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

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

  1. StageOne

    StageOne Friend

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    Amazon does not have any open APIs so you are stuck only using their apps or approved devices. I (and lots of users) wish they would open their service but we are such a small minority I doubt that will ever happen. I'm switching to either Tidal or Qobuz because of this.

    Deezer.. no idea. That is such a small player in the market.
     
  2. will_f

    will_f Friend

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    the PiAES is smaller than I realized. That’s a good thing since I ordered all the stuff yesterday and was wondering where I’d put it.
     
  3. will_f

    will_f Friend

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    This dummy appreciates it. I will need to raid the computer graveyard at work for one.
     
  4. Unkgd

    Unkgd New

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    I checked on the MoOde Forum and there do not appear to be any plugin's in MoOde for Deezer.
    FWIW - Here is a link to one of the later threads on the topic,
     
  5. tommytakis

    tommytakis MOT: E.T.A Headphones

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    So I’ve effectively switched over from Volumio to RopieeXL and I’m very pleased with the overall experience! I honestly think the setup was simpler than Volumio, at least for me. They have a “beginner’s guide” pdf on their page and it was super easy to follow as a supplement to Marv’s guide.

    Why did I switch? I found Volumio to be glitchy/buggy when using the Spotify plugin, which is my main source for listening other than the stored FLAC files on my desktop. Also the overall UI is a bit tacky looking and I didn’t like using their media player much as it had issue showing all of the liked songs on my main playlist. RopieeXL seems to fit my needs better for airplay and Spotify. Hardest part of the switch was honestly trying to figure out the best way to remove the microSD card LOL

    I’ll try Moode later this weekend, but I’m definitely not coming back to Volumio as I’m pretty happy with RopieeXL. One potential drawback I can think of is not being able to play music files from your flashdrive/hard drive (please correct me if I’m wrong)
     
  6. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    RopieeeXL does support UPnP/ DLNA. However you will need player like Audirvana etc on your laptop to play
     
  7. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

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    I finally pieced it together and installed Volumio (easy setup per instructions) but noticed that it’s a bit sharp on the ears. As in a bit of glare that on both the Oblivion and Apex Teton (especially here). Had to take off my headphones because my baby weak ears weren’t having it. Does this subside after leaving it on or is just the characteristic of it.
     
  8. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    That's weird, could it be the recording?
     
  9. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

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    I was listening to mostly Spotify last night but there are a few songs on there that are much better recorded than rest. Still felt it on those tracks. Switched back to the Bifrost 2 and it was much more comfortable. I'll play around with the settings more today. I really do enjoy the ease of use and not having to plant a full laptop next to my bed.

    Going to move it over to the bedroom with the SW51+, Elex, Modi Multibit, and my external hard drive full of FLACs.
     
  10. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Huh? What were you using for a DAC then if not the Bifrost? The Pi2AES is a transport not DAC.
     
  11. Phantaminum

    Phantaminum Friend

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    My original setup is PC USB out to the Bifrost 2. With the Pi2AES I have the set up as Pi2AES to Bifrost 2 via SPDIF. I was switching sources between the PC USB out to Pi2AES SPDIF.
     
  12. ohshitgorillas

    ohshitgorillas Friend

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    Probably a long shot since a few of these things are relatively recent, but would anyone happen to have a comparison of Pi2AES > Bifrost 2 versus USBridge Signature > Unison > Bifrost 2?

    I want one of the two. On the one hand, part of me feels like it's a bit silly to have something as good as Unison in my hands and then not use it in favor of coaxial utilizing a connector that physically can't match the signal impedance (I would probably do AES over BNC on the sending end and BF2 RCA coax input). I will likely never have a DAC with AES inputs, as Bifrost 2 is so far good enough to be end game. On the other hand, the Pi2AES is small and relatively transportable, so I could take it to work with me too. Leaning towards the Pi2AES at this point, but holding out to see how the USBridge Sig might fare. I know the USBridge non-sig is inferior, wondering specifically about the new Signature version.
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  13. famish99

    famish99 Friend

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    Honestly, you might be hearing the Bifrost's treble unleashed. I found BF2's treble somewhat aggressive and fatiguing on my setup when used with my transports as well. Usually I find the biggest difference between a good transport and USB is the treble presentation.
     
  14. bilboda

    bilboda Florida boomer

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    I was listening to the pi2aes, SW51+ and Verite yesterday and found it strange, uneven and sharp. I put in the Mullards today and it's just fine, stock tubes never gave me problems before. There was the occasional cracking as well yesterday, but smooth and quite with these tubes today. Who knows ? Tubes? maybe, likely. I did find the pi2aes edgy at first, not today though. Smooth like butter.
     
  15. FatCat

    FatCat New

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    My initial experience with the PI2AES was a little bit of midrange grain and slight treble zing/haze, both went away after about a week of playing. If you're having issues try playing music through it for a few days and see if that fixes things.
     
  16. exocer

    exocer Acquaintance

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    I'm currently breaking in my DAC...so probably not the best time to be comparing uPNP renderers but somehow I prefer the sound of Moode to RopieeeXL. Will swap out the SD card to confirm my preference after I'm confident the DAC itself is no longer settling in.

    I only stream from Tidal and use Bubble uPNP to control playback. Pi2AES connected via ethernet.

    Anyone else have similar observations or is it all in my head?
     
    Last edited: Feb 11, 2020
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    What, everybody should have at least 12 spare IEC power cables lying around the house!

    Updating guide...
     
  18. joch

    joch Friend

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    It may be that the clocks on the board require stabilization. Keeping the player on for a while might help.
     
  19. FlySweep

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    I have a Modi 3 downstream the Pi2AES and heard the slight sharpness @Phantaminum mentioned.. for about a week. Left the unit on and gave it regular run daily (~2-3 hrs every night).. I found that sharpness gives way to a crisp, smooth, clean sound. If anything, I'm hearing deeper into recordings and their mastering/mixing qualities (for better or worse).
     
  20. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Hahahaha. I bet 32.56% of this is the pi2AES reaching equilibrium and the other 67.44% is ears acclimating. Pi2AES does have a different sound to USB, and with any other transport, even computers with better or worse USB source implementations.

    I believe @rlow mentioned that an external LPS may smoothen the transients. (Personally, I like this more incisive sound). Brand and make, and adapter size of LPS, is outside the scope of my knowledge. However, others may feel free to chime in.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2020

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