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Raspberry Pi 4/B DAC/Streaming Journey

Agree - I’m building my own linear power supply because off line switchers like the iFi that have two prong plugs and no earth return will leaks mains current into your gear.

I like the Allo products as they provide a primary side earthing terminal, which must be used to keep them truly low noise.

This is fun.
 
Just an update on a DAC for the Pi....I have ordered GUSTARD DAC-X16 after going thru <$500 research. Many of the company's are in a Refresh cycle which includes Holo Audio...Looking at Holo Audio Cyan 2 or Spring 3 when they are released.
Still using the Allo BOSS I2S DAC V 1.2 and I am really surprised how good it sounds.
 
Nice choice. It will be interesting to hear your impressions of the IIS interface and the USB interface. In the case of IIS, the renderer clock will be critical. In the case of USB, the Gustard clock will be critical. The best clock usually wins sonically. Happy listening!
 
@CohibaJoe thank you for this thread. Over Christmas break my son and I built a Pi4/B with Allo Boss dac and I agree, it sounds pretty dang good. Currently I only stream Spotify on the highest resolution. This was my first streamer in my 2 channel tube system, so I don't have a lot to compare it too. I have been looking at the Allo DigiOne Signature pretty hard, thinking I might try one, so I'm anxious to hear your comparison with the Allo Boss. I think the Allo DigiOne would fit into my system better, if it sounds good using the DAC in my Marantz SA8004. My tube pre is limited on inputs, so it would be very handy to utilize one input for the Pi4 DigiOne Sig and the SA8004, and toggle between them on the Marantz 8004. I haven't bought the DigiOne yet, because I've been looking for a good comparison between DigiOne and Boss, and I'm a bit concerned using the DAC in my SA8004, as it is fairly old by DAC standards.

I'm using the free version of Volumio on my iPhone X, and it seems a bit weird to operate. I struggle to figure out how to play a full album. Sometimes I start an album, and it just plays the same track over and over, sometimes I get the whole album. It doesn't seem to show all the available albums in Spotify either. I'll search for a specific album, and it will come up, but searching under the artist, it doesn't. I don't have this issue in the Spotify app, so I think it's related to Volumio. Sometimes when I pick a track, it plays the one above or below it, and it occasionally disconnects my wifi on my phone too. Maybe I should try the subscription version to see if it cleans up the interface/experience.

On the recommendation of Andrew Robinson (channel on YouTube) I have purchased the Arylic S50Pro. He gave it high praise, and it costs less than $200 on Amazon. It will arrive Monday, and I plan to put it head to head against the Pi4/Boss combo. It will be interesting to see how it sounds, and I have read great things about the phone interface, so fingers crossed. I want an additional streamer for another system in my house, so if the Arylic can compete with the Pi4, and the interface is easy to use, I may use it in my family room system.

Please keep us posted on your experiment.
 
So I was going to order the GUSTARD DAC-X16 from Apos and noticed the Brand was missing from there site. Contacted support and was told "
Unfortunately, we decided to stop carrying Gustard due to reliability issues and high return rate.
Instead of the Gustard X16, I'd highly recommend you consider the SMSL SU-9 MQA or the TOPPING D90 MQA. Those are much better and more dependable products in our opinion."
So it's the TOPPING D70s MQA from Apos.
 
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I LOVE my D70. Hope you like yours too. I've had it for a while now, and it has been very reliable. Sounds great with the dual AKM 4497 chips.
 
Was about to order the TOPPING D70s MQA and going over Audio Science Review...there are issues reported with MQA using Pi. I may need to buy 2 DAC's at this point as I am
getting "itchy" to buy NOW. BTW...Volumio was updated last week.
 
Is there a source of MQA files apart from Tidal? I’ve let my Tidal subscription lapse. I have 2 RPi’s running and I think my OppO UDP-205 can do the complete MQA unfold so I could test that config if it would help you out. I can do USB or S/PDIF coax into the OppO.
Tom
 
Joe - another thought: The raspberry pi itself is limited to PCM only through the i2s interface which is used to drive the HAT’s. It can do DSD and pass through MQA data when using the USB port.
 
I got the RPi4 case with the top mounted Fan as I heard Pi4s are known for running ... "warm."
I have seen DSD files play in hiRes through Volumio via USB interface to the SMSL external DAC I am using.

You can download test files from - http://www.2l.no/hires/ the very top line there is Hoff: Innocence -
One is a 5 minute 847Meg Stereo DSD 256 11.2896M/s - which sounds exceptional!
It shows as 256 on the external DAC I am using.
(I had copied it to a USB thumb drive and played it from there.)

DAC-256_3177.jpg 1128DSD-20210101.png
 
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CohibaJoe said:
It's all about Power...and adding a USB stick, HAT can make the Hardware or Software shaky. Here are a few....
1. iFi iPower 5V/2.5A
2. Allo Nirvana 5V/2.5A, Allo Shanti 5.2V 3A and 5.2V at 1.2A
3. Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII Power Supply 6V - 1.75A, 5.5V - 2.5A, 5V - 3A

View attachment 2116053
Click to expand...
CohibaJoe, are you saying that a Rpi4B with a nice power supply will best a Rpi4b with something like the Allo Digione HAT?
 
Well...I finally picked an External DAC...TOPPING E50 MQA. PI2AES - Pro Audio Shield is the best HAT to use with an External DAC for the RPi4. ALL digital audio outputs can be used at the same time to deliver the same audio data (SPDIF COAX OUTPUT, SPDIF OPTICAL OUTPUT, AES BNC OUTPUT, AES BALANCED OUTPUT, BUFFERED I2S OUTPUT, DIFFERENTIAL I2S OUTPUT). Volumio V3 with Plug-In for Spotify and qobuz.

PI2AES - Pro Audio Shield
Official Raspberry Pi 7" Display
7" RPI Display Case for PI2AES
Meanwell - GST40A24-P1J 40W, 24V@1.67A

Pid.png Pia.png Pib.png Pic.pngPif.png
 
I’ve been very happy with my RPi4b / Pi2AES combo running ROPIEEE firmware. Very stable over the past six months. The Pi2AES AES and BNC outputs are separately transformer isolated, which is a very nice feature. Highly recommended.
 
And when they Announced Volumio 3, with a price increase, I started trying other distributions,
settling on PiCorePlayer and Logitech Media Server on my 4GB Pi4, and even got the Hyperpixel4 touch screen working with it.
I'm using the external Topping D10S DAC - fed by USB from the Pi4.

Qobuz-NoraJones1-192_5627.jpg
 
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Is there a way to get coax out on the RPI ? Right now have been feeding coax to the PT-100 - I am using Logitech Media Server for the flacs, Internet Radio etc ... (and the Squeezebox player has finally reached EOL, after all these years ) ...need a compatible player with coax (so I can use the DAC in the PT-100)..
 
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