Okay. Noted.
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A Raspberry Pi as a music server
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TheWalkman
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Salparadise,
Don't be intimidated. This really isn't rocket science and it's not that hard to set up a great little streamer based on an RPi. Don't over think things either. It doesn't take a high end, expensive configuration to get GREAT sound. I'm running a couple of $5 Pi Zeros as streamers and they sound fantastic. See my post #233 above.
I listened to several youtube videos by a certain, bearded audiophile who raves about needing expensive, switched power supplies to get the best sound. Darned if I can tell the difference between a Pi powered by a $100 fancy power supply and a $10, 2.5a wall wort.
Virtually any RPi has ample horsepower to make a great streamer. Too, you can use an Apple USB C to 3.5 mm headphone dongle (which is actually a DAC) as your audio out from the Pi to your amp or headphone. (See Amir's review here: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...pple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/) That dongle will set you back a whopping $9 on Amazon.
I'm using a 64gb SD card to hold my OS and application (in my case Volumio) and 250 CDs worth of music. With tha configuration, I still have 29gb of free space.
Best of all, Volumio lets you stream radio stations, Pandora, Spotify, etc. as well as casting audio from your phone/ laptop/ tablet via airplay. This is with the free license of Volumio!
It can seem intimidating to first set this up but there a bunch of great tutorials on the web and youtube. Here's a sample: https://pimylifeup.com/raspberry-pi-volumio/.
Here's a good overview video that talks about different options available.
Give it a shot!
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To get respectable bootup speed and since I'm buying new, which version should I buy? is 2gb internal memory enough?
I'd just be using it for spotify or tidal streaming.
If I were to rip flacs to an external SSD, will the PI be able to read from them?
Thanks
I'd just be using it for spotify or tidal streaming.
If I were to rip flacs to an external SSD, will the PI be able to read from them?
Thanks
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Salparadise
New Member
I'm not one of the experienced guys (about to change), but m8o says he's using several Zero W models which are only 512MB. I chose the 4 because of the independent USB (non hub). People were using the 3 before without issue, and it has 1GB. So the 2GB Pi 4 is actually more than you need in terms of RAM and processing power. The downside is more heat, and the head-sink cases may inhibit wifi (people have differing experiences). You will find the the 2GB model is out of stock at many places. Vilros has them in stock, $35 + 7.95 shipping.
That was TheWalkman who said that.
All mine are 3B, 3B+, 4B+, and one Nano Pi NEO2.
somebodyelse
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It depends - issue #2215 is real, but whether it occurs depends on what software you're running among other things. I've never encountered it with piCorePlayer, and with Volumio it was only after installing the BruteFIR plugin for example. I'd generally recommend the Pi 4 to avoid the possibility of this issue since the price difference is small, but if you know it won't be a problem there's no reason not to use a lower model.
renaudrenaud
Major Contributor
I wrote something in french for PiCorePlayer with a Rasp and official screent. Maybe with automatic translation with google, it may helps?
https://sites.google.com/view/audiofolies/diy/picoreplayer
https://sites.google.com/view/audiofolies/diy/picoreplayer
4b is it then.. btw 2gb RAM is good enough rite?
Apesbrain
Addicted to Fun and Learning
If you are using the RPi only as a player, 2GB should be fine. If running a server on it, I'd suggest 4GB.
somebodyelse
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I'm not aware of a server even needing the full 2GB, let alone 4GB. LMS certainly doesn't need that much. The biggest user of memory is probably the embedded web browser that sometimes gets used to provide the local interface. I've seen reports recently that the 2GB models are getting hard to find in some parts of the world though.
I will not claim to hear an audible difference from the output of a 3b to a 4b+. But maybe it's because I use well engineered HAT DACs, rarely USB out to a DAC, so didn't experience what others have? I don't have experience with other RPi types so will go by their assertions.
For me, my position on the matter is...
When I used to use my laptop with Foobar2000 as the player, USB out to my NAD M51, I absolutely positively heard a difference between the HP 8740w's USB 2 output (sound was 2 dimensionally flat, dead and lifeless) vs. using its USB 3 output (sound was what it should be, 3 dimensional with all the normal superlatives without embellishment). So it's really past experience that has perhaps left me with an unwarranted bias in the realm of PI boards. (?)
Not an unwarranted bias is ....
USB 3 is a 'better' standard, not just faster. And products (cables, interface boards, etc) that conform to it, 'should' be superior to their USB 2 counterparts; in reliability, longevity, noise rejection, etc..
Then also, RPi4 uses a USB-C power supply and connection. That connection standard is supposed to be a better one too. And the supposition is power supplies that conform to it are 'better' too. The Argon supply I linked to earlier has enough power to do everything I need too.
And finally I don't only stream music. I make NAS SAMBA servers, Kodi servers, and small low power always on servers for various tasks, for myself and friends. The Agon ps cited above and USB 3 here is far superior interfacing to an external 2.5" spinning or ssd drive. Since the base RPi4 is the same price as the 3 B+, unless I am doing something that requires a case that is 3b+ specific and there is no 4b+ equivalent yet (which is the case sometimes), I get the 4.
Salparadise
New Member
Would you be so kind as to recommend a few software options, and the main distinctions between them? I think Volumio looks good, but I am not inclined to pay a monthly fee to access another service that also charges a monthly fee (a reasonable one-time fee, no problem). What I want is an indexed drive with my ripped files that I can search easily by tags or metadata, and which has a smooth interface and displays album art (design guy, can’t help it). On the streaming side I’m probably fine using the service’s interface and streaming via AirPlay. I am currently doing that through my Roku TV and it sounds great. My DAC recognizes the high rez stream. A tablet may be in my future once I get everything else set up. What are your thoughts? (thank you)
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Volumio would meet your needs without a paid subscription-its pretty basic in terms of configurability but connects well to a range of sources and has a nice ui Moode audio is another option. I’ve used both extensively and prefer moode. It is arguably less prone to sudden breakage on updating and is more configurable from an audio standpoint, it has really good eq which is due a significant upgrade in 7.1.
You may want to consider contributing something to any project you use. I pay a monthly donation to moode. There may be other options but others may wish to comment on those.
Salparadise
New Member
Do they not require a subscription to stream high rez like Tidal and Qobuz?
I may give Moode a shot then- sounds great if it indexes the local files smoothly.
What about file formats? Is everyone using flac? My understanding is that Apple devices still do not recognize it.
My understanding was that you were good with airplay and local files. If you want to use volumio with tidal or qobuz natively you will need a sub, but you can use tidal/qobuz at 192/24 over upnp on the free version using mconnect or similar. On moode you would need to use mconnect again over upnp for tidal or qobuz for 192/24. Either will do 44.1/16 over AirPlay direct from the tidal/qobuz phone app. They both use mpd which is compiled with support for most common codecs. Last time I checked Apple don’t support flac natively on their devices, but it’s easy to install software such as VLC that does.
Glad Phorize is either in or closer to your time-zone or wakes up way earlier than me, lol. Go by everything said.
I'm mainly a Roon user; RPi nodes are only running RoonBridge or RoPieee[XL] now, here [at my current home]. I use Kodi and Volumio (or perhaps Rune again, we'll see) for friend's builds; wasn't compelled my any other player that has been mentioned in this thread. Tho I'm a software developer and am comfortable with any level of complexity, I really wasnt interested in script based multi-step installs at the time. Had too much going on in my life [was selling my house, then sold it and had to get rid of most everything or put it in storage]. If it wasn't a "burn an image and go" I wasn't trying it, again, just at that time.
I used Volumio and Rune for only a few months during my final months in my house and I didn't bring my Roon NUC server with me from my apartment. Both gave me problems from periodically or almost continually at times (lol); when I gave one I had working for me for months to a friend, or set a new one up for friends, it periodically gives them problems too. I didnt like the sparseness of Rune and had some other problems with it. So after starting with then swearing off Volumio at the beginning of that period, I revisited it and it gave me enough trouble free use for a while that I stuck with it. I like certain things about Volumio's interface; though there are things I dislike too. Nevertheless, I feel compelled to revisit Rune for a build I'll be doing for another friend soon; MoOde too. There have been many player recommendations in this thread and I'm likely to revisit some. And/or in these lists:
https://magpi.raspberrypi.org/articles/best-raspberry-pi-media-players
https://circuitdigest.com/article/top-media-server-software-for-music-streaming-on-raspberry-pi
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Ok my primary purpose is spotify or tidal for now . I might consider ripping my flacs town ssd will I be able to attach to the rpi? What software should I use . Do I need special adaptor for added ssd load ? Thanks
somebodyelse
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So many options...
Most Pi audio software can play from local USB storage, network shares from Windows or NAS drives, and a variety of media servers such as UPnP/DLNA, LogitechMediaServer, Roon etc.
For ripping it depends on which OS you use, and probably personal preference. I've used Exact Audio Copy on Windows, and abcde on linux, but there are many others. Daphile has a built in CD ripper if you go down that route.
You can attach a external HD to a Pi (so presumably an ssd too) via usb. So if you had a Pi with 2 usable (for data) usb ports then one would be attached to the drive, and the other to a DAC. This would rule out a Pi Zero W as you only have 1 (data) usb port (you'd have to get a hub), so perhaps a Pi 4. If you're just playing flacs then you don't need much ram or cpu (my Pi4 rarely exceeds 110megs running mpd and couple of percent cpu). In terms of ripping, you could do that on any pc and copy to the hd/ssd before attaching to the Pi. Or rip/convert on the Pi if you attached a CD drive to it.
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