raspberry pi 2 as media player

[sam9s]

WDTV is pretty good for playing local content, but yes kodi is on an other level all together. I am very pro XBMC/Kodi player and would compromise the somewhat slow navigation on Rasp pi to the quality interface Kodi brings.

Lots of people are using kodi with Rasp Pi. (one and two both) and it works pretty decent. If you can invest you can also look in to current gen media players, something like Minix Neo X8H Plus, which includes XBMC natively ....

 

[rikhav]

Got my hifiberry digi + board and connected it to the rpi.
installing the board is a breeze and hardly takes seconds..it has to be connected on the GPIO pins on the rpi board

Configuration on moode was also surprisngly simple. In system, i2s devices had to select hifiberry digi + and then in audio output to i2s device

About the sound, bass is super tight and pretty resolving in highs. Again, only place its falling short is that i am not getting midrange warmth as i am used to with my cd player as source

Not sure if with burn in things will improve or i need to experiment with coax cables

 

[sam9s]

can you share the exact link of the hifiberry card you bought ..?

 

[rikhav]

can you share the exact link of the hifiberry card you bought ..?

Hi sam
Here you go

https://www.hifiberry.com/hbdigi/


I have the version with output transformer

P.S. Forgot to add that i am facing issue when i play high res files via hifi berry digi + . Tried 24 / 192 and there was some typical abnormalities
i am sure there is a fix in moode for that but willl have to search for it

 

[rikhav]

Stutter issue of audio playback with 24/192 files solved by increasing the buffer from 256 to 512
surprising thing is that with USB output the hi rez files played smoothly even with buffer on 256

 

[jls001]

The other day I heard Rikhav's RPi with the SPDIF card installed. I think it is a substantial improvement over the USB output. Mids are fuller compared to the USB, and there is improvement in the lows and highs.

Due to change of placement of speakers which was dictated by domestic compulsions, the speakers now fire along the shorter length of the room, hence the once deep, deep sound stage is now curtailed. I do miss that

Also, his new bearing ball footers are helping to tighten the bass and make the overall sound more coherent.

I think it's been money well spent on the RPi + footers.

 

[rikhav]

Yesterday after a long time was listening to music till late in the night
i changed the latency profile in moode audio to ORION which was on default before
The change was mind boggling. So much so that i was not even expecting 20 percent of change.
the bass is so tight that it feels a sub is connected without even a little hint of boom. Highs are super resolving and digging massive details
once thin mids is history
this is best sound i have heard from my setup. No doubt about it
RPI with hifiberry card has some massive potential

 

[saikatbiswas82]

That's a really very good information about Audio modes. Will definitely try that out as soon as I receive my digi+.

I have just came across a great power supply for our beloved rasp pi.

Accessory iPower

ifi claims that this little smps has lesser noise than typical ultra low noise linear psu (10uv compared to 20uv or so). They will start shipping on 14-dec-2015 from music direct.

I am also curious to know its potential.

 

[regeHA]

Very informative thread, I read through it completely, much thanks to gcr for starting it.

PS: I am a complete noob when it comes to Linux or any command line interface, so please be patient.

I recently bought a few Chromecast Audios and have set them up in 3 different rooms complete with multiroom playback capability. Extremely happy and satisfied with the experience, the portability, and even the sound quality from the Chromecast Audio digital interface.

Now, I want to completely get rid of my PC, at least for the purposes of playing and streaming music throughout my home. Music is stored on an internal HDD on the PC and an external HDD (backup) that I plan to use with the Raspberry Pi.

My setup involves the use of the PC, Foobar, Foobar UPnP/DLNA Renderer, Android smartphone + tablet, BubbleUPnP app, Chromecast Audio to DAC. I want to replace the PC with a Raspberry Pi that gives me a UPnP server that the BubbleUPnP app can connect to and stream to the Chromecast Audio.

I will continue to use wireless streaming, and also I don't plan to disrupt the present chain and equipment. I might add HiFiBerry DAC or any other Raspberry Pi equivalent equipment, but not right away as I prefer the portability of my present setup.

Also, no movies, videos, online browsing or YouTube. Purely an audio setup with the specific purpose of setting up a UPnP/DLNA server for streaming music. For this reason (I'm open to correction here) I believe I do not need an audiophile grade OS or media player/media centric OS either. Pretty much a basic OS that runs the server and connects to an external HDD for library management.

Now for the questions

After reading through this thread my understanding is that I'll need:
1. Raspberry Pi.
2. Raspberry Pi case.
3. Power adapter.
4. Class 10 Micro SD Card (16 GB or more).
5. Wi-Fi adapter and/or LAN cable.
6. HDMI cable.
7. Powered USB hub.
8. Keyboard and mouse (wireless) and/or remote control.
9. Powered external HDD (if not having).

Am I missing anything else that I need to add?

Also, please pointers to any OS or image that will run my kind of server requirement on the Raspberry Pi. I will also hugely appreciate any tutorials or YouTube videos that will help me quickly set everything up.

Thanks!

 

[regeHA]

Adding...

10. USB to microSD card adapter.

 

[rikhav]

Hi Reghaa

If you will use Moode audio which is pure music playback server you don't need a USB hub as it has an option to increase RPI USB current to 2x
Basically what it will do is that you can directly connect your portable hard drive and the RPI will have the juice to detect and read from it

Moode audio and other audio playback distros for RPI are headless i.e. no graphical interface

You can change and control all settings from your mobile/tablet browser connected to same network or use MPD control app on tablet/mobile
So again no need of USB keyboard and mouse

And last all micro SD cards come with an adaptor

Hope this helps

 

[regeHA]

Hi Reghaa

If you will use Moode audio which is pure music playback server you don't need a USB hub as it has an option to increase RPI USB current to 2x
Basically what it will do is that you can directly connect your portable hard drive and the RPI will have the juice to detect and read from it

Moode audio and other audio playback distros for RPI are headless i.e. no graphical interface

You can change and control all settings from your mobile/tablet browser connected to same network or use MPD control app on tablet/mobile
So again no need of USB keyboard and mouse

And last all micro SD cards come with an adaptor

Hope this helps

Thanks, that definitely helps.

So if I'm understanding this correctly, in addition to an app that reads UPnP/DLNA content like BubbleUPnP, I will need an MPD app to control, change settings, etc. of the OS.

Coming to the microSD cards coming with an adapter, yes they do and I do have a couple lying around, but unfortunately I do not have a card reader on my PC. Also, I am not a laptop person so don't have one for secondary use, though I suppose I could borrow one from a family member, but my thinking was to have something available at all times.

Thanks again!

 

[rikhav]

Thanks, that definitely helps.

So if I'm understanding this correctly, in addition to an app that reads UPnP/DLNA content like BubbleUPnP, I will need an MPD app to control, change settings, etc. of the OS

For changing tracks you can use MPD supporting app

But to change settings you need to access a specific ip dedicated to rpi from your browser. This can be done by a mobile / tab / pc connected to same network with RPI

The tracks can also be changed from the browser as well

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Assigning a static IP in RPI will always be beneficial. I use rune and mpdroid for controlling my raspberry pi.

Now there's a twist. Btw, its purely my opinion. Here's it goes...

Lately I was comparing my Audio transports:
1. Win 8.1 HTPC
2. Rasp pi

Both connected to my AVR via HDMI and running in pure direct stereo mode.

I played same file back to back from both the sources and I found pc to be a bit warmer and having a bit better dynamics.

However, I will perform a exhaustive testing this weekend and will come to a decision whether to use pc or raspberry as transport for future.

 

[rikhav]

Assigning a static IP in RPI will always be beneficial. I use rune and mpdroid for controlling my raspberry pi.

Now there's a twist. Btw, its purely my opinion. Here's it goes...

Lately I was comparing my Audio transports:
1. Win 8.1 HTPC
2. Rasp pi

Both connected to my AVR via HDMI and running in pure direct stereo mode.

I played same file back to back from both the sources and I found pc to be a bit warmer and having a bit better dynamics.

However, I will perform a exhaustive testing this weekend and will come to a decision whether to use pc or raspberry as transport for future.

For me rune sounded very dry and lean allthough detailed.
IMO moode sounds best, specially with latency setings on ORION

What software you used for playback on your win 8.1 HTPC

 

[saikatbiswas82]

For me rune sounded very dry and lean allthough detailed.
IMO moode sounds best, specially with latency setings on ORION

What software you used for playback on your win 8.1 HTPC

I use foobar with wasapi.

In theory raspberry should sound better because it has less circuits and no moving parts at all. I even pull data from nas.

I am very keen to use rasppi as the sole transport. But still I was wondering why pc sounded bit better. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

I will not be able to use moode as it might not support Audio over HDMI (maybe I was not able to figure out correct settings). Correct me if I am wrong. Maybe I have to ask 'tcmods'/'TimCurtis' (Computer Audiophile User - father of moode) for help. Lets see what happens.

I've gone through this thread. Will give it a try tonight.
Moode Audio Player for Raspberry Pi - Page 7

This weekend I am going to test both my transports side by side with different genre tracks before I jump to a conclusion.

I need to know it badly as my future spdif converter purchase depends on it. If its rasppi, I will order digi+. Otherwise I need to get a USB to spdif converter.

Tough call!

 

[regeHA]

For changing tracks you can use MPD supporting app

But to change settings you need to access a specific ip dedicated to rpi from your browser. This can be done by a mobile / tab / pc connected to same network with RPI

The tracks can also be changed from the browser as well

I plan to use BubbleUPnP app primarily, as I intend to use my Raspberry Pi primarily in server/NAS mode. Will probably play around with audiophile OS versions at least initially to check out how they sound.

I use foobar with wasapi.

In theory raspberry should sound better because it has less circuits and no moving parts at all. I even pull data from nas.

I am very keen to use rasppi as the sole transport. But still I was wondering why pc sounded bit better. Maybe I am doing something wrong.

I will not be able to use moode as it might not support Audio over HDMI (maybe I was not able to figure out correct settings). Correct me if I am wrong. Maybe I have to ask 'tcmods'/'TimCurtis' (Computer Audiophile User - father of moode) for help. Lets see what happens.

I've gone through this thread. Will give it a try tonight.
Moode Audio Player for Raspberry Pi - Page 7

This weekend I am going to test both my transports side by side with different genre tracks before I jump to a conclusion.

I need to know it badly as my future spdif converter purchase depends on it. If its rasppi, I will order digi+. Otherwise I need to get a USB to spdif converter.

Tough call!

My primary system is also Windows 10 + Foobar. I have played with all types of DACs from internal sound cards to external USB and optical/coaxial DACs.

Just based on theory the Chromecast Audio should be the best option especially with the Pi as it meets all of the "audiophile" criteria of least moving parts, elimination of electrical interference, etc.

Before purchase of either HiFiBerry DAC+ or HiFiBerry Digi+ you should certainly give the Chromecast a try. I am certainly sold on it, but I will definitely be ordering the HiFiBerry DAC+ myself at least to hear it, and if nothing else it will come in handy as a separate unit with another Pi. I might also give the HiFiBerry Amp+ too a try while I'm at it. Obviously, I will not be giving the HiFiBerry Digi+ a try unless someone will want to try and convince me that audio/data transferred over light (S/PDIF) can sound different or even have different implementation.

Certainly possible though, seeing optical cables range all the way from Rs. 300 to Rs. 8000.

Do keep us posted on your tests, I certainly would not want the Raspberry Pi I have ordered to sound any less than my Windows 10 machine even over optical.

 

[rikhav]

With digi+ card you can output via coaxial or spidif
i am using via coaxial and its certainly sounding good

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Yes Rishav. Appreciated.

As i've mentioned earlier, for rasp pi, I need digi+
or
for a pc, I need a good USB to spdif.

The aspiration is...to feed it to my dac's coax input.

Now, if I could get a first hand experience on the scenarios mentioned, it would be beneficial for me.

Basically I am looking for someone who has experienced the both and can put some first experience.

 

[regeHA]

Got the Pi, and set things up. Kind of painfully slow, but expectedly because it has to go through 1 TB of content and index it.

Running on Moode Audio Player right now, but will run through the other OSes (OSMC, Rune Audio, and OpenELEC) before deciding on what works best.

I will keep this thread updated.