use M.A.L.P for android to control and play music. Install MALP app from andorid store on your phone

Open MALP app. Goto profiles.
Add ip for your allo device there.
Then goto server properties and press - update server database.
it will take some time (may be few hours if music is stored on remote NAS.

Once library is updated, you will have all your music visible in the app and can play. If you add new music to your harddrives, then just need to click update-server-database in the app again. MALP also has the option to browse using files/folders which is very useful.

9) Quick tip for tidal users through bubbleupnp. As you know volumio comes with upnp renderer capability which you can use to stream tidal from bubbleupnp app. But thats not ideal way and doesnt give good sound quality, You need to install upmpdcli-tidal plugin (https://www.lesbonscomptes.com/upmpdcli/downloads.html) and configure your tidal user/password in /etc/upmpdcli.conf. Once done you will get a new media server in your bubbleupnp app through which you can play better quality tidal.
 
Hi
Superb guide for volumio users

But one thing confuses me , volumio itself allows to browse music via file / folder structure and I guess that's what you wanted

Am I missing something?
 
Hi
Superb guide for volumio users

But one thing confuses me , volumio itself allows to browse music via file / folder structure and I guess that's what you wanted

Am I missing something?

Maybe they added it in later versions only. I was not bothered to go back, second reason was unexpected auto library updates that cause slowdowns. I found no reason to use their interface. MALP was simple and fast for me.
 
Maybe they added it in later versions only. I was not bothered to go back, second reason was unexpected auto library updates that cause slowdowns. I found no reason to use their interface. MALP was simple and fast for me.


Agree on that part .
Library updates do take lots of time.
 
Did you try mOode OS? I have switched from Volumio to this couple of years back. The latest version is very good and I find this to be better compared to Volumio :)
 
Better in what way, what are the advantageous?
Better presentation (what they call in audiophile terms a very dark presentation :) ) and clarity without any hiccups either at startup or later even when I play DSD files. Using Volumio I used to get slight hiss sound in my setup even though I use a LPSU to power the Pi3 board with its on board bluetooth/wifi disabled. I use the Soekris R2R DAC with the Amanero I2S dac (without the power mod) so this I2S dac is powered via the Pi's USB port and I use a Audioquest Jitter bug to connect the same ;)
With Moode its just plain silent :)
 
Better presentation (what they call in audiophile terms a very dark presentation :) ) and clarity without any hiccups either at startup or later even when I play DSD files. Using Volumio I used to get slight hiss sound in my setup even though I use a LPSU to power the Pi3 board with its on board bluetooth/wifi disabled. I use the Soekris R2R DAC with the Amanero I2S dac (without the power mod) so this I2S dac is powered via the Pi's USB port and I use a Audioquest Jitter bug to connect the same ;)
With Moode its just plain silent :)
I dont know is mOode is supported in Sparky boards.
However my experience with Volumio has been different. The background is dark and the speakers are dead silent. The background improved further as I moved on from SMPS based supply to LPS and also after adding an isolation transformer.
I use a TEAC DAC and interestingly I use the Audioquest jitterbug between my externally powered hard disk and the USB port on the Sparky board,
Except for a very rare incident of library giving up on reboot after a abnormal shutdown due to a power outage, I have never had any problems with Volumio. The library management has improved by leap and bounds unless your files or on the network.
Another advantage of Volumio is direct support for systemwide audio streamers like Tuneblade. There is no need to install any upnp servers.
It is a simple tool that sist on the sytem tray and detects the volumio on the network. Just play any audio or even video from your laptop or phone and it will stream without a hitch to Volumio.
Other benefits include connecting a CD player directly to the USB for direct CD playback, inbuilt support of youtube, roon, tidal, spotify and other streaming applications. Other than that support for network drives, but library management can be a pain here.
 
Better presentation (what they call in audiophile terms a very dark presentation :) ) and clarity without any hiccups either at startup or later even when I play DSD files. Using Volumio I used to get slight hiss sound in my setup even though I use a LPSU to power the Pi3 board with its on board bluetooth/wifi disabled. I use the Soekris R2R DAC with the Amanero I2S dac (without the power mod) so this I2S dac is powered via the Pi's USB port and I use a Audioquest Jitter bug to connect the same ;)
With Moode its just plain silent :)

I never had any hissing issues with volumio. I tried to use dietpi also using mpd and volumio image was better sounding. But let me try moodeos. Lets see.
 
I haven't tried the new versions of Volumio and maybe the newer versions are more stable and sounding better. I will try out and see if the newer Volumio sounds better.

Thanks
 
Did you try mOode OS? I have switched from Volumio to this couple of years back. The latest version is very good and I find this to be better compared to Volumio :)
I don't see a MoOde version for Sparky board. With the one made for Raspi boot in Sparky?
 
Latest Volumio is very good-sounding. Try it out.

And folder navigation even through a small phone screen is quite logical. The tree structure is just like the tree on a Windows Explorer. Personally I dislike thumbnail navigation on any media player (let it be JRiver or Roon or whatever) and prefer folder navigation.
 
Ok I installed the latest Volumio on my spare 8GB SD card and powered up. Easy to setup with intuitive user interface with logical steps to configure, the best I liked so far. Plug and play for the Spotify plugin but I could not find the Tidal app.
Listening to the DSD files and it is indeed very good nothing to loose compared to the mOode OS :)
 
I use picoreplayer on an rpi3 and spotify/tidal/local flac sound pretty good with the digione. Stock.
 
I just bought the newly released Allo Shanti LPS for my USBridge. I have been using the SMPS supply with the USBridge for the past year. The Shanti with the USBridge sounds much much better. In my setup, its making everything sound more three dimensional.
 
I just bought the newly released Allo Shanti LPS for my USBridge. I have been using the SMPS supply with the USBridge for the past year. The Shanti with the USBridge sounds much much better. In my setup, its making everything sound more three dimensional.
True after I switched to LPS the music presentation has gone up by quite a few notches. Try dual power supply for a even a better presentation.
Just remove the jumper from the Sparky board and feed LPS power to the USBridge and regular Allo power to the Sparky board. I am thinking of powering even the Sparky with LPS. Though I got a dual supply LPS, the current rating from one output is not enough to power the Sparky, so still using the ALLO adapter for Sparky.
 
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