A Raspberry Pi as a music server

[SgtPepper]

Hi.

Just thought I'd share my own Argon One M2 case journey.

So the system I started to build this August was:

Raspberry Pi 4(2gig)
Official Raspberry Pi power supply
Topping E30
Kingston A400 240gig SSD
San Disk Ultra(class 10) sd card(32gig)
Volumio (with Argon fan script installed)
Argon One M2 Case

The 1st case worked for two days, after that pressing the power button did nothing.
The 2nd case, replacement from Amazon, worked for around two days, after that the green and red lights just flashed all the time.

For both cases the fan was working, but never came on as the default fan "kick in" temp is set at 55 degrees, and the Pi never got this hot.

The 3rd case, replacement from Amazon. Thinking that the Argon powerboard might not be as tolerant of heat as the pi, I dropped the temperature the fan kicks in to 45 degrees. Sure enough it kicked in at this temp, and the pi never went above 45 degrees. This case worked for around a day, after that the red light just flashed all the time.

Through a process of elimination I was able to work out that the M2 board which the SSD connects to in the Argon One case always worked fine for me.

The fault was that in each of the three cases the top board (Argon calls it the power board) failed. Through all of this the pi, powered by the same power supply, continued to work perfectly when I transferred it to a cheap ABS case with a fan. It still works fine.

I contacted Argon, who were very polite and sent me a replacement power board all the way from Hong Kong. I sent pictures of the powerboard, explaining it was revision V3.0. Sadly for some reason the board they sent me is an earlier model (V2.2) which only fits an older case which had "hexagonal risers"

This is just my experience - clearly it must be working fine for lots of people out there. I've given it a good go, but now I've given up any hope of getting it working and I'm looking for a simple case with a fan plus a separate enclosure for the SSD drive - it wont be as elegant a solution but I figure there's less to go wrong.

 

[TheWalkman]

Hi.

Just thought I'd share my own Argon One M2 case journey.

So the system I started to build this August was:

Raspberry Pi 4(2gig)
Official Raspberry Pi power supply
Topping E30
Kingston A400 240gig SSD
San Disk Ultra(class 10) sd card(32gig)
Volumio (with Argon fan script installed)
Argon One M2 Case

The 1st case worked for two days, after that pressing the power button did nothing.
The 2nd case, replacement from Amazon, worked for around two days, after that the green and red lights just flashed all the time.

For both cases the fan was working, but never came on as the default fan "kick in" temp is set at 55 degrees, and the Pi never got this hot.

The 3rd case, replacement from Amazon. Thinking that the Argon powerboard might not be as tolerant of heat as the pi, I dropped the temperature the fan kicks in to 45 degrees. Sure enough it kicked in at this temp, and the pi never went above 45 degrees. This case worked for around a day, after that the red light just flashed all the time.

Through a process of elimination I was able to work out that the M2 board which the SSD connects to in the Argon One case always worked fine for me.

The fault was that in each of the three cases the top board (Argon calls it the power board) failed. Through all of this the pi, powered by the same power supply, continued to work perfectly when I transferred it to a cheap ABS case with a fan. It still works fine.

I contacted Argon, who were very polite and sent me a replacement power board all the way from Hong Kong. I sent pictures of the powerboard, explaining it was revision V3.0. Sadly for some reason the board they sent me is an earlier model (V2.2) which only fits an older case which had "hexagonal risers"

This is just my experience - clearly it must be working fine for lots of people out there. I've given it a good go, but now I've given up any hope of getting it working and I'm looking for a simple case with a fan plus a separate enclosure for the SSD drive - it wont be as elegant a solution but I figure there's less to go wrong.

View attachment 148953

I’m in the process of building a Open Media Vault NAS on an extra Pi 4 I had lying around. I purchased a 1 TB ssd and the M2 case to give it a try. I’ll include my master audio library on this server, though I keep a copy on the internal, boot SSDs on my Pi streamers.

Though I don’t want the fan running constantly, it’s reassuring to know it will kick in under heavy loads. At least in theory. Fingers crossed.

 

[m8o]

I used OMV too; made three of them for friends actually and if I didnt already have a dedicated Roon server on a NUC that can be an SMB server too I'd make one for myself. But I just used an external 2.5mm harddrive thru usb3. So only mean to say if you have trouble with the argon m2 too, there is always that route as a fallback.

 

[moscoe]

Built an amazing little headless Spotify and Airplay streamer using a Rpi4, raspotify and shairport-sync, USB to my DAC>AMP. Took a little fiddling to get it configured, but now it is rock solid and sounds as good as anything.

 

[TheWalkman]

The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just announced a new model, the Raspberry Pi Zero 2W. It's a quad core version of the current Zero W

• 1GHz quad-core, 64-bit ARM Cortex-A53 CPU, 512MB LPDDR2 DRAM
• 802.11b/g/n wireless LAN, Bluetooth 4.2 / Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
• Mini HDMI and USB 2.0 OTG ports
• Micro USB power
• CSI camera connector
• Unpopulated 40-pin GPIO connector

POWER CONSUMPTION:

1 W (idle in Raspberry Pi OS GUI);
Max power, 3.8W or 0.76A (32-bit mode);
5.5W or 1.1A (64-bit) mode

MSRP is $15.

That's impressive!

For a great overview see Christopher Barnatt's review:

It appears the new Pi's will be available in early November (USA).

I've been using the Zero W as a Volumio server and it's just a bit too slow so I've settled on a Pi 3A which is much more responsive and works flawlessly.

In Chris's benchmarks, the 2W seems to be 4 to 5 times faster than the older W which would be more than adequate for an audio streamer.

I'm looking forward to getting an early unit and testing it out. For me, this could be the ideal, eco-friendly streamer platform I've been waiting for!

 

[somebodyelse]

The extra processing speed should make it viable for CamillaDSP too.

 

[Madjalapeno]

It appears the new Pi's will be available in early November (USA).

I hope so. Digikey and Mouser are out of stock for all Pi's and CM4's, with none scheduled.

 

[Megaken]

Hey guys, maybe someone can clarify something for me: I'm trying to power my Pi4 with a battery. Pi specs say it requires 3A, 2.5Amin. My battery can deliver 3A @ 5v which should be enough for the pi.

But when I actually plug it into the battery and measure the current - it's drawing less than 1A (the pi works though, no issues). But is it not drawing enough? Is my cable bottlenecking it? Is that even possible? Or is that all it needs?

Thx

 

[amper42]

The RPi4 will draw different levels of power during different types of operation. I would run it and see if it works. No need to over think it.

 

[Megaken]

The RPi4 will draw different levels of power during different types of operation. I would run it and see if it works. No need to over think it.

Sounds good. So far it's working no problem.
Does anyone know if it makes sense to run it off of a battery as opposed to the electric grid in terms of noise etc? I've heard that but don't know if it's a myth or what..

 

[amper42]

Sounds good. So far it's working no problem.
Does anyone know if it makes sense to run it off of a battery as opposed to the electric grid in terms of noise etc? I've heard that but don't know if it's a myth or what..

The measurable 1 to 3dB difference in noise between battery and a $10 RPi4 power supply is non-audible to my ears. I have the $10 CanaKit 3.5A Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supply (USB-C) on my main system with the RME ADI-2, Purifi amp and Revel F328Be speakers and I can't tell a difference in my AB test with the $58 to $85 Allo Nirvana SMPS in ground mode. Personally, I wouldn't be concerned about RPi4 power supply noise unless it sounds bad.

https://www.amazon.com/CanaKit-Raspberry-Power-Supply-USB-C/dp/B07TYQRXTK

Nirvana SMPS

American Raspberry Pi Shop. One stop shop for all your Pi needs. Raspberry Pi add-ons, HATs, accessories, Starter Kit, Media Center kit, RetroPi Arcade kit, Ultimate Kit, and many other project kits. PiShop.us is approved Raspberry Pi re-seller and carries all official Raspberry Pi boards and...

www.pishop.us

IOT Electronic Allo Nirvana SMPS Designed to Power Audio Devices with The Lowest Noise. USA Plug Type : Electronics

Buy IOT Electronic Allo Nirvana SMPS Designed to Power Audio Devices with The Lowest Noise. USA Plug Type: Power Converters - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

I hope so. Digikey and Mouser are out of stock for all Pi's and CM4's, with none scheduled.

Dear Adafruit Customer,

We have restocked a product you asked to be notified about. There are
currently 500 available units in stock.

Order now at the link below!

--------------------------------------------------
Product Back In Stock
--------------------------------------------------
Raspberry Pi Zero 2 W

Link: http://www.adafruit.com/products/5291
--------------------------------------------------

 

[Madjalapeno]

Alas.

 

[MCH]

I hope the guys at Moode make this one work with CamillaDSP

 

[mdsimon2]

I snagged a Zero 2 W yesterday when I was placing an order at Adafruit for something else, I'll give it a try with CamillaDSP and a few USB DACs.

Also for those looking for RPi4s although availability is sparse I still see them popping up at a few of the usual places. Pishop.us has 4 GB and 8 GB models in stock currently.

Michael

 

[TheWalkman]

My Pi2W came in today. The good news it seems to work well as a streamer.

The release version of Volumio doesn’t work (2.917) but the V3 Beta (3.129) does. (That took some time to figure out.)

I’m connecting this with an Apple USB C dongle and it sounds great and more importantly, the interface seems very responsive. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/

I‘ll also try this with the Allo Mini DAC in the next day or two as well.

I‘ve been running the 2W for a short while and am pleased. The Zero W was just slow enough to be annoying. This hits the mark.

The Pi Zero 2W is a winner and the 2W+ (if and when they release a version with 1 MB of RAM) will be a home run.

 

[TheWalkman]

My Pi2W came in today. The good news it seems to work well as a streamer.

The release version of Volumio doesn’t work (2.917) but the V3 Beta (3.129) does. (That took some time to figure out.)

I’m connecting this with an Apple USB C dongle and it sounds great and more importantly, the interface seems very responsive. https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/

I‘ll also try this with the Allo Mini DAC in the next day or two as well.

I‘ve been running the 2W for a short while and am pleased. The Zero W was just slow enough to be annoying. This hits the mark.

The Pi Zero 2W is a winner and the 2W+ (if and when they release a version with 1 MB of RAM) will be a home run.

FWIW, here’s what I’m working with:

Pi Zero 2W with the ALLO DAC; the 2W in a flirt case with the Apple dongle; a Zero in a C4 Lab case.

I’m running my library off a Samsung 64gb high endurance SD Card (approx. 250 albums.)

If you’re not familiar with Volumio, it has plugins for Spotify, Pandora, etc and a great list of streaming stations.

So far, great performance in a tiny package.

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

Pi Zero 2 W running Squeezelite and a modified version of Bellini visualizer manages 30 fps with a bit of overclocking. Impressive for this tiny board.

 

[Xenio]

I'm thinking of buying one (and maybe multiple) pi zero 2 to run hifiberry+docker with a container to get tidal connect

I don't know if it will be powerful enough nor if a hat that gives me coax out will disrupt sound quality

 

[JonP]

Well, I dont have experience, yet... But, my experience is with a Pi1 B+ and Pi3 B+'s. I mostly run Moode Player, a very nice player/streamer package based on Volumino. The 1B+ could get a bit slow, if I loaded it down with resampling and other options all turned on. The 3B+, not at all. I think a Pi4 is a waste of extra $, extra CPU and extra watts of electricity for our uses.

From my reading, a Zero W2 is nearly as powerful as a 3B+, while the original Zero W is a little under a Pi1. Not sure of extra overhead of the other SW, but you will have a LOT of excess CPU power over running a basic player to use up.