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Looking to experiment with a Raspberry Pi connected to a USB DAC and was hoping that there are people that have have experience with these devices.
My ideal situation would be to connect my USB DAC to the Raspberry PI and listen to lossless files from a USB hard drive. Simple onscreen GUI or headless.
Wanted to get info on what hardware/ software I need and what kind of sound quality I could expect.
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How about trying "Google" first !??! It really helps
to get your base knowledge settled.From my experience: There's no such thing like the "Pi-Menu for Audiophiles".
"sound quality", as usual, is a pretty subjective and relative matter.
You basically can't trust anybody!A RPI project won't be a simple plugn' play exercise if you look for
high quality audio.As FMAK suggests, the out-of-the-box PI is all but a great USB
transport. A good PS and using an e.g. iPurifier2 or similar USB
regenerator will improve the situation and IMO are a must.
Or you settle with quite a nice HAT DAC, such as MamboBerry
or Audiophonics iSabre. USB issues will be gone with these.As Archimago suggests, the Odroid-C2 is the much better HW choice.
The Odroid XU4 is probably even better as USB transport.
Unfortunately kernel/firmware/community support is ways behind RPI.
This alone disqualifies the Odroid C2/XU4 for the time being for me.
Odroid though is well aware of the issue and trying hard to improve.
It seems that they managed to get several board related drivers
merged into the most current so called mainline kernel tree (4.7).
Which is the generic kernel tree!! This is great. From what I read
though, they are not 100% done yet.Just installing Volumio, Rune or Moode Audio won't do either.
If you want to achieve quality levels like (or close to) e.g.
the MicroRendu you need to get into the depths of Linux
modifications.
Meanwhile pretty much all these distros are gaining heavy weight with every release. Obviously everyone tries to widen the customer base.
Usually putting more stuff in though, goes hand in hand, with lowering your sound quality.One more thing I'd like to mention. The ARM fraction, has its limitations.
I wouldn't run high load server tasks and challenging DSP tasks (SRC)
on these tiny boards.Bottom line.
From my experience, the RPI can do a real great job...
...if you put some work into the setup and if you're willing to accept certain limitations.Even with the mediocre HW, to me the RPI is still the ARM board of choice.
SW and community support is the best and most advanced out there.
And that's what matters to me most on the long run.From an audio perspective I'm quite satisfied with my "tweaked" RPI setup. And I don't see a reason to switch platforms. Challeging DSP tasks I'm running on a dedicated server (NUC).
I just hope that the PI folks one day come up with a HW a la Odroid. The HW really has space for improvement. On the other hand Hardkernel/Odroid seems to be catching up with kernel/firmware work. As soon as I have the feeling that they managed to catch up, I might give it a try.
Good luck.
Edits: 08/14/16 08/15/16
This may help although I am not sure if Pi 3 inherits the same clock problem.
http://www.dimdim.gr/2014/12/the-rasberry-pi-audio-out-through-i2s/
The stack-on dac solutions are all based on simple and lower cost circuitry.
The PI doesn't have a clock problem. The RPI is known though to come with rather low Q I2S - in case you run the PI as clock master!
If dimdims 3 year old measurements should be considered reference measurements that prove everything, especially your personal "opinion", is a different story.
Beside that there have been numerous bug fixes and enhancements
introduced to the I2S HAT DAC drivers, especially in the clocking area.
I've been following up on this subject in particular for quite some time.
Then there are specific HAT DAC implementations fighting low Q I2S:
Sabre DACs are marketed as jitter killers (MamboBerry/Audiophonics iSabre).
HifiBerry DAC+ Pro has its own high quality clocks running as clock master.
Even without these external clocks the widely used Ti PCM5122 can run as clock master.
Then, why bother about PI Jitter?
Ok. I know - it's not that easy.
"Lower cost circuity" -- What does that mean ??
On Ebay you'll find chinese DAC boards at below $100 that put audiophile
commercial DACs > ten times as much to shame just by looking at the BOM.
The same applies to highest quality soundcards build by Asus or similar.
All I can say is that with a little OS tweaking and proper power supplies
a properly chosen HAT DAC can beat and beats many commercial USB-DACs out there at a fraction of cost in terms of soundquality.
IMO also fact is, you won't achieve high quality sound, by just hooking such a HAT DAC up, load latest Volumio and push play.
I use two rpi (a v2 and v3). One is a server, the other a streamer. Both use raspbian (jessie lite) with squeezeboxserver on one side and squeezelite on the other though I intend to move the streamer to archphile eventually. The streamer has a linear PS, and a usb to i2s card with its own dedicated linear PS (w. salas reflektor). The server has a switching PS and a separate HD. Nicer than a SB touch.
This is a bit of work, but that was part of the fun. I obviously did not seek the lowest cost (or i'd use switching PS). Some down here voice an opinion without giving the platform a chance, devil is int the details with computer audio.
There are some folks doing very high quality stuff with the Raspberry Pi.
Check IanCanada on Twitter, he has been working on a new hat design for the DIY crowd..
but I don't use the USB. I use the hifi boards you plug straight onto the pi. In my short tests Raspberry pi and USB don't make for hifi.
To infinity and beyond!!!
these are mid fi at best and I agree with you. Realtek can be almost as good, with the right driver.
I tried Volumio on the PC that I normally use with Windows 10 and Foobar 2000.
The interface in Volumio is really great both locally and over IP even on my phone. I have mixed feelings on the sound quality. The overall presentation does seem more wide open, makes the Windows 10/ Foobar2000 combo sound more closed in by comparison, but the bass response seems to be much lower and less complex in Volumio and the sound seems less musical.
I started exploring options for running Volumio on the Raspberry Pi and there seems to be a lot of information and options for doing this, but not a lot of information on how the sound quality compares to DAC/ PC/ Windows based solutions.
Multiple forums talk about linear .vs switching power supplies and different DAC solutions. The Mamboberry HIFI DAC seems to be the best overall and the company that makes this DAC even has an all in one media box that looks pretty great and the price is right, but again no direct comparisons.
Take a look at the recipe at the link. I have not jumped into this myself, but am considering...
Happy listening,
Jim
"The passage of my life is measured out in shirts."
- Brian Eno
Inmate soundchekk appears to have a strong background with the Raspberry Pi. I played with one a few years ago but the Linux distros for audio weren't as good as they are now.
I may play with the Raspberry Pi again with Roon Bridge software using the Pi as an inexpensive network end point.
A simple way to do this is with Volumio or RuneAudio. Should have no problem with hi-res and possibly DSD depending on the DAC.
Just plug in the DAC. Most modern asynchronous DACs work. And a hard drive with music. You can control with a tablet and the web interface. Haven't checked if an app is available.
You can check my blog for what I do with my ODROID-C2 and Volumio for an example of DLNA streaming as well...
Have fun with what I believe is a great way to play digital audio in the listening room!
-------
Archimago's Musings : A 'more objective' audiophile blog.
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