'Analog Dinosaur' succumbs to the joys of FBA : enter Raspberry Pi 2/IQ-Audio DAC+!!

[NRG]

I'm getting very confused by all this.

Most people have DACs already. In most cases, rather good ones. And in any event, most digital sounds the same,

Does it?, I'm not convinced IME there are notable differences between DACs

so any DAC will only be as good as its preamp functionality (I'm been down this route before of voltage output ... people start of thinking its wonderful, amazing lovely sound right from a circuit board ... then after some months they add a transformer to match impedance... or a sold state buffer ... or a tube output stage to make it sound better)

Surely the market here is in the streaming part of the device - the interface between files stored on a network, and output of AES/EBU, SPDIF, or USB output to a DAC? Squeezebox area of the market?

What if I don't need or want an integrated DAC?

Yes, the streaming part is important as is functionality, however the beauty of an integrated DAC, if it is implemented well is that it eliminates the USB or SPDIF interface and associated issues…like clock recovery and (hopefully) power line noise. One reason, IMHO, the external DAC market has sprung up is the poor implementation of internal DAC's in CD players and early streamers due to cost restraints and and the need to hit a market price point…an external DAC dangles the carrot of improved sound quality but I see nn reason why equivalent sound can't be achieved with a well designed internal DAC….one fly in the ointment could be the requirement for a quality power supply.

The other benefit, for me, is less real-estate on the shelf….

[Gazjam]

Looks good, but too spendy and kinda reinventing the wheel I think...

Hi All, just remembered that there is a ready built solution with a high end DAC and a Raspberry all packaged into a nice aluminum box... The price is pretty steep though but it is a very good DAC.. here it is

http://www.audiophonics.fr/en/appare...ac-p-9009.html

[User211]

I'm getting very confused by all this.

Most people have DACs already. In most cases, rather good ones. And in any event, most digital sounds the same, so any DAC will only be as good as its preamp functionality (I'm been down this route before of voltage output ... people start of thinking its wonderful, amazing lovely sound right from a circuit board ... then after some months they add a transformer to match impedance... or a sold state buffer ... or a tube output stage to make it sound better).

Surely the market here is in the streaming part of the device - the interface between files stored on a network, and output of AES/EBU, SPDIF, or USB output to a DAC? Squeezebox area of the market?

What if I don't need or want an integrated DAC?

I just think of it as a very cheap computer, which is what it is. It has various I/O options and could be made to do all sorts of things.

What you want to use it for is up to you. I don't need one - anyone with a laptop, some Wi-Fi maybe for a hard drive connected to their router or a streaming service maybe, and a DAC probably doesn't need one either. It does do video though so it can be a super cheap HTPC.

There are so many option now for configuring a playback system via computers the mind literally boggles. The PI 2 is just another option. Some will like it, some will think it is shite I suspect. Much depends on what they are trying to use it for and if they manage to configure it successfully. Much will also depend on the quality of the s/w and h/w they use to achieve their goal.

The two massive pluses are size and price.

Some will get so frustrated with it they'll give up I suspect!

[Gordon@IQ]

Certainly the Pi is not yet an out the box solution for those with no linux experiance. The software is evolving and will continue to do so.

There are various DAC on Pi solutions out there and many being used in custom installs as (as someone mentioned) it's cheap.

What is appealing (to me anyway) is that since it's mostly open software (and I have a software background) I can make changes and do what I want, not what someone else dictated at a steering meeting for a large CE manufacturer.

Trouble I have today is finding time to do the software side :-)

My goal was to bring the great SQ for little money to the DIY / Maker community. At first there was HiFiBerry (Daniel) and mysefl (IQaudIO), now we have many clones out there taking advantage of the hardware and software platforms we've created - but that's the World of Linux, we share and everyone benefits and we benefit too from what others are doing. However we need to keep moving forward.

Michelangello (Volumio.org) / Andreas (RuneAudio) / Steen (PiCorePlayer) / Wooter (PiMusicBox) / Me and others have all benefited from the community.

The audiophonics pre-build solutiuon is a bunch of bought in parts (HiFi2000 case / power supply / etc.) which facilitates rapid development and time to market.

Soon you'll see some established audio companies going down this same route to market - I know, I'm working with some of them. Where they can differentiate is on user experience and features. Here the software becomes key.

Gordon

[Gordon@IQ]

IIRC the PCM5122 is used in some of the Olive streamers (http://translate.google.co.uk/transl...tm&prev=search), the PCM5102 in the Meridian USB device (http://www.audiostream.com/content/m...plorer-usb-dac)

Gordon

[struth]

Not a computer novice but know nothing about Linux. I think it would crack me up tbh, although a reasonable plug n play version would possibly interest me if it out performed what I have at moment

[User211]

Certainly the Pi is not yet an out the box solution for those with no linux experiance. The software is evolving and will continue to do so.

I've been writing and developing s/w for 36 years now. I've used Unix and Linux for some of those years. I've never liked it TBH.

One defining moment for me was sometime in the mid-90s when sat next to a fellow s/w type, and I came out with the statement "why is Unix so impenetrable and user hostile?". Response: "because it keeps the plebs out".

Never a truer word spoken and I think those goons (well OK they were pretty clever I guess) at Bell Labs and AT&T have a hell of a lot to answer for. I'd hang them given half the chance. Unintuitive? Absolutely so needlessly so to the point of absurdity if you ask me.

[User211]

I know that last post sounds a bit harsh but it is just what I feel about it. Some people really seriously like it. To get good with it (and C++) takes a lot of effort. It is a thankless job in the sense that nobody ever praises the people who have created some sometimes quite superb s/w and given it away for free.

In many cases the amount of effort expended on it is just colossal, even though to the user it seems like nothing much. That sort of thing earns my sincere respect.

[Krisbee]

The whole the point of projects like Volumio, squeezeplug, picoreplayer and others is to allow the user, who knows little or no linux, to use their Rpi as an audio player with relative ease. No doubt users will pass their verdict on the success, or otherwise, of these various projects meeting their declared aims.

I would imagine the relative merits and ease of software development in a Linux environment would be of little interest to users unless it was so difficult as to have actually held back meaningful development, which is clearly not the case.

[User211]

The whole the point of projects like Volumio, squeezeplug, picoreplayer and others is to allow the user, who knows little or no linux, to use their Rpi as an audio player with relative ease.

Well yeah that's why people write applications. For audio purposes nearly all users here need not get involved in Linux to any great extent at all. Or write code.

Linux isn't impenetrable. It just isn't intuitive at command line level - meaning lots of man usage to find the right options for a command. It is just time consuming. Stick to using GUIs if you can I say.

Anyway, back to audio...