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

Have followed the in-and-outs of this thread with interest...

Not much point for my main system but sounds like this might be interesting for a planned second system in my shed if it would work with my old (intel) Mac Mini running Snow Leopard using a Topping 2 as amp. The old Mac don't have an optical out so a DAC would be pointless but if I could link an SSD directly to the Pi setup ... or access Wifi to link to a NAS connected to the house router I am supposing it all could work ;)

Does the Pi have WiFi or would that be another piggyback board required?
If so, can this all be controlled via the Mac (given it's limitations) or would I need a monitor card for the Pi?

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Originally Posted by mikmas

Have followed the in-and-outs of this thread with interest...

Not much point for my main system but sounds like this might be interesting for a planned second system in my shed if it would work with my old (intel) Mac Mini running Snow Leopard using a Topping 2 as amp. The old Mac don't have an optical out so a DAC would be pointless but if I could link an SSD directly to the Pi setup ... or access Wifi to link to a NAS connected to the house router I am supposing it all could work ;)

Does the Pi have WiFi or would that be another piggyback board required?
If so, can this all be controlled via the Mac (given it's limitations) or would I need a monitor card for the Pi?

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I think you'd just put a USB WiFi dongle in one of the spare ports. They're cheap enough.

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Originally Posted by struth

I read somewhere some use a sabre dac with it as well. you need an external clock though so adds expense. It is all things to most people it seems, but I get confused easily with ll the different bits so will just have to struggle on with what Ive got for now. Would like to hear on though.

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That's what I'd use sabre9023 sounds great and cheap dac I posted before has its own 8v psu for an extra tenner.

Can I just point out to all considering this that RAID is not as 'safe as it gets' certainly in RAID 1 or mirrored drive mode.

RAID is not a backup it is a method to increase the mean time to data loss in a storage system.

Whatever RAID you have you still need a separate back up.

Deleting a file, corruption of a file, virus infection or simple user error deleting a folder and its tree on a RAID 1 will mean the very same files get deleted or corrupted on the mirror disk a few milli seconds later! You need a separate backup to protect from data loss.

Maybe not so key for the domestic user but worth understanding is that drives are getting larger and if using 3~4TB+ sized drives consider the rebuild time involved in a RAID system especially a stripped parity RAID 5 or 4 and the risk of a second drive loss. It takes a long time to rebuild a 4TB drive and your data is at risk if another drive should fail during that time. You need a separate back up!

Yes its more expense but if you have invested all that time to rip your CD collection or digitize your favorite LP's and edit them ask yourself would you like to do it all again? You need a separate back up! :D

I have 5 copies of my music and photos.....well most of them. I update every couple of months and also take a cloned copy of my whole pc system onto a drive. With usb3 it is not too long a job.

If you have a phone or tablet which runs Android lollipop v5 is then you have USB audio from your device to the dac of your choice. Also running on battery will negate the need for any nasty PSUs.

You have a world of purpose built apps also. Much more user friendly than a squeezebox touch or the pi option.

I also hear Apple devices are going to support USB audio as well if they don't already.

Just saying, although I will try the pi just for daftness sake.

Neal -thanks for the clarification on Raid set up.

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Originally Posted by NRG

Can I just point out to all considering this that RAID is not as 'safe as it gets' certainly in RAID 1 or mirrored drive mode.

RAID is not a backup it is a method to increase the mean time to data loss in a storage system.

Whatever RAID you have you still need a separate back up.

Deleting a file, corruption of a file, virus infection or simple user error deleting a folder and its tree on a RAID 1 will mean the very same files get deleted or corrupted on the mirror disk a few milli seconds later! You need a separate backup to protect from data loss.

Maybe not so key for the domestic user but worth understanding is that drives are getting larger and if using 3~4TB+ sized drives consider the rebuild time involved in a RAID system especially a stripped parity RAID 5 or 4 and the risk of a second drive loss. It takes a long time to rebuild a 4TB drive and your data is at risk if another drive should fail during that time. You need a separate back up!

Yes its more expense but if you have invested all that time to rip your CD collection or digitize your favorite LP's and edit them ask yourself would you like to do it all again? You need a separate back up! :D

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I see large hard drives as a risk in themselves. Firstly it means more data to loose with a single drive going bad, secondly in order to create a safer RAID system and back up you end up with such vast data resources that everything takes an absolute age to sort out that you end up less likely to perform regular safety backups. I'd rather have lots of really cheap small capacity drives myself.

My best music back-up system is the CD/vinyl/cassette. Funny how they seem to last decades but data so easily gets lost or corrupted or obsolete! I consider FBA as a short-term listening solution. If I think of data I had on computers 10 years ago, I remember it is still on the 10 year old harddrive which wouldn't boot and was backed-up on the drive which blew a capacitor near the power connector.. Select bits of data are on CD-Rs which are all scratched up because who buys bulk CD-Rs with actual cases, and CD drives are now fast becoming obsolete too.

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Originally Posted by RichB

I also hear Apple devices are going to support USB audio as well if they don't already.

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That's interesting, do you have a link with some more info ? thank's

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Originally Posted by NRG

RAID is not a backup it is a method to increase the mean time to data loss in a storage system.

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Sorry, but I dont agree, it is far safer than backing up to multiple DVD's or CD's in a backup set. If one of them goes down you loose your backup set or at best the CD/DVD that went down. And it is a known fact that home burnt optical media is not stable over time. I agree it is not 100% safe but it is as close as you can get. Your are also right about the rebuild time it is a long process and can fail, but even with a power outage during rebuild, 99% of the time, the rebuild will resume. If not, you have the backup for your data on an external USB drive. These systems are used in professional environments. They dont use optical media to back up as far as I can see.

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Originally Posted by NRG

Whatever RAID you have you still need a separate back up.

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I absolutely agree with that. The cost of an external USB enclosure with a large enough drive is not that steep and will save you hours of pain in case of a catastrophic data loss.