moode audio or volumio for boss2 player

[sand87ch]

hi,
is moode audio or volumio better to be installed on allo boss 2 player?

 

[premoddev]

It's all about your preference.. you can always change. Read the features and take the call.

 

[Kannan]

hi,
is moode audio or volumio better to be installed on allo boss 2 player?

I switched to MoODe 2 years back after experiencing lots of issue with library management in Volumio.
Volumio though has an app interface which is lacking in MoOde.
Sound quality wise both are fine.
You can also look at Picoplayer/LMS combo which is more feature rich.

 

[sandeepsasi]

I switched to MoODe 2 years back after experiencing lots of issue with library management in Volumio.
Volumio though has an app interface which is lacking in MoOde.
Sound quality wise both are fine.
You can also look at Picoplayer/LMS combo which is more feature rich.

+1

I started with Volumio in my Allo Katana Player, two years ago. The reason I chose Volumio was because based on what I understood back then, Moode did not support headless mode (AP mode) out of the box, like it does today. With headless mode, we don't need an ethernet connection even for initial configuration. I have content stored on USB hard drives, connected to the Pi using a powered USB hub. Right from the start, I have been experiencing various niggles with Volumio. I used to overlook these issues considering what I had to pay for the software (0/-). Primarily, I used to face three issues:

1. Time to cache the music database, which used to be ~2mins initially when the size of the content was ~400MB, increased to 20+mins as the size of the content grew to GBs
2. As the size of the content grew, the time it took for USB drives to show up in the Volumio GUI increased to 10+mins. This is in spite of the fact that the underlying Linux system mounted the drives almost instantly after boot, as seen by connecting over ssh
3. The worst problem was random disappearance of one or more USB drives in the Volumio GUI, after boot (I keep Katana powered down when not in use). Once this happens, the disappeared drive never appears again, even after multiple reboots. Only solution used to be the painful process of rebuilding the music database

Problem (3) used to to go away after some software updates, only to come back again after later updates.

Around six months back, I had to pull the plug on Volumio and switched to Moode. None of the above issues have appeared even since. Time to build the music database (3TB+ across 3x USB drives) is ~5mins on Raspberry Pi 3B+ and now I am able to access the content from the Moode GUI in about 1min after boot.

Sound quality wise, I couldn't find any difference in my setup.

With regards,
Sandeep Sasi

 

[Vineethkumar01]

hi,
is moode audio or volumio better to be installed on allo boss 2 player?

I have been using moode on Boss 2 player for sometime.
To me, it sounds good. I have only used Volumio for about a month in the past. Didn't have much issues though.
To me one of the most attractive things about moode is its very good integration of CamillaDSP which is a very powerful package. I have played around with it for making custom EQ and other custom filters.

 

[sand87ch]

ok.i have one more ques.
so i have the sd card with moode flashed and inserted into the allo player.now i can ssh and also login to the pi using localhost and make changes reading their git read me file.

What i dont find is how do i activate the led screen on the boss player?

Any ideas or any doc or something u can point me to that you all used?

 

[mbhangui]

What i dont find is how do i activate the led screen on the boss player?

Any ideas or any doc or something u can point me to that you all used?

You have to install the oled driver for boss.

http://3.230.113.73:9011/Allocom/Boss2/Boss2_oled_install_steps

 

[mbhangui]

hi,
is moode audio or volumio better to be installed on allo boss 2 player?

There won't be any difference in SQ. But there are pros and cons. I have used volumio, dietpi and moode.

Moode
Pros:
1. Excellent interface. Works right the first time.
2. What goes into the build is only those versions that are tested and found to work. This has cons too explained below
3. Allows you to use any player to control mpd (cantata on linux, mac, windows, mpdroid on android, etc)

Cons:
1. Forces an old kernel version. This is because only components that are tested and found to work goes out in the released build.
2. Has no support for mpd sticker database. This means you cannot store extended information in mpd, things like song rating, last played, play counts, etc. I have requested Tim to add sticker support and also support for satellite mpd players. These will get added in next version.
3. If you configure extra features in mpd.conf, it gets overwritten by moode.

DietPI
Pros:
1. Allows you to update the OS, Kernel version upto a point. Allows apt-get update. Doesn't force any fixed version of component software like mpd, etc
2. You can have your own mpd configuration
3. You will be spoiled for choices when it comes to installing extra software though the DietPI software menu.
4. Allows you to use any player to control mpd (cantata on linux, mac, windows, mpdroid on android, etc)
5. Sticker support in mpd.
6. Allows you to remove a lot of software and make it more efficient and leaner.

Cons:
1. Too many shell scripts (some of them can be written better) running in cron, etc.

Volumio:

Pros:
1. Maybe people find the interface good.
2. Allows folks enamoured by Tidal to use MQA.
3. has a paid subscription (if you count that as a pro).

Cons:
1. it forces the mpd playlist down your throat. It controls the playlist and doesn't allow any other player on your linux, mac, android to control mpd. If you add any songs outside volumio, suddenly you find all songs disappear. Only volumio's own paid app can control mpd if you want to use your mobile phone to control it.
2. No sticker support in mpd. So you can't maintain your own ratings, likes etc. This gets maintained in volumio database. This will force you use volumio and volumio alone. If you have large number of songs with likes rating, you cannot move away without losing data.
3. You cannot update the os, os components to what is available latest. volumio and moode are like walled gardens, but moode does it to provide a consistent quality.
4. If you configure extra features in mpd.conf, it gets overwritten. IIRC, it doesn't allow you to update mpd to the latest version. It forces you to use a custom built mpd player from the volumio repo

This are just my views. I use none of them now and use the official Raspbian kernel and sources. But not everyone can manage that. IMHO, moode was the most trouble free, works first time installation. Also Tim Curtis, the author of moode is very helpful on the forum.

 

[sand87ch]

i dont know if its my ears playing tricks on me but moode audio seems a lot better than volumio for me.

what tops everything for me is the clear seperation, sense of space and the clarity.its mind boggling as to how a single item can cause so much change.

I can confidently say that the dac on my marantz PM 6007 from cd sounds less engaging.

only gripe on my alloboss 2 player is that i cant use the remote to change the volume on the player.have to again and again change it on the player.dont know wats missing that the remotes not working though it works intermitently on volumio in the same device

 

[mbhangui]

only gripe on my alloboss 2 player is that i cant use the remote to change the volume on the player.have to again and again change it on the player.dont know wats missing that the remotes not working though it works intermitently on volumio in the same device

Did you try the instructions for installing the oled driver for boss2?

Step 1

cd /opt/
wget http://3.230.113.73:9011/Allocom/Boss2/boss2_oled.tar.gz
tar -xzvf boss2_oled.tar.gz
cd boss2_oled
./install_boss2_oled.sh

Step 2. Ensure that you have python installed and it is python2

$ which python
python is /usr/bin/python
$ ls -l /usr/bin/python
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 7 Mar 4 2019 /usr/bin/python -> python2

Step 3 Ensure that you have the two lines in /etc/rc.local

boss2flag=1
python /opt/boss2_oled/boss2_oled.py &

 

[sand87ch]

Did you try the instructions for installing the oled driver for boss2?

Step 1


Step 2. Ensure that you have python installed and it is python2

Step 3 Ensure that you have the two lines in /etc/rc.local

ok i will check these.i had also contacted allo regarding this and they asked me to install r721 version and they claimed that would neagte the need for i stalling the iled driver.That worked.

I will check with what you have suggested.probably that may take care of the remote issue i hope.

 

[sand87ch]

So over the last 2 -3 days i have been playing around with boss 2 player and also asking queries here etc.

I thank everybody here who in some ways have tried to chip in and help out with their ideas.I am sharing here so that if someone in future faces such issue he/she can read this and understand why its so.

Initially i had installed volumio shared by jestin from allo.I then moved to moode to checked out the SQ diff.I liked it but saw 2 issues:-

1.Volume stays at 0.0db and remote cant be used to change it.Only the control on the boss 2 player can be used and that will again change the moment one disconnects airplay and reconnects.

2.Remote control wont work(its not that one needs it but still..)

I also tried stuff mentioned in this thread and also raised a ticket here

https://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=4340

Allo after some troubleshooting is of the view that its hardware related.Still i just wanted to be sure and hence installed volumio back again to test.

The volume stays at what you set from UI and also the remote works and can be used to change the volume.

So its kind of a feature as mentioned by tim curtis of Moode in the above link.I have my doubts though as the volume can still be changed using the button on the player except the remote or UI.I will update this as and when i get a clarity on this.

 

[msankadi]

Hi a bit offtopic but i am researching more about the allo boss 2 and just heard amazing things about it in audio science review.

Can someone tell me the difference between boss 2 acrylic and boss 2 player? There is roughly 30% price difference

 

[Yogesh]

Boss 2 acrylic comes without Pi AFAIK.

 

[mbhangui]

Boss 2 acrylic comes without Pi AFAIK.

Exactly. It also comes without the sd card with the OS. If you already have a Raspberry PI, this is what you should buy. Also you will not get the OLED screen and remote with boss2 acrylic.

 

[vizeta]

Exactly. It also comes without the sd card with the OS. If you already have a Raspberry PI, this is what you should buy. Also you will not get the OLED screen and remote with boss2 acrylic.

Actually, as per Allo, BOSS2 acrylic case does come with the Remote + OLED screen.

 

[msankadi]

Do you know what is the max bitrate I can get out of tidal in allo boss 2

 

[laurelsudeep]

Hi a bit offtopic but i am researching more about the allo boss 2 and just heard amazing things about it in audio science review.

Can someone tell me the difference between boss 2 acrylic and boss 2 player? There is roughly 30% price difference

No difference at all in terms of performance.
Acrylic is cheaper, if you are really tight on budget, go for it.
The regular one has aluminium body with earthing terminal, which comes in handy if you are planning to add their smps or linear power supply.

 

[Credoh]

Having used both Volumio and Moode, I'd vote for the latter. In terms of SQ absolutely no discernible difference. Interface of Volumio is slightly easier to navigate and it has Tidal connect but Moode is very stable and much easier to update ota (atleast until Volumio 3). YMMV but the best way is to experiment.

 

[rajivaryan1984]

I have tried everything but not sure why Volumio is not taking the full screen on my 4K Television. I have attached some images for reference.

I am currently using Allo Boss 2 Player (https://allo.com/sparky/boss2-player.html) which has HDMI output which support upto 4K 60 FPS and I am using a Mini HDMI Cable adapter (https://www.amazon.in/gp/product/B00B2HORKE/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) and an HDMI cable for the same but not sure what is going wrong that I am not able to get the full screen and by the way this is happening for both Volumio as well as Moode. Kindly suggest. I have already tried this –