Music Server And Streaming Help

[rikhav]

Hi terrible

I am not sure how CA connect works. If possible can you provide little more details

 

[regeHA]

Sorry for hijacking your thread terrible

But I needed advice from fellow members which is related to the topic you started

I have an option to use a raspberry pi or a PC with daphile for my music server

Which should do a better job?

If chosing either of them does not make a huge difference I will opt for a raspberry pi as it consumes lesser space

I still haven't given it a try, but I started reading through various forum threads and the reviews have been extremely positive. I plan to give it a try soon.

Hi Sam
Thanks a lot. Will wait for your daphile review

I will be using and am using the raspberry pi with moode audio as a player
I am currently using my father's PC running minimserver as an audio server. It has a modest amd cpu but a good power supply

I already feel the sound has improved with using an audio server with raspberry pi vs connecting a USB hdd to raspberry with all source material

In both cases dac is same and using coaxial output from raspberry pi to dac

I believe the better (possibly the best) jump in sound quality you can achieve will be removing the PC from the chain. In other words, run the server on an external NAS instead of the PC, or even on the Raspberry Pi with an external HDD plugged into it for media.

No worries.

In fact after reading your post, I installed minim server right now on my MacBook Pro which in flat two minutes turned into a music source for me. Wish I had read about this before. Maybe I wouldn't have to order even the Raspberry Pi. But I still don't know the quality as it is difficult to play loud and long at this time of the night. Also the music file was from iTunes so of lesser quality than the flacs played through Raspberry Pi. Will test for quality tomorrow.

Don't discount the Raspberry Pi. In fact you can install MinimServer on the Raspberry Pi itself and shutdown the MacBook Pro when not in use. In fact all of my PCs and laptops are no longer part of the entertainment chain. I stream everything off an external NAS and use a Raspberry Pi, a tablet, Chromecast, Roku, etc. I am planning to add something like Cubox TV or Cubox for video playback/Kodi.

Now coming to the advantages
1. I cannot hear a difference between using MinimServer on the Raspberry Pi and using something like moOde Audio Player. The greatest gain has been from eliminating the PC/laptop.
2. You can run more applications on the Raspberry Pi, something like a torrent box.
3. You can free up the NAS/PC/laptop from transcoding duties and use the Raspberry Pi for the same.

Plus a lot more you can discover for yourself.

Just a question. Why do I need a DAC here if the CA Connect is throwing the file to the AVR DAC?

Because you want to use a better quality DAC? The AVR will at best have a single chip DAC solution that is mid hi-fi at best.

 

[rikhav]

Hi regeha

Thanks for your inputs

Then I am ordering one more raspberry pi to work as an audio server with a external hdd connected to it

I got clear gains in sq when using a separate machine acting as audio server with files stored in it

For your video needs try the orange pi plus 2
It supports 4k playback, has a faster cpu and 2 gb ddr3 RAM and host of connectivity options

 

[sam9s]

Hi Sam
Thanks a lot. Will wait for your daphile review

I will be using and am using the raspberry pi with moode audio as a player
I am currently using my father's PC running minimserver as an audio server. It has a modest amd cpu but a good power supply

I already feel the sound has improved with using an audio server with raspberry pi vs connecting a USB hdd to raspberry with all source material

In both cases dac is same and using coaxial output from raspberry pi to dac

No worries.

In fact after reading your post, I installed minim server right now on my MacBook Pro which in flat two minutes turned into a music source for me. Wish I had read about this before. Maybe I wouldn't have to order even the Raspberry Pi. But I still don't know the quality as it is difficult to play loud and long at this time of the night. Also the music file was from iTunes so of lesser quality than the flacs played through Raspberry Pi. Will test for quality tomorrow.

Just a question. Why do I need a DAC here if the CA Connect is throwing the file to the AVR DAC?

Ok Tested Daphile, and yes as the tech specs says IT IS based on SBS.

The working, the interface is very much like SBS. The few extra features I saw was ..

1. CD Ripping and auto FLAC conversion
2. DSD Support, which ain't there in SBS
3. Few extra player settings.
4. A different dark interface (even though you can run the typical LMS interface as well by just changing the port to 9000)

Rest everything is more or less same as SBS.

Disadvantage ::: Daphile only runs on x86/64 base machines, so no ARM devices. LMS on the other hand can run on ARM architecture. YOu need a x86 based PC or stick to run daphile.

Audio quality for me was same as expected, running music off MoOde, with my NAS as the media server, OR running music off Rpi with Daphile as the media server.

minimserver is DLNA based music server, much like AssetUPnP. SBS is different in it approach and has its own advantages, it does not support UPnP as far as I know, but is more feature rich in other categories like on the fly transcoding and downsampling (which is great when streaming music over 3G from your SBS server). More, better control over your lib, better interface definitely, with proper cover/fan art and ID3 tagging support.
And not to forget MultiRoom audio support with separate streams per zone and the option to sync in between.

If you anyone is willing to take Daphile approach, you can install PiCorePlayer (another powerful client app for SBS) on rasp pi and enjoy music from Daphile Server.

@terrible ..... dont wast a complete macbook on installing minim server. If you like minimserver (which frankly I did not), you can use another Rasp Pi for the same. Mind you there are loads many different ways one can have music server running, you have to see which is best for you.....

 

[terrible]

Hi terrible

I am not sure how CA connect works. If possible can you provide little more details

Its exactly like Bubble UPnP. Just specifically for Cambridge Audio products. Though I think it'll work with other products too.

Don't discount the Raspberry Pi. In fact you can install MinimServer on the Raspberry Pi itself and shutdown the MacBook Pro when not in use. In fact all of my PCs and laptops are no longer part of the entertainment chain. I stream everything off an external NAS and use a Raspberry Pi, a tablet, Chromecast, Roku, etc. I am planning to add something like Cubox TV or Cubox for video playback/Kodi.

No, no not discounting Raspberry Pi at all. It was momentary euphoria as I installed Minim server and played music off my MacBook Pro. I still have to figure out the quality of Minim on my MacBook Pro vs Raspberry Pi with Moode. My laptop anyway is open all the time as I continuously work on it. So it can easily double up as server while I m working or otherwise.

Just my two bit on Kodi for video. I have been encoding blurays for a while. I have stopped now because it bores me and anyway I can get top notch encodes done by others privately. Kodi is a very average player in its visual output, do try and use MPC-HC with madVR it is just far superior. Yes you won't have the fancy cataloguing of Kodi but far better quality pic especially when its thrown on to a TV.

Because you want to use a better quality DAC? The AVR will at best have a single chip DAC solution that is mid hi-fi at best.

Not on top of this but, I know that CXR200 has two DACs one from Texas Instruments (for left and right) and Cisco for surrounds. I also remember that this was the only AVR that matched the sound from the limited number of stereo amps that I heard. Marantz and Roksun. So don't know if I really need a separate DAC. Might be interesting to test one though. Are the Sabre DAC in Oppo 103 good enough for audio? Maybe then I can combine Oppo for music as well as video. Just a thought.

@terrible ..... dont wast a complete macbook on installing minim server. If you like minimserver (which frankly I did not), you can use another Rasp Pi for the same. Mind you there are loads many different ways one can have music server running, you have to see which is best for you.....

Not wasting. Its just on while i am working. Doubles up.

 

[terrible]

For your video needs try the orange pi plus 2
It supports 4k playback, has a faster cpu and 2 gb ddr3 RAM and host of connectivity options

Is there some sort of guide on how to set this up? And are you currently using this and if so what is your review?

 

[regeHA]

For your video needs try the orange pi plus 2
It supports 4k playback, has a faster cpu and 2 gb ddr3 RAM and host of connectivity options

Just my two bit on Kodi for video. I have been encoding blurays for a while. I have stopped now because it bores me and anyway I can get top notch encodes done by others privately. Kodi is a very average player in its visual output, do try and use MPC-HC with madVR it is just far superior. Yes you won't have the fancy cataloguing of Kodi but far better quality pic especially when its thrown on to a TV.

Hey guys,

Thanks for the pointers, I appreciate it.

Actually I use a souped up PC with an i7 processor, GTX 970, SSD, etc. I use PotPlayer (the best, even better than Media Player Classic) along with madVR and Nvidia DSR for 4K playback (actually 99% is simply upscaling as there is very little 4K content).

I need the Kodi for the wife, who is not really a videophile (not even an audiophile) and who needs a simple solution that works right out of the box. Roku + Chromecast take care of nearly 100% of the online streaming and channel surfing requirement, however, I don't have an easy (at least TV GUI-based) solution for local media streaming. I have an OPPO BDP, that is being used primarily by my parents and don't want to really spend on another BDP (especially with 4K BDP on the horizon).

That pretty much leaves only Kodi or a really cheap BDP for the movies, and Kodi looks a better option especially with the option to stream TV channels. CuBoxTV looks like a really good package for the price.

 

[rikhav]

Is there some sort of guide on how to set this up? And are you currently using this and if so what is your review?

Hi
The site says it supports all raspberry pi distros
So setup should be same as raspberry pi

Not using it currently. Thinking of buying one

 

[rikhav]

Hi Sam
This makes things more confusing for me

I would not like to change the player I use, as for not only me but everyone else too Moode audio works best as far as SQ is concerned

Apart from Minimserver what are other options to use Raspberry Pi as a audio server only?

And

If not through DLNA / UPNP , how do we connect Moode audio to Daphile based machine?

If possible, give a small brief

DLNA / UPNP method was pretty easy and everything was self configured

 

[sam9s]

No if you are satisfied by minimserver by all means continue. Other then minim you can try AssetUPnP or Twonky, all are DLNA based music servers. It was just my personal preference, I did not like Minim coz it its less features or the way it works. Also I dont like to keep the server UPnP complaint, instead the client (player; you can say) should be UPnP capable.(so that I can push music to it via any other UPnP based player) Server should concentrate on other server intensive tasks, like for example Transcoding, downsampling, ripping, conversion, cataloguing. Of course serving music in all its original glory is also utmost imp.

You cannot connect/use MoOde player with Daphile, both are based on different tech. Daphile acts as squeezebox server (SBS) and can only be "read" by squeezelite or squeezeplay based player like PiCorePlayer.

If you want to test Daphile, then you can use your fathers PC to install Dhapile or any other x86/64 based machine OR I think Daphile can also be installed and run from a pen drive. You then have to ditch MoOde and install PiCorePlayer or squeezelite on Rpi and then stream music over it.

If this looks too much of an effort, just keep using MoOde.

 

[rikhav]

No if you are satisfied by minimserver by all means continue. Other then minim you can try AssetUPnP or Twonky, all are DLNA based music servers. It was just my personal preference, I did not like Minim coz it its less features or the way it works. Also I dont like to keep the server UPnP complaint, instead the client (player; you can say) should be UPnP capable.(so that I can push music to it via any other UPnP based player) Server should concentrate on other server intensive tasks, like for example Transcoding, downsampling, ripping, conversion, cataloguing. Of course serving music in all its original glory is also utmost imp.

You cannot connect/use MoOde player with Daphile, both are based on different tech. Daphile acts as squeezebox server (SBS) and can only be "read" by squeezelite or squeezeplay based player like PiCorePlayer.

If you want to test Daphile, then you can use your fathers PC to install Dhapile or any other x86/64 based machine OR I think Daphile can also be installed and run from a pen drive. You then have to ditch MoOde and install PiCorePlayer or squeezelite on Rpi and then stream music over it.

If this looks too much of an effort, just keep using MoOde.

Thank you Sam for all your inputs

Already tried Daphile on a laptop and dads PC installed on a USB3 Pen drive

I will check out Picore player and check if I like its SQ

Frankly, having a audio server is a very new thing for me which i just tried recently tried.

 

[terrible]

Suddenly moode.local is not showing on Chrome. It just says 'Webpage not available. The webpage could not be loaded because: Proxy Error'.

I have absolutely no proxy set up. And this opens fine on Safari, just on google chrome. Any idea how I can rectify this? I have done all kinds of cleaning of cache and flushing but to no avail.

 

[sam9s]

Restart MoOde .....

 

[terrible]

Restart MoOde .....

Did that couple of times. Since it is on Mac OS side of things I don't know if it can get malware infected.

 

[sam9s]

Try reinstalling chrome.

 

[rikhav]

Suddenly moode.local is not showing on Chrome. It just says 'Webpage not available. The webpage could not be loaded because: Proxy Error'.

I have absolutely no proxy set up. And this opens fine on Safari, just on google chrome. Any idea how I can rectify this? I have done all kinds of cleaning of cache and flushing but to no avail.

I have experienced similar issues with moode and that's one thing I dislike about it most
If there is no issue from browser side, cut short your work and reinstall moode

 

[terrible]

I have experienced similar issues with moode and that's one thing I dislike about it most
If there is no issue from browser side, cut short your work and reinstall moode

I think I'll re-install chrome rather than reinstalling moode as that is a lot work. Will have to shift modem and stuff close to TV. Anyway, for me this interface is of very minimal basic use. I only use it to update when I transfer new music to the HDD. I can't play or control streaming from this, for whatever reason. If Chrome does not work, I'll just use Safari time to time. But thanks for your suggestions.

 

[terrible]

Rekindling this thread instead of creating a new one. I am considering the new Raspberry Pi 3 and then I came across this article https://medium.com/@skikirkwood/how-to-play-2000-cds-without-a-cd-player-d6f231057971#.syg48wram

Now my question is do I need an IQAudIO DAC along with Raspberry Pi 3 considering I have a good AVR in Cambridge CXR200. I am also delighted that the new Pi has Integrated 802.11n wireless LAN as my router as far for my system. I can now bring the Pi closer to the AVR. Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[sam9s]

The article describes all the options with Pi that I am already crying out loud on all threads ...lol

 

[terrible]

The article describes all the options with Pi that I am already crying out loud on all threads ...lol

So my assumption is that you are in agreement if I go ahead with the purchase of IQAudIO DAC+?