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

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

  1. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    But fear not if you lose it. You can buy several hundred for under 10 bucks.
     
  2. MegaKen

    MegaKen New

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    Done. Also a chance to wipe and buff the plexiglass. For some reason all the pictures I've seen in the wild it has like fingerprints and pizza sauce all over.

    Anyway. Is there a right order to connect/disconnect - which do I plug/unplug first - the pi or the hat or doesn't matter?
     
  3. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    It could probably work either way, I’d start with powering up the hat to ensure it was ready when the OS booted up.

    Pizza sauce on the case increases audio texture by 10%. Fingerprints are just ugly and inevitable.
     
  4. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    In the old days, we'd put the cap back on a single pin (leaving the adjacent pin uncovered). That way, its right there if we need it in the future
     
  5. hpamdr

    hpamdr New

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    I was not able to use gpio gpio24 as when switching off *pwr_sw (pin14) it seems that no time is left for any signal and shutdown.. pi2AES power the Rpi as i did not found any improvement with minimal piCore player using dedicated dedicated power supply for rPi.

    Working with Mute (pin4+pin3 -> gpio27) with push button to shutdown, I also added a switch on pin 13/14 to unpower the Hat. Modification of shutdown scipt will allow me to call a wifi switch.

    Just have to configure shutdown gpio on piCore web interface and install monitor... No need to install python library or any additional extension...
     
  6. MacCali

    MacCali New

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    Good day, I pop in every now and then, originally came here for this streamer. I purchased mine almost 45 days ago, and I know they are super slammed. So it will arrive eventually. Guessing in a month or less I hope.

    Could someone please tell me what operating systems this unit can use, am I able to use roon on it? or only volumio or how does it work. Appreciate the help.
     
  7. loadexfa

    loadexfa MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    It's really the player software, the base OS is probably similar or the same for each. Popular options are MoOde, Volumio, and Ropieee (especially if you use Roon). It's easy to flash a player onto the card and play around so you may find it worth trying all three to see which you like best.
     
  8. MegaKen

    MegaKen New

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    what is the best way to connect the pi2aes to topping e50 balanced?

    [​IMG]
     
  9. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    Coax
     
  10. MegaKen

    MegaKen New

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    coax is unbalanced, no?. but the board has a balanced output, and the dac has a balanced input - how do I utilize that?
     
  11. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    Coax is digital, balanced is in the analog domain. The digital signal sent by the Pi2aes via coax has separate left and right channels.
     
  12. MegaKen

    MegaKen New

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    ok I may be not understanding some fundamentals here.
    Why do people go above and beyond to build balanced chains (source>dac>amp) if you can just use coax?
     
  13. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    There's no such thing as balanced digital. You can go balanced out of DAC, preamp and, amp. You can't go balanced into a DAC.
     
  14. MegaKen

    MegaKen New

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    ooh so those are outputs on the dac? (marked balanced)
     
  15. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    Please read your hardware manuals.
     
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  16. MisterRogers

    MisterRogers Ethernet Nervosa

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    Thanks or this post, I was about to post something similar. @MegaKen - the forum members here are very knowledgable and willing to help, but it's on you to make your 'best effort' at reading, researching, etc. Then, this community is here to help clarify or correct, if needed.
     
  17. coin777

    coin777 Acquaintance

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    AES is balanced digital, so is I2S via HDMI
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2021
  18. MacCali

    MacCali New

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    Is ropie free?
    I believe volumio is, but excuse my ignorance I am not very familiar to audio in general and also very new to this, just about a year in. I use quboz primarily, I believe volumio does support Quboz, would it better to use roon or just volumio and quboz.

    I do not have roon yet, but I am planning on getting this black friday trial and test it out. I also want roon cause I think it has internal EQ which can be beneficial. The other software may also have EQ, I do not know. I am currently using equalizer APO, but I believe I am not using it correctly cause it's not really doing anything when I turn it on or off, via headphones or speakers. I have it installed on all my output devices.
     
  19. scblock

    scblock Friend

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    Well, with Topping and some other Chinese brands it can be hard to read the manual since they print it in 4 point font on business card sized paper and use half that space for unreadable “measurement” charts.

    Yes. It’s my preferred option for use with Roon, but without Roon is much less useful. Though the Ropieee XL extensions are handy as well.
     
  20. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    To play Qobuz on Pi2AES, the best experience by far is to use Roon. You have a choice of different systems (Volumio, MoOde, RoPieee) to make the RPi a Roon endpoint and they are all free.

    If you don't use Roon, Volumio requires a subscription at 29 euros/year (about $33) to add their native Qobuz and Tidal support. Volumio's interface to navigate through the Qobuz/Tidal library is awkward and primitive. Using Roon is a much, much better user experience but the subscription also much higher.

    With Tidal, the Volumio subscription may be worth it because it supports Tidal Connect (uses Tidal's own app as the interface). Then I would consider using it instead of Roon. Unfortunately Qobuz doesn't have a Connect function yet.
     

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