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In Reply to: RE: Revelation? posted by AbeCollins on September 11, 2020 at 20:05:20
Totally agree it's still a loss if you buy the Bryston. And as mentioned in another post, the Pi would be my choice. (The wrath of inmates in going any other way allows no option, LOL!)
However, your math calculations help the point I am trying to make. End result is it will have cost you $500 to use the Bryston. $200 to use the Pi over the same period. Not > $1,000 difference original retail costs for both.
Just another way of looking at it. YMMV.
Cheers!
Jonesy
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
Follow Ups:
"And as mentioned in another post, the Pi would be my choice. (The wrath of inmates in going any other way allows no option, LOL!)"I don't think that's true.
Wrath comes down when an inmate buys a streamer for several thousand dollars then spews all kinds of bogus audiophile b.s. [often from the manufacturer's own marketing hype] claiming that you have to spend that much because only these specialty audio companies have the necessary expertise to achieve excellent sound. That's simply not true.
I keep bringing up Bryston not because what they're doing is shady. They openly mention the fact that they use the Raspberry Pi in their streamers. I mention it to kill off any myths that you can't achieve outstanding results with this little sub $50 component in a DIY streamer project.
Outstanding commercially built streamers can be had for well under $1000, many for a few hundred. But this is an odd hobby. Some believe that performance is directly proportional to price and they have to justify their spend by putting down $200 DIY projects that handily match or beat their megabuck streamer.... and that's when the b.s. starts flying and the Pi defenders come out of the
woodworkoven ;-)
Edits: 09/12/20
But I have a number of streamers and they''re all a bit different.
The uRendu with UltraCap LPS-1 beats the Pi/Digi One Hat (same LPS-1) by a bit (small bit) and the the dCS Network bridge beats both by a bit more than a small bit but still just a bit.
If I could only have one, I'd take the dCS Network Bridge but it's a few thousand rather than the uRendu's few hundred vs. the Pi's few dollars.
All different.
dCS is more plug and play, the Pi takes a bit of work to get going and then screws up when I change anything on the network
Might try Volumio with the Pi and make it an end point for Audirvana via WiFi just for grins. None of my other players will play via WiFi. But then the Pi doesn't play via WiFi, at least lately, even with the after market WiFi with Antenna.
The Pi with a decent PS running LMS should satisfy most anyone's streaming needs unless or until the 'AUDIOPHILE' bug gets them, then they are doomed anyway so who cares?
Pi3 WiFi does work but it's a bit limited even with the external WiFi dongle + antenna combo in my experience. However, it does seem to work for most folks. In my case, the WiFi signal in the garage isn't all that strong - or I should say, it isn't strong enough for the Pi3. My iPhone, iPad, and laptop ALL pickup WiFi in the garage 100% no issues. Unfortunately, that's not the case with my Pi3. But I haven't tried WiFi with a Pi4.
Pi4 USB to DAC is much improved over the Pi3. It's very good and reliable so no need for the SPDIF HAT.
Just to tie it all together, my Pi4 is using the wifi and going out through the USB to my Topping E30. No complaints at all. What I want to try is an expensive DAC for comparison and see if I'm missing anything beyond a big shiny box.I can carry my entire streaming setup in my pockets, power supply and all. All are flat little boxes, battery, pi in my new case, and the E30. Of course the source of all this is my 27" iMac which isn't exactly portable. I can use my iPhone as source but not in hi-res, at least not that I've found so far.
Edits: 09/15/20
Cut-Throat has a really slick all-in-one compact Raspberry Pi setup with the DAC HAT on top. He uses an external disk with it but I'm sure it can be slimmed down even more by placing the music on a small USB thumb drive plugged into the Pi, or even on the microSD boot card.You can download hi-res to the iPhone, or even stream it real-time with a Tidal or Qobuz subscription. I run Qobuz in "offline mode" on my iPhone in my car. I download a bunch of music to the iPhone while at home with Qobuz connected via WiFi. Those files then reside locally on my iPhone. I can then play them thru my car audio system in Qobuz "off line" mode and it sounds great.
I use "offline mode" so I'm not actually streaming over my cellular data service eating into my data plan. If you have unlimited data this probably doesn't matter.
Edits: 09/15/20
Well, you can use the Raspberry Pi as a source, I do when I travel.I can fit the Rpi, with Boss Dac attached, Power Supply and my 1.3TB (Over 5,000 Albums) in my pockets. And it will Stream Qobuz in Hi-Res easily.
Edits: 09/15/20
My two cents is that high end audio is no different than any other hobby or interest. There is always a segment that has, at least as a portion of their interest, a conscious or unconscious desire for the perceived status that owning expensive and/or exclusive products brings.
You can find this in photography, fashion, cars, the equipment aspect of any sport, and on and on.
Yes, many of the high end products are very, very good and bring their owners a satisfaction that makes them happy they spent the money. But, you are right that it becomes very annoying when they feel the need to denigrate the choices others make just to protect their ego.
nt
"Outstanding commercially built streamers can be had for well under $1000, many for a few hundred."
That's the Bluesound Node 2i. The latest review in The Absolute Sound gave it high marks. Even the DAC portion.
Tom
"humble Pi...." nicely said Abe!
I too get my back up when someone spends thousands and berates kits or components at "giant killer" pricing. And many times it can be agressively vice-versa.
So long as a buyer does some research, they can decide what's better for them.
I've been taking special interest in these topics because I have yet to move to newer technology.
I don't do any streaming. Nor playing digital files from anything decent (an old laptop... ugh). Still playing Cd's on my transport/dac.
Nice to know excellent sound will be available when I'm ready to forge on.
Likely Pi-5 at the rate I'm going!
Cheers!
Jonesy
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
I'm not exactly volunteering him because he's already extended the offer to you. He's gotten a number of folks on the right track for inexpensive streaming.The nice thing about the Pi is that you can dip your toes into the streaming water w/o getting too wet or spending too much on a designer bathing suit ;-)
Edits: 09/12/20
He warned me when I was going to compare a borrowed Pi-3b, no top hat, to my current
set up. I heeded his advice.
It's the Pi-4 that I should be looking at.
Will pull the trigger some day.
Cheers!
Jonesy
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
nt
nt
"I know just enough to get into trouble. But not enough to get out of it."
We'll get it going for you. --
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