How is the Pi 4?

[akwire]

5 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

 

Thanksgiving Edition with further SQ improvements

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19288#p19288

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.zip

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z01

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z02

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z03

Thanks for sharing. I have tried this version - I actually am unable to connect to the PCP web GUI or ssh into it (although I do see the IP appear on my network). Do you happen to know why there are issues getting into the web GUI/sshing in?

[seeteeyou]

Someone also experienced a similar a problem, then the author recommended trying another SD card instead of USB drive here

 

https://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?13157-piCorePlayer6-1-0-Xenomai-44-1-48KHz雙機入門簡易安裝教學&p=243044#post243044

 

He mentioned that Raspberry Pi 4 might be somewhat picky about USB storage devices due to different CPU frequencies / voltages etc. As a result, not everything would work partially if specific components of piCorePlayer were becoming dysfunctional.

[akwire]

5 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

Someone also experienced a similar a problem, then the author recommended trying another SD card instead of USB drive here

 

https://www.my-hiend.com/vbb/showthread.php?13157-piCorePlayer6-1-0-Xenomai-44-1-48KHz雙機入門簡易安裝教學&p=243044#post243044

 

He mentioned that Raspberry Pi 4 might be somewhat picky about USB storage devices due to different CPU frequencies / voltages etc. As a result, not everything would work partially if specific components of piCorePlayer were becoming dysfunctional.

After trying sd card instead  of usb drive  still could not able to boot up?  i wonder  why?

[seeteeyou]

The author posted another update several hours ago, basically he's able to ping the IP address successfully but somehow it ain't getting any further afterwards. Then he simply tried a better USB drive and that did the trick.

 

Not sure why that's happening, I guess that maybe the read speed of USB drives could make a difference if we're running the CPU at a specific frequency for the sake of achieving better SQ. The author said that editing the file config.txt could solve the problem if the vaule of the line arm_freq were changed to this

 

https://docs.picoreplayer.org/how-to/edit_config_txt/

arm_freq=1600

 

Though it's supposed to be detrimental to the SQ according to the author.

[seeteeyou]

Beta versions of EEPROM seemed to have something to do with both USB / SD booting as follows

 

https://github.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/blob/master/firmware/release-notes.md

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/master/firmware/beta/recovery.bin

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/master/firmware/beta/pieeprom-2020-11-24.bin

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/raspberrypi/rpi-eeprom/master/firmware/beta/pieeprom-2020-10-28.bin

https://forum.dexterindustries.com/t/pieeprom-2020-10-28-bin-an-interesting-beta-eeprom-image-for-the-pi-4/7909

 

Maybe wait until the stable version is released and then try again?

[Topk]

On 10/19/2020 at 4:30 PM, seeteeyou said:

Now we could add JCAT USB Card XE thanks to the PCIe 2.0 x1 slot on the I/O board

 

https://www.cnx-software.com/2020/10/19/raspberry-pi-cm4-cm4lite-modules/

 

Hello - is it plug n play without driver and replaces the BBC USB port on the Pu? If yea that’s revolutionary!

[seeteeyou]

https://jcat.eu/featured/usb-card-xe/

Quote

Next generation low latency & low noise ASM3142 USB 3.1 host controller generates a clear USB Audio datastream.

 

In general, hardware support really depends on the kernel of whatever Linux distro we're running.

 

More specifically, the latest releases seemed to include support for USB cards with ASM1142 / ASM2142 / ASM3142 etc.

 

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/blob/rpi-5.4.y/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/blob/rpi-5.10.y/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

 

Maybe take a look at the list of USB cards here? Though all of them looked more like 5Gbps (Gen 1) cards instead of ASM3142 @ 10Gbps (Gen 2)

 

https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/project/raspberry-pi-cm4-pci-express-device-database

[Topk]

1 hour ago, seeteeyou said:

https://jcat.eu/featured/usb-card-xe/

 

In general, hardware support really depends on the kernel of whatever Linux distro we're running.

 

More specifically, the latest releases seemed to include support for USB cards with ASM1142 / ASM2142 / ASM3142 etc.

 

https://github.com/torvalds/linux/blob/master/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/blob/rpi-5.4.y/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/blob/rpi-5.10.y/drivers/usb/host/xhci-pci.c

 

Maybe take a look at the list of USB cards here? Though all of them looked more like 5Gbps (Gen 1) cards instead of ASM3142 @ 10Gbps (Gen 2)

 

https://pipci.jeffgeerling.com

https://www.jeffgeerling.com/project/raspberry-pi-cm4-pci-express-device-database

Hello! Yes I saw these links. I’m just wondering if I use Volumio or Moode (and I don’t know if they are Linux based), if I use the new Pi 4 module with the PCIe and a JCAT USB XE (powered by its own LPSU), would it be recognized like an Allo USB bridge HAT would? If yes that would be incredible.! I’m looking right now online but can’t seem to find an answer...

[seeteeyou]

On 11/27/2020 at 12:25 AM, seeteeyou said:

Thanksgiving Edition with further SQ improvements

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19288#p19288

 

Noël Edition with the best SQ in 2020 so far

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19369#p19369

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.zip

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z01

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z02

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z03

 

CPU will be overclocked to 2.205 GHz by default, Raspberry Pi 4 Rev 1.2 or above is required and adequate cooling is essential for achieving positive results

 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/revision-codes/README.md

 

Another requirement for booting off USB drive is adequate reading speed in order to ensure that OS could start successfully.

 

Someone already compared Noël Edition to previous releases, the latest one seemed to be the champion

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19371#p19371

Quote

這一版是我聽到最好的一版，音樂琴聲流轉，好不動人；第一次感覺喇叭不見了，amazing!!!

 

Merry Christmas to everyone and please stay safe.

[Topk]

Thank you so much for the link! 
 

I’m trying to make it work with shairport/airplay, do you know if they deactivated it? I can’t seem to make it work:-(

[franz159]

On 11/26/2020 at 5:25 PM, seeteeyou said:

 

Thanksgiving Edition with further SQ improvements

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19288#p19288

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.zip

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z01

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z02

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-xenomai_TG.z03

Downloaded the files. put them together with 7zip, flashed the SD card.... it does not boot on my pi4...

[firedog]

1 hour ago, franz159 said:

Downloaded the files. put them together with 7zip, flashed the SD card.... it does not boot on my pi4...

"flashed the SD card" - I assume you mean: extacted it and wrote it to the card with something like Win32 Disk Imager  or Etcher that writes images to the card?

 

[franz159]

1 hour ago, firedog said:

"flashed the SD card" - I assume you mean: extacted it and wrote it to the card with something like Win32 Disk Imager  or Etcher that writes images to the card?

 

Yes flashed the image on the card using Balena Etcher...

Since piCorePlyer is one of the few distros of raspberry that I  hadn't tested out yet over the years (RuneAudio, Volumio,  Audiophile Linux, Moode, RoopieeeXL, Gentooplayer..) I then tried the official piCorePlayer (ver 7.0.0 23-Dec-2020) and it worked flawlessly at first attempt. It sounds good but probably slightly "thinner" than Squeezelite-R2 on Gentoplayer. 

In any case, at the end of the day, for the moment I'm staying on Gentooplayer wjhich is giving me many more "tools" to use:

1. in first place I can select on the fly to  use either the "LMS+Squeezelite" reproduction ecosystem, or the "MPD+upmpdcli+BubbleUPnPServer" one
2. I have additional "useful" commodities such as Airplay or Spotify Connect
3. I do not use it as NAA for HQplayer or Roon, but I could, should I decide to do it in the future....
4. I have MinimServer with its intelligent browsing feature which is quite unique.... if well configured it becomes really "unbeatable" for Classical Music properly tagged, IMO superior event to Roon in that espect (the forumer @stefano_mbp is quite knowledgeable about this..)

 

[Topk]

I was able to make the 44khz version work with shairport, just had to select the right output, you need to try a few of the different options 

[DomiJi]

On 12/24/2020 at 3:43 PM, seeteeyou said:

 

Noël Edition with the best SQ in 2020 so far

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19369#p19369

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.zip

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z01

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z02

https://raw.githubusercontent.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/master/piCorePlayer6.1.0-Noel.z03

 

CPU will be overclocked to 2.205 GHz by default, Raspberry Pi 4 Rev 1.2 or above is required and adequate cooling is essential for achieving positive results

 

https://www.raspberrypi.org/documentation/hardware/raspberrypi/revision-codes/README.md

 

Another requirement for booting off USB drive is adequate reading speed in order to ensure that OS could start successfully.

 

Someone already compared Noël Edition to previous releases, the latest one seemed to be the champion

 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19371#p19371

 

Merry Christmas to everyone and please stay safe.

Thank you so much! This is truly amazing and sounds so good.

 

What specific settings did you use on the Squeezelite page of piCorePlayer?

I use a DAC/Amp on the USB output of my Pi4 (8GB) and i am not sure what settings are the best in terms of ALSA buffer and so on. I would really appreciate your help :-)

[DuckToller]

3 hours ago, DomiJi said:

What specific settings did you use on the Squeezelite page of piCorePlayer?

I would guess settings would be specific (contrary to generic) for the DAC in use ??

[seeteeyou]

3 hours ago, DomiJi said:

Thank you so much! This is truly amazing and sounds so good.

 

 Fantastic, many thanks for your positive feedback and so far it's been a winner consistently for the owners of RPi4 who gave it a try. I'll let the author know your kind words since he should be working on pCP 7.0.0 with kernel version 5.10 already, though that wouldn't be released until it's actually surpassing the performance of Noël Edition.

 

Adding Xenomai support while adjusting the kernel timer frequency seemed to be the "secret sauce" that's hitting the jackpot, let's see if anyone were able to get 1411.2 KHz kernel timer frequency working with those Xeon processors on x86 platform then.

 

BTW, 32fs (i.e. 1536 and 1411.2) could very well be the "magic number" for a few DACs out there (e.g. Musician Audio Pegasus and Denafrips etc.)

 

http://blog.livedoor.jp/johnny_trio_lsr/archives/2250510.html

 

 

 

---

  

3 hours ago, DomiJi said:

What specific settings did you use on the Squeezelite page of piCorePlayer?

I use a DAC/Amp on the USB output of my Pi4 (8GB) and i am not sure what settings are the best in terms of ALSA buffer and so on. I would really appreciate your help :-)

 

Regarding Squeezelite settings, most likely the "best" settings should be system-dependent while I would also take the author's suggested ones into considerations

 

https://github.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/tree/master/setting 

http://www.stsd99.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?p=19160#p19160

 

Basically he mentioned that buffer size should be increased if there were pops and clicks in audio.

 

---

 

I haven't tried this myself, though someone else liked this custom build of Squeezelite by soundcheck (Klaus Schulz)

 

https://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/p/the-engine.html

https://www.mobile01.com/topicdetail.php?f=348&t=5840425&p=41#80395430

[DomiJi]

I've installed the Squeezelite by soundcheck and it runs flawless... i will post some impressions later 😀

[DomiJi]

Overall the NOEL piCorePlayer Version in combination with the Squeezelite version by soundcheck sounds absolutely amazing. I've overclocked the CPU to 2.2 GHz as well with no serious problems as long as you got a good case for the pi. I a passive case from Miuzei:

 

 

This setup can easily compared to a lot more expensive streaming solutions.

 

I also made some good experience with USB reclockers like the Oehlbach XXL MasterClock or the UpTone USB Regen. I personally use the Oehlbach MasterClock:

 

 

And very important is a good power solution. For the Pi and the MasterClock i use TeraDak DC 30 PowerSupplies:

 

 

 

Overall not the cheapest solution but it sounds so damn good!

 

 

[al2813]

1 hour ago, DomiJi said:

Overall the NOEL piCorePlayer Version in combination with the Squeezelite version by soundcheck sounds absolutely amazing. I've overclocked the CPU to 2.2 GHz as well with no serious problems as long as you got a good case for the pi. I a passive case from Miuzei:

 

 

This setup can easily compared to a lot more expensive streaming solutions.

 

I also made some good experience with USB reclockers like the Oehlbach XXL MasterClock or the UpTone USB Regen. I personally use the Oehlbach MasterClock:

 

 

And very important is a good power solution. For the Pi and the MasterClock i use TeraDak DC 30 PowerSupplies:

 

 

 

Overall not the cheapest solution but it sounds so damn good!

 

 

 

Thanks for the interesting feedback! I briefly tested the November release and couldn't get the Noel one working. I discovered the reason I think. The Pi I was using was a revision 1.1. I do have a second Pi and this one is 1.2 so can try and get this to work. couple of questions:

 

- Were you actually able to compare your setup with a properly setup X86 system?

- You have two Teradak DC 30? one for the pi and one for the reclocker? 

 

 

 

 

[DomiJi]

48 minutes ago, al2813 said:

 

Thanks for the interesting feedback! I briefly tested the November release and couldn't get the Noel one working. I discovered the reason I think. The Pi I was using was a revision 1.1. I do have a second Pi and this one is 1.2 so can try and get this to work. couple of questions:

 

- Were you actually able to compare your setup with a properly setup X86 system?

- You have two Teradak DC 30? one for the pi and one for the reclocker? 

 

 

 

 

 

Correct - i have one TeraDak DC 30 with 5V for the Pi and one TeraDak DC30 7V for the USB Reclocker.

 

I can only compare it to my X86 Desktop-Setup with Audirvana and my "old" Allo USBridge. And the Pi combo definately sounds better than both of them.

[seeteeyou]

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/55/?tab=comments#comment-1100360  

On 1/5/2021 at 4:48 AM, Gavin1977 said:

Anymore info on audio over ether?

 

The other thread should be more about running Windows on x86 platform, hence it's more appropriate for us to move our discussions about Raspberry Pi / Linux somewhere IMHO.

 

First of all, someone in Japan just gave Audio over Ether a try and let's take a quick look at the feedback below

 

Quote

AoEのスレッドかこちらか、どちらのほうに書いたらいいのかわからないのですが、こちらで書かせていただきます。

 

メインでWindowsを使っているので、Jplay femtoやらBugheadに寄り道してたりしていたのですが、Pi3向けのフロントエンドが出ていて、無線LANでも大丈夫とのことで重い腰を上げて環境を構築してみました。
AoEのサウンドを聴いた瞬間に拙宅のプアオーディオ環境でも上記のソフトがこどもに思えるほどの素晴らしい音質にビックリしました。
smpd Ver1を初めて聴いたときのようなゾクゾク感があり、なんとも気持ちいいです。

 

これほどのソフトを提供いただき本当にありがとうございます🙏

 

蛇足ながら拙宅の構成は
・AoEバックエンドPifi digi DAC+(Hifiberry DAC+の互換品)
・アンプ DENON PMA-60
・スピーカー KENWOOD LS-K901
となっております。

 

Quote

I'm not sure if I should write this in the AoE thread or here, but I'll do it here.

 

I've been using Windows as my main computer, so I've been taking a detour to Jplay femto and Bughead, but when I heard that there was a front-end for Pi3 and that it could be used with wireless LAN, I got serious and built an environment.
The moment I listened to the sound of AoE, I was surprised at the wonderful sound quality that made the above software seem like a child even in my poor audio environment.
The sound quality is so good that it makes the above software seem like a child's play even in my home's poor audio environment. It gives me a thrill like when I first heard smpd Ver1.

 

Thank you very much for providing such a great software.

 

The configuration of my house is as follows
AoE backend Pifi digi DAC+ (compatible with Hifiberry DAC+)
Amplifier DENON PMA-60
Speaker KENWOOD LS-K901
I'm not sure if this is a good idea.

 

I hope that machine translation would be good enough to interpret everything properly, though most likely we're able to understand what it really meant. JPLAY FEMTO would €149 while Bughead is totally free. Dunno how much he's spending on his Windows PC and DAC, though his RPi3 should have cost $50 or less (i.e. maybe under $100 for both frontend + backend then?) while there's no need to pay for software at all. Here's his PiFi DIGI DAC+

 

https://www.itead.cc/hifi-dac-for-raspberry-pi.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32754774671.html

 

Amir's conclusions as follows

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=review-and-measurements-of-pifi-dac-pi-sound-card.8614

Quote

Using the same recipe as the HifiBerry DAC+, the itead PiFi DAC+ falls short in measurements. We were barely good enough with Hifiberry but now are behind the game with some 7 dB higher amount of distortion. Seeing how itead PiFi DAC+ is more expensive anyway, I see no reason to recommend it over HifiBerry offerings.

 

It could very well be comparing apples to oranges since we're probably talking about less-than-optimized Windows PC versus highly-optimized RPi3 here. Dunno what kinda PSUs were involved on both sides but stuff like RPi3 didn't need to cost that much to begin with. Either his Windows PC with JPLAY FEMTO (€149.00) was extremely bad or his Raspberry Pi with beta release of Audio over Ether (€0.00) must be THAT good.

 

---

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/58164-building-a-diy-music-server/page/55/?tab=comments#comment-1100376  

On 1/5/2021 at 5:40 AM, MarcelNL said:

@seeteeyou When you say many Linux distro's are boring when compared to other stuff do you mean pace of development or sound quality?

 

Most of them don't even take advantage of either The EVL project or The Xenomai project

 

https://evlproject.org/overview/

https://gitlab.denx.de/Xenomai/xenomai/-/wikis/Start_Here

 

Having a dual kernel architecture seemed to be less boring to me, and the results should speak for themselves.

[MarcelNL]

3 hours ago, seeteeyou said:

 

Most of them don't even take advantage of either The EVL project or The Xenomai project

 

https://evlproject.org/overview/

https://gitlab.denx.de/Xenomai/xenomai/-/wikis/Start_Here

 

Having a dual kernel architecture seemed to be less boring to me, and the results should speak for themselves.

can you clarify? from reading what info I understand in those links I do not see clear advantages or anything less 'boring' than in any other description of a linux distro ;-)

In plain language; how does it sound, how can we compare? (I'm sure the vast majority of folks, like me, are in no position to compile an alternative kernel for whatever Linux distro they are using for audio)

[TomJ]

On 1/14/2021 at 1:03 PM, DomiJi said:

Overall the NOEL piCorePlayer Version in combination with the Squeezelite version by soundcheck sounds absolutely amazing. I've overclocked the CPU to 2.2 GHz as well with no serious problems as long as you got a good case for the pi. I a passive case from Miuzei:

 

 

This setup can easily compared to a lot more expensive streaming solutions.

 

I also made some good experience with USB reclockers like the Oehlbach XXL MasterClock or the UpTone USB Regen. I personally use the Oehlbach MasterClock:

 

 

And very important is a good power solution. For the Pi and the MasterClock i use TeraDak DC 30 PowerSupplies:

 

 

 

Overall not the cheapest solution but it sounds so damn good!

 

 

Hi,

 

I thought that in the NOEL piCorePlayer the Squeezelite version from Soundcheck is already included. Does I have to install it separately?

I am new to the Raspberry Pi world and think about to replace my Squeezebox Touch with the RPI 4. It will be connected via Intona USB Isolator with RME ADI 2 DAC. Teradak 30w 5V LPS is just landed for my Squeezebox and will be fine for the RPI. Do you think this will be an upgrade to my Squeezebox?

 

Regards,

Tom
 

[seeteeyou]

Noël piCorePlayer was updated at the end of 2020

 

https://github.com/sam0402/pcp-44.1KHz/commit/5ee2270e0bc91c7426938609a54034124a062681

 

And then Klaus (soundcheck) updated his own Squeezelite version at the beginning of 2021

 

https://github.com/klslz/squeezelite/commit/3847376828667ee11bf728900f11cb6fc38cd29a

Quote

Introdcuing 2nd option for RPI4-64bit-basic makefile

 

Maybe we could keep an eye on soundcheck's blog since he's been updating the following page periodically

 

https://soundcheck-audio.blogspot.com/p/the-engine.html