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

[anthonyTD]

Yes, i will sort one out in my own system at some point, at the moment with the little one, i barely get time to listen to the music i have on regular sources.

Anthony, mate, you've just *got* to get one. Trust me, not only will it sound as good as (or if not better) than your CDPs, you'd be able to sit in your workshop, listening to music on your system, all controlled from your laptop!

If you didn't want to open up the partition doors in your lounge, and hear it through your main speakers, you could simply hook up a small pair of decent speakers, and wall-mount them in your workshop. Then have a wee shimmy-ette, to Sister Sledge, whilst soldering some capacitors....



....or perhaps not!

Marco.

[jollyfix]

Probably but the cost will be high, the best value is with something like vortexbox (mini pc setup to rip cd's in FLAC when it arrives) 2 powerline plugs (connect to your internet) and a Pi/PiDac with volumio installed. If someone will sort the Pi part out for you the rest is plug in, rip CDs, type volumio.local into a browser and update library...Voila! Streaming for under £500 that will hold 2000+ cds at full quality. A little more money will buy you a vortexbox server with more capacity.

Hope that reads more like a language you can understand? I've never searched for combined storage/dac solutions, the obvious ones are Devialet etc which are serious money

Great thanks for that Des, yes that seems more simple cheers. I am sure there are many people like me who want to go down this route, but for me its like some one saying " hey fit this to your car, you will get 100 more mile per gallon, it also has auto reverse etc. only thing is to use it you need to strip down gear box .add a turbo move some pipes etc". All fine if you have a bit of mechanical knowledge. I think i need to look into this further, as im sure it is simple enough, just due to my lack of understanding and fear.

[RichB]

Thanks Des, great someone with a list of what to do etc. Unfortunately to me its like reading a foreign language. Looks like i need to become computer savvy before i can go down this route. Do i have the time/ want to learn what seems like a foreign language, No, but i would like to as i can see the benefits etc, just wish it was as simple as a CD player, plug in and play. Can you buy stuff like this and do just that?

Dave, I've not heard the Rpi or dac combo so cant comment on the sq. As a project I might take it on having built a few pc's and stuff in my time. It's worth saying there are a few other ways to skin the cat if you want a small and easy way to stream your music.

If you already have an Android phone or tablet and it uses the lollipop version of os, you can connect it to a USB dac using a USB otg cable, often supplied with the device. That gives you access to Google music or Spotify etc. I'm quite a fan of Google music and have it on all my devices. Having previously ripped all my cds I downloaded the Google music manager and it scans the PC or drive where they're stored and matches them, with artwork etc to the cloud. Your entire library is then available across all your devices which is handy for when you're on the go.

A chromecast dongle has been a revelation for me, they sell for around 30 quid. It plugs into an HDMI slot on your tv and as well as allowing you to cast movies and web, it works flawlessly with Google music. Just select what you want to play in the app and press the cast button, same with YouTube. I run an optical cable from my tv to the dac and that's that. Sounds as good as my squeezebox and if far less awkward to use. It's also one less box to plug in.

This has as good as killed the squeezebox touch for me, which for me has always been clunky and temperamental. In fact I'm going to sell mine here later when I get some pics and stuff up. If anyone's interested please pm me.

Another way is to get yourself a decent notebook PC, not expensive, and use that to a USB dac. I've got a v nice and cheap USB dac here if you'd like to try it.

It has to start with ripping your CDs to decent hard drive though mate, not a huge task, I just did a few at a time whenever I had the computer on and did it over a period of a few weeks. Once you've got them all stored, and safely backed up of course, the options are limitless.

[Tim]

. . . just due to my lack of understanding and fear.

There's nothing to fear Dave except fear itself?

I just had a flick back into my thread history here and it was March 2011 when I first plugged a DAC into a meagre netbook computer and played some FLAC files. I could instantly tell it was better than my CDP, but didn't quite believe it at the time. I knew nothing about FBA then and it's really simple these days compared to 4 years ago (not that it was that hard then to be honest), you might need to learn a few new skills, but isn't that a good thing? However, it really isn't hard and jeez if it can finally get that Luddite, doubting Thomas Marco to embrace it, then there's hope for all

Too many people give up too soon these days, what makes us human is our ability to learn - I'm a few years away from 60 and if I can do it anyone can, it just takes the will to want to do it and I'm also a tight arse wanting to spend my money on music, but with FBA I have not had to compromise on sound quality and I've not broken the bank either.

[Canetoad]

To power mine I use an MCRU/Longdog Squeezebox PSU and one of these, or a battery.

[struth]

There's nothing to fear Dave except fear itself?

I just had a flick back into my thread history here and it was March 2011 when I first plugged a DAC into a meagre netbook computer and played some FLAC files. I could instantly tell it was better than my CDP, but didn't quite believe it at the time. I knew nothing about FBA then and it's really simple these days compared to 4 years ago (not that it was that hard then to be honest), you might need to learn a few new skills, but isn't that a good thing? However, it really isn't hard and jeez if it can finally get that Luddite, doubting Thomas Marco to embrace it, then there's hope for all

Too many people give up too soon these days, what makes us human is our ability to learn - I'm a few years away from 60 and if I can do it anyone can, it just takes the will to want to do it and I'm also a tight arse wanting to spend my money on music, but with FBA I have not had to compromise on sound quality and I've not broken the bank either.

We have nothing to fear but fear itself! Apart from pain. And maybe humiliation. And obviously death and failure. But apart from fear, pain, humiliation, failure, the unknown and death, we have nothing to fear but fear itself!

[Tim]

aye, lot's of bloodshed and mayhem at the last computer audio building session I hear . . .

[John]

Hi John,



Cheers, mate - it's great! I've not done the Spotify thing yet, but will do. At the moment I'm simply using the Pi to stream music from a NAS box and ripping my CDs to the Recent folder.

Have you gone the Pi route now, too? Btw, tell Martin that he *must* try the IQ-Audio DAC (instead of the HiFi Berry), and use the Pi straight into his Chord, using Volumio only, bypassing his preamp - it sounds AWESOME that way!

Marco.

Getting Spotify at CD quality just opens up so much music.
I not gone down the Pi route at the moment using a Direct Digital amp so can stream via that, SQ is very good indeed once I treated the Ethernet cables that really took playback up to a unexpected notch.
I think Martin likes the his Caiman but he might try out the DAC sometime. Using a good power supply seems to be the key to getting good SQ
The value to SQ performance ratio is amazing. It something we just learning about
Not sure why no one is making a decent music player using the Pi approach. Seems to be a logical step. If I had the skills I do it
Also great having 2TB of music at hand. You can never have to much music
I agree about having different options

[DSJR]

Gawd I'm such a dinosaur.

All my computer stuff is years old (Core I2 vintage), but I've been able to stream music from the 'office' PC wirelessly to this laptop and listen via headphones (the headphone outs aren't bad at all if the phones aren't insensitive top-end ones).

Marco - do you think the relative Croft incompatibility could be something as simple as phase inversion? Just guessing, so please don't flame me.

One thing I reckon all this proves is how good, digital audio, can be obtained for not much these days. OK, I admit a case and decent power supply may add hundreds to a basically cheap chipset if something was made for retail..

Good to have friends who can 'look over your shoulder' while you're building these things.

[Marco]

Marco - do you think the relative Croft incompatibility could be something as simple as phase inversion? Just guessing, so please don't flame me.

Flame, flame, flame ..... Lol!

Anyway, Dave, there's no 'incompatibility', as such. Through the Croft, the Pi/IQ-Audio DAC sounds really good, and if Duncan hadn't thought of using it directly into a power amp, I could've happily used it with the Croft - no worries

However, by-pass the Croft (and I'm sure the results would be the same with any other preamp in my system), and the Pi goes from simply sounding very good, to PHENOMENAL - I'm talking nearly as good as the Techy, playing top-notch recordings on vinyl, and that's saying something! £5k's worth of T/T, versus a £200 streamer......

I was reading on Wigwam about guys there reducing the output of the Pi-DAC, dropping it by 6db, from it's 2V output, as they felt it sounded too 'full on' and 'glassy' otherwise, but that was through a Croft preamp (I think one of the current range, which are very high gain).

In my system, sound and gain are just perfect, with the full 2V output of the Pi-DAC squirted straight into the Copper amp, where at around the 65-70 mark, on the Volumio gauge, it's about right for 'normal listening', and 90+ for balls-out, blow your windows out, yee-hah rocking!

I feel that the Pi/IQ-Audio DAC is somewhat of a landmark product, and one of the few genuine advances in audio reproduction that modern technology has produced. Let's hope that plenty of folk jump on, enjoy the ride, and don't miss the bus.... It's *that* good!

Good to have friends who can 'look over your shoulder' while you're building these things.

Indeed, and I always appreciate their help. Better too, than having no friends - and being a lonely boy, as a result of having fallen out with everyone.......... Know of anyone who that might apply to?

Marco.