Allo Usbridge Signature

[Kawihornet]

Hey Everyone -

Im new here but wanted to get your thoughts.
I purchased a Usbridge signature but cheaped out and did not purchase the linear power supply.
I purchased a power battery pack (for a phone) and use it to power the unit.
I noticed a significant improvement in sq but was curious would this be even
better than a linear power supply or would I get better results with
the linear power supply they sell.


Thanks so much for everything you guys do here!
Kawihornet

 

[Doodski]

If anything the battery power would be the cleanest DC source. The linear supply does have the advantage of not requiring charging. The internal circuitry should be capable of cleaning up any DC that is incoming into the Usbridge Signature. I would go for a linear supply for the ease of use.

 

[ahofer]

How do you like it? Are you using it as a Roon endpoint? or for some other streaming system?

 

[Kawihornet]

If anything the battery power would be the cleanest DC source. The linear supply does have the advantage of not requiring charging. The internal circuitry should be capable of cleaning up any DC that is incoming into the Usbridge Signature. I would go for a linear supply for the ease of use.

I thought so to but the darn thing draws so little power I've had it going for a while now and the battery pack is still at 90% charge... so its really not a big pain at all...

 

[Kawihornet]

How do you like it? Are you using it as a Roon endpoint? or for some other streaming system?

Yes im using it as a roon endpoint with diet pi right now. I'm wanting to try hifiberry but havn't had the time yet... so far so good tho! It would be interesting to see it what it measures out at on the AP...

 

[somy]

How does it compare to standard rpi 4? Looks like they isolate the usb traffic from the bus in rpi 4, does USBridge still outperform it?

 

[tw99]

Standard rpi4 will be as good and much cheaper...

 

[ahofer]

Standard rpi4 will be as good and much cheaper...

I have one and have been playing around with it a bit. Flashed RopieeXL on it-which has some Wi-Fi configuration bugs. Then Mo0de, which works fine so far. I have Volumio on a dedicated player at my other home, which also works well if you avoid the horrendous Android app (iOS works perfectly so far). I’m looking for multicasting capability, though, and considering configuring Roon endpoints.
Preparing myself for the Chromecast Audio end of useful life. Honestly, it seems to have accumulated some serious bugs already. I find most casting applications lose connection frequently.

 

[Kawihornet]

Standard rpi4 will be as good and much cheaper...

so you own both and have compared?

 

[wannarock2]

Just in case you had not seen this review.

 

[somy]

Can the performance of rpi 4 vs USBridge as a streamer be measured?

 

[tw99]

so you own both and have compared?

Why would I need to. With a well designed DAC there will be no difference.

 

[Kawihornet]

Why would I need to. With a well designed DAC there will be no difference.

Ahhh, Ignorance is bliss enjoy

 

[tw99]

Ahhh, Ignorance is bliss enjoy

Spoken from a position of authority on the subject I expect.

 

[Kawihornet]

Spoken from a position of authority on the subject I expect.

No see I've only asked a question on this thread to get others opinions. I did not post a statement as you have. Since this is Audio SCIENCE review i'm not sure you can make that statement since you've never compared the two and we don't have measurements to back your statement. Its simply your opinion which you have formed into an uneducated statement of fact. Then again i've noticed many of your posts have this trend. If you have nothing educated to add the thread then I kindly ask you to move on. Thanks very much.

 

[Sukie]

No see I've only asked a question on this thread to get others opinions. I did not post a statement as you have. Since this is Audio SCIENCE review i'm not sure you can make that statement since you've never compared the two and we don't have measurements to back your statement. Its simply your opinion which you have formed into an uneducated statement of fact. Then again i've noticed many of your posts have this trend. If you have nothing educated to add the thread then I kindly ask you to move on. Thanks very much.

If you're happy with your purchase, that's great. It looks like a nice piece of kit.

However the comparison between this and an RPi4 doesn't require owning both of them. I know that the RPi3 had some problems with USB connection (quite complicated and dealt with elsewhere on ASR), but the RPi4 works just fine.

As to measurements, I'm not sure what you'd be measuring.

 

[al2813]

YMMV to start but I tried all the combos discussed here - Rpi4 with a powerbank, USBsignature with the same powerbank and both with the Allo Nirvana power supply. In my setup each move improved the sound -cleaner and deeper. Again my mileage and subjective Hearing.

 

[somy]

@al2813
so Usbridge sounds better than rpi4 in all combinations?

 

[al2813]

@al2813
so Usbridge sounds better than rpi4 in all combinations?

yep for me yes. I now run it permanently connected (and earthed) to the Nirvana.

 

[tw99]

Did I just log into SBAF ???