PA5 & E50 & rapsberry - how to get it work :-)

[MCH]

Review and Measurements of Benchmark AHB2 Amp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Benchmark AHB2 Amplifier using THX technology to reduce distortion. I was going to request one for testing due to membership demand but to my pleasant surprise, the company volunteered to contact me and send not one, but two units! I requested...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[somebodyelse]

- I've even run it on Raspberry PI 3 and 2 without any issues. I mention this because Raspberry 4 are hard to get these days and there are messages about jitter etc from older Raspberry boards due to USB and ethernet sharing the same bus. Not saying this can't happen but I've not experienced any issues ever.

Not jitter, and not because of the ethernet, despite it being often repeated. The potential problem with the Pi <4 and USB is clicks or pops (a bit like vinyl...) when the next chunk of data gets sent to the DAC a fraction too late (interrupt latency too high.) Gory details in the bug report, closed as WONTFIX, for those interested. I've never run into it with piCorePlayer, despite trying to cause it on most Pi generations. I managed to trigger it on a Pi 3B with both Volumio and raspbian, but only when running BruteFIR which is known to make it a lot more likely.

Until recently my advice would just be to try with your current Pi if you had one, or get a Pi 4 if you didn't because the price difference was small and it avoided the chance of a problem. Now that availability is a problem it might be worth getting a 3B. If you're reasonably comfortable with PC hardware I'd also consider used thin clients (essentially a small, cheap fanless PC) with daphile or the x86 Volumio version. You should be able to get one for less than a Pi, case and PSU - my Wyse R90L was <£20. They don't have step by step instructions like the Pi, and can have quirks to work around, so bot suitable for everyone.

Interrupt latency issues aren't unique to the Pi by the way - you'll find Windows users with similar issues.

 

[bh69]

Review and Measurements of Benchmark AHB2 Amp

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Benchmark AHB2 Amplifier using THX technology to reduce distortion. I was going to request one for testing due to membership demand but to my pleasant surprise, the company volunteered to contact me and send not one, but two units! I requested...

www.audiosciencereview.com

nice but a bit too expensive

 

[Redheart]

I don’t see it mentionned, but all those source and amp questioning is like 1 out of 10 on a importance scale compared to the actual speaker they will drive which represent 9 out of 10 of your real acoustic sound quality you can expect in the end. What is your speakers?

 

[Redheart]

And yes I have e50 with pa5 and rpi4! Short answer is I don’t believe you will find a speaker which is not a good pairing with those for near field listening. This is like the best bang for the buck in the history of near field setup!

 

[bh69]

I don’t see it mentionned, but all those source and amp questioning is like 1 out of 10 on a importance scale compared to the actual speaker they will drive which represent 9 out of 10 of your real acoustic sound quality you can expect in the end. What is your speakers?

Dynaudio Audience 10 - they probably need to be replaced too. But at first I want to try them with new amp.

 

[bh69]

I'm thinking of a BVaudio PA300SSE power amplifier now. Very good measurements (unfortunately no independent) and user references. Much more expensive than PA5, but probably much better (without problematic high frequencies). Possibility to set the reproduction level using potentiometers on the input - great for DAC (with no analog preamp).

 

[Guido]

Hi all,

I plan to put together a small but very good hifi setup for listening in a small room, basically near-field (less than 2m distance). In adition I listen only at low volumes (I guess maybe 60-70dB), so I don't need a strong amplifier, but some good at low power (<1W). Based on the reviews here, I am considering the Topping PA5 & E50 and Rapsberry 4B player as source (USB into DAC).

So I have many question

1/ is it optimal choice or would you pick something else ?

2/ what power source ? I have found low noise dual linear power adapter Allo Shanti (5V/3+1A) which can be used for both rapsberry and DAC. Not cheap one, but it seems like very clean power supply.

Or is it a vaste of money and common adapters would make no recognizable difference in sound ?

Third eventuality is power bank, but at cost of the need for recharging and thus uncomfortable operation. And there is a problem how clean this power is, because most of powerbanks use low voltage batteries and 5V reach electronically - probably not without noise.

3/ Power adapter for amplifier - I assume that the original one distributed with PA5 is of sufficient quality and there is no need to solve anything further ?

4/ The only thing that could then bring some noise in the system would be long ethernet cable.
I hope this will cause no real problem, but if there will be some, the solution can be to insert the convertors the optics and back ?

5/ Player conception - how to achieve simple and convenient operation. What software would be best ?
I want to play my FLAC or APE files from local USB disc or from another PC in home network and internet streams/radio.
I don't use wifi at home, so I have to exclude control via the smartphopne apps.

So there are some options left

a/ small touchscreen (placed together with rapsberry near chair with 3m long USB cable to DAC or with 3m long HDMI cable from rapsberry to screen at listening place)

b/ LCD screen (or TV) or alphanumeric display with wireless keyboard or remote controller

I prefer simple solution so b/ looks be better.

What (free) software would be optimal ? I would prefer SW that would allow for custom adjustments (I'm 4GL/JAVA/PHP programmer so I should be able to adapt things to your needs - if necessary ).

Thank you in advance for any advice or experience

Hi,
I use pa5 and e50. Very satisfied. As player i have the smsl d9. Cheap and very good and stable with bubbleupnp and mconnect ( Qobuz and Tidal). Usb and/or

Hi all,

I plan to put together a small but very good hifi setup for listening in a small room, basically near-field (less than 2m distance). In adition I listen only at low volumes (I guess maybe 60-70dB), so I don't need a strong amplifier, but some good at low power (<1W). Based on the reviews here, I am considering the Topping PA5 & E50 and Rapsberry 4B player as source (USB into DAC).

So I have many question

1/ is it optimal choice or would you pick something else ?

2/ what power source ? I have found low noise dual linear power adapter Allo Shanti (5V/3+1A) which can be used for both rapsberry and DAC. Not cheap one, but it seems like very clean power supply.

Or is it a vaste of money and common adapters would make no recognizable difference in sound ?

Third eventuality is power bank, but at cost of the need for recharging and thus uncomfortable operation. And there is a problem how clean this power is, because most of powerbanks use low voltage batteries and 5V reach electronically - probably not without noise.

3/ Power adapter for amplifier - I assume that the original one distributed with PA5 is of sufficient quality and there is no need to solve anything further ?

4/ The only thing that could then bring some noise in the system would be long ethernet cable.
I hope this will cause no real problem, but if there will be some, the solution can be to insert the convertors the optics and back ?

5/ Player conception - how to achieve simple and convenient operation. What software would be best ?
I want to play my FLAC or APE files from local USB disc or from another PC in home network and internet streams/radio.
I don't use wifi at home, so I have to exclude control via the smartphopne apps.

So there are some options left

a/ small touchscreen (placed together with rapsberry near chair with 3m long USB cable to DAC or with 3m long HDMI cable from rapsberry to screen at listening place)

b/ LCD screen (or TV) or alphanumeric display with wireless keyboard or remote controller

I prefer simple solution so b/ looks be better.

What (free) software would be optimal ? I would prefer SW that would allow for custom adjustments (I'm 4GL/JAVA/PHP programmer so I should be able to adapt things to your needs - if necessary ).

Thank you in advance for any advice or experience

Hi,
I have PA5 + e50. Very good
.As player i use smsl sd9. Very good too for Qobuz and Tidal ( bubbleupnp or mconnect via usb or coaxial). Before i had Allo digione signature+shanty+ volumio ( paied), good in sound but not stable. It crashed and i am not been able to make it work again.

 

[gfinlays]

For my secondary (office/mancave) setup, I'm running a RPi4B (Ropieee) powered via a PoE HAT into a Topping E50/L50/PA5. Speakers are Emotiva B1+ and SE8 sub.

The sound is great - clean, clear, no audible distortion and more than capable of causing hearing damage.

Embarrassingly close to my £11k main rig.......

 

[gfinlays]

I've recently (within the last week) 'upgraded' my main living room setup from a DK Design/LSA Signature to a Benchmark AHB2 which I'm driving directly from a Topping DX7Pro. In all honesty, the PA5 is all but indistinguishable from the AHB2, though obviously the AHB2 offers considerably more power.

For a near-field desktop setup, the PA5 is ideal and has exceptional performance. The E50 DAC is state of the art in terms of measured performance, audible transparency and neutrality and it also looks really nice with the PA5 (and the L50)

E50 doesn't need a fancy PSU - you can power it from the RPi4 via the supplied USB power cable and achieve it's stated SINAD.

'Audiophile' linear power supplies are a waste of money and often make equipment measure and sound worse than the stock power supply.

I have a RPi4B with a touchscreen and it has enough juice to run the E50 as well. RPi4B is PoE powered and I've tested its power consumption with a PoE tester - about 9W with the screen set at a moderate brightness level with the E50 plugged in.

Ethernet cable length is largely immaterial. I have 3 runs of 35m Cat6 between the house and my office in the garden. It's indoor Cat6 in conduit and presents no issues whatsoever. I also have an 8-core OM3 fibre link. It's sonically indistinguishable from the Cat6.

There's been a lot of chatter about the PA5's measurements, especially concern regarding distortion at higher frequencies, however, further test results have shown this concern to be unfounded.

For an affordable desktop near-field setup, the PA5 is pretty much unbeatable.

 

[chocomamey]

If we use a typical common cellphone 5v power supply its a bad idea because it causes distortion..Now ,before running and buying an expensive power supply that costs more than the e50 itself (e.g. ifi power supply 300 usd) , a friend tells me the new iphone models or ipad's power supplies are excellent and "audiophile like " and for a fraction of the price.

 

[gfinlays]

If we use a typical common cellphone 5v power supply its a bad idea because it causes distortion.

No it doesn't. This is another myth peddled by audiophools. The E50 does fine with any 5V USB power supply or can be powered directly from the RPi.

Amir has tested many a fancy power supply and found that at best, they make no difference and at worst, they can add noise.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

I'm evaluating the Audience ClairAudient 1+1 monitors in a nearfield setup (4 ft apart, 5 ft from ear to speaker), so it made sense to try using the E50 + PA5. After a few hours of listening, I'm quite impressed with the results, but I'll swap in a couple of other amplifiers to confirm what I'm hearing and report back. Network transport is a RPi4 running VitOS and streaming from Roon. I have yet to overdrive the amplifier or get it to make anything resembling unpleasant sounds.

Ignore the cable lifts…they are just there to keep things tidy and have no impact on sound quality.

 

[NiagaraPete]

power adapter Allo Shanti (5V/3+1A) which can be used for both rapsberry and DAC. Not cheap one, but it seems like very clean power supply.

This may be worth buying. Not for sound improvement but you can power both devices and it has grounding options that may prove useful to prevent loops.

 

[Blew]

No it doesn't. This is another myth peddled by audiophools. The E50 does fine with any 5V USB power supply or can be powered directly from the RPi.

Do you have any data to back up this statement?

Amir has tested many a fancy power supply and found that at best, they make no difference and at worst, they can add noise.

Not on the E50 he hasn't. I can here very clear differences in distortion when using different USB power supplies with the E50.

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

I can here very clear differences in distortion when using different USB power supplies with the E50.

If you can easily hear these differences in distortion, they should be easy to measure. Anyone here care to give it a go?

 

[Blew]

If you can easily hear these differences in distortion, they should be easy to measure. Anyone here care to give it a go?

Sure. How do I do that?

 

[dsnyder0cnn]

Sure. How do I do that?

Easy enough. Buy an Audio Precision APx555 analyzer and learn how to use it, then share your results. There are a number folks here who have one.

 

[andrewjohn007]

Easy enough. Buy an Audio Precision APx555 analyzer and learn how to use it, then share your results. There are a number folks here who have one.

I'm heading out to Walmart, shall I pick a few up for the group?

 

[Blew]

Easy enough. Buy an Audio Precision APx555 analyzer and learn how to use it, then share your results. There are a number folks here who have one.

I don't have a few spare thousand to do that with. Perhaps you could do that?
Otherwise you'll just have to take my word that I'm not lying.