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Best OS/server to stream Tidal/Qobuz via Raspberry PI

Ralph_Cramden

Ralph_Cramden

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Rodasch said:
Logitech Media Server 8.x does allow for integration of local and Qobuz libraries. After a year of trying software on my Raspberry Pi, I've settled for now on LMS -> piCoreplayer -> Material Skin. This combination is subscription-free, and, with the addition of Material Skin as a control app, the best user experience so far.
Click to expand...

Agree. I've tried all the other packaged distros for Pi. Their UIs all feel like something a high school coder would come up with - a coder from the 1990s. LMS with Material Skin is sleek, modern, comfortable, extremely simple to use. Nothing I've found tops it. Works from any browser, and can be saved as an "app" on any phone.
 
JoachimStrobel

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Aldo said:
hello
I have been a Qobuz user for a few years. I have never downloaded an album from them. On the other hand, I have many favourite albums (150 ? 200), sometimes favourites of the moment, or favourites that are essential to me (ears ?!).
Just to find my way around it's hell !! classical ++, jazz ++++, rock+, variety +, everything is sorted by artist order or selection date ... in short, I pull my hair (the ones I have left...) when I want to find an old favourite that I can't find the name of !! or when I say : "I'd like to have a little jazz album tonight, hmmm, which one ?" :eek: and it's panic all over the place so I only listen to the same ones in the end ... :mad:

Do you have an idea if there is an OS that could offer me the luxury of being able to sort out my favourites as I please ?
I don't think it's a madness to conceive ?!! :oops: yet I haven't found anything so far, not even Audirvana ...

If someone has a solution I thank him in advance.
At the beginning I wanted to create a new thread for this request, but in the end, this one seemed to me quite appropriate! otherwise I create! ;)
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I use Roon. I attach tags to albums. I then group tagged albums in bookmarks. Like Jazz-vocal, or jazz-trio. Works great. Roon seems to be only software that makes grouping of albums easy. I can add my local cd rips to the same bookmark. I guess that Roon has nothing more than others to offer for tagged songs
 
TheGM

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I am a new registered member, but I have been loitering here for some time. I'm an 'old guy' audiophile, who remembers when tubes were not 'retro' or audiophile devices, they All you had for music/radio/tv. I still love them now, but also love new tech, where it makes sense. Been playing around with DAC's for years and Streaming servers driving one of two large tube amps. I've been a subscriber to both Tidal and Qobuz since they started. Several months ago I got a rather inexpensive USB DAC which included MQA support in a trade.
I am an Aerospace engineer (yes, I do actual rocket science). So, I read all the tech data on MQA, as I do on all audio tech. I confess to disappointment in the HUGE animosity to what is essentially another CODEC. Since I already pay for Tidal and love it, I swapped in the new DAC w/MQA. I am mostly impressed! Yes, I CAN tell the difference, and usually it is positive! I have physical SACD copies of some of this music, and the Master versions on Tidal are quite close, and better than Qobuz. In fact, I haven't listened to Qobuz in months. Just wanted to share, sorry for the long-winded post. I will be coming back to discuss (argue?) why I think MQA deserves a place in the discussions. Cheers!
 
wkloppen

wkloppen

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Hello there,....Im fairly new to the whole audio world but it certainly got my attention. I'm really interested in how to get MQA or at least 96khz /24 bit working with either Tidal or Qobuz. I've got accounts for both. My setup is a raspberry PI4 with an Hifiberry Dac2 HD ontop and Harman Kardon PM 640 ViX (yes the old one)....with 2 KEF reference speakers. im runnig Volumio with both Tidal and Qobuz as streaming sources.
The Volumio image in combination with Tidal as soruce does not support MQA. The Tidal client itself itself does support the first MQA decoding step but you cant install Tidal on a raspberry and when running the Tidal client on let say a window machine sin't gonna work either because it doesn't support dlna so you cant stream it to your raspberry. I'm able to to play 96khz/24 bit using Qobuz as source in the Volumio image running on the raspberry though.
I also heart you could use the Tidal client either running on Mac or windows and then use bubble Upnp ( https://bubblesoftapps.com/bubbleupnpserver2/ ) allowing you to stream from the Tidal client to the raspberry. I need to dive into that but any reflections on the above are appreciated.
Note: Again im pretty new of not a noob in the audio world but Im certainly starting to love it:):)

Willem
 
ctakim

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I choose to use Roon with my Raspberry Pi 4 as a Roon endpoint attached via USB to a Schiit Modi 3+. I tried Tidal and Qobuz and probably going to stick with Qobuz as the libraries are comparable for my tastes in music. Currently the Modi DAC is attached to the analog inputs on the Loxjie A30, but I will probably move this system to active speakers in the future.
 
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Beershaun

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bubbleupnp and other upnp control points and renderers work great for 24bit FLAC but don't work for MQA unfolding. I use Bubble upnp for my local media server+Tidal to stream to my Denon X3100 and Rpi with Moode and it's great. In those instances the MQA file is backward compatible so you get a 24bit/44.1 FLAC file which opens and plays fine. But you don't get the MQA "secret sauce" filters and unfolding to greater than 24/44.1. I've found it's very complicated to get MQA full unfolding to work streaming to your stereo or DAC if it's not explicitly an MQA certified streaming endpoint+DAC combination like a BlueOS device. And using Android devices or Apple devices as streaming endpoints are a whole other set of headaches to get an unmolested stream out of them.

So services that use FLAC format Hi-Res files like Qobuz and Amazon Music will be significantly easier to use to stream 24bit content to your streaming endpoint and DAC of choice. That's the nature of open source formats vs. proprietary formats.
 
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quattr0

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Has anyone tried both Hifiberry Digi+ Pro and Allo DigiOne? I'm using Rpi3+, Digi+ Pro/Moode connecting directly to Denon. I'm shocked at how decent it is (comparing with RPi4+USB out to RME ADI-2 Pro DAC then to Denon). I wonder if Allo DigiOne would give me another boost....
 
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abdo123

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quattr0 said:
Has anyone tried both Hifiberry Digi+ Pro and Allo DigiOne? I'm using Rpi3+, Digi+ Pro/Moode connecting directly to Denon. I'm shocked at how decent it is (comparing with RPi4+USB out to RME ADI-2 Pro DAC then to Denon). I wonder if Allo DigiOne would give me another boost....
Click to expand...

I have the Digi+ Pro (on for sale, I have a USB dac now) and it's fully transparent.
 
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Beershaun

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quattr0 said:
Has anyone tried both Hifiberry Digi+ Pro and Allo DigiOne? I'm using Rpi3+, Digi+ Pro/Moode connecting directly to Denon. I'm shocked at how decent it is (comparing with RPi4+USB out to RME ADI-2 Pro DAC then to Denon). I wonder if Allo DigiOne would give me another boost....
Click to expand...
In the case with your external DAC into Denon, do you have the Denon in pure direct mode? Else I expect the degredation you are hearing is the ADC in the Denon converting your analog signal back to digital to process it through the Denon dsp for bass management etc. And then reconverting it to analog with the onboard DAC.
 
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audiophile_gal

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I am a long time lurker (first post!) and have a unique set of needs for my music server. I pay for and use Plex on a daily basis for both music (FLAC) and movies/TV. My Plex music server runs off a Raspberry Pi4 8GB (Ubuntu MATE) and I regularly stream both on my internal network and over the internet. Since I already pay for Plex and require remote streaming Roon is not an option (plus it is incredibly expensive). Additionally, I am hoping to get this setup on a Pi for myself so I can also image it, flash it on another microSD card, and send to my dad for his much more expensive speaker system.

I am trying to figure out how to easily stream both Tidal (might migrate to Spotify Hi-Fi when it launches) and Plex to my bedroom setup for my HD800S. I bought a Pi4 2GB thinking that I would run RaspPlex but it was a massive flop due to the lack updates in 4 years. I tried running LibreELEC with the Plex addon and that also was a flop, being incompatible with the Plexamp app on my phone and iPad.

My current solution seems like it will work but be fairly difficult. I have installed Plex Media Player onto the Pi4 2GB running Raspberry Pi OS with Desktop and plan to install Spotify Connect, Airplay, and DLNA packages. Unfortunately (difficult part), there are not a lot of guides online on how to tell ALSA/MPD not to mess with the audio stream, as by default it either down-samples or up-samples the stream. I am comfortable with the terminal and nano/text editors but I am unsure what commands or edits to make this work. I am open to other solutions but was hoping to make this really simple to use after being setup as my dad is not known for his technical prowess. ;)

Also, while the CCA is an attractive option I don't like Google being in my home more than it has to be and the lack of gapless playback is a deal-killer since most of my music is classical and soundtrack.
 
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DomieMic65

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quattr0 said:
Funny you mentioned great support. I emailed for the trial key and never got a response. On Audiophilestyle, user requests refund as he couldn't set it up.

I still have gentooplayer and also symphonic-mpd laying around. I would still select Moode. No bs. Just work.
Click to expand...
In my case the support is great!
 
simbloke

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I'm using mpd with ALSA output to a USB DAC and there's no resampling going on. The config is pretty simple. However, my music player has no desktop OS and that may be your problem.

Just a guess but it may come with Pulse Audio setup to mix audio from the various possible desktop apps.
 
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