Cubox any one?

[k-man]

For anyone who is interested in a distro for the Cubox:

 

New Donation from SolidRun | Voyage Linux

[The Computer Audiophile]

For anyone who is interested in a distro for the Cubox:

 

New Donation from SolidRun | Voyage Linux

 

Very cool.

[Krisbee]

Try this thread for more info on VoyageMPD + Cubox

 

CuBox Development Platform • View topic - Voyage Linux (MPD) on Cubox ?

[Krisbee]

A comparison ( of sorts) of a Cubox and an ALIX board both running MPD:

 

 

I'd still like to know where CA ranks the Cubox.

[Miska]

I'm not sure what you mean by a "proper Wheezy" image, but I'd start here:

 

Debian and derivatives - SolidRun CuBox Wiki

 

That's a good starting point, I recommend the netboot installer way. For a Network Audio Adapter use with HQPlayer, just the minimal installation without selecting any extra sets (when installer asks) is enough. Then you can install the networkaudiod and it's dependencies.

 

Needs little bit of command line work, but that's it. Once networkaudiod is installed it starts automatically at boot and no need to touch the device anymore.

 

In addition, I made my own custom kernel build with configuration optimized for audio. All devices except network, USB and microSD are disabled. GPU etc are all off. Plus I added driver for the M2Tech USB devices (hiFace and some others).

[masayk]

I installed arch linux based image from

http://www.symphonic-net.com/kubotayo/cgi-bin/downlogs.cgi?id=0B1V9ShHUc5NqSWZKbXQ4bTBuU3M

 

and then connected to DSD capable USBDAC (Rasteme UDAC32RD) and it worked perfect for ANY type of formats including 44.1/16, 48/24, 96/24, and 192/24. What is outstanding is that it also plays bit perfect DSD 2.8 without any PCM converting.

 

Amazon.co.jpF ƒ‰ƒXƒe[ƒ€ @UDAC32RDi“dŽqƒ{ƒŠƒ…[ƒ€jDSD2.8MHz/5.6MHz+PCM192KHz/32bit‘ΉžUSB2.0,Œõ,“¯Ž²(192kHz /24ƒrƒbƒg)“ü—́AƒnƒCƒŒƒ]‘Ήž32bit/192kHz‘ΉžDACiƒvƒŠo—́j•ƒwƒbƒhƒzƒ“ƒAƒ“ƒv@ƒŠƒ‚ƒRƒ“‘Ήž: ‰Æ“dEƒJƒƒ‰

 

This is of course gapless playback with MPod (for iphone) or/and MPaD (for iPad).

 

The beauty of this is that you do not need any manual operation to change from PCM to DSD. You just select whatever you want to play from your music library stored in your NAS and all the rest is 100% automatic.

 

The sound quality is as better as any other types of comupter based audio (Voyage MPD, foobar2000, JRMC, you name it)

 

- masayk

[yoghurtlidlicker]

That's a good starting point, I recommend the netboot installer way. For a Network Audio Adapter use with HQPlayer, just the minimal installation without selecting any extra sets (when installer asks) is enough. Then you can install the networkaudiod and it's dependencies.

 

Needs little bit of command line work, but that's it. Once networkaudiod is installed it starts automatically at boot and no need to touch the device anymore.

 

In addition, I made my own custom kernel build with configuration optimized for audio. All devices except network, USB and microSD are disabled. GPU etc are all off. Plus I added driver for the M2Tech USB devices (hiFace and some others).

 

Thank you for that information Miska.

I'm really sorry for such noob questions!!

I'm new to linux!

[yoghurtlidlicker]

I installed arch linux based image from

http://www.symphonic-net.com/kubotayo/cgi-bin/downlogs.cgi?id=0B1V9ShHUc5NqSWZKbXQ4bTBuU3M

 

and then connected to DSD capable USBDAC (Rasteme UDAC32RD) and it worked perfect for ANY type of formats including 44.1/16, 48/24, 96/24, and 192/24. What is outstanding is that it also plays bit perfect DSD 2.8 without any PCM converting.

 

Amazon.co.jpF ƒ‰ƒXƒe[ƒ€ @UDAC32RDi“dŽqƒ{ƒŠƒ…[ƒ€jDSD2.8MHz/5.6MHz+PCM192KHz/32bit‘ΉžUSB2.0,Œõ,“¯Ž²(192kHz /24ƒrƒbƒg)“ü—́AƒnƒCƒŒƒ]‘Ήž32bit/192kHz‘ΉžDACiƒvƒŠo—́j•ƒwƒbƒhƒzƒ“ƒAƒ“ƒv@ƒŠƒ‚ƒRƒ“‘Ήž: ‰Æ“dEƒJƒƒ‰

 

This is of course gapless playback with MPod (for iphone) or/and MPaD (for iPad).

 

The beauty of this is that you do not need any manual operation to change from PCM to DSD. You just select whatever you want to play from your music library stored in your NAS and all the rest is 100% automatic.

 

The sound quality is as better as any other types of comupter based audio (Voyage MPD, foobar2000, JRMC, you name it)

 

- masayk

 

Please, can you tell me how to install this on Cubox.

[masayk]

Please, can you tell me how to install this on Cubox.

 

unzip to get .img file and then copy to 4GB microSD on Linux environment ( or with DD for Windows). Login as root with password cubox. Instructions here (in Japanese only)

 

CuBox

[yoghurtlidlicker]

Voyage MuBox Voyage MPD on CuBox!

[Richard Dale]

Voyage MuBox Voyage MPD on CuBox!

 

That's really good news. I think Voyage and Cubox is a really good combination.

 

I'd like to try it on my BeagleBone, and I fished around in the Voyage svn repo looking for the mubox sources and I found a 'voyage-mubox-0.9.1.tar.xz' root file system which looks like it should work on the BeagleBone. Have the MuBox guys produced a custom kernel yet, or do they use the stock Debian Wheezy one?

[Richard Dale]

Have the MuBox guys produced a custom kernel yet, or do they use the stock Debian Wheezy one?

 

Is that what the custom Linux kernel configurations do on the cubox-installer site?

 

https://github.com/rabeeh/cubox-installer

 

There is a configuration for the original BeagleBone as well as for the Cubox and others. I couldn't get the kernel in the installer to load on my BeagleBone, and I assume you need to build a kernel to run the installer, which may or may not be the same kernel that you actually want to install.

[MikeJazz]

1) To use CuBox as a MPD player to work with a DAC with SPDIF entry, I expect that I have to use a USB-SPDIF conversor, is this correct?

 

2) is there a direct SPDIF alternative in Cubox? does it make sense to consider?

[Audio_ELF]

1) To use CuBox as a MPD player to work with a DAC with SPDIF entry, I expect that I have to use a USB-SPDIF conversor, is this correct?

 

2) is there a direct SPDIF alternative in Cubox? does it make sense to consider?

The CuBox has an SPDIF output but I don't know anything about it's quality or anything...

[MikeJazz]

The CuBox has an SPDIF output but I don't know anything about it's quality or anything...

 

Thanks anyway.

I think I am ready to buy one and find it by myself...

 

This leads to another question...

Can one single CuBox double as a XBMC server or a MPD Player, simply by exchanging the SD card with the two corresponding installations?

[Audio_ELF]

Thanks anyway.

I think I am ready to buy one and find it by myself...

 

This leads to another question...

Can one single CuBox double as a XBMC server or a MPD Player, simply by exchanging the SD card with the two corresponding installations?

Yes, you could have several SD cards and easily swap them for different circumstances

 

Eloise

[The Computer Audiophile]

Make sure to purchase the S/PDIF cable from Solid Run if you want to use the optical output. The CuBox case is poorly designed so standard S/PDIF cables don't fit well. I have several cables here, some with skinny ends, that won't fit into the port because of the case.

[MikeJazz]

Make sure to purchase the S/PDIF cable from Solid Run if you want to use the optical output. The CuBox case is poorly designed so standard S/PDIF cables don't fit well. I have several cables here, some with skinny ends, that won't fit into the port because of the case.

 

Thanks for your advice...

What would be great is to have your experience shared as a review or blog entry...kind of a guide to Cubox...

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for your advice...

What would be great is to have your experience shared as a review or blog entry...kind of a guide to Cubox...

Now worries. It's forthcoming :~)

 

Was up until 4:30 this AM working on a CuBox Pro running Voyage MPD and a Beagleboard Black :~)

[masayk]

Just finished installing MuBox on my CuBox. Installation is simpler, faster, and with no extra efforts I was able to stream 44.1/96/192FLAC and 2.8DSD into DSD capable USBDAC (rasteme UDAC32RD - XMOS based USB Audio Class 2.0 compliant).

 

- masayk

[yoghurtlidlicker]

I have got some problems with Mubox.

I cannot mount my USB 500GB Raid HDD EXT3 partition.

USB Stick is working fine though (EXT3 or EXT4).

 

Jul 20 17:44:41 advancedsearch vmunix: Result: hostbyte=0x01 driverbyte=0x00

Jul 20 17:45:20 advancedsearch vmunix: usb 2-1: new high-speed USB device number 3 using orion-ehci

Jul 20 17:45:21 advancedsearch vmunix: scsi2 : usb-storage 2-1:1.0

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: scsi 2:0:0:0: Direct-Access Newer Tech GMAX mini 0 PQ: 0 ANSI: 4

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] 976673168 512-byte logical blocks: (500 GB/465 GiB)

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write Protect is off

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Write cache: enabled, read cache: enabled, doesn't support DPO or FUA

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: sda: sda1

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch vmunix: sd 2:0:0:0: [sda] Attached SCSI disk

Jul 20 17:45:22 advancedsearch usbmount[3226]: /dev/sda does not contain a filesystem or disklabel

 

 

another thing when I play music via MPD from USB Stick + my USB DAC Wavelength Audio Proton, sound is distorted! Tested on mp3s only.

[MikeJazz]

Now worries. It's forthcoming :~)

 

Was up until 4:30 this AM working on a CuBox Pro running Voyage MPD and a Beagleboard Black :~)

 

Cool!

 

Just ordered the Cubox myself.

 

Will test the Voyage Mubox and also, in due time, NAA and HQPLayer from Miska.

Lot's of fun ahead!!

[wappinghigh]

Miska I have a few Noob questions for you and your Cubox HQPlayer install.

 

1/ How do you control HQ player running on the Q Box? Is there an iphone or OSX app or something to control the library selection?

 

2/ Could this be set up to stream files from a UPnP server (like say Minimserver) thru your HQ Player, then out via USB into the Oppo (I assume you'd need a separate driver for the Cubox for USB playback to the Oppo???

 

3/ Would this give me gapless playback on the Oppo and would I be be able to stream both PCM *and* DSD from Minimserver that way?

 

Cheers

 

Wap

[Miska]

Miska I have a few Noob questions for you and your Cubox HQPlayer install.

 

1/ How do you control HQ player running on the Q Box? Is there an iphone or OSX app or something to control the library selection?

 

Although I made one build of full HQPlayer for CuBox, I recommend using CuBox just for Network Audio Adapter (NAA) purposes and running HQPlayer on Windows/Linux/Mac computer. Because CuBox boots form microSD, it is easy to have various cards for experimentation. CuBox doesn't have enough CPU power to run proper upsampling.

 

To install NAA on CuBox, minimal Debian Wheezy needs to be installed first, and then the "armhf" architecture networkaudiod package on it from my web page. Since this point, all control happens straight from remote HQPlayer.

 

2/ Could this be set up to stream files from a UPnP server (like say Minimserver) thru your HQ Player, then out via USB into the Oppo (I assume you'd need a separate driver for the Cubox for USB playback to the Oppo???

 

No, UPnP is not supported, but standard network shares with SMB/CIFS work just fine.

 

If Oppo USB input is USB Audio Class compliant, no extra drivers are needed.

 

3/ Would this give me gapless playback on the Oppo and would I be be able to stream both PCM *and* DSD from Minimserver that way?

 

I don't know capabilities of Oppo (or it's USB port), but from HQPlayer perspective it is gapless as long as you use static output format. IOW, let HQPlayer to up-/re-sample to some suitable output rate/format. By my definition, if DAC has to change sampling rate or mode it can never be truly gapless because it needs to switch clocks.

[MikeJazz]

By my definition, if DAC has to change sampling rate or mode it can never be truly gapless because it needs to switch clocks.

 

Usually the gapless need is in the context of a complete "work" and "edition" such as the classic example of DSOM. In that case, on the same edition, there is no need of changing sampling rate.