Pi in the oven ??

[mikmas]

I've noticed a few times that if my Pi/IQaudio combo has been on for a while I get distortion - sometimes a reboot will clear it, other times I need to shut down and let it stand a few minutes.

I wondered if the processor might be running too warm or some such and might need a heat sink - anyone noted whether their Pi is running hot?

[cyclopse]

Moode allows you to monitor cpu temperature. With the processor working at 30% on DSD material the hottest temp I have seen is 55 degrees C. The threshold for throttling back the processor is over 80 degrees C so you shouldn't be presented with any overheating issues.

Regards

Stephen

[AlanS]

My rPi and IQ-DAC+ is on all the time (3 weeks now). Never becomes distorted and feels warm (not hot) on the clear IQ-Audio Case

[Marco]

+1 - and mine's been on for even longer! :)

Marco.

[The Black Adder]

You can overclock the Pi too.. :) Not sure if that would bring any benefits sonically though.

Mine is left on too... When I do power it down though it seems to forget the settings in Alsamixer, so I need to go back in and turn them back on, anyone else experience this?

[mikeyb]

Hi,

Think mines been on for about 8 months now, no issues here (using Picoreplayer then more recently volumio).

I never power mine down, why would you ?

Mike.

[Marco]

Only if you're a daftee! ;)

Marco.

[mikmas]

Moode allows you to monitor cpu temperature. With the processor working at 30% on DSD material the hottest temp I have seen is 55 degrees C. The threshold for throttling back the processor is over 80 degrees C so you shouldn't be presented with any overheating issues.

Regards

Stephen

Thanks for the details Stephen ... reassuring.
Volume doesn't give this info and I've yet to get Moode working at all reliably despite repeated attempts (including the latest update)

[mikmas]

I never power mine down, why would you ?

Mike.

Answer in my first post ....
Powering down is the only way I've found to rectify the distortion that creeps in after using it it for a while.

Would also be curious how you would install a different player without turning the Pi off?

[mikmas]

Thanks for the other responses re. the heat question.

I think I would have to conclude that, no matter how good the sonic results are, the Pi/IQaudio combo is prone to being a bit flakey. Also clear to me is that the various OS on offer still have some way to go development-wise before this set up is a reasonably reliable and user friendly replacement for my other FBA options

Ah well, the honeymoon was great while it lasted :(

[larky]

You can overclock the Pi too.. :) Not sure if that would bring any benefits sonically though.

Mine is left on too... When I do power it down though it seems to forget the settings in Alsamixer, so I need to go back in and turn them back on, anyone else experience this?

When you exit alsamixer, at the command prompt type, alsactl store

then type, exit

Should fix it.

[Krisbee]

Thanks for the details Stephen ... reassuring.
Volume doesn't give this info and I've yet to get Moode working at all reliably despite repeated attempts (including the latest update)

You can get your PRI CPU temp from the command line - which is what moode does under the hood. Just connect as root via ssh and use:



cat /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp


or, if you want a fancier output:



awk '{printf "%3.1f°C\n", $1/1000}' /sys/class/thermal/thermal_zone0/temp


There are also andriod apps you can use to monitor your RPi if you think it is overheating.


Answer in my first post ....
Powering down is the only way I've found to rectify the distortion that creeps in after using it it for a while.

Would also be curious how you would install a different player without turning the Pi off?

Depends what you mean by player. Could you install something other than MPD which is at the heart of Volumio, e.g. mplayer? I suppose you could, but what's the point. If you mean use moode instead of volumio, or another PI specific image, without turning the Pi off, then no.

Whether the Pi/IQaudio combo is prone to being a bit flakey, or not, only time and group real world feedback will tell. It could be down to hardware variance, or your particular config.

[mikmas]

Whether the Pi/IQaudio combo is prone to being a bit flakey, or not, only time and group real world feedback will tell. It could be down to hardware variance, or your particular config.

Thanks for the info and terminal commands Chris - will give it a go...

I'm inclined towards a hardware issue with the Pi given that I get a lot of OS related problems others don't seem to come up against. I could get the 'old' version of Moode to load but was always missing bits of the graphic interface, even with freshly downloaded and re-installed images. The latest upgrade was OK but wouldn't recognise any of the USB drives I tried with it - all of them present no problems with Volumio. I tried Rune but this wouldn't even load at startup so was pointless.

Presumably not all Pis are baked equally :lol:

[NRG]

Answer in my first post ....
Powering down is the only way I've found to rectify the distortion that creeps in after using it it for a while.

Would also be curious how you would install a different player without turning the Pi off?

Have you tried lowering the PCM volume first?

[Desmo]

Thanks for the info and terminal commands Chris - will give it a go...

I'm inclined towards a hardware issue with the Pi given that I get a lot of OS related problems others don't seem to come up against. I could get the 'old' version of Moode to load but was always missing bits of the graphic interface, even with freshly downloaded and re-installed images. The latest upgrade was OK but wouldn't recognise any of the USB drives I tried with it - all of them present no problems with Volumio. I tried Rune but this wouldn't even load at startup so was pointless.

Presumably not all Pis are baked equally :lol:

You can buy heat sinks for the Pi. Just search for "raspberry pi heat sink" on ebay - there are loads to choose from. They were really more commonly used on the earlier models, but they fit the latest model of Pi too, and are cheap enough to add to your unit. Worth a try?

[Krisbee]

Thanks for the info and terminal commands Chris - will give it a go...

I'm inclined towards a hardware issue with the Pi given that I get a lot of OS related problems others don't seem to come up against. I could get the 'old' version of Moode to load but was always missing bits of the graphic interface, even with freshly downloaded and re-installed images. The latest upgrade was OK but wouldn't recognise any of the USB drives I tried with it - all of them present no problems with Volumio. I tried Rune but this wouldn't even load at startup so was pointless.

Presumably not all Pis are baked equally :lol:

Apart from checking temps are within normal ranges, as there may be a pattern to the problem - prolonged use leading to distorted sound - I'd want to know what's going on the RPI when this happens. Is there anything unusual re: the running software?

A program called "htop" will allow you to see what's running and if anything is leading to high CPU loads for example. A comparison between your "good state" and your "distorted state" might highlight something.

It's easy to install via the command line, and you'll find a explanation of how it works here:

http://www.maketecheasier.com/three-system-monitoring-tools-supplement-top/

It may already be installed in Volumio. If not, connect to your PI as the "root" user via SSH and install it with:



apt-get install htop


As NRG pointed out, when this happens what are your sound levels? Did anything change?

Otherwise, it's worth running through the check list of the usual suspects, e.g. SD card and PSU quality. Assuming you use directly connected USB drive(s), if distortion happens when there is heavy disk activity then that may point to a weak PSU.

[mikmas]

Thanks again for the help Chris - will look into htop...

I've been monitoring temp for a while and it seems fairly constant - around 45 C give or take half a degree, so I don't think that's an issue. I use a crucial SSD which also seems to be behaving and not warming up significantly - I would also think this doesn't place a huge demand on the stock Pi PSU but will bear that in mind.

As far as volume goes, I run alsamixer PCM at 86 fairly constantly but have tried changing this (up and down) if and when distortion does crop up. Also with and without 'Playback Boost'. Problem is that these events are infrequent and unpredictable ... but at least now I have some tools to get a better idea of what might be going on if and when it does occur.

[mikmas]

You can buy heat sinks for the Pi. Just search for "raspberry pi heat sink" on ebay - there are loads to choose from. They were really more commonly used on the earlier models, but they fit the latest model of Pi too, and are cheap enough to add to your unit. Worth a try?

Cheers Graeme - did think of that but first wanted to get a handle on the operating temperature before taking the case apart again in case that's not the issue ;)

[mikeyb]

Hi,

How is the ssd powered, if connected directly to the Pi for power it will be drawing too much, might be the cause.

Mike.

[WAD62]

Mine is left on too... When I do power it down though it seems to forget the settings in Alsamixer, so I need to go back in and turn them back on, anyone else experience this?

Have you tried ssh to the pi and...

sudo alsactl store

...then restart it with new settings :)

FWIW Mine's been running all morning upsampling to 192khz, on the highest quality setting, using 28 bit precision, and the temperature is stable at 44.5 degrees. That's an IQ pidac + running piCorePlayer, in a standard black IQaudio case...:)

[mikmas]

Hi,

How is the ssd powered, if connected directly to the Pi for power it will be drawing too much, might be the cause.

Mike.
I'm running a 2 amp supply so it 'should' cope with the demand. That said, it could be running close to the edge at peak activity moments and I am on the look out for a decent 3 amp supply that don't cost the earth.

This wouldn't account for the problems I have had trying to get other players to run though

[NRG]

Beware of the supplied USB power lead, one of mine caused a voltage drop which stopped a portable HDD from powering up via the USB ports...