Article: Summerbreeze | How to establish a low cost, high quality system for your deck & desktop costing less than $350

[DuckToller]

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[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for all the hard work on this one @DuckToller. I know you've been at it for several months.

[wgscott]

I haven't had time to read this carefully yet, but I can already say (a) this is extraordinarily comprehensive, and (b) outstanding dog pic.

[Ralf11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nova_Scotia_Duck_Tolling_Retriever

[Graham Luke]

9 hours ago, wgscott said:

I haven't had time to read this carefully yet, but I can already say (a) this is extraordinarily comprehensive, and (b) outstanding dog pic.

I might wait til Netflix serialises it....

[wgscott]

Read it.  It is well worth the time.

[bluesman]

 !!!

 

There's an endless set of combinations and permutations among the latest crop of value hardware components - we've only scratched the surface, and look at the SQ from the systems we've already put together!

 

We can almost certainly optimize SQ from systems like yours & mine with meticulous mating and configuration of hardware and software.  Random association of components is the rule, and that approach has the same probability of achieving poor synergy as it does of being optimal.  It's rare in my experience that the same effort is put into choosing the components of a $500 system that goes into selecting a $5000+ system, but I suspect that the effort would pay off in even better SQ if we took the same approach.  Given the low cost of the components we're discussing, we can directly and extensively compare multiple components and systems in our own settings for very little money, eventually reselling unneeded or unwanted pieces to recover some of the cost of comparison. 

 

I haven't heard the Abacus speakers and would love to find a pair to compare to my JBL 305s (which can now be found for about $100 each every few weeks at one of the large musical instrument chains).  Power supplies alone could fill a month or more of experimentation - look at your experience with the ifi PS.  I just bought a few USB "power banks" of various sizes and quality to see if and how they affect SQ driving a Pi. They were on sale for $1.95 to $9.95 at Microcenter - that's almost free!!!

 

Thanks for your great work!! Let's keep at it - sonic nirvana awaits our discovery 😀

[The Computer Audiophile]

58 minutes ago, bluesman said:

 !!!

 

There's an endless set of combinations and permutations among the latest crop of value hardware components - we've only scratched the surface, and look at the SQ from the systems we've already put together!

 

We can almost certainly optimize SQ from systems like yours & mine with meticulous mating and configuration of hardware and software.  Random association of components is the rule, and that approach has the same probability of achieving poor synergy as it does of being optimal.  It's rare in my experience that the same effort is put into choosing the components of a $500 system that goes into selecting a $5000+ system, but I suspect that the effort would pay off in even better SQ if we took the same approach.  Given the low cost of the components we're discussing, we can directly and extensively compare multiple components and systems in our own settings for very little money, eventually reselling unneeded or unwanted pieces to recover some of the cost of comparison. 

 

I haven't heard the Abacus speakers and would love to find a pair to compare to my JBL 305s (which can now be found for about $100 each every few weeks at one of the large musical instrument chains).  Power supplies alone could fill a month or more of experimentation - look at your experience with the ifi PS.  I just bought a few USB "power banks" of various sizes and quality to see if and how they affect SQ driving a Pi. They were on sale for $1.95 to $9.95 at Microcenter - that's almost free!!!

 

Thanks for your great work!! Let's keep at it - sonic nirvana awaits our discovery 😀

@DuckToller was concerned he'd be double-covering the stuff you've written about but I told him to keep going, he will have a different perspective and no doubt find interesting ways to get to the same end point.  I'm glad he followed trough and continues working on stuff for AS. 

 

I'm going to get one of these Rock Pi S boards. So cheap and so small. I just have to do it :~)

 

http://linuxgizmos.com/tiny-rock-pi-s-and-nanopi-neo2-black-boards-debut/

 

[bluesman]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

@DuckToller was concerned he'd be double-covering the stuff you've written about but I told him to keep going, he will have a different perspective and no doubt find interesting ways to get to the same end point.  I'm glad he followed trough and continues working on stuff for AS. 

 

I'm going to get one of these Rock Pi S boards. So cheap and so small. I just have to do it :~)

 

http://linuxgizmos.com/tiny-rock-pi-s-and-nanopi-neo2-black-boards-debut/

 

 

He and I communicated a few times about this as we worked & made sure our efforts were complementing each other.

 

That new board looks great - it's on my list of toys to be had.  FWIW, I'm loving the new Pi 4 with gigabit ethernet, 4 gigs of RAM, "proper" USB management etc.  It's so much faster than the 3b+ that it's now close to a "real" computer.  I'm about to load a full JRMC instance on it to see how it functions as a stand-alone JR device. Even on a 3b+, JR is very slow to respond to the helm.  The minimal testing I've done with the 4 suggests that SQ isn't consistently any better than a 3b+ with Roon Bridge, but I haven't tried it in multiple systems with different DACs etc yet.  Ahhh - there's just no rest for the weary!

[DuckToller]

1 hour ago, bluesman said:

I haven't heard the Abacus speakers and would love to find a pair to compare to my JBL 305s (which can now be found for about $100 each every few weeks at one of the large musical instrument chains).

@bluesman

You may find some used ones in the US, I have heard a few have crossed the Atlantic,

like this pair that made it to the Pacific, if I am not mistaken.
Otherwise they are only distributed regularly in Europe. You may co-ordinate that with your travelling. ;-)
Kind regards & thanks for the warm words

Tom

[zacster]

I built my own speakers, in fact 3 pairs, the Lance.  But you know what, when you include materials, drivers, jacks, and then have to include a small amp (SMSL SA-60) it isn't so cheap anymore.  No one part is expensive but it adds up.  Add on a full RPi+DAC to it and I guess I'm up to around $350, except that I had all of this for different reasons and just pulled it together one day for streaming on my porch.  It sounds great and people are always surprised that I get "real" sound, not just some background noise.

[bobfa]

Why did I not read this two years ago....???  I love this report! 

[DuckToller]

Thank you, Bob!