Help Needed - Raspberry headless setup

[Xapito]

Hi guys, I really want to move forward to a Raspberry with internal dac setup directly to any of my amps. Still haven't bought anything as I'm currently facing with 3 issues here:

1 - Which version of the raspberry shall I buy, the Pi2 b+?
2 - I want it to run strictly headless / standalone, can I power it on and a couple of seconds later control my music through my Android device?
3 - In alternative is it viable to use one of those 3.5" touchscreens that attach directly to the Raspberry?


Sorry for the noob questions, but this is all new to me and I really want to max the reprodution quality out of my flacs and the current setup Android -> HifiMeDIY Android dac is not cutting to the chase anymore. Thanks.

[struth]

If you get an rpi and a dac ..the latedt rpi and say an iq dac or the audiophonics.. You need a psu which you can buy especially for them then using a software program like moode on a sd card it will be controlled from a tablet.pc or phone via a browser. You will need a hdd as well to store your music preferably self powered. Its a short sharp learning curve but tbh if i can do it without too much trouble then anyone can. Sounds very good too.

[Xapito]

Thanks Grant, I guess that the Moode download (around 600mb) already includes the OS? That it, just download it to the SD Card and is ready to play as it is (despite some cfg's needed for the dac)?

Is the PSU mandatory with the dac configuration?
Any recommended place, price wise, to purchase the pi2? Ebay or other?

edit: is the last version available?
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/RASPBERRY-PI-2-Model-B-1GB-RAM-Quad-Core-CPU-free-shipping-/161892486363?hash=item25b18b4cdb:g:eD8AAOSwMmBV3Hb 1

[mikmas]

That looks to be the latest version :)

I run mine with this 2A power plug and this is well sufficient to run the Pi, IQaudio DAC an SSD drive through USB without additional PSU:
https://shop.pimoroni.com/products/raspberry-pi-universal-power-supply?utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=googlepla&variant=844256705&gclid=CJ33yK-Un8kCFUFsGwodifUJAw

You may find that an HDD requires its own power supply as Struth noted

Doesn't require a monitor but you will also need an ethernet cable for the initial set-up and Pi WiFi dongle if you want to control it wirelessly from your PC or smartphone

[Rothchild]

With DietPi you can set the wireless access point and password (in the file called 'dietconfig.txt' in the boot folder) after you've imaged the OS to your sd card, this will allow you to boot headless and remote in over wireless without having to have an ethernet cable.

(You will need to install a program called PuTTy on a windows machine to remote in to the pi to get it set up once it's on)

The DietPi download is under 100mb and there are setting to enable you to tell it it's running headless so it reallocates those resources to running your programs, neat!

[Xapito]

Thanks guys, you've been most helpful. I regularly use Putty to Ubuntu machines so it should be Ok.

One last question, I like to move my dac + android between systems, is this something feasable with the setup we're projecting here? I mean, I connect the mains in and how long does it take to boot the OS (Moode for instance) and become available in my Android app?

[Rothchild]

Thanks guys, you've been most helpful. I regularly use Putty to Ubuntu machines so it should be Ok.

One last question, I like to move my dac + android between systems, is this something feasable with the setup we're projecting here? I mean, I connect the mains in and how long does it take to boot the OS (Moode for instance) and become available in my Android app?

Bearing in mind that Moode is 'just' a webserver front end for MPD you can actually be up and running very quickly with a regular MPD client on your android (mpd service will load at boot) I'd say you're looking at under 60 seconds from power on to having music playing.

I use subsonic which runs on java, so it takes a little while to come up to speed after the pi has booted, but because I use it to provide always on access to my music, it's always on (I only reboot the pi if I've run updates) so I don't have that problem.

[Xapito]

Great, will move on with this really soon, hoping for a sonic upgrade over my current DAC. Hope the info here is also valuable for other noobs intending to do the same. :) Cheers!