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Review of NanoPi NEO2: World's Smallest Audio Streamer

Olli

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It would be really great if you could find out. From what I have seen so far, there is no cheap streaming Roon endpoint available - the cheapest one I could find (And I am using) is the Sonore MicroRendu. I've also tried CCA - again no MCH support, neither with a regular Rasberry Pi running Diet Pi.

Just discovered this though: https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/mchstreamer

How could you connect something via LAN to it?
 

somebodyelse

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It would be really great if you could find out. From what I have seen so far, there is no cheap streaming Roon endpoint available - the cheapest one I could find (And I am using) is the Sonore MicroRendu. I've also tried CCA - again no MCH support, neither with a regular Rasberry Pi running Diet Pi.
Linux on Raspberry Pi definitely supports multichannel over USB, so either it's a configuration issue or Roon Bridge doesn't support it on the Pi. Have you asked Roon about it?
Edit: In case I wasn't clear, is it known whether the freely available Roon Bridge for ARM is capable of multichannel output? LMS/Squeezelite is limited to stereo output even if the hardware and OS support multichannel (ignoring the DTS workaround).
 
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somebodyelse

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Just discovered this though: https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/mchstreamer

How could you connect something via LAN to it?
That's just a component for making a multichannel USB DAC. I'm not sure why they put 'streamer' in the name. You still need your PC/Pi/whatever to do the bit going from network to USB, and whatever DAC(s) you pick at the other end. The ADAT support is unusual outside the pro audio market.
 

johan

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Disclaimer. We also build network devices based on SBCs !!

Hello Amir

the loss of THD+N on XLR is very tiny (0.2db to 0.3db) driven through the NanoPI.

I am wondering though , if RCA outputs will show a greater loss...since there is no common mode noise attenuation .
 

Olli

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Linux on Raspberry Pi definitely supports multichannel over USB, so either it's a configuration issue or Roon Bridge doesn't support it on the Pi. Have you asked Roon about it?
Edit: In case I wasn't clear, is it known whether the freely available Roon Bridge for ARM is capable of multichannel output? LMS/Squeezelite is limited to stereo output even if the hardware and OS support multichannel (ignoring the DTS workaround).

What is ARM? I checked the Roon Forum, there is no USB based solution available it seems. HDMI seems to work, but then you would need a MCH HDMI DAC.

Again - the guys at Sonore have solved the issue wiuth their devices. But it's a rather expensive path.
 

somebodyelse

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What is ARM?
The processor used by the RaspberryPi, Nanopi and most of the other small computing boards. I wanted to distinguish between that version and the version for Windows, Mac or linux PCs as the feature sets may not be the same on all versions.
Again - the guys at Sonore have solved the issue wiuth their devices. But it's a rather expensive path.
More likely the guys at Roon provide OEMs with a version of Roon Bridge that has more features than the freely available version.
 

actionmask

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OLED-NEO2_01-500x633.jpg

The 42$ Kit is pretty nice.
 

manueljenkin

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Hi Everyone,

Hoping I can find some help here. I'm looking to build a battery powered audio transport/storage system using raspberry Pi zero W. I'm specifically looking to simulate hibylink. The unit will have no display, no buttons (maybe 1 or 2 minimal buttons for start/stop, skip, volume up/down, Bluetooth mode select maybe). I might probably downclock the pi as well since the only tasks it'll be doing is taking audio from usb port and sending to topping nx4, and communicating to phone through Bluetooth for playback controls.

Now this won't be a roon device. Instead of Ethernet, my music will be stored in an SD card or usb storage drive, plugged into the raspberry Pi zero W which will now be a battery powered standalone machine. The raspberry Pi will feed data to my topping nx4 (which is battery powered as well) through its usb port. I'm looking for guidance on the software part.

Hiby link - a feature of hiby os devices. What it does is it parses through the songs loaded in the dap, creates a list and sends this list over Bluetooth to an app called hiby music to your phone. Through the app, now you can control the volume, playback and album selection. Everyone knows how much easier to use a phone is over any dap!! Once you've been into this you'll never come back. The current one has a limitation, it only sends list of songs and metadata but not album art metadata (too much size to send over Bluetooth). I'll try to use some other method to send this (maybe WiFi direct.. similar to what happens in SHAREit).

Other features I really want to implement on the software level

1. Replaygain (every single dynamically capable headphone I've heard is unlistenable without replaygain. My music ranges from -19db to +19db. If I move from one extreme to another without noticing, that's nearly 38db extra energy shoved in)

2. Bitperfect playback.

3. Auto-sampling mode selection (44.1khz/48khz or multiples) instead of interpolation. I believe the topping has separate clocks for these two frequencies.

4. And of course developing an Android app that'll make this interaction possible.

Another implementation that I'd like to experiment but not really a priority is a parametric Equalizer that I can code and provide fr inputs, or a GUI interface that I'll once again do from the phone.

Thanks and regards,
Manuel Jenkin.
 
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amirm

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Hello Amir

the loss of THD+N on XLR is very tiny (0.2db to 0.3db) driven through the NanoPI.

I am wondering though , if RCA outputs will show a greater loss...since there is no common mode noise attenuation .
Hello Johan. The loss of THD+N also happened when I connected the DAC using USB to Windows. So it has to do with the DAC, not the streamer.
 

DosThou

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Ooh this is nice. Was eyeing on ARTT-UX1 since that looks nice and hassle free but this is like 1/5 the price (for the complete kit version) but then I'd also need to install some stuff and troubleshoots any hitches (there will be) myself, hmm. Would be super cool if Nanopi guys could sell a complete preconfigured plug and play version compatible with MPD clients for a bit extra over the raw complete kit version.
 
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amirm

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Would be super cool if Nanopi guys could sell a complete preconfigured plug and play version compatible with MPD clients for a bit extra over the raw complete kit version.
I don't know why they don't do this. It would make the kit so much easier to use. I know I would have paid $10 to not have to deal with the software install.
 

Yi.

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i got a kit (w/case
has any step by step guide?
thanks folks :)
 
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amirm

amirm

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@amirm that is pretty ridiculous that you can have a transparent streamer for $20
The transparency comes courtesy of DACs which are careful in how they treat USB signals. That way the streamer just becomes a data pump which it can do as well as any computer.
 
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amirm

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i got a kit (w/case
has any step by step guide?
thanks folks :)
1. Get a copy of DietPi install for NE2
2. Unzip the file and make a Linux boot micro-SD card using Win32DiskImager
3. There is a configuration file that is created which I think is called Config.txt or something like that. It is in the root directory.
4. Go to the part where there are IP addresses starting with 192.XXX.XXX.XXX. If you have such a range of IP addresses in your home network, you don't need to make a change. Otherwise, set the numbers to what you use at home. I also set the Static-IP field to 1/enable above this section.
5. Save the above file, eject the micro-SD and put it in the NEO2. Turn it on.
6. Shortly after start-up, you should see a blinking green light. If you don't see this, something bad has happened. :)
7. Wait 2 to 4 minutes for it to fully boot up. Ping its IP address to see if it is alive.
8. SSH into NE2 using the IP address and root as the user. Password is dietpi. I didn't have luck using Windows ssh so resorted to using Putty which works better anyway.
9. Once you log in, it will ask you some questions and then will go through upgrading a bunch of packages. Use the tab to jump from one option to another. Note that the mouse does not work. Only keyboard does.
10. After a 10 to 15 minutes, dietpi should be ready to go. Go into its configuration utility and select RoonBridge to install. After a few minutes of running this you are done.
11. Roon should see the NEO2 as is even without a DAC connected. If it doesn't, something got screwed up again. :)
12. Connect your DAC and it should show up in Roon.

You will probably struggle some in the menus but the above is the high level sequence.
 

RayDunzl

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bennetng

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Aren't those two requirements incompatible?
The same/different bit stuff is simple. The term "bit-perfect" in this context means the communication between the end of the playback software's processing pipeline and the audio device driver is unadulterated. It doesn't mean the bits remain unchanged within the playback software.
 

KenG

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1. Get a copy of DietPi install for NE2
2. Unzip the file and make a Linux boot micro-SD card using Win32DiskImager
3. There is a configuration file that is created which I think is called Config.txt or something like that. It is in the root directory.
4. Go to the part where there are IP addresses starting with 192.XXX.XXX.XXX. If you have such a range of IP addresses in your home network, you don't need to make a change. Otherwise, set the numbers to what you use at home. I also set the Static-IP field to 1/enable above this section.
5. Save the above file, eject the micro-SD and put it in the NEO2. Turn it on.
6. Shortly after start-up, you should see a blinking green light. If you don't see this, something bad has happened. :)
7. Wait 2 to 4 minutes for it to fully boot up. Ping its IP address to see if it is alive.
8. SSH into NE2 using the IP address and root as the user. Password is dietpi. I didn't have luck using Windows ssh so resorted to using Putty which works better anyway.
9. Once you log in, it will ask you some questions and then will go through upgrading a bunch of packages. Use the tab to jump from one option to another. Note that the mouse does not work. Only keyboard does.
10. After a 10 to 15 minutes, dietpi should be ready to go. Go into its configuration utility and select RoonBridge to install. After a few minutes of running this you are done.
11. Roon should see the NEO2 as is even without a DAC connected. If it doesn't, something got screwed up again. :)
12. Connect your DAC and it should show up in Roon.

You will probably struggle some in the menus but the above is the high level sequence.

Will these directions work the same on a MAC?
 
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