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Raspberry Pi as headless streamer

Dts and dolby is a function of the app not the os so if the version of xbmc you are running supports the hardware it is running on then it supports the surround/dts features.

Incidentally I have a cubox on sale in /classifieds, bought two thinking one machine per job, but in reality one machine can do a whole house of jobs (sensors and data logging as well as xbmc and volumio) so in the end I decided to move one on.
 
Fwiw volumio is not bound by its minimal interface, it is just an addition based on a web based front end for the mpd, there are many apps that support this daemon so if you don't like volumio's minimalist interface then there are a whole host of apps for many different platforms that support it, and gives artwork and some are quite pretty too...

In this day and age digital music hardware is becoming an irrelenvance, the software user experience is fat more important and open source projects like mpd simple allow developers to create user experiences to fit/suit... Volumio is just one of them that happens to be hosted locally, but you can stick xbmc on top if you want that too...
 
After various experiments with picoreplayer, volumio 1.3 and 1.4, i ended up installing Rune 0.3, used on a raspberry pi with iq-audio pi dac.
I'm very happy about the results, especially for:
  • USB drive with ExFat immediately recognised (on Volumio it required some package installing with apt-get)
  • Indexation of 42000+ flac songs in less than an hour
  • Straightforward setting of the I2S digital output and Pi-Dac
  • Out of the box" (no config editing) of the PiDac variable outpu
I still cannot believe how good it is sonically, definetely improving my previous streaming setup (squeezebox touch with edo + hiface2 + bushmaster mkii dac)
 
There must have been something wrong in your previous setup then. Can't judge the HiFace, never had one myself. But I've had a Touch and a Beresford (7520) with it's well designed analogue output stage. and that setup was clearly better than the Pi with a HifiBerry. Which isn't much different from the IQ Dac.

Sure this is not just initial excitement kicking in?
Happy for you anyway, Rune looks like a nice new setup.
 
I'm waiting for a LH labs Geek Pulse Dac (crowdfunded on Indiegogo).
I wll certainly make some comparaison... But I'm afraid this will not be possible before sometime in October or November! (When I expect the Pulse to ve actually delivered)
 
topa said:
There must have been something wrong in your previous setup then. Can't judge the HiFace, never had one myself. But I've had a Touch and a Beresford (7520) with it's well designed analogue output stage. and that setup was clearly better than the Pi with a HifiBerry. Which isn't much different from the IQ Dac.

Sure this is not just initial excitement kicking in?
Happy for you anyway, Rune looks like a nice new setup.
Click to expand...

Well when I said "definetely improving", that was probably an overstatement.
In fact the comapraison was done between me and a group of friends switching from one source to the other just changing the amplifier input, pretty much in a random fashion and not too much "scientifically".
However the unanimous consensus was that "I was not loosing" anything with the less expensive raspberry based setup.

i did some other test by myself later on and I came to the conclusion that one element which definetely contributes in making the sound difference is "mpd" which in my system provides a better bass response and an overall "less digital" sound (this was true both using pi-dac and bushmaster dac). Both Volumio and Rune use mpd as their player "demon".

Just a comment on the hiface2: initally, with squeezebox touch, i was using the coax out into the dac. After installing Edo, i was able to use the usb out into the hiface usb2spdif and then into the dac. This improved the result in terms of detail and image.

My conclusion about the pi dac is that this little card is much much better than you would expect from its diminutive size and for sure a vey high value for money.
 
Pi B+ now available with 4 USB sockets and a micro SD slot -- don't think the processor etc. has changed -- running raspbmc to my mind its a little brighter and slightly more "digital" that the standard B but still sounding good -- of course that just might be my ears!

Steve
 
I'm using the Pi in my "office" system through a cheapo Maplin DAC -- it's the cheapest USB DAC I could find but sounds OK to me -- when I get around to it I do have plans to add a linear psu and possibly a valve output stage.
Steve
 
Hi Guys
I have just got hold of a RPi Model B+. I am looking to embed this as a Squeezebox Client in my DIY DAC (ES9018 based) with an I2S connection.
Can somebody point me in the right direction to achieve this?
I have seen various names mentioned in this thread...Rune, Picore, Squeezeplug,Raspmbc etc. Are all these OS's or are they something that you install on top of the Wheezy OS?
I will (hopefully) be alright once I get started but any help appreciated.
 
Picoreplayer is standalone, it's a minimal distribution that includes a squeezebox player. If you already have a server running, this may be all you need.
 
Picoreplayer is great, and as already said by Tw99 is pretty much all you need to make a RPi into a squeeze box. However I don't think it currently works on the RPi Model B+. I believe that they're working on it so there may be a new B+ compatible release soon.

There have been some reports on the SlimDevices forum that you can make Picoreplayer work on a B+ if you have access to a RPi Model B. See some of the recent posts here: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?97803-piCoPlayer-Squeezelite-on-Microcore-linux-An-embedded-OS-in-RAM-with-Squeezelite
 
themystical said:
Hi Guys
I have just got hold of a RPi Model B+. I am looking to embed this as a Squeezebox Client in my DIY DAC (ES9018 based) with an I2S connection.
Can somebody point me in the right direction to achieve this?
I have seen various names mentioned in this thread...Rune, Picore, Squeezeplug,Raspmbc etc. Are all these OS's or are they something that you install on top of the Wheezy OS?
I will (hopefully) be alright once I get started but any help appreciated.
Click to expand...

hi themystical,

I hope I get the follow right. :confused:

Quote from Rune website "RuneAudio runs on RuneOS, a custom built GNU Linux operating system, based on Arch Linux."

piCore is a port of Tiny Core Linux for the Raspberry Pi.

Raspmbc is a version of XMBC for the Raspberry Pi.

SqueezPlug is a combination of various music servers and clients nicely packaged, sitting on top of Rasbian.

Wheezy is a code name for a particular version of Debian Linux.

piCorePlayer is Squeezelite implemented on top of piCore.

piCore is the only OS.

regards
 
Greg Erskine said:
hi themystical,

I hope I get the follow right. :confused:

Quote from Rune website "RuneAudio runs on RuneOS, a custom built GNU Linux operating system, based on Arch Linux."

piCore is a port of Tiny Core Linux for the Raspberry Pi.

Raspmbc is a version of XMBC for the Raspberry Pi.

SqueezPlug is a combination of various music servers and clients nicely packaged, sitting on top of Rasbian.

Wheezy is a code name for a particular version of Debian Linux.

piCorePlayer is Squeezelite implemented on top of piCore.

piCore is the only OS.

regards
Click to expand...

Any ideas as to which of these support I2S and how I can access I2S on the B+?
 
AFAIK with piCoreplayer it is possible to use i2s with B and most probably on B+.
B+ has more header pins available, but according to Pi foundation, B+ pins are compatible with B pins and you can use different extensions cards from B with B+, it means that pins with i2s ouput should be the same.

I did some research how to connect Pi with i2s in Mai, but because of this great summer my hifi system is dusted ...

Maybe this can help:
http://pinkfishmedia.net/forum/showpost.php?p=2308984&postcount=263

I didn't tested it until know, if the weather in the next weeks will be worse, than i will do some diy stuff again ...
 
http://www.hifiberry.com/digiplus

This digi thingy picks up i2s from the pi+ and converts it to spdif.

there is a similar device for the pi,

also other boards that access i2s.

the 8 pins on the pi which output i2s havebeen moved to extend the standard pins.

It's straightforward, isn't it? (Apart from the code which is open source...)
 
I have been using the Hifiberry Pi DAC (the one with the analogue output) for a few months now with Picoreplayer. I wanted to see how good it could be made to sound through upgrades to its power supplies. I now have linear supplies feeding the Pi, and separately the digital and analogue stages of the DAC. I have found it to sound better using a wifi dongle, possibly because of ground isolation.

Powered by just a wallwart Android phone supply its sound showed promise but had shortcomings compared to another Rpi I have feeding a well developed Buffalo II DAC and supplies.

With three separate supplies it now sounds excellent and I'm not tempted to go back to the Buffalo except out of curiosity.

I'm not convinced the change to switched supplies onboard the Pi for the B+ is an improvement fro an audio point of view.

The Pi uses a PLL to generate the audio clock and this has come in for some criticism and the search is on for BBB alternative with precise clocks on a cape to minimise jitter. Twisted Pear are on the case over on Diyaudio. The BBB has on board switch mode supplies and I'm not yet convinced that the improvement from lower jitter will outweigh the noise/interference issues of on board switch mode supplies, but I hope to be in due course.

The value for money of the Pi and Hifiberry DAC with improved supplies is extraordinary IMHO.

John
 
Hey John, are you saying that in your opinion the hifiberry out classes the buffalo when the supplies are well sorted? That is saying A LOT given how much development your buff went through.

Stefan
 
I wouldn't go quite that far Stefan. I think I've done a better job on the few supplies that the Hifiberry can accept (3) compared with the 7 higher current supplies for my Buffalo and SEN. I've been able to use heavily regulated battery supplies for the Hifiberry DAC as it is lower current and there is less interaction between supplies. The Hifiberry DAC has the significant advantage over my Buffalo/Pi of very short i2s connections, something that is tricky to achieve on the Buffalo.

I'm convinced that the reduction of interaction between supply feeds is a significant element in the improvement of these devices especially as they operate at frequencies where regulation is least effective. Some of my Buffalo supplies are mains derived and so can interact with each other and the power amp, so a comparison is a little unfair on the Buffalo.

John
 
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