Show us your Raspberry PIs, Intel NUCs and other mini PCs!

[dlovesmusic]

Usecase would only be music streaming. Thanks, I'll have a look at these.

Then the N100 is more than sufficient for your needs + using it as an everyday desktop pc. Very snappy indeed

 

[Chr1]

There's various options out there. If you want fanless I can personally recommend Beelink or Minix. Just bought a Minix z100-0db for Windows 11. 16GB and upgradable to 32GB RAM.
My 2c: The main advantage I can see for running Windows on this type of machine is that you can use MathAudio RoomEQ.
Definitely the best free software I've ever come across. And from what I can make out, actually better re simplicity and functionality than most of the more expensive options out there.

 

[aagstn]

I have tumbled back down the rabbit hole of Raspberry PIs after a couple of years away. I used Volumio on a Pi 3B for a few years but it got unstable at one point and I just shut it down and started listening different ways.

Moode Audio caught my attention and I setup an old 3B+ and Hifiberry digital hat I had with it as my main streamer in my office while working. It did so well, I set it up with my Pi touchscreen and Flirc IR so I could use my Harmony remote in addition to the web interface. I am very happy with this one and have it running into my Yamaha receiver.

This got me interested in using my old 3B again as a living room streaming box. I setup Moode on it and added a SMSL SU-1 to handle the DAC duties.
This is working very well and I haven't run into any USB issues yet even with my SACDs I ripped and converted to 88.2/24 FLAC. I don't use this one as often and have no need for a screen or IR add on.

At this point I figured I might as well check out the new Pi5 and picked up a 4GB model along with an Argon One case since it has an IR port. I was able to add their BLSTR Dac to it. This is just a basic PCM5122 DAC, but I'm using this as a mini PC and Kodi box in my bedroom and the DAC in it sounds fine on the modest speakers I have in there.
Overall I'm happy with this as well. Raspberry Pi OS has come a long way and Kodi takes care of Plex for the movies and music I want to use the PI for. I also did a separate SD card running headless Plexamp which works very well on the Pi 5. Moode has a version coming soon for Pi5 and I'll definitely try that.

I'll hopefully stop here, but the only new cost was the SU-1 on sale for $65 and the Pi 5 and accessories for under $150. The Argon stuff was overkill, but I paid for the convenience. I already had all the other Pi stuff and SD cards.
Won't try to argue any of these are better than the Wiim, but I do prefer the music management on the Moode software and find myself using it the most.

 

[dlovesmusic]

I am also looking for the bookworm RPI5 version of moode. I honestly don't need it but I like the fact that in Moode all of the alsa and MPD settings and everything from setting up a dlna server, enabling upnp renderer... can be done with my phone touch screen.

 

[ParametricPi]

Currently, my home office system is run by a Pi 4/4Gb running Volumio, and a Hifiberry Amp2 HAT. It powers small Markaudio CHN-50 fullrange drivers in mass-loaded quarter wave horns. I have added the CamillaDSP plugin to Volumio for EQ purposes, but so far that has not been necessary at all. I did play around with it and the DSP plugin offers a lot of functions and is more than enough to slap a stereo setup into submission.

I also have the Hifiberry miniamp HAT, which has about 3 watt max power. That's a little too little for these small drivers. I did use that miniamp to drive my two higher efficiency loudspeakers in my living room, about 97dB+. That also worked quite well. In that situation, those 3 watts worked pretty adequately as well.

I know the Hifiberry amp HATs don't score that well in objective testing, however I have found them to be silent enough for use on my big speakers and found the sound to be neutral enough for good sound in the home office. The fact that the raspberry pi and the HAT pack together into a tiny space and are able to do the streaming, the DSP and amplification is great.

 

[somebodyelse]

I suspect the Amp2 hat is no worse than the amps in some well regarded active speakers.