Pi 2 Design Mercury Streamer

[orange5o]

Was powering the Mercury, now I'm using it for my phono pre. Yes it is a step up, it's a linear power supply and good value. I changed from mercury to the pi2aes 2.0 so needed to find another use for it. 

[Navin]

16 hours ago, orange5o said:

Was powering the Mercury, now I'm using it for my phono pre. Yes it is a step up, it's a linear power supply and good value. I changed from mercury to the pi2aes 2.0 so needed to find another use for it. 

Thanks.

 

Can the PL50 be used instead of the Meanwell 24V @ 1.67A supply to power the original Pi2AES Sheild board? There is a version 2 out now, but I have the original one that sold for $150 each. I added links below so we are on the same page. 

PI2AES - PRO AUDIO SHIELD - Pi2 Design

Dummies Guide to Pi2AES! Throw away your PC or laptop. | Page 71 | Super Best Audio Friends

 

[orange5o]

The pl50 is 12v or 15v I think, would not work for any pi2aes product outside of the Mercury I think.  On the forum you linked you can ask Mike Kelly, who designs the pi2aes

[Riccitone]

I know this has moved on a bit, but thought I'd provide my experiences so far...

 

The Fiio 12v/15v Linear PSU did make some improvements on my Mercury, presentation is darker in background and deeper in my system. Went back and forth with the Meanwell. There are some different things I like about the Meanwell, seems to offer a bit more punch? midrange presents differently. But not as deep or nuanced in stage and presentation.  I don't want to believe there is a difference, but there certainly is. Tried momentary listening between the two, and then leaving each one in for a few days at a time (respectively). With recent changes to my system, I've been sticking with the Fiio LPS. 

 

But if I were forced to use the Meanwell, I'd probably not care and move on to some other neurotic pursuit! 

 

Just the same...

 

As I am a hopeless tweaker, looking at getting a better DC cord than the one that's supplied with the Fiio:

 

https://www.ghentaudio.com/products/dc22?VariantsId=14255,14231,14248

 

Better power cords with quality terminations and shielding can also make a difference everywhere (and especially the front end). 

 

Hope this helps! 

[Ossanboy]

Hi Guys,

 

I just received Mercury V2. This is my 1st Raspberry OS device.

 

I was able to boot up and access the interface via volumio.local. I plug my HD and USB flash drive, both tried ntfs and fat32, and I still cant find my usb drive.

 

Can someone help?

 

Btw what is the best NVE to get? 980/990 pro? what is the maximum capacity?

 

Thanks

[nbpf]

Hi there,

 

I have just realized that the Allo Digione Signature that I have been using since about 4 years is not any longer in stock.

 

I have been running the Allo DS on the top of a RPi 3B+ (running MinimServer + MPD + upmpdcli under a minimal Raspbian) to feeed a Naim DAC (via BNC-BNC cable) for about 4 years and I want to set up a backup/replacement for this system. This is powered by 2 UpTone Audio PSUs: a JS-2 for the dirty side and an UltraCap LPS-1.2 for the clean side of the Allo DS.  

 

My question is: are there any strong reasons for going for a Mercury (currently not in stock) instead of a RPi4 + PI2AES 2.0 powered by the same UpTone Audio devices? I tend to prefer my software setup to audiophile distributions but I guess I could set it up on the Mercury as well. On the other end, I only need a BNC output, thus I guess the PI2AES 2.0 is probably my best choice?

 

Thanks,

nbpf

[chrisc]

This might be an annoying question for some, and having read through 24 pages of comments, suggestions and tweaks:

 

The Gentoo player sounds most tempting and I had a look at the Download site for the Gentoo OS and requests for registration

 

What is the (exact) procedure for...

 

Downloading a version of Gentoo (and which version is to be used on a Mercury V2?)

What do you do with the downloaded file (I know how to create a bootable drive using balenaEtcher)?
But what should be the bootable drive?  A USB stick or an SD card?

Are there any other programs that need to be added to this drive?

Then what is done to boot the Mercury?

How do you view the interface where you set it up?

At what point do you apply for Registration?

Do you have to choose a specific DAC in order to get an output?

Are all the digital outputs from the Mercury available?

Is there a way to scan (for instance) a USB drive with music on it?

How do you select and play music?

 

And..  Have I left anything out?

 

Thank you

[hallithorst]

13 hours ago, chrisc said:

The Gentoo player sounds most tempting and I had a look at the Download site for the Gentoo OS and requests for registration

 

What is the (exact) procedure for...

 

Downloading a version of Gentoo (and which version is to be used on a Mercury V2?)....

Hi Chris.

 

I've tested loads of OS's for my trusted Pi2AES and I always come back to running Gentooolayer in RAM.

 

Download the Raspberry 4 version and write the  image file to a fresh microSD card using i.e. Balena Etcher. Then boot the Mercury with the card, find the Gentooolayer web interface on your network, and do all the configuration there.

 

Found this nice illustrated guide for Gentooolayer installation (in Italian, let the browser translate) https://melius.club/topic/638-gentooplayer/

 

Enjoy.

[chrisc]

Thank you.  Installed the Gentooplayer on the Mercury device and paid €69'for the licence.  Have done some of the setup (as far as I could figure what I was doing)

 

Two questions:

 

What section of the setup will enable the program to read a USB drive connected to the streamer?  It's formatted NTFS

 

How is music selected and played?  Is there a suitable iOS (iPad) app that would work?

[chrisc]

I think Gentoo is configured, MPD is enabled, but players like Rigelian and Maximum MPD cannot find any players or albums

 

HDD is mounted as \media\ntfs

 

Any tips?

[congofather]

Why don't you ask these questions on Gentooplayer thread, https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/55235-gentooplayer  ? It is better to ask operating system related question on its own page.

 

You can mount different type of disks by using the web interface of Gentooplayer under "08.System Base Config" menu. There are different choices listed under this menu like "Mount Local Disk", "Mount Remote Disk" etc.

 

There is a specific help page on the top of each page. It says "For more info click here". Just open it in a new tab and start reading for more details and how to use it.