Dummies Guide to Pi2AES! Throw away your PC or laptop.

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    People have been saying Pi HATs (including 502DAC before Pi2AES) are superior to USB before and after Unison.
     
  2. Cakecake

    Cakecake Guest

    I didn't think lynx aes16e was as good as unison, it made the sound very squareish and hifi.

    I don't know how lynx aes16e compare to these pi stuff. The similarity is that it is AES connection and bypassed USB and after that I don't know why sound would be better with pi2aes.
     
  3. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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    Ah, sorry, I misunderstood your question. If it does (not having heard either), the stock answer would be as Michael Kelly said in post #84: regulators and clocks.
     
  4. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    I'm not sure where RoPieeeXL ranks in terms of Bestester OS but frankly, if you want to use Roon (which has Tidal/Quobuz built in) AND Spotify Connect, this OS is the cat's ass. Super easy to use, install and just works with NO FUCKERY.

    I had to donate to the guy, f'ing kudos to them. They have a host of other functions which I've turned off but giver' if you need to. In terms of ease of use and setup, this curb-stomps MoOde.

    https://ropieee.org/xl/
     
  5. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    You know guys, the more I read this thread the more I kind of wanna get a disc spinner or do 33s and 45s. All of this stuff is hurting my head.
     
  6. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Nothing wrong with that. Skip the FOMO and continue enjoying what you have
     
  7. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

    Staff Member Pyrate MZR
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    Nah, this shit is way easier.
     
  8. mkozlows

    mkozlows Friend

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    Yeah, the hardware is legit trivial. The software is more involved, but that's because there's not necessarily a one-size-fits-all solution, because what people want is different. (For instance, I have zero local files, just want a streaming thing, and do have a separate desktop PC. Roon and Ropiee work great for me with Qobuz. Somebody who has no PC and just wants to run stuff off a NAS might prefer something else.)
     
  9. joch

    joch Friend

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    I should get out of my comfort zone with Volumio and MoOde and give this a try.

    What’s great is that you just need an extra microSD, flash it, and swap out what you are already using. If it’s not better, put back the previous card.
     
  10. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    Naturally. It's the union of tweaky Linux users, tweaky DIYers, and tweaky audiophiles.

    Welcome to the geeks' den.

    I have a question:

    My LMS works great -- even with a large library and with multiple local and remote players going simultaneously -- but it's running on a pretty high-powered NAS. I'd like to set up a second remote system that isn't dependent on a stable internet connection to that NAS.

    Is anyone running LMS on a piCorePlayer with at least a moderate-size library (say, 10K-20K tracks)? How's the performance?
     
  11. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    I do not know if pi2aes sounds better than lynkx aes 16e or not, but I can see why it would be easier to make any Rpi HAT sound better than a PCI card and at the lower price point.
    Inside a PC your lynx card is surrounded by multiple fans, electrical wires everywhere. Add to it always slightly vibrating PSU and, although I do not know anything about EE, it looks to me like a pretty difficult environment, with a lot of electrical noise.
    Compare it to a small form factor dedicated streamer without a fan or any moving parts.
    So I can see how pi2aes or a similar Rpi HAT with AES output and galvanic isolation can cost 3 times less and maybe sound as good as lynx
     
  12. crazychile

    crazychile Eastern Iowa's Spiciest Pepper

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    I finally got my image etched on SD and it looks like I expected. I had to reinstall Balena Etcher. RPi3 still won't show up on the network. I think it's the power supply I used (couldn't find the official one) which has the right voltage but is only 700mA. It does light up though. Rather than dick around with this I'm thinking about going to the RPi4 and Pi2AES which uses a different power supply anyway. I noticed there is an option for heatsinks on the RPi4. Do I need those if my only intent is to use this as a music server with the Pi2AES?
     
  13. Riotvan

    Riotvan Snoofer in the Woofer

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    I read somewhere there were some overheating concerns with the 4 they were trying to solve through firmware or something. Heatsink might be a good idea for peace of mind.
     
  14. Clemmaster

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    5V (?) 700mA might be too weak for it, especially when doing the initial setup on first boot, where the CPU might be sucking too much power.

    I actually had a story related to this.
    As some of you know, I love the Jameco wall linear regulated power supplies ($15 and come in most useful voltages, up to 1.5A).
    I was using a 5V/1A with my Allo USBridge signature at work and had to reflash the SD card.
    My OS of choice is RopieeeXL. I could not get the USBridge to show up in Roon, even after waiting 1h and many re-flashing attempts.
    In desperation I tried DietPi (my previous OS of choice) and behold! It did show up.

    I suspect the 1A was at / past the limit for RopieeeXL’s initial setup!

    I would need to check the power draw to confirm, though.
     
  15. shabta

    shabta Facebook Friend

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    I love picoreplayer, I think it is the best solution hands down, sound and features. But, running LMS is can suck on a pi. I haven't tried it for a while, but LMS does a lot of read/writes, so that is pokey on an sdcard. The initial library build will be dog slow. It's been 3-4 years since I tried it, but I found the performance on a bigger library unacceptable, but I don't remember what "bigger" actually meant. Probably a Terabyte of data.

    There is also an issue with LMS that it rescans a directory or something from time to time, which sucks on "bigger" libraries, and that can temporarily affect playback.

    I ended up using an odroid as a server for a long because the emmc card/architecture was much faster. It still had some problems though, I bought to much music over too many years. It has a better USB implementation than a pi, and I feed it to a ifi nano which feeds a dac. That's my 2nd system. I run music on 3 floors and each can play a different tune. So that's a cool thing about lms.


    But now I use an inexpensive fanless, headless windows PC as a server. It is really fast, easy to remote login to (because of win10 pro) and it's always quiet. It's a beelink t34 which I got on ali express for about $125 USD on Black Friday. But usually it's much more than that. But I digress.
     
  16. haywood

    haywood Friend

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    There are a few things to keep in mind. First is that some heatsinks previously were counterproductive as they just used double-sided tape so if you do get any make sure they’re at least well reviewed. Second is that people running into overheating are generally doing tasks that put a lot more stress on the processor than streaming audio does. The exception is if you’re upsampling everything to super high bitrates or doing some kind of dsp. Third is here’s an article that discusses tge heat issue and suggests orienting the Pi “vertically” as a free, no-impact way to improve heat dissipation.

    https://www.seeedstudio.com/blog/20...rmware-update-pi-4-now-runs-cooler-than-ever/
     
  17. fastfwd

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    Yeah, that's what I was afraid of. Thanks.

    I have an old SuperMicro box that used to be my router/firewall; it wouldn't take much to repurpose it as a music server. But for this second system I was hoping to build something a little more portable and rugged, that could lose power at any time with no consequences. Oh well.
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I was exactly in the same situation as you a year ago.

    Cover your ears and eyes and go "blah blah blah blah blah" to what everyone else has had to say. Follow my instructions in the first few posts without deviation (that is don't get fancy). You will be fine.

    From there, then go experiment, only if you want to.
     
  19. Scott Kramer

    Scott Kramer Friend

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    ^ Was going to say the exact same thing... JUST START
     
  20. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Let me move into my new apartment first then I'll see what my mood is. If I keep doing DAPs and IEMs, then ATM no need.

    Even if reading this thread is hurting my head, I'm still reading new posts to here. So that tells me that I still have an interest in this solution. It is a matter of when I'll need it.
     

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