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Nice work Randy, I just put together my Raz pi 4 and a hat...hooked it up to my external hard drive then to my system...Boom!! who needs roon. Volumio is great!! I'm able to see and play from my hard drive, make playlist .....fing game changer!!!
Randy, that was awesome! You are the first person that I know of to do this on video! I have seen about the Raspberry Pi stuff before, but nobody ever explained it nor showed how to set one up. All I knew was that a raspberry is some sound you make with your lips and tongue. All you have to do now is show building one from go sometime. I only like streamers and such with screens. If it has no screen I am not interested. That said though I also have no need for a Raspberry Pi at this time. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Touch, but of course they are no longer supported and it no longer supports Spotify. However, I have an Echo Show 10 2nd Gen I use now, which does it all with a 10-inch screen and of course voice control (although Alexa can get a bit uppity from time to time). Once I figure out how to tie in my LG Smart TV to my two channel sound system (while having access to the sound bar for movies and such), I'll have a 50 inch screen where the album covers will take on a new dimension. I don't like Tidal or Roon at all. I stream Spotify (subscribed) and Pandora (free). I use streaming for background music or research. For listening I'm about vinyl and CD.
If you have an RPI4, I recommend updating to the latest bios so you can boot off a USB drive (such as a thumb drive) rather than off an SD card. The SD cards are slower and may be more prone to failure after so many boots.
Yes, I'm satisfied with my volumio pi. Last year I got seduced by the reviews of the dragonfly cobalt, honestly couldn't discern an improvement over my pi with iqaudio DAC hat. Since purchased a £30 nobsound headphone amp which I run the output from my pi through, and it made a whole heap of difference to the fullness of the sound using my Grado headphones. Love it. Cheap as chips, sounds great. I'm already significantly into the law of diminishing returns as far as I'm concerned and buyers remorse can have a significant effect on perception of audio fidelity in my opinion.
@@PKWeaver74 Agreed! I am wondering about Volumio as I am frugal (cheap). I would need the subscription plan and not sure I want another monthly fee...my credit card looks like a laundry list of automatic monthly charges :) I would prefer a truly free Rpi Music OS community built or at least one that would only charge once when a major upgrade is performed ala J River.
I am an absolute Newby to the raspberry Pi world, but this was actually very helpful and easy to follow, thank you so much :). A project I would really like to try in the future is to get a broken, cheap gramophone from the fleamarket, and make a Spotify Player out of the corpus. This video already gave me some Idea on how to tackle that.
Randy, this is excellent! It alone justifies my $3 patreon subscription. I like my my max2play/lms pi setup but now i think i will give volumio a spin. The interface looks less clunky!
Sorry another random question if anyone can answer. What volume level do you leave your streamer when going into a preamp? 100%, 80%, 90%? 50%? I notice if its set too low, it messes with the dynamics somewhat.
This is correct. If you plan to use your preamp/amp/powered monitors to control the volume, turn the volume coming out of your streamer up to 75-80%, your mileage may vary.
I guess it depends on the streamer and pre combo. You'd want the output voltage on the streamer to be in the ideal range that your preamp expects it to be. I run a bluesound node at 100% volume. And you're correct if your source signal is at too low a voltage (volume) you will probably lose dynamics and overall won't sound so good. If the signal is too hot it will also sound like the gain is up or it's even bordering on or reaching distortion levels. Try it at 100% and back it down from there if it not sounding right
I have a question about the Radio Paradise plugin - does it allow you to sign into your RP account? If so, that is a big deal - because you can then play your own personal Favorites. The previous version of Volumio did not support this; and that is why I went to Bluesound, because it does. On the other hand, this version of Volumio supports Bandcamp - which Bluesound does not (yet).
Thanks Randy. Great and very detailed how to on getting a raspberry pi going and hooking up the screen. I wouldn't normally think about this type of streamer, but you make it look like a project I could do successfully and have a screen.
Love this video. Been using a RPI 4 as a Roon bridge running RoPieee for a few years now. I have it connected to a Denafrips directly using a Schiit audio USB cable and its powered by a Allo Nirvana. Its superb and I cant see myself upgrading anytime soon if ever (unless a new Pi comes out with better USB implementation.) This replaced my 3b with an Allo DAC HAT. That was very good and for the money, cant be beat IMO. I wanted to add a screen for the longest time and this video certainly would have gotten me there but i stashed the PI in my cabinet and a screen isnt feasible anymore. But instead I use a 10" fire tablet "jailbroken" to remove all amazon junk. Runs Roon remote like a boss and looks slick AF. Check it out for those who cant do a screen for whatever reason
As of may 2023 I use Wiim mini as streamer and ohh surprise it has DLNA with Bubble Upnp so I can stream hi res music through mini which supposedly has only Airplay which is not hi res. But Volumio is useful because of dsd and reads hard disc drives and external LG cd player
Thanks for the video. If I have this setup that outputs digital audio from the pi to a very high quality DAC why would I ever need to buy a separate streaming device that can cost hundreds if not thousands of $$$? Is there still an improvement from those devices over the pi even if the PI is only outputting 1's and 0's?
Just built mine with a Dac2 HD. Nothing works except HifiberryOS with this dac and Display since the display uses some of the pins the dac hat is using. Also volumio costs if you want to stream via Tidal and Bluetooth. Now learning about m.2 SSD USB Addon and MultiBerry. But general question PLEASE - do I even need an external DAC if Im using a Raspb Pie with a DAC hat? Or do I put it straight i to my SMSL 300 amp? (Purchased it after your review)
So, I'm streaming my Amazon Unlimited music via a Samsung TV app. ( I guess it must have a DAC chip in there somewhere!) I'm using the ARC connection to my Yamaha home theatre 5.1 amp and vintage Bowers and Wilkins speakers. I have a Raspberry pi 3 with an HDMI out ( all my amp inputs are HDMI) . I can do the Volumio setup without any expense to try it out. Is there any free high quality music I can stream for free to compare the difference. I understand that Volumio has a dev kit from Amazon to incorporate their music platform later this year, so I'm looking ahead .
Does the digital hat fit inside of the supplied case of Raspberry Pi ? Does this DIY project give you bit perfect audio and does Tidal connect work from my phone without third party app ?
Does no one make/sell a desktop media player DAC that is SD card capable? I'm looking for something instead of using my pc for music or a portable DAP.
nothing will really play apply lossless except maybe a Apple TV, or an iPhone connected to a dac going into headphones. airplay is limited to 16/44.1 or maybe 24/44.1 on airplay 2 but often times packages in AAC if it's not a native ALAC file and may even throttle down to AAC even if it's an ALAC file but signal strength is low. So airplay will reduce the resolution, whether or not that equates to "quality" is up to your ears. It's better than bluetooth
I’ve restarted my volumio from my app after getting the screen plug in and I still get the same black screen command line. How do I get the music player interface to run on my touchscreen?
You seem to be pretty good at electronic and computer stuff. What did you do in the Navy? Were you the Chief Electronics Communications Crypto Weapons Officer or something similar?
@@cheapaudioman Dude...that's pretty awesome. Navy Veteran here as well but no where nearly as cool as your gig, I was a lowly YoYo. I did however have the CO and XO as backups as I worked in both offices over my hitch.
I have RBP 4 with a Hifi Digi hat connected to the DAC of my NAD D3020 v2, with Volumio installed. It sounds great. However, on my MacBook Pro the sound settings always indicate that Volumio is connected to Apple AirPlay. Is that how it should be or is AirPlay interfering with the best sound?
Problem with using Raspberry Pi for such things, as I have understood it, is that the Linux kernel lack the real time capabilities that Windows and OS X has and this, supposedly, leads to timing issues. Most options for RPi, including Android, are based on Linux (though they might have resolved this for Android. I have no idea how audio works, there). Personally, I use Linux for everything, including the desktop I play music from, and I have no problem with this, but I have read that people are complaining about this, so if you are very picky, you should keep this in mind.
What real time capabilities are you referring to? Isn't Mac os also a Unix based kernel very similar if not the same in many regards as Linux? I think they share the same major underpinnings.
@@davidfairchild1640 are you suggesting that the clock in the pi may be bettered by external dacs with superior clocks? I'm just today looking into USB output from my node to my new ares ii (yay).. looks like USB output isn't yet supported but due (overdue) as of today's writing. I'm curious to try once the firmware update becomes available
@@erics.4113 Unix is just a vague set of standards (POSIX) and most RPi OS's are based on the Linux kernel, which is one implementation of (some of) these standards. OSX is based on BSD, which is another implementation. The similarities are very high level and the kernels vary greatly in their implementation on lower levels. The problem, as I have understood it, lies in how threads/task priority is handled, as the Linux kernel offer less guarantees when it comes to real time requirements.
Good stuff Randy your channel is awesome. Watched several bookshelf speaker reviews and ended up going with some Klipsch The Fives. This will be my audio solution for entertainment center. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced DAC to go along with the setup?
Me, I prefer Stetson or Fedora to a digital Hat. I find them warmer, especially in winter. Zeros and ones don't retain heat very well. hehe. This is my totally terrible joke for the day. Thanks...no, no, please, thank you, I'll be here all week.......
Randy, this looks so cool. I use Amazon Music HD as my service. I would think that Airplay would not be very good. Thoughts for an Amazon Music streamer? Thanks once again buddy!
I haven't found a DIY that supports Amazon yet. I wish I could find something and you're right, only through airplay. it sounds pretty good though and it does pull album art via airplay
Grab the beverage of my choice?! Well it's Wawa coffee this morning sir. And is that a can of evil empire you're drinking there? Jk I do love me a can of world domination
Yes, Volumio, Moode, etc, are OSes and largely meant to be used exclusively while running on the Pi. But one of the supposed advantages of using a Pi is to be a less electrically noisy steamer vs. a PC doing many things while streaming. For $45 I like having a dedicated streaming device.
yes, it could be, should be, and has been done more easily with many other computers. I have yet to fathom the attractiveness of goofing around with the Pi for just about anything useful.
@@jeffbaker9847 well, the Pi can be a dedicated streamer or streamer/DAC combo that can be operated remotely from a smartphone or tablet, and can be made to be far less electrically noisy than a PC or MAC using an LPS. It is also $45 and has a very small footprint. Aside from all that, sure a clunky PC wired into your stereo is great.
Good tutorial even though I'm a diehard Allo DigiOne Sig./piCorePlayer/LMS user. BTW...A good FREE tool for finding/identifying IP addresses on your network is Advanced IP Scanner.
Great Vid, but I think I'll stick with my Echo link and Denafrips DAC. So what are the advantages of a raspberry solution? Hi Res, More streaming company choices, ( I only need one personally) better software? It doesn't seem worth it to me. but thats just me. I guess I'm so darn satisfied with the Denafripps Areas, it made up for any minor shortcomings of the Echo Link. I think this video scared me off of the Pi path. Not worth the trouble.
This is the most serious, down to earth video I've seen you do yet! Thank you. You go through the process slowly and methodically. To date, Darko Audio was the only other channel to touch on the subject of running a Raspberry pi. Even he has not gone into the nuts and bolts if it as you have here.
This was cool, thank you for showing an old curmudgeon what you kids are doing these days. I have a strong dislike of new stuff, to me, and this really helps simplify things making it so easy even I can follow along...
Great detail in the video Randy. I might try Volumio as I’m running rAudio (a fork of Rune Audio) right now. I run my Rasp Pi 3b+ into a Schiit Modi 3 into an old receiver with Elac Debut 6.2 speakers. It has great sound for the room I work from home in.
Thanks,i got up volumio on rp4 with mojo2 dac. Right now configuration is for youTube. When I set target sampling at 768khz there is hiss sound when I pause music and cluck sound when I play next track or stop and play click.
Hi Randy, let me start by wishing you much continued success with your channel. I’m an avid watcher. I’m currently running Plex from a NAS that contains my music collection comprised mostly of FLAC 16-Bit 44.1 KHz (CD quality). Additionally, I have a Denon AVR that claims to have a DAC that handles up to 24-Bit 192 kHz and a Sony Bravia TV which also decodes to CD quality. I have an Amazon music account that provides access to “Ultra HD” music that can presumably be played via the Denon. While A/B’ing the local CD quality collection with the Amazon Ultra HD on the Denon I find that my 50+ old ears really can’t tell the difference. My question is what am I missing by not running a separate Streamer/DAC. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who really wants to have another reason tinker yet some more with a raspberry pi project. Am I missing out on some audio fidelity? And if I am, does that outweigh the convenience provided by the integrated amp/TV combo? Please say yes😊.
lol. you're probably not missing anything. TV apps often times don't tell you what resolution you're really getting out of it. If you want to tinker around this is a good place to start. or go down the Roon rabbit hole and make your own Roon server. Track resolution hasn't really been tied to fidelity in my experience. for me the DAC, the amp, speakers and recording play way more of a role than the actual resolution. I actually prefer CD's to streaming for the ultimate fidelity going through a really good dac like the Denafrips ares or the Geshelli labs J2
Randy, I am a big fan of yours, so I say this out of love: Raspberry Pi is a PITA. Use a Mac Mini and remote desktop into it from your fancy MacBook Pro, and you've got it made. I have so many more options, and I can buy all the 2012-era Mac Minis I need off craigslist for $200 each. And I can play movies to my big ass TV as a bonus. I will make the bold internet claim (as one does on the internet) that "THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I HAVE CHOSEN." Tell me why I am wrong?
Maybe for you, but not everyone bows down to the God of Apple. Many of us are Android/PC kinds of people. We aren't going to buy a MacBook anything - ever...LOL...I mean that in fun. But yes, my iPAD is the only Apple device I will ever buy. I even threw away my old Apple TV that I got for free with my AT&T TV subscription because it no longer worked playing THESE^ TH-cam videos. I'll just say I wish Steve Jobs was still alive and calling the shots. Maybe Apple would have rolled out an "Apple Music Connect" app a long time ago. If they had, maybe I wouldn't still be stuck on lossy Spotify.
@@rosswarren436 I totally hear you. I resisted Apple for years, and I am not blinded by the light of God as channeled thru his only son, Steve Jobs. iCloud sucks, as does Apple Music. Apple TV is a PITA too. However, for storing Hi-Res music (and movie) files and playing them very well, I love my Mac Mini, hidden away in cabinetry next to some big ass hard drives. Ease of use is great via my laptop, and it works, unlike PCs, which regularly crap all over themselves. My kids use Spotify, and I do occasionally, but it sounds bad. All I am looking for is great sound without working too hard. It's possible that Windows/Android/Pi/Whatever can do this too, but at what effort?
@@jeffbaker9847 yeah, my nephew and his wife are Apple people and always will be...LOL...Different strokes for different folks I guess. Pissed me off that Spotify lied about rolling out their lossless streaming service....Ugh...But I sure love their ease of use in so many devices via their Spotify Connect app...so I'm torn between trying other services or just sticking it out another year and seeing what they do. I'm hoping that the clunkiness of all this mess gets better once Bluetooth can REALLY carry lossless CD quality audio. (John Darko says that is on the horizon this year). Hopefully that will make it dumb simple for the masses, after having to buy some new devices. Now, if only Amazon would make an Echo Dot that supports the better Bluetooth HD codec....LOL...I'm not holding my breath....
@@rosswarren436 There are alternatives... I've been buying SFF PCs for a couple years now and dropping Linux on them. I'm typing this on my HTPC, an HP Mini-Desk 800 running Linux Mint. It will do 4K video, has USB 3 Ports and 2 Displayports. I use it as an audio player. video player, web browser, etc. It's about the size of a Mac Mini and dead quiet. It came with Win10 Pro but I added an NVMe SSD, installed Linux so I could boot to Win10 if I want (can't even remember the last time I did 😂). I'm not an Apple fan nor a Windows fan, but I am forced to use Windows for a handful of work things. Otherwise I use Linux for everything else.
@@mattpobursky850 sounds good, pun intended. Great that it runs quiet. But how much power draw is it? 100W? I need to check out how decent the Linux app for Spotify is (assuming Spotify ever rolls out their HiFi streaming). I have some older PCs that will never run Windows 11, but they do various flavors of Linux just fine.. Good luck with it!
Randy, the spotify connect plugin enables you to stream from the pi on your spotify app from your phone. The other spotify plugin runs spotify from the volumio app itself.
Are you planning to play a lot of music through that or is it mostly home theater? Curious about using something like that avr for a 4 channel surround music listening setup. Congrats on the new toy too btw!
@@erics.4113thank u !! That's why I bought it. Not necessarily Home theater but surround music.i have the Polk R 200s so far and looking for another pair of speakers but these probably need to be 8 ohm because the R 200s get down to 3.8 ohms.
@@RockCity1111 get another pair of r200! Or maybe reserve floorstanders. I dunno but I'd first try 4 corner sound all using the same speaker. That way no speaker differences stand out from any direction if you're seated in the middle of the sound field. Although it might be fun to try mismatched speakers, ultimately it might take away from the effect a bit especially if your front and rear speakers have dramatically different sound signatures, response, dynamics, etc.
@@erics.4113 so true . From what I've seen and heard on E project here on TH-cam, it doesn't seem like the R 200s are that hard to drive but still a 4 ohm rating. The rxa4a has pre out for all 7.2 so I can add a amp if needed. The Polk R 600 would be perfect but will take some time to save up for. I thought about getting some klipsch tower off ebay but I would want a 8 inch woofer. I
@@RockCity1111 the R600 are floorstanders right? I auditioned the L200 I believe or L100? They were the bigger ones of the legend bookshelf series but they didn't pair with my amp well. I should have tried the reserve they were on sale too. I have Klipsch rp600m and rp280f floorstanders that I would consider a 4 channel matchup with because they are sonically in the same family. The 280f are the 8" you talking about. They were the outgoing model replaced by the new rp8000f. I bought them on a whim a few months ago because they still had them new from some supplier in Vegas and they were $800 for the pair, while the 8000f are about double that! Only differences I'm aware of is the updated tweeter, similar to what my rp600m have. Woofers and crossover are exact same between models from my understanding. I can confirm the high end and newly improved tweeter in my 600m is a bit sweeter and less rip your face off than the 280f but I still feel like you could pair the 280f properly and tame it a bit. I was even thinking bi-amp to attenuate the high end gain a little bit, or go down the route of modding the crossover to place a little more resistance on the tweeter and tame it a bit. Some older 3way designs had a knob you could tune the tweeter with and adding something like that has my interest, if it's even practical or possible to do so without ruining the speaker. I'm still a newbie so will see. Last thing. Those rp280f were only hooked up for a few listening sessions and then moved to the corner because I bought another pair of speakers on a whim and can't get away from them lol. But the sessions with the big 8" Klipsch towers in my smallish room were intense. Those fkers will deliver a beat down like nothing else I have. Problem is I have neighbors in close proximity so I try to not get the cops called. I wasn't as thrilled with their low level listening. You got a LOT of top end that didn't seem to really balance itself out until you cranked the volume and really engaged those two woofers. That could also be down to a bad pairing with the amp I was running . And it doesn't take much twisting of the volume knob to get there. On a 60watt amp I was about a 1/4 of the volume knob and they were loud. Even more sensitive than my 600m which was hard to even imagine. The floorstanders would probably rock at party levels with a 15watt tube amp and your new Yamaha would just be intense too. My motorized volume knob on the amp doesn't have the best gradual turn. For most speakers a small tap on the remote twists the volume and it raises slightly. With the Klipsch towers that same tap raises the volume significantly. It's nuts. I guess they would also benefit from a pre or integrated that has digital volume attenuation so you can go 1db at a time. Geez that was a long post. Sorry haha
OK…I am an old man…somewhat knowledgeable…but lost with a lot of this…but my research tells me that I cannot use a Rasberry Pi for what I am trying to do. I am all MAC. iMac, iPhone & iPad. I am trying to do the following via hardwire from my iMac: Amazon Ultra HD (Full Rez) playback. Hardwire from iMac to my DAC to Headphone amp. Do I need a streamer in the loop? My understanding is that a Rasberry Pi and Amazon Ultra HD Streaming are NOT compatible. Is my understanding correct? All this stuff is soooooo confusing! Thanks.
Thank You for the video. I bought the display as I have several raspberry pi's . The only issue I had was getting the ribbon cable in correctly. FYI I have several Schiit DAC's. So I've run volumio on Raspbery Pi 4 with biFrost, Modi 3 and Modus. Next trick is to attach a USB drive with a lot of music and see how it does with local music. With the display it should be perfect for my tailgate rig.
Some how I missed this video a month ago. I've been very interested in running an ALLO BOSS2 Dac but honestly didn't know how to incorporate it into a separates system. The ALLO only works with the Raspberry PI..Volumio and MOODE. The ALLO BOSS2 is suppose to be one of the best rated/tested Dacs, and for only couple hundred bucks. Having to upload/download and using SD cards/USB drives is all new to me for music. Can be very confusing for a dum dum like me
This is a very detailed vid. Thanks for that! I am thinking about using RP as a streamer with a new amp I am getting Audiolab 6000A. I have a current set up I have tried with a Cambridge Audio amp I had temporarily. It is a chromecast second gen plugged into a HDMI audio extractor, which has a digital optical out that I plug into the amps DAC . I use an app on smartphone to access music on hardrives on my network called HI-FI Cast, which does gapeless. I can also stream from Amazon, Tidal and all the other usual suspects, lol. It would be cool if you could do a video showing this setup and actually measuring the resolution through a DAC that is coming from the optical output of the HDMI Audio extractor.
You assume a LOT where I'm concerned where did you stick the Micro Card? Where are you connected or is the Phone talking to the Pi? Saw a Kit with Keyboard, 7 inch Touch Sreen, Case Pi, Fan, cables. etc didn't have a Hat but was $210. Good Deal? What advantage is the Hat or what does it offer?
Hardware uses ALSA hardware volume which is generally not good. In most cases it's not even actually analog, it's actually still digital. It's just done on the DAC chip which may or may not be done well. A well implemented software volume control is generally done in 32 or 64 bit float which is objectively better than any form of analog volume control.
One Major issue with using a Raspberry Pi, HDMI does NOT stream 44.1KHz. I truly like Volumio, but if it has to convert the signal and lose bits, then it ain't audiophile. Love the channel cheapaudioman!
“You have to screw the pie” , - Randy from TH-cam channel the cheap audio man. “That’s what she said” - Michael Scott from the fictitious company Dunder Miflin Paper Company.
I must confess my total ignorance to the subject: I have no clue of the content of this video, my streaming "ability" is only related to Pandora, Spotify and Amazon Music already installed in smart TV's. My main music listening is in physical format, vinyl, CD's and SACD's, no laptops or desktops and I use Pandora with my "primitive phone", an entry level Samsung over 4 and 1/2 years old, when outside my house doing stuff. Time to get up with the times!
What, in your opinion, is the better option sound quality wise; a pi set up like this, or the Songbird? (both through Wi-Fi). Assuming running both through the same external DAC.
Using an old tablet with the volumio app installed and connecting via WiFi would achieve the same touchscreen function. Both the Pi and the tablet could be powered via a USB wall plug.
Nice video Randy, thanks for sharing. I too have a Pi4 / JustBoom Digi Hat / Battery set up running Volumio/Qobuzz as my streamer into a Naim ND5XS acting as a DAC alone. This is a great video and certainly would have made my attempts to set it up a lot quicker :). To me, this streamer set up beats the Naim streamer / DAC combo hands down from both SQ (particularly noise floor) and better app.
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Brilliant channel. No bull crap, honest opinions, good all round audio advice.
Great tutorial, straight to the point 👍
Nice work Randy, I just put together my Raz pi 4 and a hat...hooked it up to my external hard drive then to my system...Boom!! who needs roon. Volumio is great!! I'm able to see and play from my hard drive, make playlist .....fing game changer!!!
When you said "Belini etcher" I immediately thought of Kids in The Hall, lmao! Show is rumored to be coming back this year too.
Randy, that was awesome! You are the first person that I know of to do this on video! I have seen about the Raspberry Pi stuff before, but nobody ever explained it nor showed how to set one up. All I knew was that a raspberry is some sound you make with your lips and tongue. All you have to do now is show building one from go sometime.
I only like streamers and such with screens. If it has no screen I am not interested. That said though I also have no need for a Raspberry Pi at this time. I have a Logitech Squeezebox Touch, but of course they are no longer supported and it no longer supports Spotify. However, I have an Echo Show 10 2nd Gen I use now, which does it all with a 10-inch screen and of course voice control (although Alexa can get a bit uppity from time to time). Once I figure out how to tie in my LG Smart TV to my two channel sound system (while having access to the sound bar for movies and such), I'll have a 50 inch screen where the album covers will take on a new dimension.
I don't like Tidal or Roon at all. I stream Spotify (subscribed) and Pandora (free). I use streaming for background music or research. For listening I'm about vinyl and CD.
If you have an RPI4, I recommend updating to the latest bios so you can boot off a USB drive (such as a thumb drive) rather than off an SD card. The SD cards are slower and may be more prone to failure after so many boots.
Randy, your videos are the best. I can't stand the MQA file 5000$ DAC and 12,000$ speaker system reviews :) This is useful for us regular folks.
Yes, I'm satisfied with my volumio pi. Last year I got seduced by the reviews of the dragonfly cobalt, honestly couldn't discern an improvement over my pi with iqaudio DAC hat.
Since purchased a £30 nobsound headphone amp which I run the output from my pi through, and it made a whole heap of difference to the fullness of the sound using my Grado headphones.
Love it. Cheap as chips, sounds great.
I'm already significantly into the law of diminishing returns as far as I'm concerned and buyers remorse can have a significant effect on perception of audio fidelity in my opinion.
@@PKWeaver74 Agreed! I am wondering about Volumio as I am frugal (cheap). I would need the subscription plan and not sure I want another monthly fee...my credit card looks like a laundry list of automatic monthly charges :) I would prefer a truly free Rpi Music OS community built or at least one that would only charge once when a major upgrade is performed ala J River.
I am an absolute Newby to the raspberry Pi world, but this was actually very helpful and easy to follow, thank you so much :).
A project I would really like to try in the future is to get a broken, cheap gramophone from the fleamarket, and make a Spotify Player out of the corpus. This video already gave me some Idea on how to tackle that.
Thanks, Randy! I think I’ll bring out the old Pi and try again. My first attempt wasn’t successful.
Love this channel ! WOW
Love your work buddy. Keep up the amazing work
Randy, this is excellent! It alone justifies my $3 patreon subscription.
I like my my max2play/lms pi setup but now i think i will give volumio a spin. The interface looks less clunky!
Would love to se a follow up video of this in action!! Really might do this
So cool, nice how to video. Thank you!
Sorry another random question if anyone can answer. What volume level do you leave your streamer when going into a preamp? 100%, 80%, 90%? 50%? I notice if its set too low, it messes with the dynamics somewhat.
This is correct. If you plan to use your preamp/amp/powered monitors to control the volume, turn the volume coming out of your streamer up to 75-80%, your mileage may vary.
I guess it depends on the streamer and pre combo. You'd want the output voltage on the streamer to be in the ideal range that your preamp expects it to be.
I run a bluesound node at 100% volume. And you're correct if your source signal is at too low a voltage (volume) you will probably lose dynamics and overall won't sound so good. If the signal is too hot it will also sound like the gain is up or it's even bordering on or reaching distortion levels. Try it at 100% and back it down from there if it not sounding right
@@erics.4113 Exactly!
I have a question about the Radio Paradise plugin - does it allow you to sign into your RP account? If so, that is a big deal - because you can then play your own personal Favorites.
The previous version of Volumio did not support this; and that is why I went to Bluesound, because it does. On the other hand, this version of Volumio supports Bandcamp - which Bluesound does not (yet).
Thanks Randy. Great and very detailed how to on getting a raspberry pi going and hooking up the screen. I wouldn't normally think about this type of streamer, but you make it look like a project I could do successfully and have a screen.
“You don’t have to have a big one.”
How many times has Mrs. Cheapaudioman said that….
Love this video. Been using a RPI 4 as a Roon bridge running RoPieee for a few years now. I have it connected to a Denafrips directly using a Schiit audio USB cable and its powered by a Allo Nirvana. Its superb and I cant see myself upgrading anytime soon if ever (unless a new Pi comes out with better USB implementation.) This replaced my 3b with an Allo DAC HAT. That was very good and for the money, cant be beat IMO. I wanted to add a screen for the longest time and this video certainly would have gotten me there but i stashed the PI in my cabinet and a screen isnt feasible anymore. But instead I use a 10" fire tablet "jailbroken" to remove all amazon junk. Runs Roon remote like a boss and looks slick AF. Check it out for those who cant do a screen for whatever reason
Outstanding job Navy👌🏾
As of may 2023 I use Wiim mini as streamer and ohh surprise it has DLNA with Bubble Upnp so I can stream hi res music through mini which supposedly has only Airplay which is not hi res. But Volumio is useful because of dsd and reads hard disc drives and external LG cd player
I need this!!! Thank You Randy! 👍👍👍
Thanks for the video. If I have this setup that outputs digital audio from the pi to a very high quality DAC why would I ever need to buy a separate streaming device that can cost hundreds if not thousands of $$$? Is there still an improvement from those devices over the pi even if the PI is only outputting 1's and 0's?
This is awesome!! thanks so much for doing this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Just built mine with a Dac2 HD. Nothing works except HifiberryOS with this dac and Display since the display uses some of the pins the dac hat is using. Also volumio costs if you want to stream via Tidal and Bluetooth. Now learning about m.2 SSD USB Addon and MultiBerry. But general question PLEASE - do I even need an external DAC if Im using a Raspb Pie with a DAC hat? Or do I put it straight i to my SMSL 300 amp? (Purchased it after your review)
can i use Aiyima T10 as my dac, and also Volumio with Raspberry PI3?
So, I'm streaming my Amazon Unlimited music via a Samsung TV app. ( I guess it must have a DAC chip in there somewhere!)
I'm using the ARC connection to my Yamaha home theatre 5.1 amp and vintage Bowers and Wilkins speakers.
I have a Raspberry pi 3 with an HDMI out ( all my amp inputs are HDMI) . I can do the Volumio setup without any expense to try it out. Is there any free high quality music I can stream for free to compare the difference.
I understand that Volumio has a dev kit from Amazon to incorporate their music platform later this year, so I'm looking ahead .
Does the digital hat fit inside of the supplied case of Raspberry Pi ? Does this DIY project give you bit perfect audio and does Tidal connect work from my phone without third party app ?
Does no one make/sell a desktop media player DAC that is SD card capable? I'm looking for something instead of using my pc for music or a portable DAP.
Will this play apple HiRes lossless? Doesn’t airplay reduce the quality
nothing will really play apply lossless except maybe a Apple TV, or an iPhone connected to a dac going into headphones. airplay is limited to 16/44.1 or maybe 24/44.1 on airplay 2 but often times packages in AAC if it's not a native ALAC file and may even throttle down to AAC even if it's an ALAC file but signal strength is low. So airplay will reduce the resolution, whether or not that equates to "quality" is up to your ears. It's better than bluetooth
@@cheapaudioman thank you for this info!
I've always enjoyed a good Pie, especially an English Pork Pie, But I think the time has come for me to try a tasty Raspberry Pi. 😄👍 Cheers....
Lol ahh randy. Nice hat!!!
I’ve restarted my volumio from my app after getting the screen plug in and I still get the same black screen command line. How do I get the music player interface to run on my touchscreen?
You seem to be pretty good at electronic and computer stuff. What did you do in the Navy? Were you the Chief Electronics Communications Crypto Weapons Officer or something similar?
ha. no. I was a nuc mechanic on a submarine
@@cheapaudioman and you didn't get fried. Well done. I did some stuff for submarines as well.
@@cheapaudioman Dude...that's pretty awesome. Navy Veteran here as well but no where nearly as cool as your gig, I was a lowly YoYo. I did however have the CO and XO as backups as I worked in both offices over my hitch.
Hi randy , I am running My pi of a powerbank. did the sound improve or change when you use yours? would be nice to know the findings.
I have RBP 4 with a Hifi Digi hat connected to the DAC of my NAD D3020 v2, with Volumio installed. It sounds great. However, on my MacBook Pro the sound settings always indicate that Volumio is connected to Apple AirPlay. Is that how it should be or is AirPlay interfering with the best sound?
Problem with using Raspberry Pi for such things, as I have understood it, is that the Linux kernel lack the real time capabilities that Windows and OS X has and this, supposedly, leads to timing issues. Most options for RPi, including Android, are based on Linux (though they might have resolved this for Android. I have no idea how audio works, there).
Personally, I use Linux for everything, including the desktop I play music from, and I have no problem with this, but I have read that people are complaining about this, so if you are very picky, you should keep this in mind.
What real time capabilities are you referring to? Isn't Mac os also a Unix based kernel very similar if not the same in many regards as Linux? I think they share the same major underpinnings.
If you output from the Pi via USB to an asynchronous DAC, then the DAC should reclock and handle the timing.
@@davidfairchild1640 are you suggesting that the clock in the pi may be bettered by external dacs with superior clocks?
I'm just today looking into USB output from my node to my new ares ii (yay).. looks like USB output isn't yet supported but due (overdue) as of today's writing. I'm curious to try once the firmware update becomes available
@@erics.4113 Unix is just a vague set of standards (POSIX) and most RPi OS's are based on the Linux kernel, which is one implementation of (some of) these standards. OSX is based on BSD, which is another implementation. The similarities are very high level and the kernels vary greatly in their implementation on lower levels.
The problem, as I have understood it, lies in how threads/task priority is handled, as the Linux kernel offer less guarantees when it comes to real time requirements.
@@davidfairchild1640 That should do the trick, yes
If you can use USB to feed a DAC, what’s the Digital Hat for? Is the digital hat a DAC?
Yes, you can skip the Digital Hat if you're going to plug into a USB DAC.
Good stuff Randy your channel is awesome. Watched several bookshelf speaker reviews and ended up going with some Klipsch The Fives. This will be my audio solution for entertainment center. Any recommendations on a reasonably priced DAC to go along with the setup?
Dammit now I gotta give you money. Good job.
How do I install plugin for Amazon HD Music ?
Great video. What is the make and model of the Powerbank?
Me, I prefer Stetson or Fedora to a digital Hat. I find them warmer, especially in winter. Zeros and ones don't retain heat very well.
hehe. This is my totally terrible joke for the day. Thanks...no, no, please, thank you, I'll be here all week.......
Randy, this looks so cool. I use Amazon Music HD as my service. I would think that Airplay would not be very good. Thoughts for an Amazon Music streamer? Thanks once again buddy!
I haven't found a DIY that supports Amazon yet. I wish I could find something and you're right, only through airplay. it sounds pretty good though and it does pull album art via airplay
👌
What's the highest quality free music streaming service?
Can you do this with a Raspberry 400?
Grab the beverage of my choice?! Well it's Wawa coffee this morning sir. And is that a can of evil empire you're drinking there?
Jk I do love me a can of world domination
Pi2AES!!!!!!
Hmm, my comment vanished. Anyways, good job
Is it true Sith went bankrupt today?
it's just a reorganization
@@cheapaudioman Those guys at Sith always seemed kinda shady to me...
Hi, I probably won't do that if I don't know English.....
Thought the video would end with you showing it ready and running with a demo. Love your channel but that was a let down.
I am go build on with bluetooth amplifier and volumio so no need to subscribe. This be in the new year as I have broken ankle and big toe.
5:16 *cam-volumio-2.local (shown on screen at 3:50) -- this is the unique hostname you chose.
The thing is the Pi can ONLY run Volumio. You can't run under things on it. A bit of a bummer.
you can setup a multi boot with another OS or just swap out the SD card as needed.
Kodi will run on a raspberry pi 4.
Yes, Volumio, Moode, etc, are OSes and largely meant to be used exclusively while running on the Pi. But one of the supposed advantages of using a Pi is to be a less electrically noisy steamer vs. a PC doing many things while streaming. For $45 I like having a dedicated streaming device.
Yea. There's truth in that. There is that attraction of running it as an appliance.
Volumio sucks…
Couldn't this be done more easily with a cheap netbook running Linux?...
yes, it could be, should be, and has been done more easily with many other computers. I have yet to fathom the attractiveness of goofing around with the Pi for just about anything useful.
@@jeffbaker9847 well, the Pi can be a dedicated streamer or streamer/DAC combo that can be operated remotely from a smartphone or tablet, and can be made to be far less electrically noisy than a PC or MAC using an LPS. It is also $45 and has a very small footprint. Aside from all that, sure a clunky PC wired into your stereo is great.
Good tutorial even though I'm a diehard Allo DigiOne Sig./piCorePlayer/LMS user.
BTW...A good FREE tool for finding/identifying IP addresses on your network is Advanced IP Scanner.
Great Vid, but I think I'll stick with my Echo link and Denafrips DAC. So what are the advantages of a raspberry solution? Hi Res, More streaming company choices, ( I only need one personally) better software? It doesn't seem worth it to me. but thats just me. I guess I'm so darn satisfied with the Denafripps Areas, it made up for any minor shortcomings of the Echo Link.
I think this video scared me off of the Pi path. Not worth the trouble.
This is the most serious, down to earth video I've seen you do yet! Thank you. You go through the process slowly and methodically.
To date, Darko Audio was the only other channel to touch on the subject of running a Raspberry pi.
Even he has not gone into the nuts and bolts if it as you have here.
This was cool, thank you for showing an old curmudgeon what you kids are doing these days.
I have a strong dislike of new stuff, to me, and this really helps simplify things making it so easy even I can follow along...
Would like to see the screen functionality
Now this is a very interesting video to upload ❤🤩😉, watch & enjoy! Great job Randy!🏆🥳
I have been loving my volumio streamer
So many good ways to listen to music packed into one tiny box
Great detail in the video Randy. I might try Volumio as I’m running rAudio (a fork of Rune Audio) right now. I run my Rasp Pi 3b+ into a Schiit Modi 3 into an old receiver with Elac Debut 6.2 speakers. It has great sound for the room I work from home in.
will work on Libre Computer Board AML-S905X-CC instead of Rassberry Pi? thanks
Great job showing how you set up the Raspberry Pi. Can't wait for the new channel Cheapaudioman Shows How
I have sandwiched rapi4b and 3.5 inch gpio screen...how to make to display Volumio now playing ▶️ on my sandwiched display??
Thanks,i got up volumio on rp4 with mojo2 dac. Right now configuration is for youTube. When I set target sampling at 768khz there is hiss sound when I pause music and cluck sound when I play next track or stop and play click.
Thanks for this video, I've been looking for something like this for some time. Would Open Media Vault also be an option?
Hi Randy, let me start by wishing you much continued success with your channel. I’m an avid watcher. I’m currently running Plex from a NAS that contains my music collection comprised mostly of FLAC 16-Bit 44.1 KHz (CD quality). Additionally, I have a Denon AVR that claims to have a DAC that handles up to 24-Bit 192 kHz and a Sony Bravia TV which also decodes to CD quality. I have an Amazon music account that provides access to “Ultra HD” music that can presumably be played via the Denon. While A/B’ing the local CD quality collection with the Amazon Ultra HD on the Denon I find that my 50+ old ears really can’t tell the difference.
My question is what am I missing by not running a separate Streamer/DAC. Keep in mind, this is coming from someone who really wants to have another reason tinker yet some more with a raspberry pi project. Am I missing out on some audio fidelity? And if I am, does that outweigh the convenience provided by the integrated amp/TV combo? Please say yes😊.
lol. you're probably not missing anything. TV apps often times don't tell you what resolution you're really getting out of it. If you want to tinker around this is a good place to start. or go down the Roon rabbit hole and make your own Roon server. Track resolution hasn't really been tied to fidelity in my experience. for me the DAC, the amp, speakers and recording play way more of a role than the actual resolution. I actually prefer CD's to streaming for the ultimate fidelity going through a really good dac like the Denafrips ares or the Geshelli labs J2
Integrating some Pi and Arduino boards into my home automation and in house studio so this is grat info. Thanks Randy.
What is the max sampling rate supported by RPI4 via USB.
Will waveshare 7" work the same way like official display ??
Thanks for the breakdown, you make this look very easy!
neat
Did it sound better on battery power?
Hi I like volumio player it well
No test wtf
Randy, I am a big fan of yours, so I say this out of love:
Raspberry Pi is a PITA. Use a Mac Mini and remote desktop into it from your fancy MacBook Pro, and you've got it made. I have so many more options, and I can buy all the 2012-era Mac Minis I need off craigslist for $200 each. And I can play movies to my big ass TV as a bonus.
I will make the bold internet claim (as one does on the internet) that "THIS IS THE BEST WAY TO DO IT, BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT I HAVE CHOSEN."
Tell me why I am wrong?
Maybe for you, but not everyone bows down to the God of Apple. Many of us are Android/PC kinds of people. We aren't going to buy a MacBook anything - ever...LOL...I mean that in fun. But yes, my iPAD is the only Apple device I will ever buy. I even threw away my old Apple TV that I got for free with my AT&T TV subscription because it no longer worked playing THESE^ TH-cam videos. I'll just say I wish Steve Jobs was still alive and calling the shots. Maybe Apple would have rolled out an "Apple Music Connect" app a long time ago. If they had, maybe I wouldn't still be stuck on lossy Spotify.
@@rosswarren436 I totally hear you. I resisted Apple for years, and I am not blinded by the light of God as channeled thru his only son, Steve Jobs. iCloud sucks, as does Apple Music. Apple TV is a PITA too. However, for storing Hi-Res music (and movie) files and playing them very well, I love my Mac Mini, hidden away in cabinetry next to some big ass hard drives. Ease of use is great via my laptop, and it works, unlike PCs, which regularly crap all over themselves. My kids use Spotify, and I do occasionally, but it sounds bad. All I am looking for is great sound without working too hard. It's possible that Windows/Android/Pi/Whatever can do this too, but at what effort?
@@jeffbaker9847 yeah, my nephew and his wife are Apple people and always will be...LOL...Different strokes for different folks I guess. Pissed me off that Spotify lied about rolling out their lossless streaming service....Ugh...But I sure love their ease of use in so many devices via their Spotify Connect app...so I'm torn between trying other services or just sticking it out another year and seeing what they do.
I'm hoping that the clunkiness of all this mess gets better once Bluetooth can REALLY carry lossless CD quality audio. (John Darko says that is on the horizon this year). Hopefully that will make it dumb simple for the masses, after having to buy some new devices.
Now, if only Amazon would make an Echo Dot that supports the better Bluetooth HD codec....LOL...I'm not holding my breath....
@@rosswarren436 There are alternatives... I've been buying SFF PCs for a couple years now and dropping Linux on them. I'm typing this on my HTPC, an HP Mini-Desk 800 running Linux Mint. It will do 4K video, has USB 3 Ports and 2 Displayports. I use it as an audio player. video player, web browser, etc. It's about the size of a Mac Mini and dead quiet. It came with Win10 Pro but I added an NVMe SSD, installed Linux so I could boot to Win10 if I want (can't even remember the last time I did 😂). I'm not an Apple fan nor a Windows fan, but I am forced to use Windows for a handful of work things. Otherwise I use Linux for everything else.
@@mattpobursky850 sounds good, pun intended. Great that it runs quiet. But how much power draw is it? 100W? I need to check out how decent the Linux app for Spotify is (assuming Spotify ever rolls out their HiFi streaming). I have some older PCs that will never run Windows 11, but they do various flavors of Linux just fine.. Good luck with it!
Randy, the spotify connect plugin enables you to stream from the pi on your spotify app from your phone. The other spotify plugin runs spotify from the volumio app itself.
Finally ordered my Yamaha Adventage after them being out of stock for months. Cant wait!! Shows up tomorrow 🤪
Are you planning to play a lot of music through that or is it mostly home theater? Curious about using something like that avr for a 4 channel surround music listening setup. Congrats on the new toy too btw!
@@erics.4113thank u !! That's why I bought it. Not necessarily Home theater but surround music.i have the Polk R 200s so far and looking for another pair of speakers but these probably need to be 8 ohm because the R 200s get down to 3.8 ohms.
@@RockCity1111 get another pair of r200! Or maybe reserve floorstanders. I dunno but I'd first try 4 corner sound all using the same speaker. That way no speaker differences stand out from any direction if you're seated in the middle of the sound field. Although it might be fun to try mismatched speakers, ultimately it might take away from the effect a bit especially if your front and rear speakers have dramatically different sound signatures, response, dynamics, etc.
@@erics.4113 so true . From what I've seen and heard on E project here on TH-cam, it doesn't seem like the R 200s are that hard to drive but still a 4 ohm rating. The rxa4a has pre out for all 7.2 so I can add a amp if needed. The Polk R 600 would be perfect but will take some time to save up for. I thought about getting some klipsch tower off ebay but I would want a 8 inch woofer. I
@@RockCity1111 the R600 are floorstanders right? I auditioned the L200 I believe or L100? They were the bigger ones of the legend bookshelf series but they didn't pair with my amp well. I should have tried the reserve they were on sale too.
I have Klipsch rp600m and rp280f floorstanders that I would consider a 4 channel matchup with because they are sonically in the same family.
The 280f are the 8" you talking about. They were the outgoing model replaced by the new rp8000f. I bought them on a whim a few months ago because they still had them new from some supplier in Vegas and they were $800 for the pair, while the 8000f are about double that!
Only differences I'm aware of is the updated tweeter, similar to what my rp600m have. Woofers and crossover are exact same between models from my understanding.
I can confirm the high end and newly improved tweeter in my 600m is a bit sweeter and less rip your face off than the 280f but I still feel like you could pair the 280f properly and tame it a bit. I was even thinking bi-amp to attenuate the high end gain a little bit, or go down the route of modding the crossover to place a little more resistance on the tweeter and tame it a bit. Some older 3way designs had a knob you could tune the tweeter with and adding something like that has my interest, if it's even practical or possible to do so without ruining the speaker. I'm still a newbie so will see.
Last thing. Those rp280f were only hooked up for a few listening sessions and then moved to the corner because I bought another pair of speakers on a whim and can't get away from them lol. But the sessions with the big 8" Klipsch towers in my smallish room were intense. Those fkers will deliver a beat down like nothing else I have. Problem is I have neighbors in close proximity so I try to not get the cops called. I wasn't as thrilled with their low level listening. You got a LOT of top end that didn't seem to really balance itself out until you cranked the volume and really engaged those two woofers. That could also be down to a bad pairing with the amp I was running . And it doesn't take much twisting of the volume knob to get there. On a 60watt amp I was about a 1/4 of the volume knob and they were loud. Even more sensitive than my 600m which was hard to even imagine. The floorstanders would probably rock at party levels with a 15watt tube amp and your new Yamaha would just be intense too. My motorized volume knob on the amp doesn't have the best gradual turn. For most speakers a small tap on the remote twists the volume and it raises slightly. With the Klipsch towers that same tap raises the volume significantly. It's nuts. I guess they would also benefit from a pre or integrated that has digital volume attenuation so you can go 1db at a time.
Geez that was a long post. Sorry haha
OK…I am an old man…somewhat knowledgeable…but lost with a lot of this…but my research tells me that I cannot use a Rasberry Pi for what I am trying to do.
I am all MAC. iMac, iPhone & iPad. I am trying to do the following via hardwire from my iMac:
Amazon Ultra HD (Full Rez) playback. Hardwire from iMac to my DAC to Headphone amp.
Do I need a streamer in the loop?
My understanding is that a Rasberry Pi and Amazon Ultra HD Streaming are NOT compatible.
Is my understanding correct? All this stuff is soooooo confusing!
Thanks.
Thank You for the video. I bought the display as I have several raspberry pi's . The only issue I had was getting the ribbon cable in correctly. FYI I have several Schiit DAC's. So I've run volumio on Raspbery Pi 4 with biFrost, Modi 3 and Modus. Next trick is to attach a USB drive with a lot of music and see how it does with local music. With the display it should be perfect for my tailgate rig.
Some how I missed this video a month ago. I've been very interested in running an ALLO BOSS2 Dac but honestly didn't know how to incorporate it into a separates system. The ALLO only works with the Raspberry PI..Volumio and MOODE. The ALLO BOSS2 is suppose to be one of the best rated/tested Dacs, and for only couple hundred bucks. Having to upload/download and using SD cards/USB drives is all new to me for music. Can be very confusing for a dum dum like me
This is a very detailed vid. Thanks for that!
I am thinking about using RP as a streamer with a new amp I am getting Audiolab 6000A. I have a current set up I have tried with a Cambridge Audio amp I had temporarily. It is a chromecast second gen plugged into a HDMI audio extractor, which has a digital optical out that I plug into the amps DAC . I use an app on smartphone to access music on hardrives on my network called HI-FI Cast, which does gapeless. I can also stream from Amazon, Tidal and all the other usual suspects, lol.
It would be cool if you could do a video showing this setup and actually measuring the resolution through a DAC that is coming from the optical output of the HDMI Audio extractor.
You assume a LOT where I'm concerned where did you stick the Micro Card? Where are you connected or is the Phone talking to the Pi?
Saw a Kit with Keyboard, 7 inch Touch Sreen, Case Pi, Fan, cables. etc didn't have a Hat but was $210. Good Deal? What advantage is the Hat or what does it offer?
Hardware uses ALSA hardware volume which is generally not good. In most cases it's not even actually analog, it's actually still digital. It's just done on the DAC chip which may or may not be done well. A well implemented software volume control is generally done in 32 or 64 bit float which is objectively better than any form of analog volume control.
One Major issue with using a Raspberry Pi, HDMI does NOT stream 44.1KHz. I truly like Volumio, but if it has to convert the signal and lose bits, then it ain't audiophile. Love the channel cheapaudioman!
“You have to screw the pie” , - Randy from TH-cam channel the cheap audio man. “That’s what she said” - Michael Scott from the fictitious company Dunder Miflin Paper Company.
I must confess my total ignorance to the subject: I have no clue of the content of this video, my streaming "ability" is only related to Pandora, Spotify and Amazon Music already installed in smart TV's. My main music listening is in physical format, vinyl, CD's and SACD's, no laptops or desktops and I use Pandora with my "primitive phone", an entry level Samsung over 4 and 1/2 years old, when outside my house doing stuff. Time to get up with the times!
You’re all good, my man. You’re already streaming through your TV. This is a fun project though
@@cheapaudioman Thank you, time to go back to school and learn new things.
Did you have to rotate the display? Mine is upside down relative to the case.
What, in your opinion, is the better option sound quality wise; a pi set up like this, or the Songbird? (both through Wi-Fi). Assuming running both through the same external DAC.
Hey - I was wondering whether you left the Volumio download file zipped when you flashed it to the microSD card or unzipped the file first?
Using an old tablet with the volumio app installed and connecting via WiFi would achieve the same touchscreen function. Both the Pi and the tablet could be powered via a USB wall plug.
On behalf of the CAM community, I would like to apologize to Al Hendra for all the spam email he will soon be getting... J/K :)
Can you connect the hdmi out on the RPi to an AVR and use it’s internal DAC? Can volumio assign the audio-out to the HDMI?
Nice video Randy, thanks for sharing. I too have a Pi4 / JustBoom Digi Hat / Battery set up running Volumio/Qobuzz as my streamer into a Naim ND5XS acting as a DAC alone. This is a great video and certainly would have made my attempts to set it up a lot quicker :). To me, this streamer set up beats the Naim streamer / DAC combo hands down from both SQ (particularly noise floor) and better app.
I was under the impression you had to have a paid subscription, in order to run Tidal Connect. If not, how is it done?