Allo USBridge Signature

[MikeyFresh]

Hi all,

I am considering buying a USBridge Sig with the Nirvana PS and running moOde as an endpoint to stream from Audirvana on a Mac. My current setup is Mac (2010 Mini, El Capitan, Direct Mode in Audirvana) into DAC via USB and 2TB powered USB hard drive with FLAC files attached to Mac. If I understand things correctly, I believe I can run an ethernet cable from my old Airport Extreme router, connect it to the USBridge, connect the USBridge to my DAC via USB from the clean USB output and stream files (located on the hard drive if I move it and connect it to my Airport Extreme) and TIDAL using Audirvana via UPnP. Is this correct? If so, I am wondering it is even worth it for me, or there is a better solution (USB conditioner/re-generator)?

I say this, because I will mostly be using the USBridge to take advantage of the clean USB and power-supply, because I will not be moving my Mac or my hard drive out of my listening room (too much of an ordeal, and my wife won't go for it). I will be moving the Mac and the hard drive out of my stereo rack and over about 15 feet away (where my Airport Extreme currently is located). Not sure that location is on the same power-bank that my stereo is, but I believe it is. So...not sure this move will accomplish anything in terms of reducing noise/increasing sound quality. 

Any advice is welcomed and appreciated! I recently got a new DAC and it sounds much better than my old one. I have it hooked up to a CD transport and it sounds amazing. Playing FLAC and and streaming TIDAL sound very good too, just not as great as the transport. So, I want to see if I can improve the sound quality a bit more for playing files and streaming TIDAL. Not sure if the scenario I described above will help with that, or I should go a different route. Maybe, someone here can help. Thanks in advance!

Hi,
I have added the Allo USBridge Sig. with Shanti LPS to my system. Prior to this step, I had a MacBookPro attached via USB cable to my DAC in my dedicated listening room. But I did not want to always move my MBP from the living room to the listening room.

I did use an Intona USB Hi-Speed Isolator between my MBP and my DAC. This does make an audible difference !

However, for convenience I went with the USBridge hoping, that it will as well improve the sound quality.

My system at the moment is:
Audirvana Remote App controlling Audirvana on my MacBookPro as server streaming wireless to my Wlan-router Fritzbox 7590 via CAT7 cable to the Allo USBridge as renderer, powered by Shanti LPS, via USB A-B to Intona USB Isolator via USB to my DAC.

Occasionally I do use the mconnect app to stream directly to the Allo USBridge running moOde MPD. This does sound quite good as well, maybe not as detailed and clear as the server/renderer combination. Not sure, if it is the Audirvana software or the splitting of server (MBP) and renderer (Allo). The difference in sound quality is may be the same as between Audirvana and Amarra. I do not like Amarra, since it softens and smoothens everything too much.

I have done a view tweaks to improve the overall system and I use serious cableing, so all my descriptions, what I hear is based on them:
- MacBookPro runs on battery, screen off and lighting off when streaming
- my router has a iFi low noise power supply
- the fuse in the Shanti LPS has been changed to ceramic filled fuse
- the 5V power lead cable to the USBridge has been directly soldered to a gold plated USB-C plug, eliminating 2 nickel plated adapters
- the USB cables are JCAT USB Signature (seriously expensive), but I can not listen with other USB cables like Audioquest, Wireworld etc. - they sound wrong
- in the OS moOde I have switched everything off, except UPNP
- switched from Tidal to Qobuz, since 20-30% of all Tidal titles do clip, since Tidal is boosting the level of the files to an extreme, Qobuz is much better

The linear power supply Shanti has got a lot of capacitance and supercap, so one would think, it should not be very sensitive to power cords, and since it is only transferring a digital signal from ethernet to USB.

But as well this assumption is wrong. The caps store enough energy that I can swap out power cords during the audio units are streaming without interruption and still one can hear very clear different power cords and even the difference between same pc with different plugs (Furutech Gold plated vs FIM gold plated).

Now to the question, does this sound as good as a good CD transport??
Well it depends how good the transport is. My CD transport from Stein Music has approx 1.000.000 uF caps and is difficult to beat, but it does come close and the convenience of digital steaming via an APP is unbeatable. I never would go back to CD, even it may sound 2-5% better.
I have access to my 35000 titles on my HD and via Qobuz (or Tidal) to enough new music to explore.

Does it sound better than MBP connected directly to the DAC?
Yes, it does. But consider, all the tweaking I have done.

PS: I have added my music folders in Audirvana but you can add them as well in moOde

Hope this helps

Hi, I just received my USBridge and was going through the initial setup for Moode and when I selected restart I got a screen with "RECONNECT SYSTEM RESTARTED" and it has been hanging on that screen for 10 minutes now and I am unsure what to do next. Little help, pease? Thanks!

If clicking on Reconnect doesn't bring you back to the Settings, then just retype the IP address in the browser's URL/address bar and press enter.