raspberry pi 2 as media player

[MaSh]

100%. I recommend it highly. Start with both moOde and MinimServer and see what works for you. The Pi itself is a winner.

Thank You so much. Sound Quality is the first requirement. Rest of the advantages only after this one.

I have a bdp an pi both.

Pi alone might not make any difference.
Now, why I am saying this? Because my dac's USB implementation is not that great.

But when connected with digi+, I think it performed better in my chain.

Excellent. Thank You so much for the information. Would it make a difference when connected directly to the receiver? I had tried Fiio earlier between Bluray player and receiver, but did not see any gains.

MaSh

 

[drgb]

@MaSh: If you have a desktop at home the best option is to connect your hdd to the computer and configure Samba settings on your pi.

In the meanwhile I've ordered a digi+ board. Will get it next week. Lets see how it goes.

 

[rikhav]

@MaSh: If you have a desktop at home the best option is to connect your hdd to the computer and configure Samba settings on your pi.

In the meanwhile I've ordered a digi+ board. Will get it next week. Lets see how it goes.

Hi drgb
You sure will get good results from the digi plus board
Make sure to do the mod of digi plus providing power to raspberry pi
Just strip a USB cable and solder the ground and power to the digi plus. Simple job

There is one more hack of providing power to the digi plus board discretely.

 

[MaSh]

@MaSh: If you have a desktop at home the best option is to connect your hdd to the computer and configure Samba settings on your pi.

In the meanwhile I've ordered a digi+ board. Will get it next week. Lets see how it goes.

Dont have the Pi yet. Thinking about it. Could you post the link to the digi+ board?

MaSh

 

[saikatbiswas82]

Hi drgb
You sure will get good results from the digi plus board
Make sure to do the mod of digi plus providing power to raspberry pi
Just strip a USB cable and solder the ground and power to the digi plus. Simple job

There is one more hack of providing power to the digi plus board discretely.

Hi rikhav,
I've seen power supply hacking in dac+ board. I haven't found that kind of hack for digi+ yet. Could you please share any link?

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[saikatbiswas82]

Dont have the Pi yet. Thinking about it. Could you post the link to the digi+ board?

MaSh

Here you go:

https://www.hifiberry.com/product/hifiberry-digi-transformer-version/

There's another non-transformer version as well which costs $10 less.

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[rikhav]

Hi rikhav,
I've seen power supply hacking in dac+ board. I haven't found that kind of hack for digi+ yet. Could you please share any link?

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https://youtu.be/L83EEDbAMJI

Here you go saikat
Very easy to do

 

[regeHA]

Of note, I did not have audio RCA cable and did not want to pull out from the main rig, so I'm making do with RCA video cables that I have and it still sounds great. I did order budget 2RCA to 2RCA cables that should be arriving soon, but in hindsight I should have ordered the likes of Blue Jeans Cable, Amazon Basics, or Monoprice along with the DAC.

A couple of updates...

1. Got budget RCA audio cables. Honestly not too much improvement, but still there was more detail, better instrument separation, etc. Definitely you can hear the improvement though it is subtle. For a cheap, but decent quality Pi setup that improvement might not matter, especially if its family members who simply enjoy music and are not audiophiles who are intently looking for small changes in sound with change in cables. Also, more importantly the type of music... changes will not be that pronounced for MP3s, Spotify, etc. I used FLAC rips in standard 16/44.1 and 24/96 so the changes are more perceptible. Still they were budget audio cables and not expensive stuff. More expensive audio cables might even further improve the Pi's already super performance.

2. This is for CCA. I got Monoprice optical cable (Toslink) to give it a try and also compare with both the BlueRigger optical cable and the Lifatec Glass Toslink I have. Surprisingly the Monoprice (from Amazon.com) has a definite improvement over the BlueRigger cables. Lots more detail, improved bass, lower noise floor, better blacks, etc. A significant improvement in every way and even surprising to me because its all light signal that's being carried over the Toslink cable. Guess Monoprice has better connectors or better fiber components on the inside. The Lifatec is still better, but the margin of difference between the budget Monoprice and the more expensive Lifatec has definitely decreased compared to the difference between BlueRigger vs Lifatec.

 

[saikatbiswas82]

https://youtu.be/L83EEDbAMJI

Here you go saikat
Very easy to do

Thanks a lot Rikhav. Will try this out.

 

[kvm]

Many thanks to this thread and the very useful opinions/ suggestions from our expert FMs - I wanted to give it a try and got on Rpi3 yesterday, installed Moode 2.5 (stock 2.5 doesn't work on pi3 but a modified version does (thanks for inputs from CA and diyAudio forums) - WOW, it works like a charm! :clapping:

With the 2.5A adapter, I could connect my 1TB WD USB hard disk w/o using any powered hub too!

No doubt, this solution definitely sounds much better/ richer and would surely recommend it.:thumbsup:

Waiting for Moode 2.6 to explore remaining features.

 

[regeHA]

Many thanks to this thread and the very useful opinions/ suggestions from our expert FMs - I wanted to give it a try and got on Rpi3 yesterday, installed Moode 2.5 (stock 2.5 doesn't work on pi3 but a modified version does (thanks for inputs from CA and diyAudio forums) - WOW, it works like a charm! :clapping:

With the 2.5A adapter, I could connect my 1TB WD USB hard disk w/o using any powered hub too!

No doubt, this solution definitely sounds much better/ richer and would surely recommend it.:thumbsup:

Waiting for Moode 2.6 to explore remaining features.

I see you have the 2Qute, nice DAC.

BTW I find optical or wireless to be a better implementation on the Pi.

Nearly same price, either HiFiBerry Digi+ or Chromecast Audio. I'm assuming you are using USB from Pi to 2Qute. I'm using multiple CCAs myself and hosting the files on a Synology.

Give it a try, especially if you can borrow any of the equipment.

A wireless capable AVR too can be used for testing... but would not be a fair comparison with the 2Qute!!!

 

[kvm]

I see you have the 2Qute, nice DAC.

BTW I find optical or wireless to be a better implementation on the Pi.

Nearly same price, either HiFiBerry Digi+ or Chromecast Audio. I'm assuming you are using USB from Pi to 2Qute. I'm using multiple CCAs myself and hosting the files on a Synology.

Give it a try, especially if you can borrow any of the equipment.

A wireless capable AVR too can be used for testing... but would not be a fair comparison with the 2Qute!!!

Thanks regeHA. Yes, 2qute is quite good and its USB implementation is supposed to be galvanically isolated and hence superior. The urge to try the USB input prompted me to experiment with Pi as till now I was driving it thru my Oppo 105.

I do have a WD MyCloud but I prefer to host all my music on USB HDD and connect directly to the Pi/ Oppo - I use the NAS predominantly for HT purposes.

 

[regeHA]

Anyone tried the latest version of Moode? Interesting new build (still in beta) that runs even without internet and only on the local network (wish CCA did that).

 

[rikhav]

Anyone tried the latest version of Moode? Interesting new build (still in beta) that runs even without internet and only on the local network (wish CCA did that).

Hi regeha
I have been using the latest version of moode since some time
But it's no beta version, its a final version

Even on the site, it says no beta version available

Also am confused about it not needing internet . pardon my ignorance but I always assumed you can use the moode player minus the radio stations by just connecting moode to local network
Am sure am missing something here

 

[regeHA]

Hi regeha
I have been using the latest version of moode since some time
But it's no beta version, its a final version

Even on the site, it says no beta version available

Also am confused about it not needing internet . pardon my ignorance but I always assumed you can use the moode player minus the radio stations by just connecting moode to local network
Am sure am missing something here

My bad... I thought Moode needed to be "online" just like CCA.

I'm looking for offline, Foobar would work offline, but others like JRiver (especially Gizmo) and Subsonic always need internet.

I'll get the latest build and check it out.

BTW, Tim is doing a complete re-write of Moode and using the latest Raspbian Jessie OS and calling it Moode OS. Moode Player will run on Moode OS. I meant if anyone had checked that beta out. I believe its version 2.5-2.6.

 

[sam9s]

Subsonic .... does not need the internet to work ... I mean to play local files. It only needs the internet to pull info for the songs, plus if you want to access it from outside your LAN then yes it needs the internet. Apart from that to play local files, it does not .... same is the case with Rune, Volumio and Moode, they do not need the internet to play local files. Only in case you want to access them from out of your LAN or play online radio, they need to be connected to the internet.

 

[MaSh]

Thank You so much. Sound Quality is the first requirement. Rest of the advantages only after this one.



Excellent. Thank You so much for the information. Would it make a difference when connected directly to the receiver? I had tried Fiio earlier between Bluray player and receiver, but did not see any gains.

MaSh

Guys could some one let me know whether Pi3(music from hard disk) connected directly to the receiver improve the sound compared to Bluray(same hard disc)?

MaSh

 

[kvm]

BTW, Tim is doing a complete re-write of Moode and using the latest Raspbian Jessie OS and calling it Moode OS. Moode Player will run on Moode OS. I meant if anyone had checked that beta out. I believe its version 2.5-2.6.

Yes, regeHA. Tim is still working on 2.6 and is yet to be released. Pl check this link from CA for latest updates.

 

[MaSh]

So I went ahead and booked a Pi 3 basic set soon after my last post here. It was delivered today and right now as I am typing the default OS is being extracted. :yahoo:

I would need your help in setting it up correctly and adding it to my chain to play Music and Movies off my 1 TB harddisk. Any additional software to download, tweaks, tips, tricks, etc are absolutely welcome.

PS: I am sure all this information must be scattered in this thread itself, however, if someone could help me with the page numbers or a quick start guide to get started, I would be very grateful.

MaSh

 

[saikatbiswas82]

So I went ahead and booked a Pi 3 basic set soon after my last post here. It was delivered today and right now as I am typing the default OS is being extracted. :yahoo:

I would need your help in setting it up correctly and adding it to my chain to play Music and Movies off my 1 TB harddisk. Any additional software to download, tweaks, tips, tricks, etc are absolutely welcome.

PS: I am sure all this information must be scattered in this thread itself, however, if someone could help me with the page numbers or a quick start guide to get started, I would be very grateful.

MaSh

Congratulations on your purchase. Which dac do you have?

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