[PLUGIN] Audiophonics EVO Sabre

so, it leaves me wondering what the heck the real problem is ! Software or Hardware ???

Well a bit of both. Hardware was designed prior to pipewire being used so there has to be slight differences in the way blank spaces are handled between songs if there is a noticeable time delay without any data.

If you can hear a clicking effect on track change using the IIS connection, a quick and easy solution would be to use an USB cable between the Pi and the EVO board instead of the GPIO I2S since the XMOS USB chip has additional digital pre-filtering to handle this kind of situation.

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This is what I use to generate logos for our displays.

Thanks Olivier 
 this works perfectly!!

You could try using PiCore Player instead with the Python 3 code from Peter Sketch in the UK. It does not suffer from this problem as far as I know
 give it a try GitHub - peteS-UK/EvoSabre-DAC-PCP: Script and extensions required to configure piCorePlayer 8 on a Audiophonics EVO-SABRE 2xES9038Q2M DAC

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Hi Uwe,
You absolutely right. Volumio does not return any info about seek.
I tried every volumio 3 Versions I have and everywhere, when I try to check volumio.local/api/v1/getState, (Rest API | Volumio Developers Documentation) ,“seek”:0.
I also connected simple 128x64 OLED monitor using MPD Oled plugin. The same behavior, all data except playing time (play progress).
Seems like Volumio problem. I am new in this community and don’t know where to report this problem.
Regards Dmitry

Any chance to upgrade the plugin (And the oled) to support bookworm?

Report on my problem on 4.0x beta

I didn’t have any particular issues with the 3.x release, but I’m reporting an issue I encountered in the 4.0x beta. My device is the Audiophonics “AUDIOPHONICS EVO-SABRE PACK DIY Balanced DAC 2xES9038Q2M & Streamer” (AUDIOPHONICS EVO-SABRE PACK DIY Balanced DAC 2xES9038Q2M & Streamer - Audiophonics).

First of all, this streamer/DAC has been working perfectly for the past year and a half, up to Volumio version 3.832. I wanted to test the 4.0x beta version, so I first installed version 4.062 and encountered issues. After that, I tested versions 4.023 and 4.017 in succession. From the initial installation to subsequent launches, everything worked fine, including installing and operating various plugins and listening to music. However, I consistently encountered the same issue.

There were two issues: 1) the streamer’s second OLED screen did not work at all on any of the 4.0x versions tested (probably related to the hardware plugin “Audiophonics Evo Sabre”). 2) Neither the “Power Off” nor the “Restart” buttons on the power-off button worked after attempting the reset. The results were the same for the Ethernet connection in wired only, Wi-Fi only, and both wired and Wi-Fi modes. I’m not sure if the hardware and its plugin issues are related to the power-turnoff-and-rebooting issue, or if they are separate issues.

I’m also not sure how to provide a log file for this situation, as the device won’t boot after powering off. However, I’ve attached the log file that led up to normal operation.

http://logs.volumio.org/volumio/tA1n2mK.html

System Information

OS info
Version of Volume: 4.062
Hostname: volumio-jubang
Kernel: 6.12.47-v7l+
Governor: performance
Uptime: 0 days, 3 Hrs, 41 Minutes, 20 Seconds

Network info
Interface: eth0
IP Address: 172.30.1.41
MAC Address: d8:3a:dd:80:ad:c6
Type: wired
Speed: 1Gb/s

Audio info
Hw audio configured: Audiophonics I-Sabre ES9028Q2M
Mixer type: Hardware
Number of channels:
Supported sample rate:

Board info
Manufacturer: Raspberry Pi Foundation
Model: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.5 Raspberry Pi
Version: c03115
Firmware Version: 2025/05/08 16:21:35 version 69471177ba7e4cb7597cb2496f2a0b23f19c1113 (release)

CPU info
Brand: BCM2711
Speed: 1.5 GHz
Family: Cortex-A72
Model: 3
Number of cores: 4
Physical cores: 4
Average load: 17%
Temperature: 61°C

Memory info
Memory: 3874548 Ko
Free: 1691664 Ko
Used: 2182884 Ko

Software info
Mpd version: Music Player Daemon 0.24.6 (b6f106b+)

Storage info
INTERNAL storage - Size: 956869Mo
Used: 697Mo
Available for storage: 905194Mo (95%)

EDIT - Moved to the plugin thread.
@olivier_audiophonics - perhaps some further adjustments may be needed for this plugin to work.

Thank you for your understanding and quick notice.

Hi, Olivier,

Today I tried just a simple installation test of the beta version, 4.062 on the Evo-Sabre pack box. I simply made a SD card for 4.062 version, and tried an installation, which means just initial installation with a separate external DAC by USB cable connection for the RPi 4B board, and then no any trial to use the hardware in the Evo-Sabre pack. Just after checking a sound out from the external DAC, I tried to reboot. But again failure! no re-booting. And then tried a cold boot, but failure, too. I wish this could be a little help for you to figure out this issue.

Hi

First thing. There are many things that makes it hard to pinpoint anything from here.

A fully working Evo Sabre consist of :

  • Audio playing from the Sabre DAC
  • Second display showing track metadata
  • Remote control interfacing with DAC (you can change volume from the remote)
  • Remote control interfacing with Volumio playback (you can do play / pause from the remote)

So what do we actually have working there?


Second thing, I am not sure I understand your last message.
Please tell me if I got that right :

  • You loaded a fresh vanilla Volumio on a Pi4
  • Mounted the Pi on an Evo Sabre board
  • It booted
  • You did no plugin install, nothing system related
  • Just set another USB DAC as the audio output
  • Audio works but the Pi would not boot again after being halted

First thing. There are many things that makes it hard to pinpoint anything from here.

A fully working Evo Sabre consist of :

  • Audio playing from the Sabre DAC
  • Second display showing track metadata
  • Remote control interfacing with DAC (you can change volume from the remote)
  • Remote control interfacing with Volumio playback (you can do play / pause from the remote)

So what do we actually have working there?

Just after the fresh installation, all the functiongs except the 2nd display worked well without any problem for 3 days for me. Then when I tried reboot, but no booting.

Second thing, I am not sure I understand your last message.
Please tell me if I got that right :

  • You loaded a fresh vanilla Volumio on a Pi4
  • Mounted the Pi on an Evo Sabre board
  • It booted
  • You did no plugin install, nothing system related
  • Just set another USB DAC as the audio output
  • Audio works but the Pi would not boot again after being halted

Yes, correct!

Music plays well after the fresh installation, I meant it worked well with an external USB DAC. Then I tried to re-boot,but no booting.

Thanks for your understanding, Regards, Chang-Hee

Reboot - how? UI? Something else?

Kind Regards,

By UI. I did try to do the Reboot or Shutdown buttons in the Volumio menu. But both the Reboot or the Shutdown buttons did not work. Then When I turn it Off by Audiophonic Power button and turn the box on again, nothing happened, no booting. Regards, Lee

Hey @changheelee,

Thank you for the detailed report and log file. I’ve found a bit of free time, analyzed your issue and can provide technical explanation for both problems you’re experiencing.

Second OLED Display Issue (OLED2)

The second display connects via SPI protocol using GPIO10 (DATA), GPIO11 (CLK), GPIO24 (RESET), and GPIO27 (DC). According to the hardware datasheet, this display requires the Volumio distribution to drive it using Python with the LUMA library.

Your report shows the Audiophonics Evo Sabre plugin (version 2.0.1) is installed and the hardware is detected correctly (Audiophonics I-Sabre ES9028Q2M in audio configuration).

In my customized EVO-SABRE kit I have tested the same plugin on both CM5 and Pi5 with Volumio 4.062, where both OLED displays work correctly across all storage types (MicroSD, NVMe, USB boot). I will re-test with a Raspberry Pi 4B once I have time to swap the board in my kit to confirm whether this is Pi4B-specific.

My System Information
System Information

OS info

    Version of Volumio: 4.062
    Hostname: pi5aud
    Kernel: 6.12.47-v8+
    Governor: conservative
    Uptime: 0 days, 0 Hrs, 18 Minutes, 35 Seconds


Network info

    Interface: eth0
    IP Address: 192.168.30.205
    MAC Address: 2c:cf:67:d8:a7:ba
    Type: wired
    Speed: 1Gb/s


Audio info

    Hw audio configured: Audiophonics I-Sabre ES9028Q2M
    Mixer type: Hardware
    Number of channels:
    Supported sample rate: 


Board info

    Manufacturer:
    Model: Raspberry Pi Compute Module 5 Lite Rev 1.0
    Version: d041a0
    Firmware Version: 2025/05/08 15:13:17 Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom


CPU info

    Brand: BCM2712
    Speed: 1.5 GHz
    Family: Cortex-A76
    Model: 1
    Number of cores: 4
    Physical cores: 4
    Average load: 28%
    Temperature: 58°C


Memory info

    Memory: 8146996 Ko
    Free: 7080600 Ko
    Used: 1066396 Ko


Software info

    Mpd version: Music Player Daemon 0.24.6 (b6f106b+)


Storage info

    INTERNAL storage - Size: 475238Mo
    Used: 237Mo
    Available for storage: 450789Mo (95%)

Power Management Issue - Critical Understanding

This is where the hardware architecture becomes very important. According to the EVO Sabre datasheet:

  • The Raspberry Pi is powered BY the EVO module via the GPIO connector
  • The Pi does NOT control the DAC power state
  • Power flows one direction: EVO module pcb powers the Pi via 40-pin header power pins

When you press the hardware power button or use the IR remote On/Off function, the datasheet explicitly warns: “the power shut will be immediate and may interrupt any operations in progress.”

What happens during your reboot sequence:

The UI Reboot function reboots the Raspberry Pi only - it does NOT perform a power cycle of the entire kit. The EVO module remains powered throughout the Pi reboot process.

  1. You click Reboot in Volumio UI
  2. Pi begins reboot sequence
  3. EVO module continues supplying power via GPIO
  4. Pi only restart while EVO module stays active

Your reported behavior:

You mentioned that after attempting UI Reboot, the system would not boot again - even after a cold boot (hardware power cycle). This suggests the Pi4B may be getting into an undefined state during the reboot process that persists even after power cycling.

Correct shutdown procedure:

The datasheet states: “Prefer a software power off on the application to shut down your Pi properly before using this function.”

For full power cycle of the kit:

  1. Use “Shutdown” from Volumio UI
  2. Wait for Pi to complete full shutdown (monitor via SSH or system activity LED)
  3. THEN use hardware power button to cut power to the entire kit
  4. Wait 10 seconds
  5. Press power button to restart

Recommendations:

  1. For the OLED2 issue: I will test with Pi4B to confirm if this is board-specific behavior and report back. @olivier_audiophonics may need to investigate further based on those results.

  2. For the reboot issue: Can you test whether UI Shutdown followed by hardware power cycle works reliably? This will help determine if the problem is specific to the Pi reboot sequence or a broader power management issue.

  3. If you need to restart: SSH access allows you to monitor shutdown completion before power cycling.

Question for you:

When the system failed to boot after your reboot attempts - did you try multiple cold boot cycles, or did it fail to boot on the first power cycle after the failed reboot?

Kind Regards,

Hey @changheelee,

Testing Results on Raspberry Pi 4B

I have tested Volumio 4.062 with the Audiophonics Evo Sabre plugin (version 2.0.1) on a Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4 with the same kernel (6.12.47-v7l+) that you’re running.

Results: No issues whatsoever.

  • Both OLED displays function correctly
  • UI Reboot works reliably
  • Power down and power up follow kit specifications correctly
  • Tested across multiple storage types (MicroSD, USB boot)
Pi4B System Information
System Information
OS info

    Version of Volumio: 4.062
    Hostname: pi4aud
    Kernel: 6.12.47-v7l+
    Governor: performance
    Uptime: 0 days, 0 Hrs, 19 Minutes, 9 Seconds

Network info

    Interface: eth0
    IP Address: 192.168.30.206
    MAC Address: e4:5f:01:48:db:b0
    Type: wired
    Speed: 1Gb/s

Audio info

    Hw audio configured: Audiophonics I-Sabre ES9028Q2M
    Mixer type: Hardware

Board info

    Manufacturer: Raspberry Pi Foundation
    Model: Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.4
    Firmware Version: Aug 20 2025 17:02:31 Copyright (c) 2012 Broadcom

CPU info

    Brand: BCM2711
    Model name: ARMv7 Processor rev 3 (v7l)
    Speed: 1.5 GHz
    Family: Cortex-A72
    Model: 3
    Number of cores: 4
    Physical cores: 4
    BogoMIPS: 270.00
    Average load: 56%
    Temperature: 50°C

Memory info

    Memory: 8031988 Ko
    Free: 7046816 Ko
    Used: 985172 Ko

Software info

    MPD version: Music Player Daemon 0.24.6 (b6f106b+)
    Bluetooth version: 5.0
    AirPlay version: AirPlay 2
    UPnP renderer: upmpdcli 1.9.6-1~ppa1~bookworm

Storage info

    INTERNAL storage - Size: 110265MB
    Used: 224MB
    Available: 104164MB (94%)

Possible plugin misconfiguration

Looking at your plugin list, you have FusionDSP v2.0.74 installed and active alongside the Audiophonics Evo Sabre plugin, plus multiple other plugins (YouTube2, YTCR, Personal Radio, Podcast, AutoStart, etc.).

Plugin conflicts - especially between audio interface plugins like FusionDSP and hardware-specific plugins - can cause exactly the symptoms you’re experiencing: failed reboots, boot failures, and hardware feature malfunctions like the second OLED display.

Required action: Fresh install (Compulsory)

To establish a baseline, you must perform a fresh installation:

  1. Create a fresh Volumio 4.062 installation on a new SD card
  2. Complete initial setup (network, basic configuration only)
  3. Install ONLY the Audiophonics Evo Sabre plugin
  4. Configure the I2S DAC (Audiophonics I-Sabre ES9028Q2M)
  5. Verify both OLED displays are working
  6. Test multiple UI Reboot cycles
  7. Test Shutdown followed by hardware power cycle

This baseline test is compulsory. Without it, we cannot determine whether the issue is hardware-related or caused by plugin conflicts.

Once baseline is established:

If the fresh installation with only the Evo Sabre plugin works correctly:

  1. Add ONE plugin at a time
  2. After installing each plugin, test UI Reboot
  3. If reboot fails after adding a specific plugin, you’ve identified the conflict
  4. Document which plugin causes the issue

This systematic approach will identify the problematic plugin(s) and allow you to build a stable configuration.

Kind Regards,

To complete what nerd said :

My understanding here is that the Pi fails to reboot regardless of any plugin installation.

As it happens, the current version (2.x) of EVO Sabre plugin does requires a reboot to happen after first plugin install.

This was not true in version 1.x, which could manage get the second display running directly after activating the plugin. I get how this can be confusing, but it is expected that Oled#2 will no longer work without a reboot.

So I suspect we got the problem backwards and there is only one issue at hand really : the reboot failure (which is a really broad issue to solve).

My two cents on the subject :

  • Could we also have a look at what’s inside /boot/userconfig.txt & /boot/config.txt just before the failed reboot attempt? In my experience most broken boot are caused by those files being corrupted.
  • Non-genuine 1TB SD card are still fairly common, which can lead to a corrupted main partition even on a successful first boot. Would it be possible to try a different drive for the OS installation?

Kind regards.

Great thanks for all your serious efforts, Olivier and Nerd,

I am on a business trip now and I will try to test one by one as you suggested coming next Tuesday or Wednesday.

Best regards, Chang-Hee

Bonjour,
Merci beaucoup pour ce travail que je découvre pour notre lecteur EVO-SABRE.

Dear colleagues,

Sorry for late reporting on my issue. First I followed my previous procedure again and got the same results. Then according to Olivier’s suggestion, I replaced my old SD card by a genuine fresh Samsung 128GB SD card memory, and tried it again, then everything becomes successful except one thing. On those former trials, I could use the plugins of YT2 and YT Cast receiver well, but this time I couldn’t. Thanks again for all of your warm fast responses and great efforts for my previous report.

Regards, Chang-Hee