Article: Geek Speak: Raspberry Pi HiFi Is Here

[ccklone]

Hey Now Skip,

 

The only 128DSD files I have are from free downloads from the 2L website. I just listened through them and they sounded very good. No drop outs and very clear.

 

I was having dropouts using the Airport Express via wifi, they would for drop out for long periods. I got the Powerline ethernet and the long drop outs disappeared, but I kept getting little burps in the transmission, a hiccup, it was still annoying.

 

The R2Pi has been rock solid for most of today so far. Really enjoying it so far. I also like I can play different playlists in different zones with JRMC.

 

--

Finest kind,

Chris

[Audio_ELF]

It's audio only since the processor doesn't have enough power for video.

Well that's not entirely true is it? There are several "Media Center" solutions which do offer video playback. I'm not trying to start a debate on this matter but don't want people to get the wrong impression.

[fritzg]

We released a version of JRiver Media Center for ARM (runs on Raspberry Pi 2) yesterday. It's in a thread at the top of our Linux board.

 

JRiver Media Center for Linux

 

It's audio only since the processor doesn't have enough power for video.

 

Hmmm, would love to see a Synology package of JRiver as well as an implementation on the Raspberry Pi.

[The Computer Audiophile]

Chris,

 

Have you tried DSD128 with this combination? If you get clean play with DSD128, I think I'm ready to jump in that direction.

 

TIA,

 

Skip

hi Skip - Haven't tried 128 yet :~)

[Skip Pack]

hi Skip - Haven't tried 128 yet :~)

 

Thanks to you both (CC the original, and CC the klone). I believe I will try this.

 

Skip

[scan80269]

I just tried DSD128 and it works great! No clicks or pops during playback. DAC is Oppo HA-1. Pi 2 is connected by Ethernet. I have not tested with WiFi.

 

Thanks for another great how-to article, Chris!

[yay101]

Well that's not entirely true is it? There are several "Media Center" solutions which do offer video playback. I'm not trying to start a debate on this matter but don't want people to get the wrong impression.

 

Its entirely not true. With hardware decoding a pi can do 1080p easily.

[jriver]

Well that's not entirely true is it? There are several "Media Center" solutions which do offer video playback. I'm not trying to start a debate on this matter but don't want people to get the wrong impression.

I'm sorry about that. Would it be better to just say the JRiver Media Center on the Pi doesn't do video?

[Audio_ELF]

I'm sorry about that. Would it be better to just say the JRiver Media Center on the Pi doesn't do video?

Yes it would be better to out it that way rather than blaming the hardware!

[mac_and_dac]

Good to see the renewed interest in the Pi.

 

I've been using the Pi as my front end pretty much since the little beast came out, with MPD as my preferred player as it's rock solid - I have had my current system up and running since Xmas with no crashes or dropouts!

 

I also have a 'clone' Pi, a perfect analogue of the original (aside from IP address); this is excellent for A-B comparisons, particularly with DACs. Just today I was comparing my time-honoured DACMagic with my NKOTB MiniMax Supreme to see how much of a difference I could hear between the two. It's great being able to do this in a fraction of a second with a flick of an amplifier remote; no tedious re-cabling and memory loss, etc.

 

Another advantage of the Pi and MPD is that you can write scripts to manage otherwise onerous tasks. I can load music collections from other network devices or from my NAS with a couple of simple commands typed in from my iPhone.

 

The only problem with the Pi is, if things go wrong - or you can't get them right in the first place - then you can get pretty stuck very quickly. I'm a software guy so I can usually dig myself fairly quickly out of a (usually self-created) hole. But Linux-based systems can be fairly daunting for the Luddite and the Neophyte.

[Grey_Friar]

Yes, a special case is needed if you use an add-on board.

 

Chris,

 

Excellent article...once again!

 

I had purchased a RPi-2, along with a HiFiBerry Digi+ daughter board (transformer version) and HiFiBerry Case+, right after introduction in February. Wish I had waited until after your article -- could have saved a lot of wasted time playing with arcane Linux commands. I really started this project just for the learning experience; but the resulting sound is amazingly good playing through my main system and compares very favorably with my HTPC, which is similar to C.A.P.S. v3.

 

My question is this: Is the sound quality playing via Volumio intrinsically better than with other MPD-based players, such as OpenELEC/Kodi? Both claim to have "tweaked" MPD for best audio quality. It may be the placebo effect, but Volumio sounds noticeably clearer to me than OpenELEC, with better depth of sound-field. On the other hand, OpenELEC has a much richer media interface and broad support base. It also seems to be a lot more robust: I hardly ever have a problem connecting with it or using it, whereas with Volumio I often lose connection to my Synology DS-411 NAS. Volumio also seems to have a slower, and more variable, command response time. I'm using an Edimax EW-7811Un WiFi adapter, though wired Ethernet behaves about the same.

 

Regards,

[mac_and_dac]

^ just in case Chris doesn't have time to reply:

 

Best sound quality with MPD can theoretically be achieved through configuring ALSA (sample rate converter) in the mpd.conf file. Helpful also in my experience is to disable the software volume control, which means that the 16 bit words sent down the USB from the Pi to your DAC are unchanged from the source PCM file (I'm making a big assumption here that you typically replay 16/44.1 Redbook).

 

OpenELEC never used to support ALSA, IIRC. Also, AFAIK you cannot alter an mpd.conf file or associated settings with OpenELEC/Kodi either on the command line or through a menu option.

 

I've no experience of Volumio, but on checking their website the guys seem to be audiophiles and name-check the right projects. I imagine that they are doing everything right, since there isn't an awful lot to do to configure MPD for good sound on a Pi - it's just a case of knowing what you are doing and experimenting a little.

 

FWIW, I use an off-board SPDIF/USB converter between the Pi and my DAC(s). This provides the potential benefit of galvanic isolation (if Toslink used) and the actual benefit of eliminating compatibility issues between a DAC's USB architecture and the necessary Linux drivers on the Pi.

 

Hope this helps, and apologies for jumping in - just trying to help!

[Grey_Friar]

mac_and_dac,

 

Thank you kindly for your observations. I'm not sure how OpenELEC uses MPD, if at all. It is described on the group's website as: " ...not based on any Linux distribution; OpenELEC has been built from scratch specifically to act as a media center." The latest versions (5.0.2 or higher) do, in fact, have the ability to change ALSA settings for the HiFiBerry Digi+ via menu selections (after editing the config.txt file and adding the appropriate "hifiberry device-tree-overlay").

 

The Digi+ sound card version I purchased does provide for galvanic isolation via a shielded isolation transformer (Pulse-T6074). Since I have no basis for comparison, I cannot attest to the benefits of the transformer; but the coax SPDIF output works very well up to 192 KHz with my Musical Fidelity DAC.

 

Still listening with Volumio...but wishing it were as stable as OpenELEC!

[Vasa]

 

Another advantage of the Pi and MPD is that you can write scripts to manage otherwise onerous tasks. I can load music collections from other network devices or from my NAS with a couple of simple commands typed in from my iPhone.

.

 

Curious to learn more about the scripts you use. Anything that you can share or any good references you recommend?

[Vasa]

mac_and_dac,

 

Thank you kindly for your observations. I'm not sure how OpenELEC uses MPD, if at all. It is described on the group's website as: " ...not based on any Linux distribution; OpenELEC has been built from scratch specifically to act as a media center."

 

To add to this - openelec is just a distro for the media center Kodi (osmc is another Kodi based solution for Raspberry) and it doesn't run MPD by default. There are addons that can be installed that let's Kodi be the client for MPD but I haven't tried it myself. My experience is also that the sound from Kodi is not as good as the MPD based solutions such as Volumio. I have seen some people posted that they have combined MPD and Kodi successfully on the same raspberry pi.

[Vasa]

mac_and_dac,

 

Thank you kindly for your observations. I'm not sure how OpenELEC uses MPD, if at all. It is described on the group's website as: " ...not based on any Linux distribution; OpenELEC has been built from scratch specifically to act as a media center."

 

To add to this - openelec is just a distro for the media center Kodi (osmc is another Kodi based solution for Raspberry) and it doesn't run MPD by default. There are addons that can be installed that let's Kodi be the client for MPD but I haven't tried it myself. My experience is also that the sound from Kodi is not as good as the MPD based solutions such as Volumio. I have seen some people posted that they have combined MPD and Kodi successfully on the same raspberry pi.

 

Not sure with open elec but if using osmc you can access the terminal and install any programs (or edit mpd.conf) in the same way as you would with apt get on Ubuntu. Just to clairfy, volumio is a better audio only solution imo. The only issue I have with it is that I wish it had a volume limiter or use a plus or minus buttons to control thw volume since its easy to turn it too much by mistake. I'm using it with a dac with no hardware volume plugged straight into the amp with no preamp, so it can get painful If not being careful.

[mac_and_dac]

^ Sure.

 

I use MPoD on my iPhone for most of the routine things like changing or pausing tracks.

 

However, sometimes I want to load a different music library, or maybe I want to enable the volume control (more convenience, theoretically less pure SQ).

 

When I want to do that, I may need to use umount commands, and typically I need to swap out the mpd.conf file for another custom file.

 

I do this using the Serverauditor iPhone app, which gives me access to the scripts I have written to perform the above tasks.

 

I am happy to post the content of some of the scripts, however I don't want to pollute this thread with code so I will only do it with the thread owner's blessing!

 

I'm also happy to create some communal scripts for anyone keen to use MPD on the Raspberry Pi. My own Pi set-up never uses more than 2% of CPU and runs without crashing for months (perhaps years - not tried), so I feel it is pretty optimal and hence I don't use Volumio or Voyage. I'm not saying I don't like them and the ethos behind them, it's just that I have a very stable set-up which I can very easily clone and is not subject to breakage from software/package updates.

[Vasa]

I am happy to post the content of some of the scripts, however I don't want to pollute this thread with code so I will only do it with the thread owner's blessing!

.

 

Thats very generous of you -especially for the ones like me with limited knowledge how to do this! But you are correct, that would better fit in a separate thread. I will see if I can find an already existing thread for this or I will set up a new one.

 

Btw - it is my understanding that volumio uses a webserver to run the interface, and there are programmed scripts to change the settings. It would be neat if custom scripts could be used and executed from volumio as well to set up for example dsp or to quickly run A/B tests to figure out best settings or change vpn settings.

[Isaacc7]

We released a version of JRiver Media Center for ARM (runs on Raspberry Pi 2) yesterday. It's in a thread at the top of our Linux board.

 

JRiver Media Center for Linux

 

It's audio only since the processor doesn't have enough power for video.

Can JRemote be used with the Linux version? That wou,d be a great combo!

[P David LePell]

My Raspberry PI 2B and HiFiBerry DAC+ arrived last week to build Device 2 Configuration: Analog output. The WiFi works great and I can communicate to the RPI via the Volumio web interface, but the DAC+ powers down at the end of the "on sound". That is to say that it's green light extinguishes at the end of the sound.

 

Following Chris' instructions, the RPI was set to the HFB DAC+ under the I2S setting, and the Audio Output was set to sndrpihifiberry. Everything seems normal as it reboots: the DAC+ green light comes on, the RPI shows up on my network, and the "on sound" comes out of my speakers. Then the light turns off and silence ensues. The player seems to play a webradio station, but because the DAC+ is off, no sound.

 

Funny thing is that last night after messing with many setting variations, I got lovely music when I set the I2S choice to "generic". It played for a few hours like that last night; at the end of the evening I powered it down via the Volumio web interface.

 

Today, with the same settings, the green (DAC+) light did not come on. Switching back to the DAC+ choice for I2S, I got a green light and the "on sound" but then the light goes out. Have rewritten the SC card a few times, and rebooted a few dozen.

 

Any thoughts? suggestions? Do I need to purchase another DAC+?

 

I've never had these problems with the BBB/UPnP system Chris suggested a few months ago. It sounds great. Would like to get my RPI/DAC+ up and running as well.

 

- David

[P David LePell]

My system works and sounds great. But I'm not sure how I fixed it (if fixed is the right word). Most probably I was not using the software correctly. Sorry to bother the list.

 

- David

[ingoh]

Built a system with nearly the same config as device #2. I exchanged the HifiBerry with an IQaudIO Pi-DAC+. Also runs out of the box with volumio, uses Burr-Brown DAC and has an additional headphone amplifier (TI TPA6133A). All is working fine and the sound quality is really amazing. I use it mostly with my Fidelio headphone and it is a fun to listen.

 

Ingo

[apt]

Built this - configuration 3 using the above instructions. Connected the Dragonfly v 1.2 today- Volumio detected in a few seconds. There have been comments of the Raspberry Pi's compatibility with the Dragonfly but confirming that it works out of the box.

Thanks for the wonderful article.

[jstrouth]

With a little effort you can get Tidal working with the Raspberry Pi and Volumio. If you're using a NAS and install minimserver and bubbleupnp, you can use the Linn Kazoo app to access the Raspberry Pi and use your Tidal account.

 

I'm currently using this setup to feed a Devialet from the Raspberry Pi. It sounds good, and I haven't put my Auraliti back into the system since I got it setup.

 

Can you share your setup with me? I'm trying to use Kazoo to access my library and Tidal, but Kazoo doesn't recognize the Pi. Both DS Lightning and Lumin see the Pi, but Kazoo doesn't. Lumin supposedly supports Tidal now, but darned if I can see how it does...

 

thanks

[apt]

Is it possible to control the media player (raspberry pi) without a network- example if I want to carry this around in an offline environment- how do i control it ?