New - To EVERYTHING

[MikeyFresh]

Oh, it still wont play the tracks I’ve purchased from HD Tracks or 7Digital. Do I need to change a setting somewhere? The guy from Allo mentioned changing a setting somewhere to 44.1K. Im not seeing where to do that. I know the HDTracks files are 96k though.

No the setting disabled is correct, what that means is Moode does not resample anything using SoX, rather, all files are played at their native sample rates.

So any tracks you purchased from 7Digital or HDtracks would play at their native sample rate, if that's 96kHz, the track plays at 96kHz so long as your DAC supports that sample rate.

What enabling resampling does is enable software based upsampling (also called resampling), for instance take a Redbook CD quality track with 44.1kHz sample rate and resample it to 176.4kHz as an example. That shifts quantization noise and digital filter artifacts into the ultrasonic frequency range, and some systems might sound better doing that.

But we are now off topic, the question was whether or not resampling was enabled, and it isn't. If you want to not go in a circle with the Allo guy, just ask him to confirm that the correct setting there is resampling disabled.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Oh, it still wont play the tracks I’ve purchased from HD Tracks or 7Digital.

What about any other tracks, CD quality, or for that matter the radio stations. Those too were not playing last night. Are those suddenly now playable and the only problem you are having is with the 7Digital and HDtracks stuff?

Edit: I think I see what you are saying, through the 3.5mm analog output you can't play the 24-bit tracks?

That is normal, those sample rates are not supported by the on-board audio. That also makes a little sense as to what the Allo guy was trying to say, if you want to play those 24-bit tracks through the on-board audio you'd need to downsample them.

 

[airdronian]

What about any other tracks, CD quality, or for that matter the radio stations. Those too were not playing last night. Are those suddenly now playable and the only problem you are having is with the 7Digital and HDtracks stuff?

Edit: I think I see what you are saying, through the 3.5mm analog output you can't play the 24-bit tracks?

That is normal, those sample rates are not supported by the on-board audio. That also makes a little sense as to what the Allo guy was trying to say, if you want to play those 24-bit tracks through the on-board audio you'd need to downsample them.

Is there a way to copy the output of the boot log ? I know when I was having trouble reading that was helpful.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Is there a way to copy the output of the boot log ? I know when I was having trouble reading that was helpful.

There definitely is but I believe it requires SSH, which the OP could easily do with Adafruit Pi Finder, however all indications are a hardware issue. He can confirm just by loading a new Moode image, if it behaves the same it is fairly safe to say he has a bum sample of the D1S.

According to everything I've seen, he should be able to use either the regular or Signature DigiOne driver. Neither works for him as yet, but maybe they will if a fresh image is tested.

 

[01svtL]

Alright, back at it. Had a birthday party for my little girl here at the house yesterday so didn’t get to play with it much.

Nevermind on the 7Digital amd HDTracks files. I just realized the files are on there twice in the same artist folder. The first listings say “song file” under the track title and those do not play. I scrolled down and saw the tracks listed again and those do play. Not sure why they are listed like that, but at least I’ve figured it out.

I’m ready to try to burn a new Moode image to one of the microSD cards if you can walk me through what i need to do.

 

[01svtL]

Disregard, figured out the downloaded tracks issue. Just need to get the Signature working now.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Had a birthday party for my little girl here at the house yesterday

Happy Birthday to your little girl!

I’m ready to try to burn a new Moode image to one of the microSD cards

Ok, it's very easy, but you need one program on your Mac that makes it easy, otherwise we'd have to use a Terminal session and arcane command line interface (CLI) stuff. We'll skip the CLI.

So, to have this be easy, please download and install balenaEtcher for Mac. This was formerly just known as Etcher, I'm not sure why the name changed but the last time I updated it the new name appeared. Still works exactly the same way it ever did.

This is excellent freeware recommended by, well, everyone that offers downloadable images that run on Raspberry Pi, including Moode. It's the de facto standard in flashing a disk image to an SD card.

Once that's done, also then download Moode Audio 4.4, the zipped file size is about 1.2GB so the download will take a minute or two depending on your download speed. I don't know if your Mac is set-up to automatically unzip downloaded disk images like Moode, or if it will ask you first, but yes, you need to unzip the Moode image before you can flash it to the mSD card.

Then flash Moode to the blank microSD card being very careful to select the new 16GB blank media as the destination you are flashing to. Etcher is self explanatory, there are 3 steps, select the image, select the destination, and then flash it.

DO NOT make a mistake and flash to the Mac's own hard drive or you will have a monumental mess on your hands. I say this not because it's confusing, but because some people have managed to do just that even though it is not confusing.

If you get stuck in any way or anything is unclear just ask, otherwise load the newly flashed card with the Moode 4.4 image into the RPi3 and do the configuration steps. Be sure when you do your final reboot that the D1S is already booted up as apparently there is an order of operations there, you are always supposed to boot the D1S first, then boot the RPi3.

 

[01svtL]

Thank you for the birthday wishes! She had a great time.

I didn't have any free time to play with it at all yesterday. If I can get away at lunch today I may go home and get the new card flashed.

As far as installing the new Moode SD card, is there anything specific I need to follow for initial setup? I didn't have to do any program install or anything on this one since it came "plug and play." Remember I've never played with Linux before so I don't know anything about coding etc.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Thank you for the birthday wishes! She had a great time.

I didn't have any free time to play with it at all yesterday. If I can get away at lunch today I may go home and get the new card flashed.

As far as installing the new Moode SD card, is there anything specific I need to follow for initial setup? I didn't have to do any program install or anything on this one since it came "plug and play." Remember I've never played with Linux before so I don't know anything about coding etc.

No just download Moode and unzip it. Then flash that unzipped image to the mSD card as described using Etcher. Be darned sure you are writing the image to the mSD card and not to the Mac's own hard drive, nor any other connected external drives.

Then do the same set-up steps that we went through on the checking/troubleshooting of the unit initially, go through the configuration just as we did with the faulty unit, set it exactly as the other one was, the menus will be the same. Remember to use the Set and Apply buttons, then wait for the little notification ribbons and heed any instructions to Reboot.

Then scan in your library and try to play music. You can even take the intermediate step of trying to play a radio station before ever even scanning in your thumb drive, once the configuration is done try to play a radio station through the I²S output (the D1S). If the radio station plays (remember that not all of them broadcast 24/7 and the BBC ones are Geo-fenced so don't try those) then your library once scanned in on the thumb drive should also play, at which point you'd know the Moode image Allo sent you was corrupt and/or that mSD card is bad.

If however the same issues arise, it is safe to say you have a defective piece of hardware (the D1S).

 

[01svtL]

Ok I believe I got the Moode successfully flashed to the new SD card. I ran out of time to try to set it up on the D1S Player, but will do it this evening and report back.

 

[01svtL]

Alright well it must be the D1S card. The reflash was successful, still no sound via coax. I double checked that the reflash was successful by again playing music via the RPi headphone jack, and it was still working. Again, Moode would freak out and freeze if I hit “pause” during playback when the D1S was set for playback just like it did with the Moode file that allo sent. I think we’ve eliminated Moode and the SD card as the problem.

 

[01svtL]

This is what happens when i hit pause while the D1S is selected for I2S playback. Looks the same on the MBP, just easier to screenshot and post from my phone. Only way to fix it in this state is to unplug the power cables.

 

[MikeyFresh]

Alright well it must be the D1S card. The reflash was successful, still no sound via coax. I double checked that the reflash was successful by again playing music via the RPi headphone jack, and it was still working. Again, Moode would freak out and freeze if I hit “pause” during playback when the D1S was set for playback just like it did with the Moode file that allo sent. I think we’ve eliminated Moode and the SD card as the problem.

I think that's the only plausible conclusion, and I'd imagine Allo will be happy to send you a replacement with no haggle.

Please let us know how that all turns out, by all accounts the Allo DigiOne is an outstanding product, unfortunately it appears they have shipped you a dud. If there is some other explanation or summation from Allo, please do share that here as well.

 

[01svtL]

Will do for sure. Thank you for all your help so far.

 

[01svtL]

So it looks like they are going to take care of me. After I followed up with a second action request, they responded that they would get a new unit sent out to me on Monday (today) along with a return label to send my current unit back to them. They offered this solution after I told them I didn't want to have to send mine back first and wait on another since I am in the states, and it would likely mean being without my purchase for several weeks if not a month or longer. That said, it is after 9pm over there right now, I believe, and I did not receive an email or any kind of notification letting me know they got it sent off, so we'll see.

Someone replied to my post on AudioStyle and said his Signature board was also DOA, but he had purchased through a distributor who had already taken care of it for him. He got a new unit back and it was working properly.

I had originally posted that I thought the USB out of the RPi sounded better than my iPhone. I have since noticed that there is some background noise/static coming through my speakers though, so it definitely is not better than my iPhone was. I also tried playing with the EQ settings some in Moode, and it didn't matter what curve I changed to, the sound never audibly changed. Hoping this is not the case once I have it playing through the Signature board. When I was using my free trial of JRiver, even just a small single band EQ change made a very audible difference in the sound.

 

[MikeyFresh]

So it looks like they are going to take care of me.

They shouldn't be fighting you in any way on this, stay on them for a shipping confirmation.

but he had purchased through a distributor who had already taken care of it for him. He got a new unit back and it was working properly.

I think I asked you early on in this thread if this was shipped by Allo in India, or did you select their ship from Europe option, which I'd guess means either Audiophonics in France, or maybe Volumio in Italy?

I also tried playing with the EQ settings some in Moode, and it didn't matter what curve I changed to, the sound never audibly changed.

Not sure about that except to say I don't use EQ at all, and in most cases it is undesirable as that means you are no longer in bit perfect territory, any manipulation in the digital domain results in less than bit perfect accuracy. The best EQ tends to be subtle rather than drastic in terms of implementation, however if you heard no difference at all then something wasn't right.

 

[01svtL]

Alright, now I’m concerned. I got the new card in (they sent me a card not a new player) and I got them swapped out and all plugged back in. Went through and made sure all the settings lined up etc. It’s doing exactly the same things it was doing before. Still no sound out of D1S, still plays via the minijack. Still freezes if I hit pause during playback when audio out is the D1S. In fact it freezes if I try to do ANYTHING while playback is going through the D1S - when actively playing a song.

So, could it be the RPi card that is to blame? I was under the impression they were sending me a whole new Player, since that’s what I originally paid for. I definitely do not know enough to buy, install and set up a whole new RPi board. I know nothing about coding or Linux.

 

[01svtL]

 

[MikeyFresh]

In fact it freezes if I try to do ANYTHING while playback is going through the D1S - when actively playing a song.

So unlike last time, you can actually play music through the D1S, but any attempt to control it causes a freeze? Or were you also able to play music through it last time too?

So, could it be the RPi card that is to blame?

It could, but it seems unlikely given they have rather excellent QC and instances of defective RPis are super rare. Not impossible, but improbable, especially since it works through the 3.5mm jack.

I definitely do not know enough to buy, install and set up a whole new RPi board

That wouldn't be hard, it's a simple board swap, but it would be time and trouble, not to mention money unless Allo sends you the RPi. I agree they should have sent you a whole new player.

I suggest three things, post your findings both with Allo's support channel, and on the Moode site thread you started. There are VERY helpful people on that forum, including Tim Curtis the Moode developer, and various others. Don't let your initial reaction to that site rule out that they can't be of any help, they can, including likely looking at a dump of an RPi activity log that I can't help you with. That log can often point to what is going on, but I lack the software developer expertise to properly analyze that log.

Lastly, flash a microSD card with Volumio, and see if that somehow miraculously works. If so, then there is a problem with the D1S driver in Moode, but I highly doubt that as the D1S is supposed to work with either the regular or the Signature driver, and our own @je2a3 is using Moode with the standard driver and the non-Signature DigiOne with no issues.

 

[je2a3]

Lastly, flash a microSD card with Volumio, and see if that somehow miraculously works. If so, then there is a problem with the D1S driver in Moode, but I highly doubt that as the D1S is supposed to work with either the regular or the Signature driver, and our own @je2a3 is using Moode with the standard driver and the non-Signature DigiOne with no issues.

Absolutely no problems using the Allo DigiOne on my RPi 3B+ even after the latest mo0de update.

When I got into RPi last year, mo0de 4.1 will not do Airplay when hooked to the AQ Dragonfly Black, Xtrem Pro X1 and Topping D30. It only worked with the Xiang Sheng DAC01a. Since Volumio is very easy to download/build, I used that for Airplay. mo0de might be more audiophile oriented but Volumio sounds good too!