Thinking about building a Rasberry Pi streamer for Volumio

[ktm_2000]

I am downsizing my house and can't store all my stuff so my journey had me getting a NAS to store all my music files, then putting the plex app on my TV and the UI was decent but sound quality was not good, using a surround sound receiver pointing at the NAS as a DLNA server the sound quality was better but the UI was not good, the raspberry pi route has given me a good UI and pretty good sound quality. Even though it is not as good to my ears as a CD as currently configured I am quite happy with the setup and it wasn't all that expensive at $160 shipped. I am not using a display screen and just controlling the unit via my cell or my wife's ipad.

What is not fun is that I will be packing up my KEFs/Yamaha/Turntable/ CD player/ to go to my father in law's house this weekend, Vinyl / CDs are mostly already in storage, other gear is on craigslist

 

[RTally]

Hi All,

I've been enjoying the setup for a week or so, today I decided to do a A/B comparison of the sound from a CD vs going through a raspberry pi setup and I can't say the PI won.

Setup:
Kef 104/2 speakers
Yamaha RXV1500 receiver acting as a pre-amp - in pure direct mode
Lexicon Amplifier 412 - in bridged mode
A Source = Sony CD player from mid 90s - direct attached using CD player DAC
B Source = Raspberry PI / Synology NAS - Hooked up via digital, using the receiver's DAC

Music - Mark Knopfler Shangri-la I just ripped the CD and put into the NAS, I setup the same songs so all I would have to do is click the remote and change from one source to the other on the yamaha

I am not an audio writer, the best I can describe it is that there is a quieter less noisy soundstage, vocals/midrange are ever so slightly muddy, bass a little less crisp. I am not saying it is radically different or that the sound from the PI is bad in any way but there is a sonic difference and the CD direct is more crisp which I definitely prefer.

I've got to keep telling myself "the enemy of good enough, is better" This probably comes down to the DAC and a good DAC will be on my purchase list. In my new place I have no storage for my audio gear and music collection so the PI it will be for some time and it is more than good enough so I'm sure I won't notice as there won't be an A/B comparison. On the plus side for the PI, 500+ albums are on hand instantly, I'm sure I can get the sound quality to catch up if not exceed with a good DAC.

You don't say what format you ripped the CD. Was the CD ripped with a lossless codec such as FLAC?

If so, I would venture that the DAC in the receiver is not up to snuff. I see that the Yamaha is vintage 2004/2005. There has been a lot of changes in DACs in the past 20 years in their ability to decode various codecs.. FLAC was not introduced until around 2001, so it may be that the Yamaha's implementation is not as good as it could be. On the other hand, your CD play may sound better because it is optimized to play CDs.

I suggest using a modern DAC and see if there is still a difference. I use two Rasperry PI Zero 2 W running piCorePlayer as end points and I think they sound great. One uses an Allo MiniBoss DAC and I've tried two different USB headphone adapters on the other. A simple test is to try one of those headphone adapter DACs. I bought an Apple one and a generic one. About $10 each, plus the cable adapter.

 

[RTally]

Out of curiosity, what's the benefit of using a Pi as a streamer over an iPad or Android tablet? The obvious would be cost, but even an older iPad Air 2 and Mini 3 stream everything I've tried and interface with my DAC just fine. These also sell for anywhere from $110 to $150, based on a quick CL search. After pricing a Pi with a touchscreen, the cost benefit of the Pi seems to be lost.

To play digital sourced music, there are several functions that can be done on independent devices or the functions can be combined onto one or more devices.

There is a source that can be local or networked stored files or internet streamed music.
There is a controller for the music player.
There is a renderer/streamer that gets the music from the source and plays it.
There is a DAC.
And finally, there is the analog system.

A tablet, like an iPad or Android, can do it all. The tablet (or old phone) can contain or access digital files, allow for controlling the player for those files, play those files, and either use the internal DAC connected to the analog system or connect digitally to a DAC connected to the analog system. But such a setup requires the tablet to be physically connected to the analog system, which means you have to go to the iPad to control the music. That is not very convenient.

What is more convenient is to have a separate renderer/streamer such as a Rasperry Pi, Wiim, CCA, or similar connected to a DAC (internal or external) that is connected to the analog system. A separate device, such as a computer or mobile device can server as a remote controller, adding much convenience. That same device or another device can act as the source.

I have tried using my iPad as a renderer/streamer. I have an app (iPeng) that provides that functionality. But I have to physically go the iPad, turn it on, and start the app for it to work, which is not nearly as convenient as an always on streamer like the Raspberry Pi. I find it much more convenient to use my iPad and my Android table as remote displays/controllers for my LMS server. This way they are not connected to my analog system and I have much easier access for using them.

It all boils down to how you want to use your music system. I like the ability to control my multiple analog systems remotely. Consequently, I have separate devices for each function. I have multiple devices for the remote control function. I have multiple renderers and DACs, one each for each of my analog systems.

 

[linuxfan]

today I decided to do a A/B comparison of the sound from a CD vs going through a raspberry pi setup and I can't say the PI won.

Think about your signal chain, before the signal hits the analogue preamp section of your Yamaha AVR; your CD player is acting as both a digital transport, and DAC. But the ALLO Boss is acting only as digital transport - D/A conversion is performed by the Yamaha's DAC. Generally, I would expect the CD player and Boss to perform equally well as digital transports - so I think you're really comparing the CD player's DAC to the Yamaha's DAC.
No surprise to me that the Yamaha's internal DAC is beaten by a dedicated CD player DAC - AVR vendors don't put much effort into their DAC's until you get to the very high-end models.

If the rPi/Digi2 was connected to a high-end DAC ... something like an RME ADI-2 or Topping D90, I venture this might beat both previous configurations. Heck, even a mid-level or entry-level DAC might do the job - such as those models I suggested in post #7.

 

[linuxfan]

using a surround sound receiver pointing at the NAS as a DLNA server the sound quality was better but the UI was not good

Your wording implies your receiver is acting as DLNA endpoint ... but that's not possible - the Yamaha RX-V1500 has no such capability !!
So your TV must be the DLNA endpoint, and I'm guessing you are using the TV's onscreen menu?
If so, there's a much better setup - ignore the TV as a UI altogether, and instead control it from BubbleUPnP on an Android phone or tablet. I use BubbleUPnP with my outdoors setup, using an Audio Pro Addon C5 powered speaker as DLNA endpoint, but I just checked now, and my BubbleUPnP app sees my Panasonic Viera TV as a valid endpoint - the menu listing even displays the Viera logo!

 

[ktm_2000]

Linuxfan - I am guessing most folks here have an excess of audio gear, I am no exception The yamaha was my older surround sound receiver, I replaced it to get HDMI switching but haven't gotten rid of it because it has a fabulous amp section. When testing the reciever as a DLNA endpoint, it was my current Pioneer Elite.

A bunch of my gear went to my father in law's house this weekend and I set him up with a older CD player that I had hanging around for now, he gets a great sounding system, I get to rent a smaller storage location, we both win. I don't think that he has had a great audio setup in the past as he was quite impressed after setup when we were playing a bunch of his Jazz CDs. I had also brought over the PI with a memory stick loaded with music and I demo'd that for him and he liked it so I will purchase another PI setup for him. This is my chance to get the right HAT for the PI so if folks think that the hifiberry isn't all that great, I get another chance to get something different.

I would agree with you that the DAC in the yamaha isn't as good as the CD player and once I get settled into my new place I will purchase one. I've been looking at Shiit Bifrost, Aries II and the RME ADI-2, I am not sure how much I want to spend?

 

[rickl]

I've built many Pi-based streamers. Most of the ones in current use run Runeaudio, while one runs Kodi

I need to re-read this thread but I have 3 rune audio streamers and one kodi player. RP 4, 2, 1B and a zero 2W. All headless.

I started with a Volumio but switched to Rune audio. Various HAT DACs: hifi Berry, Wolfson, allo boss. I've built these over the last few years and haven't really looked at other systems (Moode, ...). I like using these low power systems and they just work with little maintenance.

I use at least one everyday.

I repurpose an old cell phone in the garage for streaming web radios but it isn't as nice as a RP.

 

[hjames]

PiCorePlayer, https://www.picoreplayer.org/
Raspberry Pi4 -> USB -> Topping D10S DAC -
Qobuz music source - HiRes track
Bob Marley Exodus - 96k streaming