HiFi Subjectivist ¦ Audio Forum ¦ NVA User Group

TheMarlin wrote: ↑Fri Jun 14, 2019 11:23 pm Thanks. How much did it cost to source and assemble?

Here you go..

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspbe ... del-b-plus

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspbe ... y-digi-pro

https://www.modmypi.com/raspberry-pi/ca ... case-black

https://thepihut.com/collections/raspbe ... wer-supply

Then all you'll need is a 8gb micro SD card with Volumio flashed onto it and a digital coax cable and you're good to go.
Assembly takes maybe 10 minutes to fit it into a case, or less if you don't use a case.
It really is that easy, and the reward at the end of it is frankly astonishing! I mean if i spent several hundred quid on the thing i'd still be pleased as punch.
If you need any help setting it up, any of us on here will help you.

BillyBones wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2019 5:39 am Blimey, volume control at quarter past! If I played my headphones at that level on my set up I'd blow my ears off

I've got the gain set low so as not to deafen myself.

Fretless wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2019 7:29 am In the RPi streaming world, the Hifiberry Digi+ PRO marks the 'sweet spot' for audiophile - grade SQ at an attractive price.

Really amazing little unit.

I'd say you were about right. The next step "up" is where you start thinking "Well, If I've paid that much for the "HAT" I probably need to upgrade everything else to match," or something equally ruinous to the bank balance. There was a noticeable improvement when I moved up from the boggo Digi+ to the Pro, and short of an unknown relative leaving me a large wedge in his or her will, there I shall stay.

Allo DigiOne Signature.

Need I say more.....?

Exactly that.

Fretless wrote: ↑Sat Jun 15, 2019 2:03 pm Allo DigiOne Signature.

Need I say more.....?

And well worth the additional expense. Brings the system to another level, still using RPi. Still cost peanuts compared to what you would pay buying a CDP in a hopeless attempt to match the sound quality.

As an addendum, I sampled some high end streamers at a dealer with a couple of mates. One was £11.5K, the other £13K. We couldn’t tell the difference and more importantly didn’t identify any benefit over an RPi based streamer.

Is there a DAC in the Pi package, or does it need to go into a DAC?

TheMarlin wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:00 pm Is there a DAC in the Pi package, or does it need to go into a DAC?

Terrybooth has several Pi setups using the versions with inbuilt DAC and analogue output. They can also sound extremely good.

Look at the Hifiberry DAC board or Allo Boss.

TheMarlin wrote: ↑Sun Jun 16, 2019 12:00 pm Is there a DAC in the Pi package, or does it need to go into a DAC?

I've gone the onboard DAC route. There are several DAC boards you can get. I've tried hifiberry, IQAudio and Justboom. There really isn't a lot between them but I've kept coming back to Hifiberry. If you search for Raspberry Pi DAC boards, you will find a whole pile of them. The one I fancy trying but never got round to is the Durio Sound one (dual mono configuration) and I'd really like to try separating the power supply for the Pi from the power supply for the Dac.

But all you do is put your DAC HAT on your Pi (Hat = "Hardware Attached on top). Flash an SD card with an OS of choice (Moode and Volumio are popular choices and plug in a power supply.

The harder bits are finding a way of attaching to a network (wired or wireless) and to an audio source (locally attached, network attached or a streaming service) and deciding how you will control it. Mostly you have a web site running on the Pi which you need to browse to on your local network, which means you need to know a bit about how networks work, but not that much.

You can attach a screen mouse and keyboard via HDMI and USB and control it that way. You will see that there are pi based streaming devices you can build or buy.

There are a number of threads here (and elsewhere) done by 'newbies' which take you through a build step by step.

Here's some food for thought

https://www.hifiberry.com/
http://iqaudio.co.uk/
https://www.justboom.co/
https://volumio.org/
https://moodeaudio.org/