Can Raspberry Pi give good results?

[Pistom]

I'm looking to add a streaming system to play archived music as well as Spotify.

I like the idea of messing about with a Raspberry Pi - especially now that they seem to be getting back in stock.

Can I achieve good audio results?

Are there any DAC hats anyone would recommend?

Any build guides which are better than others - there seems to be loads.

[EddieSteadyGo]

I have a PI2AES streamer (so a Raspberry Pi hat). I run Volumio as the software, and use Qobuz as the digital source. I even went to the trouble of doing the "5v mod" so it gets its power via a 5v "iPower" rather than a standard 24v power supply (IIRC). The digital output is via a Chord Signature cable I picked up off ebay

It works fine, and it streams music nicely, although Volumio isn't as easy as say native Spotify.

Based on the reviews I was hoping the PI2AES would do a decent job as there is no USB in the digital signal path etc. And I think it does. However, I didn't actually A/B test it vs anything else.

https://www.pi2design.com/pi2aes.html

[OutInTheShed]

To get started with the softwarre, I picked up a Pimoroni pirate Audio Line out hat, used on ebay for a good price.
I think they are about £20 from CPC?
It has a display which I found handy to at least show the wifi adress it's on.

The sound seemed pretty good to me.

You can try an SPDIF hat fro £10 from ebay if you have a Hifi DAC already.

The HIFIBerry HAT gets good reviews.

There are others.

You can just buy a DAC chip on a breakout PCB for a few pounds and connect 3 or 4 wires to the Pi.
I did this, but found I needed to filter the power supply to get a clean output.
No big deal but the Pimoroni just worked if I followed the instructions.

[T1berious]

I've got a few Raspberry Pi based streamers around the house (I got them to replace old Sonos units). Pretty easy to setup with the help of piCorePlayer forum and a few YouTube videos.

I use the Allo digione with a Chord Mojo and am very impressed.

I use a Hifiberry DAC+ HD on the others.

Works with Spotify connect so you'll be able to use via LMS with the app on your phone.



That "zone" is a Raspberry Pi

Edited by T1berious on Wednesday 2nd August 15:49

[MC Bodge]

Are there any decent Raspberry Pi streamer packages with screens?

Or is an android tablet just as good/better?

[OutInTheShed]

MC Bodge said:

Are there any decent Raspberry Pi streamer packages with screens?

Or is an android tablet just as good/better?

Maybe depends exactly what you want to do?

You can add a screen to a Pi, or you can drive the pi from your phone or tablet or PC.

You can use a tablet, or an old phone even, to stream, but you don't get the flexibility of fiddling with hardware DACs or the same multi-room options.

Maybe you could even use a tablet to drive a Hifi USB DAC if you wanted?
For a while we had an old tablet in the workshop feeding the hifi from its earphone socket, it did the job.

[stevoknevo]

MC Bodge said:

Are there any decent Raspberry Pi streamer packages with screens?

Or is an android tablet just as good/better?

The majority of Android devices resamples everything being output to 48khz so if you want to listen to hi-res audio it'll be down sampled (there's ways around it using apps like USB Audio Player Pro which works for Qobuz/Tidal but not local files...plus you need to figure out a solution for keeping the device charged)

I've got a Pi4 that I used to use over USB into a Topping e30 DAC and running moOde OS before updating to a streaming amplifier - worked very well indeed, sounded good too.
If you have an amp with built in DAC or a standalone DAC then the Wiim or Wiim pro streamers are excellent value (and regularly reduced on Amazon) They have an in-built DAC you can plug directly into an amp but they're not very good, better using the optical/coax connection and let something else do the decoding, but the software is really good.

[MC Bodge]

stevoknevo said:

MC Bodge said:

Are there any decent Raspberry Pi streamer packages with screens?

Or is an android tablet just as good/better?

The majority of Android devices resamples everything being output to 48khz so if you want to listen to hi-res audio it'll be down sampled (there's ways around it using apps like USB Audio Player Pro which works for Qobuz/Tidal but not local files...plus you need to figure out a solution for keeping the device charged)

I've got a Pi4 that I used to use over USB into a Topping e30 DAC and running moOde OS before updating to a streaming amplifier - worked very well indeed, sounded good too.
If you have an amp with built in DAC or a standalone DAC then the Wiim or Wiim pro streamers are excellent value (and regularly reduced on Amazon) They have an in-built DAC you can plug directly into an amp but they're not very good, better using the optical/coax connection and let something else do the decoding, but the software is really good.

Thanks. Very useful

[Semmelweiss]

I use a WiiM Pro for exactly that. It outputs to Integrated Amp.

[MC Bodge]

stevoknevo said:

The majority of Android devices resamples everything being output to 48khz so if you want to listen to hi-res audio it'll be down sampled

Presumably Windows laptops do not do this if using the headphone output?

[rodericb]

Semmelweiss said:

I use a WiiM Pro for exactly that. It outputs to Integrated Amp.

There's now a WiiM Pro Plus which has a fancy new DAC. Same price as the WiiM Pro too, I think. I purchased a WiiM Pro six weeks ago!!!1 Damn

[Bryanwww]

Nvidia shield (with Kodi/Spotify etc) or wiim and use bitstream pass through to an external DAC / or an AV receiver.

Raspberry Pi - would only suggest if you really like fiddling with Linux and / or following guides from the internet. They aren't that user friendly but can be super useful for specific use cases (pihole to block all marketing traffic and adverts from your home network is amazing).

[Semmelweiss]

rodericb said:

There's now a WiiM Pro Plus which has a fancy new DAC. Same price as the WiiM Pro too, I think. I purchased a WiiM Pro six weeks ago!!!1 Damn

WiiM Pro Plus not for sale in the UK yet, but I reckon it will follow the USA pricing model and be around £220 and include the remote control.

I will hang on to my Pro for the time being and trade-up when it is released in the UK.

[stevoknevo]

Semmelweiss said:

rodericb said:

There's now a WiiM Pro Plus which has a fancy new DAC. Same price as the WiiM Pro too, I think. I purchased a WiiM Pro six weeks ago!!!1 Damn

WiiM Pro Plus not for sale in the UK yet, but I reckon it will follow the USA pricing model and be around £220 and include the remote control.

I will hang on to my Pro for the time being and trade-up when it is released in the UK.

End of the month/start of next I believe they're aiming for? Currently $219 in America, heard they're aiming for £200 but probably be £219...

If you're running your current Wiim Pro into an external DAC there'll be no improvement with the Plus over the current one - if you're using the current one via analogue out then there's definitely a measurable improvement to be had with the new Plus going by the Wiim forum and reviews.

[stevoknevo]

MC Bodge said:

stevoknevo said:

The majority of Android devices resamples everything being output to 48khz so if you want to listen to hi-res audio it'll be down sampled

Presumably Windows laptops do not do this if using the headphone output?

You should be able to set the output in Windows settings/playback software, but you'd still be subject to whatever DAC/headphone amp quality is in it as well as the laptop being an electrically noisy environment - a DAC that accepts a USB input would be a better solution for connecting to a laptop, prices start from under a tenner to 'HOW MUCH!'.

[MC Bodge]

stevoknevo said:

MC Bodge said:

stevoknevo said:

The majority of Android devices resamples everything being output to 48khz so if you want to listen to hi-res audio it'll be down sampled

Presumably Windows laptops do not do this if using the headphone output?

You should be able to set the output in Windows settings/playback software, but you'd still be subject to whatever DAC/headphone amp quality is in it as well as the laptop being an electrically noisy environment - a DAC that accepts a USB input would be a better solution for connecting to a laptop, prices start from under a tenner to 'HOW MUCH!'.

Cheers. My HP Pavilion laptop has a "B&O" sticker on it (but I always listen via the headphone jack, an Akai AM25 amp and Mission speakers). It sounds pretty good to me.

[MC Bodge]

Bryanwww said:

Raspberry Pi - would only suggest if you really like fiddling with Linux and / or following guides from the internet.

I start off keen, but I'm not that interested in fiddling with Linux for hours and weeks. I first tried many years ago when Linux was less user-friendly and found it very frustrating.

[TonyRPH]

stevoknevo said:

You should be able to set the output in Windows settings/playback software, but you'd still be subject to whatever DAC/headphone amp quality is in it as well as the laptop being an electrically noisy environment - a DAC that accepts a USB input would be a better solution for connecting to a laptop, prices start from under a tenner to 'HOW MUCH!'.

I use PCs and laptops for precision audio testing, and so long as attention is paid to ground loops, noise is usually simply not an issue.

The on board sound in most modern hardware is actually not bad at all.

[MC Bodge]

TonyRPH said:

I use PCs and laptops for precision audio testing, and so long as attention is paid to ground loops, noise is usually simply not an issue.

The on board sound in most modern hardware is actually not bad at all.

I read the comment above about Androids reducing sound quality, but...

...I am currently In my kitchen, streaming "The Eagles on MTV" Spotify (at highest quality) via the headphone jack of a fairly old Android tablet

-into a TPA3116 based 2.1 amplifier (not the cheapest one. No Bluetooth. Reasonable sized wire coils and two fairly decent heatsinks), fairly small two-way Aiwa speakers and a 6" subwoofer in a home-made enclosure and it sounds pretty good to my ears.

Ridiculously so considering the cost of the hardware!

Edited by MC Bodge on Saturday 12th August 17:35

[Pistom]

l wonder if the days of a Raspberry Pi based system are over now that the likes of Wiim are here and very cheap.

Reports are that fed into an OK DAC, the Wiim is pretty good.