GentooPlayer

[odelay]

As I never use it, I forget you have the FB account. My bad. 
I’ve been most grateful for the ability to update so easily, but appreciate that’s not always possible

[Dandou]

Hello everybody,

 

I want to share with you feedback about the PI2AES, because I noticed that there are some posters on this thread who use it with GentooPlayer, like I do. 

 

I powered today the PI2AES HAT separately from the RBi3 to see if I get sound improvement. 

I used the Audiophonics 19V LPSU100 LPS for the PI2AES HAT, and the 5V/3A output of the Allo Shanti to power the RBi3. 

 

And the improvement in my system is just fantastic! 

The resolution is greater, the separation between the instruments is much better, and there’s much more depth to the sound. 

I did not hear such improvement in my system since Antonello brought Diretta to GentooPlayer. 

 

I encourage all PI2AES possessors to try this tweek in their setup. 

 

[Auke]

@Dandou

 

Did you try the 5v Hack?

 

https://goldensound.audio/2021/07/22/pi2aes-streamer-measurements-and-5v-psu-mod-instructions/

 

you can power the pi2aes and the rpi3 separalety with the shanti

[Dandou]

1 hour ago, Auke said:

Did you try the 5v Hack?

 

https://goldensound.audio/2021/07/22/pi2aes-streamer-measurements-and-5v-psu-mod-instructions/

 

you can power the pi2aes and the rpi3 separalety with the shanti

Yes, I tried first this hack, and I powered the PI2AES + the RBi3 with the 5V of the Shanti instead of the 19V of the Audiophonics. But if there was an improvement, it was too small to distinguish. 

 

After that, I removed the jumper, and I powered the HAT and the RBi3 separately, as described above.

And this brought a great improvement, far more than anything I could expect. 

I saw on the PI2AES thread on Super Audio Friends that other users tried to power them separately, but that the improvement that they got was not great. IMHO, this may depend on the resolving sound quality of each one's setup. 

[DomieMic65]

a quick question Diretta Target on on RPi4 works only for USB audio yes? As I see in the Diretta site..

Not I2S so using my Allo Digione is not an option.. (??)

 

@Dandou how do you use your Pi2ES as Target?

[Patatorz]

With GP and diretta target, it seems it works on all the outputs. It seems for example it works fine on a metrum ambre that is embedding a Pi3 (or Pi4). Another member made it work with an allo digione.

[antonellocaroli]

7 minutes ago, DomieMic65 said:

a quick question Diretta Target on on RPi4 works only for USB audio yes? As I see in the Diretta site..

Not I2S so using my Allo Digione is not an option.. (??)

 

@Dandou how do you use your Pi2ES as Target?

works on any audio output detected, so also on i2s...

[DomieMic65]

wow!

That was quick! 🙂

 

Thank you @antonellocaroli andf @Patatorz

 

But even as it seems my settings are OK playback does not start with Digione
The Host sees the target as in USB but no playback.
I use Squeezelite

[antonellocaroli]

18 minutes ago, DomieMic65 said:

I use Squeezelite

Which outputs does squeezelite see and how is it set in the audio output? you probably need to change the alsa settings of squeezelite...

Post a system info (target) of when the target is not in play, and squeezelite settings....

[DomieMic65]

6 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

Which outputs does squeezelite see and how is it set in the audio output? you probably need to change the alsa settings of squeezelite...

Post a system info (target) of when the target is not in play, and squeezelite settings....

solved it .. I had to enable Diretta Multi! It worked after that even I had removed USB cable the first time!

Now works with both USB and Digione attached!!
 

Thank you!!!

[the_bat]

Is there a simple guide anywhere to setting up Gentooplayer and Diretta?

[antonellocaroli]

50 minutes ago, the_bat said:

Is there a simple guide anywhere to setting up Gentooplayer and Diretta?

What is it that is not clear to you by clicking on info?

[DomieMic65]

46 minutes ago, the_bat said:

Is there a simple guide anywhere to setting up Gentooplayer and Diretta?

for two rpi4s I use:

-it is not complicated ... you enable the host in one machine and the target to the other, the one that is connected to your dac (on the same local network of course)

-enable players on host -this was not clear to me at first- not in target

-in gp player audio settings of the host select the Diretta output from the menu

-if you have more than one dacs on the target select Diretta multi on the host (just discovered it :) ) while enabling Diretta

-also have alsa parameters enabled on players audio settings (default is dissabled)

With some trial and error you should be fine ... also you might need to restart Diretta service from Utilities menu if you turn off your DAC for example

 

[Dandou]

8 minutes ago, DomieMic65 said:

-in gp player audio settings of the host select the Diretta output from the menu

I can not find this setting. Where is it located? 

[antonellocaroli]

4 minutes ago, Dandou said:

I can not find this setting. Where is it located? 

means in the player you are/will be using

ex.
 

[bodiebill]

So far I have been using my RPI4-based Afterdark Rosanna streamer with USB out, selecting USB DAC in GP. Any idea which DAC I should choose n GP in case I want to use the RCA coax or I2S outputs? I tried HifiBerry Digi+ Pro but no DAC shows up in SystemInfo.

[antonellocaroli]

6 hours ago, bodiebill said:

So far I have been using my RPI4-based Afterdark Rosanna streamer with USB out, selecting USB DAC in GP. Any idea which DAC I should choose n GP in case I want to use the RCA coax or I2S outputs? I tried HifiBerry Digi+ Pro but no DAC shows up in SystemInfo.

Have you tried i-sabre-q2m.../i2s_general?
if it does not appear in system info, try adding this line to /boot/config.txt

 

force_eeprom_read=0

 

[bodiebill]

8 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

Have you tried i-sabre-q2m.../i2s_general?
if it does not appear in system info, try adding this line to /boot/config.txt

 

force_eeprom_read=0

 

 

Thanks, that did the trick! The DAC shows up in SystemInfo and plays well :-)

[Luciano.Badoe]

On 6/22/2022 at 8:40 PM, Luciano.Badoe said:

Yes but I have just eth0 activated in the system and I don't know how to active the new interface.

 

@antonellocaroli, my USB ethernet device uses the AX88179 chipset. I download the driver but not have success in compile this on Gentoo.

Please, how is the way to install this in my GP system? Some reference material or tutorial? I´m completely noob in Linux.

[antonellocaroli]

4 hours ago, Luciano.Badoe said:

 

@antonellocaroli, my USB ethernet device uses the AX88179 chipset. I download the driver but not have success in compile this on Gentoo.

Please, how is the way to install this in my GP system? Some reference material or tutorial? I´m completely noob in Linux.

You can't, you would have to compile a kernel from scratch from source....
But then on which system? which drivers? 
The AX88179 USB drivers are already included in the kernel.
On raspberry they are modified for compatibility with Allo usb bridge.

[Luciano.Badoe]

5 hours ago, antonellocaroli said:

You can't, you would have to compile a kernel from scratch from source....
But then on which system? which drivers? 
The AX88179 USB drivers are already included in the kernel.
On raspberry they are modified for compatibility with Allo usb bridge.

Antonello, is a x86 system.

I try boot the system with the device attached but this isn't  activated.

[antonellocaroli]

4 minutes ago, Luciano.Badoe said:

Antonello, is a x86 system.

I try boot the system with the device attached but this isn't  activated.

have you tried an *ST* kernel?

 

[Dandou]

Hello @antonellocaroli , 

 

Though I use it every day, there's something that I don't understand about Diretta, and I'm curious to know how it works. 

 

In GentooPlayer, we activate the players on the Diretta Host device. And we disable them on the Diretta Target device. 

In which format, MPD, for instance, streams the sound from the Host to the Target? 

Is it in WAV or in some another format? 

 

And also, since the players of the Target are disabled, which device renders the sound? 

Is it the Target or the Host? 

[antonellocaroli]

Mpd does not communicate with the target, but communicates with alsasync which is seen as a simple alsa device

 

so it's a simple player > alsa communication... if you google you can find information on how alsa works

 

So

Mpd (host) > AlsaSync (host) > Traget > Dac

Alsasync and traget communicate with a proprietary Diretta protocol

Who is rendering? everything.

[biosailor]

1 hour ago, antonellocaroli said:

Mpd does not communicate with the target, but communicates with alsasync which is seen as a simple alsa device

 

so it's a simple player > alsa communication... if you google you can find information on how alsa works

 

So

Mpd (host) > AlsaSync (host) > Traget > Dac

Alsasync and traget communicate with a proprietary Diretta protocol

Who is rendering? everything.

 

On my host, I have everything disabled except RoonServer. Does it mean that Roon is taking over the communication with Diretta?