Raspberry Pi users. HiFiBerry Digi+ or generic SPDIF?

TEKWRX

Active Member
I'm about to order a Raspberry Pi kit to setup a Kodi install and use it for music only. I have a HTPC now that I use for music and movies/TV but I want to separate and figured a Raspberry Pi is nice because it uses very little power and I can keep my HTPC off most of the time. Now, I need coax out to feed my DAC from the Pi, and I see that the HiFiBerry Digi+ board costs about 2x as much as a generic coax/Toslink card on amazon. Is there any benefit to the HiFiBerry, and can I save a few $$$. I'm on a tight budget so every little bit helps. The Digi+ board costs more than the Pi itself! They both output the digital signal to my DAC, right?

Also, I've been pretty happy with Kodi for both audio and video. Is there a better program I should be looking at for the Pi? It has to have a way to control it from android, also I need to be able to control it with a remote control (I use a MCE ir receiver now with Kodi and it allows me to use my Logitech Harmony) and the program has to look nice on the big screen

Thanks
 
I don't know about the digiboard but I do remember a post around here about someone not liking it. What is your budget there is a pretty interesting gadget on kickstarter called the rasptouch. I am pretty close to pulling the trigger on that myself but I have never purchased something from kickstarter. As far as the program goes, in my experience kodi with the android kore app is the best overall experience I have found for free, foobar2000 sounds a little better and is more lightweight on the cpu end but the android controller gives me some trouble every once in a while, and it does not look or feel nearly as good as the latest kodi stuff.
 
That Kickstarter is pretty cool, but not really what I'm looking for. I'd like to keep under $100 and I just need to replicate my current Kodi music functionality so I don't have to keep my HTPC powered up all the time. I just need a Raspberry Pi with a digital I/O board I think. The HiFiBerry looks like it does what I want, but it's about twice what the generic one is here: https://www.amazon.com/Kuman-Raspbe...1492531786&sr=1-1&keywords=raspberry+pi+spdif

I guess I could buy it and see. Amazon is pretty good about returns...
 
Now, I need coax out to feed my DAC from the Pi, and I see that the HiFiBerry Digi+ board costs about 2x as much as a generic coax/Toslink card on amazon.
I didn't find the purchase price of $26 to be a hindrance. :)

The Digi+ board costs more than the Pi itself! They both output the digital signal to my DAC, right?
That wasn't the case for me. The RPi 3B ran about ten bucks more. I spent about the same on a Zebra Tall Hat case as the Digi+.

Also, I've been pretty happy with Kodi for both audio and video. Is there a better program I should be looking at for the Pi?
There are lots of choices. I run PiCorePlayer and am quite pleased with its web interface. I use a 12000 mAh mobile phone battery as power supply and use the optical output to feed my DAC. Here's a pic before switching over to optical and using an inexpensive linear from Jameco.

rpi3.jpg
 
I didn't find the purchase price of $26 to be a hindrance. :)


That wasn't the case for me. The RPi 3B ran about ten bucks more. I spent about the same on a Zebra Tall Hat case as the Digi+.


There are lots of choices. I run PiCorePlayer and am quite pleased with its web interface. I use a 12000 mAh mobile phone battery as power supply and use the optical output to feed my DAC. Here's a pic before switching over to optical and using an inexpensive linear from Jameco.

Yep, you're totally right. I was only looking at Amazon because I have Prime and they only had the Pro version of the HiFiBerry Digi+ available for $56. When I went to the HiFiBerry website, I saw the standard version. My bad. I wonder what improvements the pro version gives you, since the point is just to send the digital data over SPDIF? Does it have better jitter or something?

Actually, since i use Kodi for a lot of video I was also looking at the ODROID-C2 because it has a lot more power than the RPi3, but since I only watch 1080p and lower (no 4k), maybe I don't need the power. How is the regular Raspberry Pi 3 for watching 1080p movies and shows?
 
I wonder what improvements the pro version gives you, since the point is just to send the digital data over SPDIF? Does it have better jitter or something?
It uses dual clocks (one for 44/88/176 and other for 48/96/192) that are said to deliver better sound quality. I haven't tried it.

How is the regular Raspberry Pi 3 for watching 1080p movies and shows?
I have no idea since my audio and video systems are separate. In fact, I disable the HDMI output on the RPi to reduce power consumption. It runs headless. And I configure the remaining on board memory (600k) as a large buffer to provide playback from RAM. For watching videos stored on my server, I use Roku players.
 
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