Holo Audio Red

I think it's pretty on topic for the Holo Red thread and not super easy to find out.

In the current os you have these options:



You can also run volumio moode ropiee etc so anything they support is good as well.

No wifi but @rhythmdevils has a reco for a wifi adaptor upthread somewhere

 

Thanks.

Looks like it may come down to "hope software updates don't break anything" if my goal is relatively hands free and effortless listening?

 

I mean I think those are pretty well established protocols, and you don't have to upgrade the firmware on the device if you don't want to. Airplay 2 (Mac) or Scream (PC) will just stream your desktop master out to the Red.

 

Now that Red is set up, I haven't had to mess with anything. I can control it from my phone or my computer to play music, and it's as convenient as I could ever ask for. Not sure what the worry is about being able to play music while you're otherwise working on your computer.

 

It's not difficult to install any of the other Pi-based distros to install whatever software you require, with most users running it with Red OS with Roon or HQP, but an increasing contingent of us running it with GentooPlayer+Diretta/NAA. The only correction I'd make is it doesn't have wifi support at all, only ethernet.

 

Not specific to the Holo Red, but if you can run other pi OSes: I run JRiver on a pi, and on my computer run JRiver connecting to the pi's "Library", and can in that way browse the library (files on a NAS), control playback, etc. I won't say that there are no glitches with this remote control setup (such as some playlist management and similar activities need to be done on the pi, which can be annoying), but overall I'm quite happy with it. But note that I'm someone who actually likes the potentially complex but configurable interface of JRiver.

A key point for me is that I regularly work the computer very hard and this way there are no music dropouts even then, since jrmc on the pi is reading the files off the NAS and doing the playback itself, not just rerouting an audio stream produced by the computer. I use a pi 4 now, but when I used a 3+ it could keep up only with 96kHz and lower.

I just installed jrmc on a stock raspbian image, but JRiver will sell you a SD card with their presetup OS if you'd rather.

 

The RED has been super stable for me in UPNP performance mode, never had to restart it. But switching from DDC to Streamer modes and back is a pain! It took a lot of finegeling to get DDC mode to work and now it's just not working in UPNP mode. Turned the RED off and on, rebooted, restarted my phone, etc now trying in different sequences. Makes it hard to compare things

 

When I owned it I just needed to plug in the USB in to put it in DDC mode. Unplugging the cable would switch it back to streamer mode automatically. Didn’t need to restart at all. I was using Roon, but I don’t think it matters since that part is handled either by Red OS or the Red hardware directly?

Of course, if you power it on with the USB plugged in it would not start the streamer and only function as a DDC until you restart it with the cable unplugged.

 

Does anyone know what a solid red light on the front panel LED means on the RED? The manual doesn't explain the LED. I was just listening to music, turned it off for a bit and when I tried to play again it would not work, and RED local won't load and the LED is red. I tried turning the RED on and off multiple times, when it powers up, the LED usually blinks red for about 30 seconds, but now it only blinked for about 4 second, then just went to solid red.

I tried switching to my old Pi2AES but it isnt' working either. Damn streamers! No music

 

send me the pi2aes and we'll get you back up and running. Then you can use the red as a doorstop!

 

Sounds like a network issue. I'd recommend restarting your modem and or router.

 

Even though the internet works fine via the same wifi on my computer?

 

Worth a try for sure. Sometimes the router can get Fd up with what address it is giving each device on the network.

Other than that I would eventually suggest reflashing the OS on the SD card. However, since you can't see either the Red or Pi it sort of suggests a network issue.

Aren't you using a wifi to Ethernet adapter as well? Definitely unplug that from the power and plug it back in.

 

So my Pi2AES for my speaker rig is working fine and it's' connected to the same wifi. Which tells me it's not the router or wifi.

I believe the technical explanation is that there is a streamer dead spot there now.

Luckily I have way too much gear and am now using my Hydra Z straight from an iPod. doesn't sound as good, but still pretty decent.

I guess the acid test would be to put the card from the speakers Pi2AES that's working into the headphones Pi2AES and see if it then works. I can't do that right now, but maybe later.

Sorry to derail the thread with streamer OS issues

 

^This, has happened to me before

 

Reset the router. RED led is still not going green, it's going solid red right after turning on.

Pi2AES still not working either with MoOde or Roipiee. Nothing will connect.

And now my speakers Pi2AES needs a hard reset after the internet was reset. Computer chaos all at once! I hate computers!

 

Possibly ignore my previous theory. I just unplugged the Ethernet cable on my Red and power cycled with no Ethernet connected. Once powered up, the light ultimately went solid green despite not having an Ethernet cable connected. So, it still booted up properly. You may be looking at an actual hardware issue that is not related to a network connectivity error.

Or perhaps a corrupt OS/bad microSD Card. Can you rewrite your microSD card with the OS you were previously running, or maybe a different OS to see if the Red will boot?

Spoiler: Maybe not relevant

I think I had this happen once. As soon as it powers on, does the front chassis light blink red at all? Does it blink for a moment then go solid red? This may indicate the Rpi is not getting an IP Address and the network is not connected. Looking at the Ethernet jack on the back of the Holo Red chassis, do you see orange and green lights lit up when your Ethernet cable is plugged in and everything is powered on? The green light should be static on and the orange light should blink.

Are you able to move the Holo Red near your router so you can plug it directly in with an Ethernet cable and omit the wireless extension device to test if the RPi itself may be having an issue?

Pretty sure the Holo Red and its RPI is not getting an IP Address from your router. Need to test the simplest path between your router and Red to be sure.

 

Walk of Shame

The bloody SD card came out! it's spring loaded and sticks out, so anything that touches it can just pop it right out and you don't really notice, especially if you have a lot of components around it and you can't see the back. I just happened to be messing with other stuff and felt that the card was loose.

So something to be mindful of! If your RED won't boot, check that a cable didn't touch the SD card

I mean I wasn't even plugging anything into the RED, I was just changing AES cables plugged into an AES 1 -> 2 splitter so I could compare MIB to A2 again. And one of the AES cables must have touched the SD card and popped it out. I realliy think it ought to have a cover given this experience, but whatever.

Just be aware that a cable moving near the RED can touch the SD card and pop it out and you wont' notice until the RED doesn't work.

Thanks everyone and sorry! Silly problem.

I still don't know why my Pi2AES doesn't work though, odd coincidence.

 

if you send ithe PI2AES back, we'll still fix it. Just pay the shipping

 

That light is configurable based on the distro, but generally it represents that it's reading/writing to disk. So if it's going solid without booting, it's likely that your sdcard got corrupted somehow