Pi2 Design Idiot-Proof Ready-To-Go RPi/AES Streamer

Only 1 device available to choose from in raspi-config (audio sub-menu)...
Tried choosing it anyhow, exited and rebooted. Still nada.
Swapping to the Volumio microSD card, just to make sure I did not screw up something in my cabling - still works great, so the culprit is definitely Raspberry OS (or Jriver MC28).
Still investigating (and welcoming more ideas / suggestions).....

 

Hi Michael.

I prefer the way GentooPlayer sounds, compared to Volumio (and other Pi audio software that I have tried). There are many options within GentooPlayer to really dial things in if you want, but even out of the box it has been my favorite on Pi devices for a long time. To my ears it sounds a little less etched and sterile, and things like imaging, bass, decays, microdetails, etc. are preferable.

To get GentooPlayer running on the Mercury:

1) Go here to see what GentooPlayer is about - https://gentooplayers.com/

2) Click on the download page to download. You have to make a minimum donation in order to get a functional version. I highly recommend doing it...

3) When you get past that, you'll want to download the version for the Pi 4B. Versions 6.5 and 6.6 are available now. You might as well download each. I am running 6.6 now.

4) Burn downloaded image to an SD card (with Etcher or similar).

5) Boot Mercury with GentooPlayer card.

6) I'm using Ethernet. If using wifi, I think you have to stick with the ST Kernels.

7) There's a web interface and a terminal interface. I use both, but you don't have to. I think most people use the web interface. SSH is off by default, so you'll have to turn it on by accessing the TWK Various menu in the web interface. See here.

8) Connect to the web interface in a browser by connecting to the IP address of the Mercury device, port 5000. Example - 192.168.1.77:5000.

9) Once in the web interface, you'll have to generate a GentooPlayer PC Key for your device. Email the key to the developer. He'll email you back a GentooPlayer key that you can enter along with the name you're assigned. Then GentooPlayer will be fully functional. See here. Allow a little time for this, depending on your time zone. The developer is in Italy.

10. More to come (including more sophisticated settings), but this will get you started... Glad to answer any questions... Once running, you'll have access to Squeezelite, Squeezelite-R2, Neworkdaudiod (HQPLayer NAA), mpd, RoonBridge, Shairport-sync, Spotify connect, GmediaRender, Upmpdcli, minimserver, logitech media server, etc.

I have a few other digital sources to compare (including an Allo USBridge Signature, a Stack Link II, and a Pi2AES). I haven't done much or any A/B comparisons yet, but the Mercury Streamer really sounds good.

 

By the way, choose HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro (in GentooPlayer) for the Mercury Streamer (as is the case with other Pi audio software distributions)...

See here (web ui) and here (terminal).

 

2-22-22 22:22



Today I did not have much time to work on the Mercury. I am working on a couple more optimizations on the Volumio system. I am removing SAMBA as I do not need it with FileZilla and SSH.


I did fire up the Raspberry Pi Imager to build a microSD card of Gentoo Player. I have not used the OS in quite a while, and the improvements in the system setup are noticeable. I did everything I needed from the menu system in a web browser. I have SSH turned on, NVME Drive mounted, Some more music transferred, WiFi linked up. LMS and Squeezelite installed and running. And never touched the command line. NICE.


Shout out to @antonellocaroli for his fine work.


I have only had time to do a quick A then B comparison between the Sunday setup with Volumio and Tuesday with Gentoo Player. I know I am getting used to listening to the first setup, which is a slightly different character. The hardware is really in there, and it lets the software do its thing.


I need someone else to back me up on this listening. I hope that time will allow going upstairs tomorrow on the speaker system.

Oh, another discovery Squeezelite-R2 sounds better on Gentoo Player!

 

Good news! Jriver MC28 on top of Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit now works
If you try any Raspberry Pi OS and get no sound - try looking inside the file /boot/config.txt and look for a line that starts with:
dtoverlay=

In my specific case, the full line was:
dtoverlay=vc4-kms-v3d

My audio issues were resolved by replacing it with:
dtoverlay=hifiberry-digi-pro

 

I wonder if that overlay is correct. I believe you need to select the plus because that adds the separate clock switching. I think before the plus, they used the internal PLL of the WM8804. This is not as good as using the separate clocks.

I could be wrong though, and maybe someone can take a look at the overlay list to see if the plus is in there as a separate entry

 

Well... that is the exact same overlay used in the Volumio image that you've sent out with the beta units
With the Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit that I was running the MC28 on top of - I could not use any utility to select HiFiBerry at all. I had to manually edit the /boot/config.txt file.

 

Thanks. I am not familiar with the underlying overlay names and how they match the names used by volumio.

 

I am not familiar with overlays. I got a tip to try and compare the overlays in the working (Volumio) and non-working (PI OS) images. That was a difference that by changing it - fixed the problem!
Maybe other Pi OS distributions would auto-identify your HW correctly, but in case it does not - I hope to save time (and hair) to other folks here

 

Are there any websites I can get meaningful impressions on how well the Pi2 Designs Mercury performs? Are there any other forums that Beta testers are posting impressions of Pi2 Designs Mercury?

 

You need to wat until bobfa is ready

 

There are 11 beta users and we have asked all of them to post on this forum. But, they have only had the units for a week at most. So hopefully more feedback will come this week.

 

Hi,
I will probably receive the unit on Tuesday, this week. That's why I am silent for now.
I have been following this thread from the beginning. I currently have Devialet220 Pro connected to Mac Mini and Nas over a network where there are 2 different switches connected to each other using fiberoptic cables. Audirvana player is running on Mac Mini and I use Synology DS214 with SSDs installed as NAS. I am planning to install VolumIO and Moode on Mercury and use it with AES/EBU input of Devialet.

But when I use Mac Mini, Devialet AIR Ethernet protocol(a special protocol implementation of Devialet) is used and data is transferred to DAC(Devialet) over ethernet connection. I do not use USB connection at all although I have a good USB cable because AIR protocol sounds far better than USB Async(Devialet Usb driver). Therefore , I have only one way to compare Audirvana/Mac Mini with VolumIO/Moode running on Mercury Streamer. It is to run Roon on VolumIO(Roon has pre-installed Devialet AIR drivers) . As far as I read on DevialetChat.com(very active community among Devialet users) , Devialet PRO sound better with AIR protocol than AES/EBU connection even if the source has a good Master Clock(like DCS Network Bridge).

Lastly, If I can arrange a good linear power supply, I want to try it with Mercury to see the audible changes. I currently use S-Booster MK2 with SOTM SNH-10G switch. That's the summary of things I am planning to do in the next 2 weeks(after work hours).

Edit: If I have enough time, I can also test the streamer with my headphones. I have Chord Hugo and Fostex TH900. I find the digital Coax connection for Chord Hugo better than its usb input. I generally connect it to my phone(USB Audio Player pro is installed for bit perfect playback) with a special Type-c to Micro-Usb OTG cable. Mercury will probably sound far better when it is connected to Chord Hugo using digital Coax.

 

Just remember that Mercury uses 12 V.

 

Yes, I know that. That's why I will try to arrange another linear power supply that has 12V and 15V output. As the owner of this LPS is travelling a lot for work, it may not be possible in a week for me.

In the mid term, I already have plan to buy Audioquest Niagara 3000 for Devialet and other sources.(it is currently not found in my country and has some restrictions due to some complicated import regulation clauses)

 

Mercury was stuck at customs for a few days because my phone number was not on the UPS customs declaration, but was excited to receive it.

I used ian's fifopi+hdmopi with PiCorePlayer before, and hdmi i2s work well with Audiophonics i-sabre driver. After replacing Mercury, changing to HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro driver can make coaxial and AES sound, but hdmi can't work, does anyone know which driver to use? (my DAC can adjust the order of i2s, so this is not the problem).

 

Make sure you are using the I2S hdmi output (next to the dac jack) , not the pi hdmi ( near the usb).

 

I really got it wrong, it works now, thanks!

 

I am a bit behind on things. I have been messing with GentooPlayer and I have messed up my SD cards a couple of times. I will be back on Volumio this evening for some listening tests. I am starting out with the PS that Michael has provided to keep a level playing field. I can then throw a couple of 12 supplies at it.

I write here and over at Audiophile Style.

My initial sense is that this is a bit above the Pi2ES. BUT!!! I have to do a direct comparison with all the same software, etc. I have an Antipodes K50 sitting here also, which is unfair as heck...

I had some pretty magical moments late last week with the Mercury!

 

Hi,
I have received the streamer a few hours ago. I quickly added my audio folder on Synology NAS as a source which is about 1TB. It scanned all the albums in a short time. Then I connected Mercury to Devialet 220Pro with setting I2S DAC=enabled and DAC Model="HifiBerry Digi+ Pro" using AES/EBU connection(used Mogami Gold AES-03 Digital/Analog XLR cable). I played one of my favourite albums and it sounded amazing with AES/EBU connection. I just tried the USB connection(with a Audioquest Usb Cable) to see whether it works or not. It also worked but I prefer the AES connection.

After that I installed VolumIO 3(the latest version) on another sd card with 200GB size. It mounted a little bit slow but it worked. I modified the same settings which is explained above. Everything worked without any problem.

Lastly, I enabled SSH on VolumIO and run some commands to install Roon Bridge(My VolumIO subscription is the free one). It is installed successfully and I see the right messages that it is installed successfully . But I could not find the right screen to run ROON Bridge on VolumIO. I did not understand what I did missing.

Roon Bridge armv7hf
$ curl -O http://download.roonlabs.com/builds/roonbridge-installer-linuxarmv7hf.sh
$ chmod +x roonbridge-installer-linuxarmv7hf.sh
$ sudo ./roonbridge-installer-linuxarmv7hf.sh​

Does anyone have experience in running Roon Bridge on VolumIO? I do not have any difficulty in installing the plugin manually from the commandline. If there is a good tutorial that explains it step by step, it would be very good for me.

If I can make RoonBridge work on VolumIO, then I will test it with DEVIALET AIR driver with ethernet connection. After that, I will have some detailed listening sessions in the following days using AES connection and AIR Ethernet protocols and compare it with Audirvana running on Mac Mini.

I am very happy even with my initial experiences in the first few hours. Thank you Michael