Building a Raspberry Pi-based streamer - a guide for the nervous

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Kattefjaes, Feb 19, 2017.

  1. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    Sadly yes, my router doesn't do 5.

    Yeah, it seems to need it in the location I have it relative to the range extender (trying to optimize for everything around the house at once...). I did try onboard-only on initial setup, but no go.
     
  2. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    BNC or RCA from Hifiberry Digi+ Pro to Bryston DAC. I am away from home now and cannot check if there is any noise level with speakers. The difference was obvious with SE535 but even with less sensitive headphones, ATH MSR7, it was there.
     
  3. Andre Y

    Andre Y Friend

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    I use a network bridge as well, and it seems to run better than the Pi2 using its own wireless dongle. I'm using piCorePlayer on it because I serve off a Squeeze server. It works very well and sounds great --- much better than the old Squeezebox v2 I had. Digital output is via a Hifiberry Digi+ with transformer to an Yggdrasil A1.
     
  4. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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  5. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    @Cspirou : streaming wireless N from an internal hard disk to a wifi dongle on a Pi3 / Digi+ standard (no transformer) -> optical -> Modi Multibit -> Rotel integrated, nothing through my Dynaudios until the amp is up near 10 when paused (comfortable listening at 3). And then it's a slight hiss, not computer or power style noise.

    With UE900s from a Magni 2U connected to the Rotel's pre-outs, hiss becomes noticeable ~ 5 with Magni's volume set ~7 on high gain (comfortable listening with this setup is with the Rotel's knob around 2.5).

    Been using a 1A linear supply from an old Iomega Zip Drive and the underclocked settings described in an early post of this thread. Changed back to the standard Pi 2.4A switcher and didn't notice a difference when paused, but I think the linear might be cleaner when playing (could be expectation bias though).
     
  6. Merrick

    Merrick A lidless ear

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  7. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Amusingly Gigabit* Ethernet.

    * - Controller is gigabit**

    ** - Interface is USB2.0***
    *** - i.e. effectively ~300Mbps ethernet****.
    **** - if there is 0 other USB activity.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2018
  8. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    That is always the biggest limitation of the board, they have very limited io on the soc, and even more limited board space for io controllers.*

    Allo's Sparky does all sorts of board acrobatics to have its ethernet be on a separate io channel, with most of the middle of the board at a 45° angle to everything else like someone forced a square peg down the round hole.

    * keeping in mind all the various human-size connectors they need on the board.
     
  9. Grahad2

    Grahad2 Red eyes from too much anime

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    Space is not the limitation, cost is. ASUS Tinkerboard ($60), ODROID C2 ($46), etc all have GbE LAN on the same footprint.
     
  10. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I was able to get Pi Zero W and Volumio running in reasonably short order last night. Aside from one crash when it finished cataloguing the music folder on my NAS, every time I thought it was broken was just a matter of being patient and waiting for it to do its thing. It took several minutes to recognize my micro iDSD, and then a few more for me to realize I had to select it as the output device. Success!

    So tonight I booted it up and tried connecting it to Eitr. It seemed to enter some kind of loop with the ACT LED cycling through a repeated pattern and remained unconnectable after unplugging Eitr. I tried booting with Eitr plugged in and the same happened. I know it's supposed to work with Modi, and that it did, allowing me to select "Modi Multibit" as the output device. I then swapped it over to Eitr and voilà. Success! So it would seem that to get a Pi running Volumio to work with Eitr, you need to connect it to a Modi first.

    The interface is pretty responsive for selecting music, but folder navigation to my Synology NAS isn't able to send tracks to the queue. Everything else has worked fine so far. It says it's getting 72Mb/s over Wi-Fi and I'm playing 24-bit 192kHz flac tracks, though I'm hearing the occasional "tick". 24bit 88/96kHz doesn't seem to be a problem though. I play CD rips 99.98% of the time anyway.

    Edit: Media Servers > DiskStation (Synology NAS) > folder navigation doesn't send tracks to the queue, but Music Library > NAS works.

    [​IMG]
     
    Last edited: Mar 21, 2018
  11. marflao

    marflao Acquaintance

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    How do you deal with files higher than 24/192? Is there any option in the squeezelite settings where this kind of downsampling is mentioned?
     
  12. Andre Y

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    Sorry, I can't help you there. I mostly listen to 44.1kHz rips of my CD library with occasional 88.2 or 96y kHz files. Not sure I even have an 192 files except maybe an odd test file here or there. You can downsample it before adding it to the library I'm sure.
     
  13. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    I don't know if ALSA mixer allows for ultra high res or DXD type files. Not even sure how to handle DSD over DoP.
     
  14. marflao

    marflao Acquaintance

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    Yeah...downsampling them prior the upload to the library would be on option.
    But maybe there is also an option - either in pCP or LMS - where this can be set automatically. Need to dig a bit deeper into this.
     
  15. sepinho

    sepinho Friend

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    Get a Hifiberry or any other GPIO-connected DAC. The older, slower Raspis' USB hub is overwhelmed with hires files. Shouldn't be a problem with Raspi 2/3 though. I actually have a Hifiberry DAC+ on a Raspi 2 running Volumio. Great, affordable, tiny setup.
     
  16. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    My Pi Zero W running Volumio works fine as long as I'm continually using it. If left sitting idle (1/2 day to a day), it eventually becomes unresponsive (spinning circle of death, pings time out). ACT LED is on steady. After hard powering down and inserting the SD card into Windows, I get a warning that there are corrupt files. So I have to reformat and flash a saved image. Reboot the Pi and everything is fine. Until the next time it hangs.

    I first set it up using DHCP, and then tried assigning a static IP with no change in behaviour. I also thought it might be Volumio forgetting how to connect to the Eitr, since I fooled it into thinking it's a "Modi Multibit". So I tried connecting directly to the Modi Multibit but the hanging behaviour persists.

    Any ideas? I guess I can try RuneAudio. Interesting how the interface is so similar to Volumio's.
     
  17. marflao

    marflao Acquaintance

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    I vouch for piCorePlayer!
    I use it since a couple of years with my Pi2 and upgraded to the new v3.5 yesterday.
    Guess the Zero W is also supported (at least since v3.2 support was included).

    Edit: and it´s stable. Pi is running continuously while i switch off my DAC when not used.
    I used Moode for a while but preferred the way how all can be controlled via LMS/pCP hence I went back to them.
     
    Last edited: Mar 26, 2018
  18. caecillius

    caecillius New

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    Check your power supply. If the voltage sags that can cause the SD card to become corrupt. I had the same problem and getting a better supply (Adafruit stuff is great) fixed the issue for me.
     
  19. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    I'm using the 2A output of a powered hub for power. I'll try a different USB wall wart and see if it help. I've got Apple and Samsung OEM units. Don't know if they'll be any better. Being overseas, all the standard stuff you guys have access to is a bit more trouble for me.
     
  20. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    So rebooting does not get it to reboot?

    Not sure how Volumio is connecting or how you set it. If you are writing a fresh install, that should not matter anyway. ASLA should just pickup the device. To find out for sure, you would have to run system logs.

    I run MoOde on my Pi3's, but it is supposedly also built for Pi Zero W. I never had any issues.
     

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