Tinker, Tailor, Streamer, Pi.

[George Hincapie]

The website was down when I looked over the weekend - they've had hosting issues apparently. Too expensive at £1950.

I've now been offered one for £1200. Still seems a lot for what you get. I'd really like to audition one in my system first.

[Bencat57]

I use Vortexbox on a LIV Zen (Innous before the name change) . It works very well but when I got it I needed a bigger HD so bought an 8 TB one then found that in order to get full use of this would have to load Vortexbox . Had major worries about being able to do this but it was a breeze and I now have the current latest version of both Fedora and Vortexbox that are available . It takes a little time but you just have to be patient . Total cost £310 . Vortexbox will work on any small form computer so there are lots of options . If you pick one that has space for an internal HD then you can add the right size for you to ensure that you can be happy you will not run out of space . The Vortexbox download is free and uses Logitech Media Server which again is free and currently mine is running 8.4 .

[artsenna]

Does anyone know if Volumio still supports the Tinkerboard S. Not put on in awhile. It will not boot now and goes into a boot loop.

[Fretless]

Should do - Volumio's own streamers use the Tinkerboard.

Flash a new version onto an SD card and try to boot it from there.

[Fretless]

Further:

I have found the Tinkerboard to be rather sensitive when being turned on/off regularly, Pi2B's as well. It seems that the OS contained on the MicroSD card can be corrupted if the unit isn't powered-off properly or there is a disturbance on startup.

Having had a few fights with these units I try to leave them permanently on as much as possible.

A Tinkerboard tends to need a bit more Wattage than a Pi - I try to use a minimum of 5V/3A supply there. Although my Tinkerboard is currently on the reserve bench after it refused to hook up to my new NAS.

A fresh SD card or one that has been throroughly formatted and de-partitioned works best.

[artsenna]

Many thanks. Bit more background. Issue actually started 3 months ago when i ran update and then the DAC kept clicking (wont connect) and eventually the DAC died. I thought the DAC was toast and left it. However now found that the DAC still works and able to play via CDP.

Last weekend, plugged in monitor and found the TB not able to boot. Re-installed Volumio twice and still goes into the same boot loop.

OK, will now try to reformat the SD card or try another SD card and re-install. Fingers croseed. The TB has been wonderful so far for the last 3 years

[George Hincapie]

A new DC cable has now arrived from Tomanek in Poland for the Pi2AES 2.0. I need to remove a jumper on the board to force the Pi2AES 2.0 to use it's own DC supply, rather than the 5v from GPIO. It'll then be using two seperate Tomanek LPSUs.

Impact remains to be assessed, but I feel it's going to be hard to top the SQ from a Pi based solution. The only other improvement will be to replace Ropieee with Audio Linux, an open source player for Pi.

[George Hincapie]

That sounds a bit like the power setup for the Allo DigiOne SIG. A standard switching supply runs the Pi board ('Dirty') while the SIG board can be run from a 'Clean' LPSU or battery.

[George Hincapie]

It is similar. The LPSU feeding the Pi should do nothing in theory, but I have one spare, so no harm done. People seem to feel that the approach elevates SQ another step. We'll see!

[George Hincapie]

I've been experimenting with the I2S settings on the Pi2AES 2.0 this morning. I was using the wrong one into the S5; music was output, but it sounded distant, veiled and lacking definition. A quick jumper change and it sounds perfect.

The Pi2AES 2.0 continues to impress. An incredible little board.