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Raspberry Pi as headless streamer

JemHayward said:
plughw:CARD=MDAC,DEV=0

I *think* I've tried that one (must really write things down), but as yet I've not booted it with "dwc_org.speed=1" in the cmdline.txt

I'll try both of those when I get home tonight.
Click to expand...

I'm using the above settings - no joy with hub in place...

and sadly no joy with hub in place either...

I think I will try wifi and the analogue out in the office instead.
 
JemHayward said:
I'm using the above settings - no joy with hub in place...

and sadly no joy with hub in place either...

I think I will try wifi and the analogue out in the office instead.
Click to expand...
Make sure to check /proc/cmdline, to see if speed=1 is there. If it isn't, then your cmdline.txt edit didn't work.
 
I just configured Squeezeplug on my RPi. I sidestepped the USB audio issue and went straight for I2S. I haven't had a chance to listen to it, but the scope says it's working.

I only have Squeezelite running as I have an LMS already on my network. I am using Wifi to connect so it will be interesting to see if the link can dish out the bits, especially at high resolutions. The latest Squeezeplug is a doddle to get running.
 
jirij said:
Make sure to check /proc/cmdline, to see if speed=1 is there. If it isn't, then your cmdline.txt edit didn't work.
Click to expand...

got there in the end... its got speed=1, so I feel I've done all i can to get it going with the MDAC. Its now in the office, on ethernet and output to my Meridian M3s and it does sound better than the Joggler, so the audio output is ok for office use at least. Powered from my USB hub too, so its a very neat installation. I will try it with a wifi dongle too, though I don't really need that in the office. I may also try a hifiberry DAC. However, I think I may look to the Wandaboard for the main system.
 
JH,

If you're thinking of a Wandboard, then you may have seen that Triode tested his M-DAC with and it works, but only via a USB2 powered HUB.

http://www.communitysqueeze.org/faq.jsp#Which_external_DAC_s_have_been_tested_with_the_Wandboard.3F

John Swenson had this to say elsewhere:

The USB ports on many ARM processors skipped the hardware scheduling block, which causes an interrupt to the processor which does the scheduling in software. This is right on the edge for 192KHz. Adding the feedback packets that Async uses completely saturates this software scheduling mechanism giving rise to clicks and pops.

This is why the Community Squeeze project chose the Wandboard for our project, it uses an iMX6 which DOES have hardware scheduling on it's USB ports. It easily handles 384KHz with upsampling in software (and all kinds of other stuff running as well if you wish)

John S.

That's not entirely relevant to using an M_DAC as it is limited to 24/96 over USB. But it's gives added confidence to using this board. From a personal viewpoint the only downside is the the community squeeze project chose Fedora Linux for their software base and not Debian.
 
PegLeg said:
JH,

If you're thinking of a Wandboard, then you may have seen that Triode tested his M-DAC with and it works, but only via a USB2 powered HUB.

http://www.communitysqueeze.org/faq.jsp#Which_external_DAC_s_have_been_tested_with_the_Wandboard.3F

John Swenson had this to say elsewhere:

The USB ports on many ARM processors skipped the hardware scheduling block, which causes an interrupt to the processor which does the scheduling in software. This is right on the edge for 192KHz. Adding the feedback packets that Async uses completely saturates this software scheduling mechanism giving rise to clicks and pops.

This is why the Community Squeeze project chose the Wandboard for our project, it uses an iMX6 which DOES have hardware scheduling on it's USB ports. It easily handles 384KHz with upsampling in software (and all kinds of other stuff running as well if you wish)

John S.

That's not entirely relevant to using an M_DAC as it is limited to 24/96 over USB. But it's gives added confidence to using this board. From a personal viewpoint the only downside is the the community squeeze project chose Fedora Linux for their software base and not Debian.
Click to expand...

Yes, I'd spotted that. I'm happy with the hub, as that is what I use with my SBT, so I seem to have found myself placing an order for a wandboard, even though its twice the price of the RaspberryPi.

Next job is to find or make a nice case for it, as the plastic one on sale isn't something I'd want in my rack, though I suppose I could just stuff it down behind amongst the wires.
 
Next part of the saga... I've now got my Edimax EW 7811Un adapter and its working. However, sound quality from analogue output is poor when on wifi, but fine on wired. I'm quite close to the router. Rebooted a couple of times and it seems to be better... odd!
 
I have now received the Hifiberry digi device which outputs into spdif optical and coax. Just 10 minutes to solder in the connector and a while messing with settings and it's playing nice music through the optical as I type. dark side of the moon 24/96 with no breaks. The interface picked up the output using the tool provided.

picoreplayer_zpsd139ff11.jpeg


Sounds great. I'm pleased.

Now tested the coax output and my dac says 24/192 so that works fine too.
 
I am waiting for the Crazy Audio HiFiberry SPDIF digi adaptor on back order myself I have their burr brown DAC for Volumio and its Freaking AWESOME. I also note that the pukka Wolfson DAC for the Pi with audio in and multiple outs is also available from element 14 as of now £25

Now has never been a better time to enjoy music. Insanely inexpensive and great sounding.
 
I've got the wolfson thing, but it's not compatible with my pi now as I have soldered th 8 pin connector I need to get an iron to the wolfson and put in some sensible connectors. Idiots I call it.
 
It has a load of crud I don't want and apparently it has a tendency to flex when screwed to the pillar post arrangement. I would have liked a version without connectors but tap off points a la crazy audio so I could run cables off to fancy expensive connectors on a sleek slimline polished milled ally case which I would then charge a truly eye wateringly vast sum of money for...

(everyone likes a bit of heft when spending more then say £4000 on a slimline box of sod all)

Other than that, nice DAC, that Wolfson chip has a good spec, stupid board layout... some one had an off day I think.
 
Fox said:
It has a load of crud I don't want and apparently it has a tendency to flex when screwed to the pillar post arrangement. I would have liked a version without connectors but tap off points a la crazy audio so I could run cables off to fancy expensive connectors on a sleek slimline polished milled ally case which I would then charge a truly eye wateringly vast sum of money for...

(everyone likes a bit of heft when spending more then say £4000 on a slimline box of sod all)

Other than that, nice DAC, that Wolfson chip has a good spec, stupid board layout... some one had an off day I think.
Click to expand...

Just for those who are wanting an isolated coo-ax input, the hifiberry co-ax output has a transformer so no earth loops/hum etc.
 
New news for this excellent device. The latest piCore Player 1.14 now has support for the WiPi wireless dongle. It's easy to get going and works very well indeed. Even I can get it working. Here's my short guide.

Just a recap for people like me.
1. Download image and install onto SD card.
2. Turn on raspberry pi with wipi dongle and cable ethernet. My interface is 192.168.1.113:8077.
3. Go to wifi settings tab.
4. Click scan button. Copy and paste wifi address.
mine looked like this:
Available WIFI networks:
1 : "BrightBox-******" (secure) (Signal strength: 64%)
2 : "TALKTALK-******" (secure) (Signal strength: 41%)
The stars are six 16 base numbers and/or letters.
5. Put your password into box. Click submit and save will connect to this wifi button.
6. Go back to main page and click "restart" button. Unconnect the wired ethernet cable and blue flashing and success should occur.
7. Slight downside is the boot process takes a while on my machine.
8. New interface (can be found on "player settings" in logitechmediaserver) 192.168.1.198:8077.
 
JemHayward said:
Next part of the saga... I've now got my Edimax EW 7811Un adapter and its working. However, sound quality from analogue output is poor when on wifi, but fine on wired. I'm quite close to the router. Rebooted a couple of times and it seems to be better... odd!
Click to expand...

Just a quick note to catch up with my Saga. PiCorePlayer didn't want to play with my MDAC (firmware A.10) though I suspect it may have done so if I'd gone back to firmware 0.90, so I moved it to my office (which was where it was destined to go anyway) and it worked ok, but the wifi wasn't too reliable, and the sound quality via analogue was a bit iffy when connected to my rather revealing Meridian M3s.
So, it was either get a HiFiBerry DAC for it (or maybe a cheap usb DAC), or redeploy the Pi, and go for a Wandboard. As I needed a good way of getting iPlayer onto my TV, the Pi became an XBMC device.
Wandboard duly arrived, Community Squeeze installed. A few minutes fiddling about, and it now works beautifully via my hub, into my MDAC.

I'm a firm believer that bit-perfect is bit-perfect, and that a streamer shouldn't make any difference to sound quality unless its injecting noise into the system along with the noughts and ones, but, when the Wandboard finally started playing music, my wife commented that it sounded better. Maybe she was trying to make me feel good about my DIY skills. In any case, it is certainly as good as my SBT.
 
JemHayward said:
Just a quick note to catch up with my Saga. PiCorePlayer didn't want to play with my MDAC (firmware A.10) though I suspect it may have done so if I'd gone back to firmware 0.90, so I moved it to my office (which was where it was destined to go anyway) and it worked ok, but the wifi wasn't too reliable, and the sound quality via analogue was a bit iffy when connected to my rather revealing Meridian M3s.
So, it was either get a HiFiBerry DAC for it (or maybe a cheap usb DAC), or redeploy the Pi, and go for a Wandboard. As I needed a good way of getting iPlayer onto my TV, the Pi became an XBMC device.
Wandboard duly arrived, Community Squeeze installed. A few minutes fiddling about, and it now works beautifully via my hub, into my MDAC.

I'm a firm believer that bit-perfect is bit-perfect, and that a streamer shouldn't make any difference to sound quality unless its injecting noise into the system along with the noughts and ones, but, when the Wandboard finally started playing music, my wife commented that it sounded better. Maybe she was trying to make me feel good about my DIY skills. In any case, it is certainly as good as my SBT.
Click to expand...

Hi Jeremy
Sounds interesting. Can the Wandboard output I2S as well as SPDIF? Does the latest version of Community Squeeze support DSD? Could be a goer if the answer to these questions is yes.:)
 
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