Raspberry Pi rools OK!

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Comments

  • shoomshoom
    edited March 2016
    uglymusic said:
    Yeah. I'm a great believer in the magic of power supplies, so I have great hopes.

    I've had my music PC's running on Linear supplies for a few years now and To My Ears it made some difference.

    Don't know if you caught he conversation over on AOS but Nick made some interesting comparative measurements with different supplies.

    http://theartofsound.net/forum/showthread.php?43277-iFi-iPower-for-Raspberry-PI

    worth a look



  • uglymusicuglymusic
    No haven't seen that. Thanks Shaun. More to read this weekend ;-)
  • shoomshoom

    And another quick update

    I’ve been thinking on setting up a wireless music streamer with embedded PI so I’ve ordered one of these to help that along a little.

    Hifiberry DAC+ Pro

    https://www.hifiberry.com/2015/09/new-product-releases-hifiberry-dac-light-and-dac-pro/

    I’m not so interested in the audio side of this board but the XO’s and I2S break out look promising.

    I’ll keep using moOde player and NAS/Minimserver with Bubble Control point.

    That way I could use I2S direct from the Hifiberry pro to feed either Buffalo3/Legato or DAM DAC and lose the USB cable altogether.

    No physical conection between server and streamer seems very appealing.

    I’ll keep you posted.

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    OK, Shaun. I think you've completely confused me this time :-)

    Is this what you're planning:

    NAS -> Ethernet -> Router -> Wi-fi -> Wireless Streamer -> i2s -> DAC  ?


  • shoomshoom
    edited March 2016
    Yes

    That's pretty much it in a nutshell.

    The Clocks on the Hifiberry become masters and feed the PI Cleaning up it's act a little and the I2S breakout allows any I2S DAC to be used.

    The key thing for me is the ability to use a nice DAC with decent I2S feeding it and have all of the streaming abilities of the PI. I loose the USB connection which I've read is not so good on the PI which may help the sound.

    ATM I have

    NAS\Minimserver-Ethernet-Router-Wi-Fi-Wireless streamer\moode-WAVEIO-I2S-Buffalo3

    so the USB part is taken out of circuit. it also leaves a little leeway for tweaking up the Burry board later.

    1) shutting down the Analogue part of the circuit.
    2) applying a decent supply to the clocks which are supplied from the PI board as standard.

    I was listening to the B3 yesterday and thought Mmmmm sounds pretty good but I wonder what would happen if I did....;....

    For the cost of a PI and the berry DAC that makes for a pretty cost effective front end.

    how will it sound?

    who knows?

    but it seems like fun.

  • uglymusicuglymusic
    So my setup uses the Hi-Fi Berry Digi+ where you've chosen the DAC (software differences ignored for the moment). I've never used the RPi's USB output.

    You've made this choice because of the DAC's clocks?
  • shoomshoom
    edited March 2016
    ''You've made this choice because of the DAC's clocks?''

    Yes partly and also to avoid the PI's USB ports for audio work.

    I'm wondering if the berry DAC (master) providing the clock for the PI (slave) will improve the sound a little. I've been using an IFI Purifier 2 n my USB DAC's and the difference is quite noticeable.

    I also have a few of these


    I've used them in the past and they work well. They also have the advantage of providing isolation between the PC and DAC grounds.

    So it's mutating into a two box set up.

    Box 1 - Streamer-Teleporter.

    Box 2 -Teleporter-DAC.

    That way I can change DACs pretty easily.

    This is a fluid project ATM based on guess work and wild speculation but that's part of the fun.:-)

    Let's see how the DAC+ Pro's I2S OP's stand up to the listening.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Yup. My board would seem to avoid the USB ports, too, so that's why I said the choice was about the clocks.

    The Digi+ board would seem to me an easier option if you're just trying to avoid the USB ports on the RPi.
  • shoomshoom
    edited March 2016
    uglymusic said:
    Yup. My board would seem to avoid the USB ports, too, so that's why I said the choice was about the clocks.

    The Digi+ board would seem to me an easier option if you're just trying to avoid the USB ports on the RPi.

    Yes good point but from what I've read the DIGI has a less good clocking arrangement and I2S breakout is a little more difficult to implement. 

    I2S to my ears can sound better than SPDIF but that can also depends to a large extent on implementation. From what I've read the DIGI does not shift the PI into slave mode (I may be wrong on that) which is a down side IMHO. 

    IMHO the master-slave thing may have an advantage over taking ''raw'' I2S directly from the PI board but that's speculation until I've had time to try both. 

    I'll also compare the berry to the IQ DAC as they use the same DAC Chip but the IQ does not have the clocks. 

    Have you tried the IQ DAC Yet? 

     It's an interesting listen.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    shoom said:
    uglymusic said:
    Yup. My board would seem to avoid the USB ports, too, so that's why I said the choice was about the clocks.

    The Digi+ board would seem to me an easier option if you're just trying to avoid the USB ports on the RPi.

    Yes good point but from what I've read the DIGI has a less good clocking arrangement and I2S breakout is a little more difficult to implement. 

    I2S to my ears can sound better than SPDIF but that can also depends to a large extent on implementation. From what I've read the DIGI does not shift the PI into slave mode (I may be wrong on that) which is a down side IMHO. 

    IMHO the master-slave thing may have an advantage over taking ''raw'' I2S directly from the PI board but that's speculation until I've had time to try both. 

    I'll also compare the berry to the IQ DAC as they use the same DAC Chip but the IQ does not have the clocks. 

    Have you tried the IQ DAC Yet? 

     It's an interesting listen.
    I'm learning a lot here; shortcutting a lot of reading, I suspect.

    I haven't found any evidence of what clocking arrangement the Digi+ has.

    I haven't compared i2s with S/PDIF. All I know is when I compared USB with S/PDIF when I first got the Young, USB won. S/PDIF via i2s on the RPi beats the Mac/USB set-up, although there are software differences that can't be discounted, either.

    I haven't yet tried the DAC, although I'm planning to set it up over the weekend.


  • shoomshoom
    This Discussion touches on the differences between DAC Pro and DIG+


    ''I haven't compared i2s with S/PDIF''

    I've compared quite a few SPDIF units and I2S (if well implemented) usually wins out to my ears.

    keep us posted on the IQ which I've listened too quite a bit so interesting to compare notes.


  • uglymusicuglymusic
    More to read :-)
  • shoomshoom
    edited March 2016
    Yes indeedy :-))

    I spend much more time reading and researching than I ever do building or doing.

    It covers as many bases as possible and avoids poor choices (sometimes).

    Try many options is the best way to find something that suits so I flounder around until I hit lucky.

    Average bodging usually follows.

    All good fun.

    BTW

    Anyone else using the IQ audio DAC? love to hear from you.
  • uglymusicuglymusic
    Yeah. I have a load of Raspberry Pi-related pages saved in Evernote, so I can go back to the best of the info I've found.
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