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

OK, thank you. I'll give it a try. It did occur to me that I could reduce the length of the ribbon cable to a couple of inches then open the two boards up like a book.

FWIW, on the topic of 5V power supplies for the pi2aes2, I have parts on order to build an AMB audio Sigma11 regulator:
https://www.amb.org/audio/sigma11/.

 

Any recommendation for a screen? I have an original raspberry screen but i would like something 7-8 inches with higher resolution, that wouldn't cost too much. Is there anything available and compatible with the pi2aes case?

 

regular HDMI output is supported by most software players. On volumio, you have to enable the raspberry, pi, touchscreen output, which, then weirdly enables HDMI. I think the same thing is true for moode. Ropieee on the other hand does not support any display output other than the official 7 inch screen via the DSI port, which is the ribbon cable connector next to the SD card socket.

 

FWIW, on the topic of 5V power supplies for the pi2aes2, I have parts on order to build an AMB audio Sigma11 regulator:
https://www.amb.org/audio/sigma11/.[/QUOTE]

I use a 5V Sigma 11 for mine. Works great.

 

So after using AirPlay 2 for abt 6 months after skipping on Volumio Premium (for its Tidal Connect feature) when I switched to Quboz, I just learnt yesterday that AirPlay is locked to 48khz... oh man, so this is why it sounds so bad?! --It has to downsample 44khz material!!

So I searched the net and this thread for possible ways around it and found out that iOS has a free UPnP/DLNA app called mConnect Lite, which will natively play the correct 16/44 in-app.

The difference?

Oh my goodness, it was like rolling a sweet-sounding NOS tube from a dull stock one. I feel like it's on par with my memory of my Roon trial--it's that good sounding.

So if you're using AIrPlay to stream on your Pi2AES, do yourself a favor and get a UPnP app (if you're on Android, Bubble UPnP apparently is the one to get)!

It even fixed my problem with Quboz's native shuffle (has an excellent shuffle feature) which was so awful I just started listening to albums straight through... which is prob better, but sometimes ya want just the hits, ya know?

 

Might be a Volumio thing. With Moode Audio, I can select the sample rate/bit depth in settings.

 

I think subjectively moOde sounds better, but I would need to buy a new SD card to properly image it, it won't work on my old one that I had it on bc I changed some SSID settings, so only Volumio works now, and I can't be assed to buy a new SD lol

edit: tho i prob should as i could put local files on it if I get a 256 or 512gb card

 

so say i wanted to "get into ethernet" w my pi2aes, what am i looking at buying, and how will it affect sq, if i use it wireless atm?

 

That depends. What other networking gear do you currently run, where is it located, and where is the streamer located?

 

standard, ordinary router & modem. it's located in living room, pi2 in bedroom maybe 30 ft away.

would even running it wired from my router help sq?

 

I think it would be an improvement due to less EMI

 

If you want a quick and dirty test, just buy a Blue Jeans Cable ethernet cable of appropriate length, plug it into an open port on your router, and then run it to the streamer. I suggest Blue Jeans Cable for ethernet because each cable is individually tested to ensure it conforms to the applicable spec (e.g., CAT 5e, CAT 6, CAT6A).

There are lots of posts on the forum about improving from there, by using switches or other devices like EtherREGEN to further isolate the ethernet signal going into the streamer itself, but those are spendy. If you have other devices next to the streamer that you'd also like to hardwire, you could buy a simple D-Link DGS-105 or DGS-108 gigabit switch and just hook that up to the router, then the devices into the switch. That's what I do behind my TV stand for the Pi2AES, AppleTV, Oppo player, and game consoles. Works well.

 

based. i was lookin at the etherREGEN too, it's one of the cheaper audio switches lol, nice rec on the BJC too, i think ill do that, order one as a cheap test

 

In itself, probably only marginally or at edge of perception. But the main draw with running wired is you can use symphonic mpd which increases sq significantly.

 

ok, so i just ran regular, non-spec wire to it and it didn't do nuffin--or if it cut out some noise, it was below the subjective threshold like you said--but what is "symphonic mpd"?

 

Its a Pi OS: https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/symphonic-mpd.11713/

 

Are there any reviews of the PiAES 2.0 any where?

 

It's the connector design that impacts resistance mostly.

 

Heard on the dl from trusted source that 2.0 clearly > rev 1, but no, no impressions head-to-head, or against other streamers

 

I have just bought a new DAC which has limited input options; I am thinking about going BNC from the Pi2AES 2.0 > Audial S5.

I've just ordered the BNC interconnect from Blue Jeans.