Pi 2 Design Mercury Streamer

[bobfa]

https://www.pi2design.com/mercury-streamer.html

 

 

The Mercury Steamer is headed to beta this month.  Most of the talk is over on the Super Audio Best Friends.  I am on the beta list and will start out testing PiCorePlayer.  I will keep things here to a summary.

 

Bob

Here are a couple of pictures from the Pi2Design website:

 

 

 

[bobfa]

For me the promise is multi-fold.  I hope combine the server and streamer into one and get better SQ.  Part of that is software...  I am a bit giddy!

[bobfa]

3 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

This thing could run HQP OS for ARM and that would be pretty interesting.

I will have to ask Jussi!

[bobfa]

2 minutes ago, chauphuong said:

Is there anything better in design of this one when compared with Allo Usbridge Signature (besides more connections)?

The design of the Mercury Streamer uses the CM4 module which has major compute performance improvements over the CM3 in the USBridge Sig.  The Allo product is focused on USB output.  The Mercury is focused on other digital outputs like their Pi2AES product. I have no idea what the USB output of the Mercury will do for us.

 

The addition of local NVME storage in the Mercury  is to me a huge step forward.

 

In the Allo you can add the Digione Signature SPDIF output HAT which sounds pretty darn good.  In my testing the Pi2AES is better to my ear, but there are a lot of variables.

 

RJF

[bobfa]

My beta unit arrived today.  Michael installed Volumio so I am set for the first tests

 

https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0wGQD2D7GkMcKY

 

 

Internet radio playing away!

 

[bobfa]

I have Volumio updated, a 4TB NVME Drive installed, WiFI, going.  Music playing.

 

See the photo album above for more image

[bobfa]

The Mercury is powered by a barrel connector, No USB-C

 

[bobfa]

A short report at the end of the day.  I have done some listening to both Pi2Design devices and the Antipodes K50.  I do not currently have any high-end DACs to listen to, so I am just using the (S/PDIF) iFi xDSD Gryphon and four headphones.   As I expected, they are all some of the best digital sources I have ever had in hand.  I am not ready to pick Gold/Silver/Bronze medal winner.  I feel that I may be limited with my current test system.  I will move to the upstairs systems in a few days.

 

I am currently running Roon on the K50 and Volumio on the others.  My goal this weekend is to run the same software on all three.  LMS+

Squeezelite.  The Pi2AES is a simple SD card swap, and the K50 is a set of software switches.  I am working on other OS variants on the Mercury with a couple of hitches in my get-along.  (welcome to beta)

 

I will declare the Fourth Place contender, the Teac 501 CD Transport. I have been using CD Rips for my music, like the Loreena McKennitt shown and some streaming.

 

[bobfa]

4 hours ago, dericchan1 said:

The big question is how it compares to its already superb predecessor Pi2aes, whether it would be a worthwhile upgrade to ditch the pi2aes for this

There is no ditching the Pi2AES!  I have two of them and they stay!  

[bobfa]

5 minutes ago, dericchan1 said:

Thanks glad to know no urgency for me to upgrade after just owning the pi2aes for 1 year.

I have had a lot of fun with software, power supplies, and cables to round out the Pi2AES.  I am not done yet.  For me, I am looking at Mercury as a Server and a Streamer.  Avoiding the USB external drive on Pi4 systems.  

 

 

[bobfa]

9 hours ago, dericchan1 said:

Actually it was never connected to a usb hdd, it has always been connected to my pi4 samba server with a 14tb hdd

What I am trying to do is to build an optimized system that is a server/streamer with storage.    I have been running with Two Pi4's one as LMS with attached USB drive and the other as Squeezelite.  I have been VERY happy that.  With the Mercury I am even more interested in the combo.  

 

 

[bobfa]

4 hours ago, dericchan1 said:

That sounds like a great idea with the nvme built-in with the CM4. you have the choice to disable WIFI, BT, USB ports also to make a true LAN server

I have found that the WiFi sounds better than ethernet.  Do not discount it.  The CM4 has USB disabled by default.

 

 

[bobfa]

Slow down a bit here folks.  This is currently BETA!  Here is what I know and what I have done with volumio so far:

 

1. installed a 4TB m.2 NVME drive in the Mercury

2. tested with NTFS Format and now working on ext4

3. changed config to allow usb drives (works)

4.changed config to mount the internal drive and smb share it.

 

In the process of copying 3TB of data from external USB to internal NVME.

 

Sound Quality testing reports will come out over time.

 

Please note that I am reporting here and on SuperBestAudioFriends as that is were the beta is being loggedd.

 

 

[bobfa]

 

I have been thinking about and re-writing this end-of-the-day summary from  Sunday for most of the afternoon and evening, and I have just delayed till Monday!

 

While the hardware is getting a little break-in time, I have played with different OS variants, etc.  After about three days of testing, a few things are starting to settle in.  I have not finished PiCorePlayer or Audiolinux configurations, and I am preserving the Volumio environment for listening and studying.

 

I configured one of my Pi2AES units to run Volumio for direct comparison to the Mercury.  My Volumio Primo is running to my Audioengine A2+ speakers as a baseline.  I am working on getting all test systems on LMS and Squeezelite as my best success on the Pi4 was with that software.  The K50 is even just that little bit better there too.

 

Sunday morning, I put the Ayre Codex DAC on the Mercury while working on other OS issues.  I moved between the K50 and the Mercury using TOSLINK.  Then I decided to put the Ferrum HYPSOS on the Mercury, and all other work screeched to a halt.  I could not stop listening.  I did not change tracks in the middle; I just listened.

 

My feet were getting cold, I had to use the facilities, yet I kept listening.    I started getting chilled, and I kept listening.    Volumio was not playing my Qobuz playlist correctly; it skipped tracks; I kept listening.  Finally, Mother Nature and the chill sent me upstairs.

 

A day later, I think about what I heard/felt.  Rarely do just the right mix of engineering, software, and hardware come together to make something special.  I am not sure I have ever had this happen to the degree I heard this morning.  

 

I have worked very hard for several years, and I have not been able or lucky enough to get to where I am today.  I am just getting started here; I will take it off the test bench and apply it to the whole system.  

 

Many Thanks to Michael Kelly!

 

 

Monday Notes

 

I had to go back and verify what I have done.  I listened again, and YEP is it GREAT.  I built a new Volumio SD card to see if I could fix the issue with playlist and album track skipping.  I shut off all of the different sources in Volumio, making it sound worse.  I played my test list from Qobuz, and I have duplicated my efforts.  Thinks are going rather nicely!  I have re-formatted the internal 4TB drive to ext4 and re-mounted everything; I am copying files from a USB attached drive and the network.  

 

 

By tomorrow, I hope to listen to the Mercury with my Heavenly Soundworks 517 speakers directly with AES and into the Dali Sound Hub S/PDIF input to square off with the Bluesound Module.  The Sound Hub feeds a pair of Calisto 2C speakers over their wireless network.

 

[bobfa]

Most of my testing has been around eliminating software and network traffic.  So for local files no NAS. I have been very happy with PiCorePlayer and LMS.  

 

I have also been fussing over power supplies.  I am not sure where that is going.  

 

I have two USBRidge Sig devices that I am no longer using as I try really hard to get out of using USB for my personal systems.  USB does provide some interesting  advantages for folks that are upsampling, etc..

 

This is not "all" about sound quality.  The UI/UX is also important. There are a lot of players out there.

 

I have NO conclusions yet on the Mercury Streamer.  First real listening session was an accident and a happy one.    There are a couple of OS issues that may be CM4 related on Audiolinux and PiCorePlayer.  Too early to tell right now.

 

 

 

 

[bobfa]

When I was reviewing the USBridge SIG I tried several OS variants.  But it was down to MPD for sounding the best:

 

 

The UI/UX was OK.  I keep moving on and testing.  I am not sure there is an end.    I also reviewed the Volumio Primo which is still rather interesting and I have in use.  I am testing Volumio 3 which has a few nice features.  My first blush was to not go further because it really did not sound better,...  They turn on all their sources which seem to greatly degrade the sound quality.  Way too many things to test.

 

 

 

[bobfa]

Wow the Queue is geting rough out there.

 

The Tuesday Report 2-22-22.  I could wait until 2222 hours if you want?  Mabye I will... TTFN

[bobfa]

2-22-22 22:22

 

Today I did not have much time to work on the Mercury.  I am working on a couple more optimizations on the Volumio system.  I am removing SAMBA as I do not need it with FileZilla and SSH.

 

I did fire up the Raspberry Pi Imager to build a microSD card of Gentoo Player.  I have not used the OS in quite a while, and the improvements in the system setup are noticeable.  I did everything I needed from the menu system in a web browser.  I have SSH turned on, NVME Drive mounted, Some more music transferred, WiFi linked up.  LMS and Squeezelite installed and running.  And never touched the command line.  NICE.

 

Shout out to @antonellocaroli for his fine work.  

 

 

 

I have only had time to do a quick A then B comparison between the Sunday setup with Volumio and Tuesday with Gentoo Player.  I know I am getting used to listening to the first setup, which is a slightly different character.  The hardware is really in there, and it lets the software do its thing.

 

 

I need someone else to back me up on this listening.  I hope that time will allow going upstairs tomorrow on the speaker system.

[bobfa]

Oh another discovery Squeezelite-R2 sounds better on Gentoo Player!  

[bobfa]

 

 

 

 

Mercury Beta update report: 3/26/22

 

Yesterday I had the opportunity to listen to the Kitsune Holo May DAC on my system. It was the first time I heard such a tremendous change in the system for the better. We extensively compared the Pi2EAS and the Mercury using just Qobuz streaming. I have replaced my core network with the tp-link Omada system, so it was an excellent opportunity to test between Wired and Wireless. The absolute clear winner no-photo-finish-needed was the Mercury on the wired network. (using the DX-engineering filters). I have not had a DAC elevate the sound quality of my system that much before this test. But, to me, the May DAC's ability to show us the difference between the streamers was the most enlightening.

Many thanks to Rich S. of the Chicago Audio Society for bringing the DAC over and spending the day.

Footnotes:

1. Volumio on the Mercury had all the additional sources turned off.
2. PiCorePlayer with LMS and Squeezelite on the Pi2AES was not as perfectly optimized as I have done it using two Pi's
3. We used Ferrum HYPSOS supplies on the streamers
4. The un-balanced analog cables from the DAC to the 517 were Bluejeans Cable, Beldon Flexible.
5. AC power cabling was all Puritan Audio Laboratories.

6. DAC Settings: AES input only. PLL test showed that PLL off was better. NOS.

RJF

PS I was extremely pleased with how Volumio 3 sounded.

 

[bobfa]

A firm maybe!  I have not tried audiolinux on the Mercury.  Mine is going out on loan so I do not have time to play with it now.

[bobfa]

3 hours ago, PoMarantz said:

Isn't the whole point of The Mercury to use the I2S into a high-end DAC?

Or direct to your powered speakers via SPDIF or,  AES to your DAC.  

[bobfa]

Riccitone, I have loaned my Mercury to @Superdad to play with!  I am currently testing a speaker system that does not need my Pi stuff.  I will get back to it one day. 

 

 

[bobfa]

There is no magic here.  Someone has to test.  Remember that the Mercury is a CUSTOM CM4 carrier board designed for audio!    @Superdad has it working fine with the Spring 3 over i2s. I do not understand the problem you perceive. 

 

At some point, I may get a chance to test with my friends May DAC, but my Mercury is with @Superdad right now.  

 

Let's keep this thread  on course.  Reporting on actual testing, listening, etc. Speculation does us no good.

 

 

[bobfa]

5 hours ago, Superdad said:

Hi Bob:

I owe you a phone call (been busy with family matters and travel). Am going to make another round of tests with the Mercury today in my system. It’s warming up as I write this. 

—Alex C.

No Rush, I am  working on other stuff right now.  I still think we need to investigate adding the NVMe SSD drive and making a single box solution.  I lean towards LMS for that.