High End Streamer for 100 €

Since 2 days now I use a Raspberry Pi as main digital source. Inspired by a topic in OEF I have ordered the following parts:

- Raspberry Pi 2B
- HifiBerry Digi +
- Housing
- Power supply 5V
- Micro SD 8GB Carte

Then I downloaded Volumio from https://volumio.org/ and flashed it on the SD card which, according to the instructions on volumio.org, is really easy.

Now everything had to be assembled (takes about 15 minutes and is no more difficult than to install a hard drive into a media player), then

- Insert SD card
- plugged a USB stick with music in the Raspberry Pi für testing
- connect the Raspberry Pi with LAN cable to the router
- switch power on

voilà - after booting the streamer is accessible via any PC / tablet / smartphone in the LAN by entering simply http: http://volumio.local which what worked straight away. Any control and configuration is done via the web browser in the simple but appealing volumio web interface. The HifiBerry Digi + must be set as I2S device, otherwise initially there was no configuration necessary.

Oddly, Volumio does not support cover view, but if you control it via MPDroid over a smartphone or tablet, the covers are there! Very nice.

Meanwhile, I connecetd a USB hard drive over a USB hub, because the USB ports of the Raspberry Pi can not supply the power needs of a hard disk.

The HifiBerryDigi + card has 2 S/PDIF outputs, one optical and one using a transformer via RCA. Thus, the system is galvanically separated from streamer and network! By this I run either my Mini Olympic DAC or a Musical Fidelity V90-DAC, both fed by a battery.

I'm just pretty excited about my new high-end audio streamer for € 100, because it

- is running smoothly
- is playing all formats
- has fast reaction
- has great sound !!!!
- is running headless, without any connected screen!

NAS and Spotify I still have to test, but should work both.

What took me by surprise, is that the sound of the entire system has been significantly improved again, even analogue! It sounds simple more dynamic, subtle and open since I removed the Popcorn Hour A400. Probably the connected monitor and networg garbage with it's zillions of wall warts had adverse effect on the sound.

Cheers
Manfred

Hallo Manfred !
I use the Raspberry also...i use the MOode player , it as lots of audiophile radios e in adiction i can listen gazilion musics from my 2Tbyte harddrive...

Hi Manfred

I also use moode and I prefer it to volumio. Try it if you want. Volumio is going to release a new improved version 2.0 so I'm expecting to test that. I use foobar most of the time when I'm working on the win computer.

I like moode because my own design dac is non oversampling and I up-sample to 384k with sox resampler and the resampler doesn't work in volumio.

Moode and volumio recognize usb dacs so you dont need the digi+ board. Connect you MF Dac direct to the PI and enjoy. Spdif To me always sound worse. That's why I never recommend dacs for Cd replay. Jitter is the word...

Back to listening my modified RHCD-10 with silver discs

Cheers

Yes I will try the USB but especially with the mini Olympic Dac I got always best results feeding it with S/PDF from the CD Player, much better than USB from the computer, using Audirvana or JRiver (tried virtually any player on Mac and even Jplay on Windows).

Hi Manfred

I did a google search of your olympic dac and didn't find anything relevant. Just a TDA1543 kit without usb input. Can you share some more info?
I had a look at some internal pictures of your MF dac, and it uses a Ti device for usb input so it's limited to 16/48k on usb. You had the same experience with both dacs? Maybe both are based on a similiar chip for the usb input.

These TI usb devices are really outdated by today's standard.


As you probably know, in Spdif the clock in embedded in the data, and this creates jitter problems. This is known since the first separate transport/dac combo was introduced on the market. The Sony DAS-R1! It had a proprietary connection to send the system clock back to the transport.

The best way for computer music is a asynchronous usb device with the clocks on the dac.

Cheers

Rick

RMD audio escreveu:

Hi Manfred

I did a google search of your olympic dac and didn't find anything relevant. Just a TDA1543 kit without usb input. Can you share some more info?
I had a look at some internal pictures of your MF dac, and it uses a Ti device for usb input so it's limited to 16/48k on usb. You had the same experience with both dacs? Maybe both are based on a similiar chip for the usb input.

These TI usb devices are really outdated by today's standard.


As you probably know, in Spdif the clock in embedded in the data, and this creates jitter problems.  This is known since the first separate transport/dac combo was introduced on the market. The Sony DAS-R1! It had a proprietary connection to send the system clock back to the transport.

The best way for computer music is a asynchronous usb device with the clocks on the dac.

Cheers

Rick

Hi Rick,

the Olympic looks like a very generic device, but outperformed in my ears a North Star Essensio, a iDSD nano and the MF V90-DAC, IF (!) it gets good input over coax AND (!) the following preamp is sensitive enough for the somewhat lowish output.

And no, it doesn't sound "warmer" than the other mentioned DACs (as NOS DACs are supposed to do) but more natural detailed and more artefact-free.

I'm sorry but I do not have more info than that: http://shop2.hifidiy.net/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=45

Following the data of Musical Fidelity the USB input accepts up to 96/24

Musical Fidelity Homepage escreveu:

V90-DAC - Specifications

Performance
Jitter: <12 picoseconds peak to peak
THD(+ noise): <0.004% 20Hz to 20 kHz
Frequency Response: +0, –0.1dB, 20Hz to 20 kHz
Crosstalk: -104dB, 20Hz to 20 kHz
Signal / Noise ratio: -117dB, 20Hz to 20 kHz

Inputs
1x RCA coaxial connector SPDIF 32-192 kbps (16-24 bit stereo PCM)
2x TOSLINK optical connector 32-96 kbps (16-24 bit stereo PCM)
1x USB type ‘B’ connector - Asynchronous data stream at up to 24-bit/96kHz (Determined by source file/computer settings)

My former Noth Star Essensio DAC seemed technical much superior to Mini Olympic and even V-90 DAC and had impressive technical data, worked up to 192/32 on all inputs, had USB isolation - but soundwise I found it somewhat artificial with a certain nastiness in the upper mids.

Cheers
Manfred

Hi Manfred.

Had another look at the MF pics. It's a TAS1020 chip from texas... If you look at the spec's of the chip page it's not recommended for new designs. It's limited to 24/96. Milton's usb maudio sound card he is using with the Pi uses the same chip.

Can see only one clock on the usb part and another on the resampler chip. 24.576 so it probably upsamples to 192k.

Sorry for the confusion... Ti has lots of parts! LOL

About north star, I only have experience with the dac 192 and never liked the sound.

Specs are just that...Actual implementation is what matters.

For example, a friend of mine lent me a small add-on dac to the PI that sells on ebay that uses the pcm5122. The same chip used on a lot of these small boards.

Normal measurement's were fine and within spec. THD was 0.002% at 1k and 0.004% at 10k, frequency response was ruler flat and the 1K-60dB noise floor test was clean of distortion.

But the sound was awfull (listened before measurement's). what gives? Put the jitter test file and the distortion jumped to 0.07%!!! That more than 20dB increase in distortion! This dac with music has more distortion than a SET amplifier and the real problem is that the distortion profile is not valve like!!! LOLOL:(((---:

The problem with specs is that most of the time they are meaningless numbers.

I have some experience with the TDA1543 and I have a similar dac to that and for me that not hifi. The best actual resolution you can expect from the TDA1543 is 13bits and that implementation with passive current conversion is probably worse. Now if you like it and you get pleasure out of it, that fine for me. It's no wonder you like your LP's best... With that dac I would only listen to LP'S as well.

From experience, those types of dac don't work on my audio system. The distortion and noise is just so easy to ear...

I use nos dac but upsample on the computer. Computer upsamplers are much better than those integrated in chips. If you use HQ player os sox resampler plug in on foobar, you can get all kind of filters.


Cheers

Rick

RMD audio escreveu:

...   I have some experience with the TDA1543 and I have a similar dac to that and for me that not hifi. The best actual resolution you can expect from the TDA1543 is 13bits and that implementation with passive current conversion is probably worse. Now if you like it and  you get pleasure out of it, that fine for me. It's no wonder you like your LP's best... With that dac I would only listen to LP'S as well.

From experience, those types of dac don't work on my audio system. The distortion and noise is just so easy to ear...  

Hi RMD audio, there's always an empty space on audio between what the gear can do and what he really does and that's not an exception for Dac's of course. I have the same Dac as Manfred for above 5 years at least and he remains my preferred on sound among the others (well engineered and HiTech...) that I pocess. There are better Dac's around of course, but he his a no brainer, costly effective and musical product... and that's already more rare and somewhat exceptional. If you find it no hifi it's your right, but Sakuma's from 47lab use it on the Shigaraki Dac and he sounds not bad. So as you've said very well...

RMD audio escreveu:

The problem with specs is that most of the time they are meaningless numbers.

Decidi experimentar este conjunto (R-Pi 3 / HifiBerry DAC + Pro) mas numa utilização diferente da do Manfred.

A leitura, upsampling e filtragem é efectuada pelo HQ Player no Macbook e a corrente de bits resultante é seguidamente enviada por Ethernet para o R-Pi.

O resultado é o melhor som que obtive no meu sistema usando o computador como transporte, muitíssimo superior ao TEAC UD-H01 ligado por USB.

Claro que a comparação não é fácil porque acabei de mudar de colunas e já não tenho o TEAC mas o meu sistema UK nunca tocou tão bem.

R

ricardo onga-ku escreveu:

... Claro que a comparação não é fácil porque acabei de mudar de colunas e já não tenho o TEAC mas o meu sistema UK nunca tocou tão bem. ...

A mudança de colunas por si sò jà modifica vàrias coisas... estàs a te dar bem com as Stirling ?

TD124 escreveu:

ricardo onga-ku escreveu:

... Claro que a comparação não é fácil porque acabei de mudar de colunas e já não tenho o TEAC mas o meu sistema UK nunca tocou tão bem. ...

A mudança de colunas por si sò jà modifica vàrias coisas... estàs a te dar bem com as Stirling ?

Só ontem é que consegui tempo para as escutar convenientemente e são sem dúvida as melhores colunas que tive.
Consigo distinguir todas as linhas melódicas, todas as "vozes" de uma sinfonia.
Tenho de perder algum tempo com o posicionamento para equilibrar o grave mas como em breve vou mudar de casa acho que fica para depois da mudança.

Um abraço,
Ricardo

I went from the Olympic DAC to USB DACs and found the Raspberry Pi 2 / Volumio setup not a good digital source for USB. There was audible noise and clicks and pops with high resolution files. The USB hardware is not very good implemented in the Pi and shares the same bridge with Ethernet. Also the power management isn't optimal in the Pi and therefore USB devices which are powered by the USB bus like some DACs, hard drives etc. might work - or not and the USB power is noisy.

Therefore I used the Macbook Air as digital source for a longer period.

A few days ago I thought it would be interesting to give the Raspberry Pi another try and bought a Model 3 B+ which has a better thermal and power management and a good implementation of Wifi 2,4/5 GHz. It has a new USB chip, too, and is the first Pi with GBit Ethernet - but still shared with USB.
Then I read a blog article of michelangelo, the creator of the Volumio software and he found some interesting things:

michelangelo escreveu:

The good news is that there are actually tangible improvements on USB throughput, as I did not experience a single glitch with a great variety of files: 16\44.1,24\96,32\768 flac, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 and 8X MQA (this is an extremely meaningful test, since if even a single packet is lost the MQA decoding would stop).

So, for now, if you avoid using Ethernet to retrieve your Hi-Res files, the PI 3B+is just perfect to feed your USB DAC with bit-perfect joy.

I did not hesitate to download Volumio 2 and install it on the Pi. What a progress from the old version! It's much more stable and responsive and super easy to configure: Volumio creates it's own hotspot over which it is accessable. Then you can enter your own Wifi access data and after a restart it connects to the home Wifi network. If volumio doesn't find the home Wifi (for example on travel), it starts with it's own hotspot again and is therefore usable virtually everywhere.

Then I connected my 2,5" hard drive with the music files and the Henry Audio DAC, linked the library to the drive, chose the Henry as output device and the player worked immediately.

For better noise isolation I connected the DAC via my Uptone Audio Regen and use 2 batteries: a NiMh 9,6 V battery pack for powering the Regen/DAC and a 10 Ah power bank for the Pi. This gives approximately 5 h play time and prevents SMSP-caused noise. And indeed, without music there is only silence!

Sound is very good, at least as good as with the Macbook Air, no clicks and pops with files up to 192 kHz/24bit. I play all files with their native resolution.

User interface is a browser (or the volumio app) on any computer device (laptop, smartphone, tablet) connected to the same network. Very clean and easy operation.

Audio solutions with the Raspberry Pi are not only easy and still quite cheap but have impressively grown up in the meantime.

What I still miss in Volumio is Qobuz integration, but Spotify connect and other streaming protocols are yet implemented.

As a next step I will try again Ricardo's favourite Raspberry Pi implementation, the HQ player and look forward if it works with Wifi now (with the Pi 2 Wifi did not work really, there were many clicks, pops and dropouts).