Article: DIY Music Server and Streamer for the Audio Hobbyist

[bobfa]

View full article

[The Computer Audiophile]

Thanks for the article Bob. My favorite part is Bob's Rules :~)

[bobfa]

Chris,

 

Thank you for the kind words.  I really love “Bob’s Rules” too!  Even more I love how great this sounds and how easy it was to setup.  I am really glad I stepped back in time to look at LMS.  The folks that are supporting LMS have done a great job.  All of the other open source software I am using has been great.

 

In the next few days I will look to setup an AMA someplace to talk about this.

 

This is a LOT of fun for me.  And there is more to do.

 

 

[bbosler]

Contact Guinness, you may have set the record for world's largest house cat 🙃

 

 

[left channel]

Yay LMS. That's all I use here, on an SGC microJukebox serving several Squeezebox devices plus Squeezelite-X for Windows and Squeezer for Android. And a much scrawnier cat.

[bbosler]

Thanks Bob, one point regarding fans and power supplies. . I agree good DC supplies are beneficial and am opposed to fan noise, but by combining the 2 you can get the benefits of fans without the noise. Heat is the enemy of electronics and just a small amount of air movement can make a huge (20-30 degree F) difference with some devices, verified with an infrared non-contact thermometer

 

Get some very low noise 12 VDC computer fans then run them off of a much lower voltage from a DC supply. 5V is probably not enough to get them spinning but 7-9 V will. They turn slowly enough to create no noise but move enough air to keep things much cooler. Pop the lid on a DC supply and point the fan at the regulators and you might be surprised how much cooler they run... like these

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0119SLG18/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0119T0D4I/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

[Exocer]

Nice read! I have an Pi2AES HAT + RPi4 laying around I may start messing with again. You have encouraged me! Very interesting read.

[bobfa]

18 minutes ago, bbosler said:

Thanks Bob, one point regarding fans and power supplies. . I agree good DC supplies are beneficial and am opposed to fan noise, but by combining the 2 you can get the benefits of fans without the noise. Heat is the enemy of electronics and just a small amount of air movement can make a huge (20-30 degree F) difference with some devices, verified with an infrared non-contact thermometer

I have one fan I have been testing it is a Noctua NF-A14-ULN.  This is a 12v fan that is not PWM and is really about as silent as you can get.  I have been using it on and off to keep the equipment in my Victrola comfortable.  

 

What you do not want are the little screamers that come with this cases,  They vibrate and make terrible noises!

 

I have to measure temps in there again today and report with and without the fan.

 

 

[bobfa]

3 minutes ago, Exocer said:

Nice read! I have an Pi2AES HAT + RPi4 laying around I may start messing with again. You have encouraged me! Very interesting read.

Thanks, 

 

I have that HAT on order,  should ship by the end of the month.  I am excited to see if it will do better or equal to the Mutec.

[bbosler]

6 minutes ago, bobfa said:

have one fan I have been testing it is a Noctua NF-A14-ULN.  This is a 12v fan that is not PWM a

 

pretty sure the fans have nothing to do with being or not being pulse width modulated. That is a function of the controller. PWM is a highly efficient way to control the fan speed but the fan doesn't care. If you take 12VDC and pulse it to the fan at 50% (12 - zero - 12 - zero ) with an electronic switch (transistor) you  effectively get 6 VDC as far as the fan is concerned but no heat because the switch is either full on or full off. If you use a linear regulator that drops 6V all the time you get heat. Unfortunately with PWM you also get electronic noise. 

 

[bobfa]

20 minutes ago, bbosler said:

 

pretty sure the fans have nothing to do with being or not being pulse width modulated. That is a function of the controller. PWM is a highly efficient way to control the fan speed but the fan doesn't care. If you take 12VDC and pulse it to the fan at 50% (12 - zero - 12 - zero ) with an electronic switch (transistor) you  effectively get 6 VDC as far as the fan is concerned but no heat because the switch is either full on or full off. If you use a linear regulator that drops 6V all the time you get heat. Unfortunately with PWM you also get electronic noise. 

 

Agree 100%.  The point is the fan I am using does not have PWM.  and we do not need a PWM controller that could make noise.

 

https://nerdtechy.com/best-pwm-fan-controller

 

 

[ednaz]

Those BX5a speakers are a secret gem. I LOVED my BX5a speakers, and I had a set of the 8 inchers too. The worst thing about both speakers was that the bass extension was wild, and VERY sensitive to distance from walls. The BX8 in particular.... easy for them to create boomy tuneless bass if not set up properly. Eventually sold them off because a move to a new home had fewer rooms needing an audio system. The neighbor who bought both pairs of M-Audio speakers is still deeply in love with them. She uses them for her home AV room... the 8 inchers up front, the 5s in the back.

 

I read all your comments about running ethernet wire, but it's just not in the cards for us in our new place. The best electrical contractor I've ever known gave us a price for running ethernet for us. It was eye popping. Didn't include the cost of paying a drywall guy to fix all the holes that would have to be punched in the walls and finished basement ceiling. 

 

So, we're using wifi for serving music from our music server with Roon, to 5 rooms. We've got a mesh network, and we've had three rooms listening to different music at the same time with zero problems. In our family room, we DID compare using ethernet from server to digital translator to DAC versus using wifi, and I thought the wifi sounded no different, maybe a touch better, as did a few visitors who I dragooned into a comparison listening evening.

[bobfa]

13 hours ago, ednaz said:

Those BX5a speakers are a secret gem

I am re-enjoying my BX5a speakers, so I have elevated them a bit:

 

The stands I was using were too short.  I dug out some taller 4 column stands that are four times heavier.  The stands are on spikes with Herbie's Audio Labs decoupling gliders:

https://herbiesaudiolab.com/products/cone-spike-decoupling-glider?variant=12645103403063

 

Under the speakers are Isoacoustics ISO-PUCK Minis:

 

https://isoacoustics.com/pro-audio-isolation-products/iso-puck-series/

 

The crown on top of the speaker is a doorstop to add some more mass.  (from Amazon). This setup helps me position the speakers and move them out of the way if needed.  And I did not have to spend any more money on them as I had the hardware in my kit! I also did a little inventory of cables and moved a couple of things to have four good power cords for the speakers and electronics.   I also installed an Allo Shanti power supply for the Pi4.  And, just for the fun of it, Put a pair of Transparent Super balanced interconnects from the DAC to the Speakers.   

 

This has let me see what the speakers can do.  I am pretty happy, and the Ayre Codex seems to fit in there really well:

 

 

DIY All the way.

 

 

 

 

 

[Juan Triana]

Excellent article. I have discovered Klaus blog this year and followed the same path. I gave my CD collection to my dad and only transferred to FLAC files those albums that aren't in the streaming services. That allowed me to have my collection in a 512GB SD card in the Pi4 that functions as server. With LMS having plugins for Deezer, Qobuz, Spotify and Tidal I have access to almost 4000 albums distributed in those services and my local storage.

[whell]

GREAT post.  Thanks for sharing your experiences.

 

Haven't ventured into the Raspberry Pi world yet.  Still using an older desktop PC for a the base.  Its very quiet, inaudible noise unless you're a foot or two away, and its still very faint.  

 

Running Daphile Linux on the desktop at present.  Daphile is based on the open source Squeezebox Server, Squeezelite and Linux.  There's not a version of Daphile available for Raspberry Pi.  However, it does allow for headless operation, and I use a cheap Amazon tablet as a control point.  All of the LMS plugins also work with Daphile.   Local music files are accessible from the remote servier or attached USB drive. 

 

The sound quality that I'm getting with Daphile at present is terrific.  If you get 'round to it, might be interesting to include Daphile in your journey.  The setup would conform with most of Bob's rules.  It also conforms to one of my rules: the less spent the better.  😏

[whell]

20 hours ago, ednaz said:

I read all your comments about running ethernet wire, but it's just not in the cards for us in our new place. The best electrical contractor I've ever known gave us a price for running ethernet for us. It was eye popping. Didn't include the cost of paying a drywall guy to fix all the holes that would have to be punched in the walls and finished basement ceiling. 

 

I think wifi is OK for music streaming.  However, another "hard wried" solution might be using powerline networking.  More info about that here: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-a-powerline-adapter.  Essentially this option uses your home's electrical wiring to transmit the ethernet signal.  Works really well and is a lit cheaper than contracting to run ehternet cables throughout your home.  

[bobfa]

2 minutes ago, whell said:

 

I think wifi is OK for music streaming.  However, another "hard wried" solution might be using powerline networking.  More info about that here: https://www.hp.com/us-en/shop/tech-takes/what-is-a-powerline-adapter.  Essentially this option uses your home's electrical wiring to transmit the ethernet signal.  Works really well and is a lit cheaper than contracting to run ehternet cables throughout your home.  

I always encourage experimenting and learning.  If a system works for you that is GREAT!.  If you have the inclinations try this for an experiment.  Lay an ethernet cable out and swap between whatever else you are listening with.  One might be different.  Is that difference worth making a change.  For my Living room,  I used a white snake-skinz to cover the ethernet cable that goes from the Victrola where the gear is to a heating register where the cable snakes next to the boot for the register.  No Holes!  Just one idea.  There are a lot of ways to run ethernet.   I have placed my server, NAS, network switch, and other core gear in a single location in my basement for convenience.  

 

I have had good luck in some cases using WiFi.    It is worth the test, but try to turn off the radios in your Pi and run ethernet.  Just an experiment!  Try the server link first!  In my Technology Consulting business, I have only tried Powerline Ethernet twice.  One instance worked ok but would fail about once a month.  The other would break about once a day.   I have avoided them since.

 

 

[whell]

27 minutes ago, bobfa said:

In my Technology Consulting business, I have only tried Powerline Ethernet twice.  One instance worked ok but would fail about once a month.  The other would break about once a day.   I have avoided them since.

I agree that it can be a "you're mileage may vary" solution due to some of the factors that are descibed in the linked article.  However, I've been running it here at the house for years and have not had any issues.  Connection is constant and the speed is pretty good: certainly plenty of bandwidth for streaming music.  So, to your point: try it and see if it works.....but keep the sales receipt in case you need to return it. 🙂

[sjj]

Bob, thanks for pulling this together. It’s good to see RPi’s get recoginition as a capable audiophile device. I’ve applied the tweaks and now need to settle into some serious listening.
I think you’ll be impressed with the Pi2AES once you get up and running.

Fyi, I located info as follows on how to manage Qobuz favorites from the Material skin:

 

-Navigate until you see the track listing of an album you want to add

-Add 1 track from that album to playlist

-Click more on the track now in your playlist

-Choose On Qobuz

-Now you can add the Artist, the Album or the Track to your Qobuz favourites via Manage.

 

Hope this help others that were like me struggling to figure this out.

[bobfa]

I am glad folks are enjoying this. I have not had this much fun with audio in forever!.    I love this kind of tinkering.  Over the last 24 hours, I tweaked up my office/basement system, and I am in another class from where I started.  

 

I hope my Pi2EAS ships soon.  Yet my Mutec DDC is great!  It would be cool to eliminate the USB cable and the extra power cable, power draw, etc...  

 

 

 

 

 

[sonodynesrp205]

Hi Bob!

 

In my speaker system I had Node 2021, Ifi Zen Stream and diy Linux player with MPD client. Diy Linux player was excellent. The best sound.

But it died recently.

Im not expert like you for this stuff. So,.. Looking something easier..how good is Allo usbridge? 
 

regards,

Simon

[bobfa]

42 minutes ago, sonodynesrp205 said:

Hi Bob!

 

In my speaker system I had Node 2021, Ifi Zen Stream and diy Linux player with MPD client. Diy Linux player was excellent. The best sound.

But it died recently.

Im not expert like you for this stuff. So,.. Looking something easier..how good is Allo usbridge? 
 

regards,

Simon

I have two Allo USBridge Sig devices they sound great!  

[sonodynesrp205]

1 hour ago, bobfa said:

I have two Allo USBridge Sig devices they sound great!  

Ok. Thank you.

 

regards,
Simon

[sonodynesrp205]

2 hours ago, bobfa said:

I have two Allo USBridge Sig devices they sound great!  

One more thing.... Can I connect an external Hdd/SSD to this usbridge?

 

regards,
Simon

[bobfa]

I do not think it is designed for that.    Tell me what you are trying to accomplish and maybe I can help.