Allo Piano, Allo Kali incompatibility with the official Raspberry Pi kernel 6.6.56 or newer

nerd · December 28, 2024, 9:48am

Hey @Axel,

Let’s focus on one thing at the time.

Please temporarily disable all plugins augmenting audio paths.

Change Playback Options to use different, non I2S audio output like Audio Jack or HDMI
Power drain you player (shutdown and remove power for few seconds)
Power up your player
Change Playback Options to use I2S Allo Piano 2.1 DAC
Repeat power drain restart (steps 2 and 3)
Configure DSP Options
Repeat power drain restart (steps 2 and 3)

If above steps resolve the issue, restore your plugins one at the time with restart + test

Kind Regards,

Axel · December 29, 2024, 12:05am

Hi Nerd and thank you so much for looking at this!

I followed all the steps above, but unfortunately the result is still the same

When I set the volume in Volumio to about 10 the distortion is gone, but as soon as I go higher it distorts. At 100 it is totally distorted. It seems to me that the signal has a much too high level for whatever reason.

In the meantime I have also solved the “Failed to open Alsa” problem with version 3.757 (in this case it helps me to disassemble everything once and then reassemble it) and lo and behold, with this version the distortion is gone (with identical settings). What seems crucial to me is the high level I have with version 3.785 (?).

In case it helps, here is the log report: http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/sz6U9g0.html

Regards Axel

nerd · December 29, 2024, 9:07am

Hey @Axel,

From the logs:

Dec 29 00:25:30 volumio5 kernel: snd-allo-piano-dac-plus soc:sound: Failed to set master volume limit: -22
Dec 29 00:25:30 volumio5 kernel: snd-allo-piano-dac-plus soc:sound: Failed to set subwoofer volume limit: -22`

Let’s test the PCM5142 chips separately. Set you player in “Dual-Stereo” mode, in which, the DAC will operate two L+R outputs. Check the audio from both pairs.

Please share the output from:

amixer -c2 scontrols

Kind Regards,

Axel · December 29, 2024, 1:01pm

Hi Nerd,

I applied the following settings:

and checked the result on both channels: On both the signal is very high and distorted.

'amixer -c2 scontrols’ gives me no result if executed as normal user.

As super user the output is:

‘XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/run/user/1000) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1000! (This could e g happen if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don’t do that.)’

The log report of my running version V3.757 is http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/6yRwyMj.html.

Also here for ‘snd-allo-piano-dac-plus soc:sound:’ a failure is reported, but it looks like that a “dummy regulator” is taken. I don’t know what it is, but I assume it’s a reasonable value for this parameter and therefore it works (?).

Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: snd-allo-piano-dac-plus soc:sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517* *Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004d: supply AVDD not found, using dummy regulator* *Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004d: supply DVDD not found, using dummy regulator* *Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004d: supply CPVDD not found, using dummy regulator* *Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: snd-allo-piano-dac-plus soc:sound: snd_soc_register_card() failed: -517* *Dec 29 01:56:35 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004c: supply AVDD not found, using dummy regulator* *Dec 29 01:56:36 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004c: supply DVDD not found, using dummy regulator* *Dec 29 01:56:36 volumio kernel: pcm512x 1-004c: supply CPVDD not found, using dummy regulator

Would be great if you can help me to figure out how to fix this respectively to find out what’s the root cause (perhaps my DAC has a hardware problem).

Many thx in advance! Axel

nerd · December 29, 2024, 2:56pm

Hey @Axel,

Before calling a fault on your hardware, a bit of analysis.

In the log above the aplay -l command is showing DAC under card 2

Hence amixer -c2 scontrols

In the log above the aplay -l command is showing DAC under card 0

Hence amixer -c0 scontrols

Isn’t critical, overlay references regulator which may not be available on your hardware.

Is evidence that the probe in DAC’s module init is retried for each PCM chipset.

Please execute on 3.757 (kernel 6.1.69-v8+) and 3.785 (kernel 6.6.62-v8+):

aplay -l

For card <num> (match returned card number to PianoDACPlus)

amixer -c<num> scontrols

On your DAC’s PCB - what is the HW Revision number?

Kind Regards,

Axel · December 29, 2024, 6:51pm

Hello Nerd,

here the results:

V3.757:

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/run/user/1000) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1000! (This could e g happen if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don’t do that.)
card 0: vc4hdmi0 [vc4-hdmi-0], device 0: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0 [MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: vc4hdmi1 [vc4-hdmi-1], device 0: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0 [MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: PianoDACPlus [PianoDACPlus] , device 0: PianoDACPlus multicodec-0 [PianoDACPlus multicodec-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

amixer -c2 scontrols

XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/run/user/1000) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1000! (This could e g happen if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don’t do that.)
Simple mixer control ‘Master’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Dual Mode’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Lowpass’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Analogue’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Analogue Playback Boost’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main DSP Program’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Deemphasis’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Analogue’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Analogue Playback Boost’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub DSP Program’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Deemphasis’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Subwoofer’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Subwoofer mode’,0

V3.785:

aplay -l

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/run/user/1000) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1000! (This could e g happen if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don’t do that.)
card 0: PianoDACPlus [PianoDACPlus] , device 0: PianoDACPlus multicodec-0 [PianoDACPlus multicodec-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 1: vc4hdmi0 [vc4-hdmi-0], device 0: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0 [MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
card 2: vc4hdmi1 [vc4-hdmi-1], device 0: MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0 [MAI PCM i2s-hifi-0]
Subdevices: 1/1
Subdevice #0: subdevice #0

amixer -c0 scontrols

XDG_RUNTIME_DIR (/run/user/1000) is not owned by us (uid 0), but by uid 1000! (This could e g happen if you try to connect to a non-root PulseAudio as a root user, over the native protocol. Don’t do that.)
Simple mixer control ‘Master’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Dual Mode’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Lowpass’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Analogue’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Analogue Playback Boost’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main DSP Program’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Main Deemphasis’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Analogue’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Analogue Playback Boost’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub DSP Program’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Sub Deemphasis’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Subwoofer’,0
Simple mixer control ‘Subwoofer mode’,0

Allo Piano HW Rev. 1.1

Just in case if this is helpful in addition:

System Information

• OS info
• Version of Volumio: 3.757
• Hostname: volumio
• Kernel: 6.1.69-v8+
• Governor: conservative
• Uptime: 0 days, 0 Hrs, 8 Minutes, 13 Seconds

• Network info
• Interface: eth0
• IP Address: 192.168.0.68
• MAC Address: d8:3a:dd:c2:49:40
• Type: wired
• Speed: 1000Mb/s

• Audio info
• Hw audio configured: Allo Piano 2.1
• Mixer type: Hardware
• Number of channels: 16
• Supported sample rate: 22050 44100 48000 88200 96000 176400 192000 384000

• Board info
• Manufacturer:
• Model: Raspberry Pi 5 Model B Rev 1.0 / /
• Version: c04170 /
• Firmware Version: 2023/10/30 16:45:10 version 30de0ba5 (release) (embedded)

• CPU info
• Brand: BCM2712
• Speed: 2.4 GHz
• Family: unknown
• Model: 1
• Number of cores: 4
• Physical cores: 4
• Average load: 1%
• Temperature: 53°C

• Memory info
• Memory: 4089064 Ko
• Free: 3236892 Ko
• Used: 852172 Ko

• Software info
• Mpd version: Music Player Daemon 0.23.15 (0.23.15)

• Storage info
• INTERNAL storage - Size: 115596Mo
• Used: 548Mo
• Available for storage: 109081Mo (94%)

nerd · December 29, 2024, 7:09pm

Hey @Axel,

The list of changes in eeprom is quite substantial (also, affects latest kernel):

github.com

raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/blob/master/firmware-2712/release-notes.md

# Raspberry Pi5 bootloader EEPROM release notes

## 2024-12-19: Disable fan PWM before shutdown (latest)

* Disable fan PWM before shutdown
  Drive the RP1 fan PWM GPIO high before entering the VPU
  sleep (POWER_OFF_ON_HALT=0) to stop the fan spinning.
* Disable fan PWM GPIO between RP1 init and fan probe
  Drive fan PWM GPIO high during early boot to disable the fan
  until it is probed during the device-tree setup stage.
  This stops the spinning at max rpm during network-install.
* arm_dt: enable_uart defaults to 0 on 2712
  The default value of enable_uart on 2712 is 0, regardless of the
  presence of the debug UART cable, so guarantee that the default is
  always set correctly.

## 2024-12-15: Add net install to boot menu (latest)

* Add net install to boot menu
  Press N (or shift).

This file has been truncated. show original

Please upgrade your Raspberry Pi 5 firmware as shown in this guide:

Once firmware updated, re-run your audio tests.

Kind Regards,

Axel · December 29, 2024, 8:38pm

Thx Nerd!

vcgencmd bootloader_version gives me

2023/10/30 16:45:10
version 30de0ba51efcdfe5aebfb3068e0d5278647611cc (release)
timestamp 1698684310
update-time 0
capabilities 0x0000007f

But for sudo rpi-eeprom-update I get a command not found, i.e.
sudo: rpi-eeprom-update: command not found

Therefore I’m unclear how to proceed

Wheaten · December 29, 2024, 8:52pm

Did you follow the instructions? Seems you try to do this with the Volumio image.

Axel · December 29, 2024, 9:09pm

ahh, so I first need to download the latest OS version from Raspberry Pi , flash it to an SD card, boot the device and then follow the steps as described. Right?

Axel · December 29, 2024, 10:34pm

hmm, now I got stuck when it’s about to login into the Raspberry :-/
I have managed to activate ssh by adding a file named ssh, but if I like to login I fail with the user name “pi” and password “raspberry” !?

Wheaten · December 29, 2024, 11:26pm

If I recall correct, last year, the European Union didn’t allow a default credentials anymore for the Raspberry OS.
You need to set it in the Raspberry Pi Imager, when it pops-up just before burning.

Josh2000 · December 30, 2024, 3:28pm

Hi,

It is working good with v3.785 in dual mono mode (the only mode i am using) - but - the output level is much too high - that is leading to heavy distortion if the level is not lowered to about 25% at maximum…

Best Regards
Josef

HW revision is 1.1

Zhapox · December 30, 2024, 3:52pm

I can confirm this. Usually I have it on a pretty low volume which is why I probably didn’t notice it earlier. Raising the volume above a quarter results in distortion.

@nerd if I can contribute with logs/tests, let me know.

Wheaten · December 30, 2024, 5:01pm

can you try with running alsamixer to lower the levels?

Zhapox · December 30, 2024, 5:54pm

I can change the volume after selecting the card. Interestingly 0 dB gain is already reached at 40.

Wheaten · December 30, 2024, 6:17pm

If you leave it at 40%, will it reduce the distortion. If so leave it at 40%

Zhapox · December 30, 2024, 6:24pm

Hi @Wheaten,
I’m not sure if I get that right. The setting in alsamixer does not seem to be static. It changes along with the volume control of Volumio UI, meaning it reflects what’s set on the UI and vice versa.

Did I miss something?

Wheaten · December 30, 2024, 7:27pm

Not sure don’t have the Allo Piano.
If I look at the Hifiberry there is a master, Analog and Digital scale. Volumio operates on the digital one, not the master. Apparently this does not go for the Allo Piano.

Axel · December 30, 2024, 9:49pm

Many thx @Wheaten!

With custom settings I could login and update the firmeware