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ASR Open Source Streamer Project

tinnitus

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But you can also resurrect stillborn.
Some time has passed and new components are on the market.
I throw my streamer solution into the ASR ring.

After @voodooless suggestion I call it YAPiS+.

RaspberryPI as computer hardware and e.g. Topping DM7 as USB DAC and IMG Sta2000d as amplifier.
(USB or HDMI DAC and amplifier according to your taste).

I listen for a long time with this and I can say it runs stable.

Any DLNA Upnp controller can be used as a source. I use BubbleUPnp for Tidal and local/NAS media. VR Radio for internet stations (there Bubble is a bit chess on the chest).

As hardware platform I use Raspberrys Rpi3b+ and Rpi4, brand new with PiOS64.

Three software components run on the RPI:
1) as renderer umpmdcli
2) as DSP CamillaDsp
3) as StartStop Service Cleanshut

That's all I need to process the streamed input.

I use CamillaDsp to do the crossover and room correction (65k FIR filters), since my bare speakers only have drivers and cables.

CamillaDsp is a powerful tool and all sorts of sound manipulations can be done there. If you like it "pure" you can also use it just for balance control.

What I added for the usability, therefore the plus sign at the end of the name, is the start stop service.

There is only one pushbutton for my system to switch everything on and also to switch it off again. This is more than just a high WAF factor.

A quick push makes the Rpi power up the DAC and turn on the amp before starting CamillaDsp. Then anyone who can operate BubbleUpnp or other controller (Foobar2000.....) on the smartphone can listen to music.

A longer press on the button (2-3 sec) first turns off the amplifier and then shuts down the RPI and turns off the DAC. I just didn't manage to use less than one button ;-)

To load the individual parameters / settings for the DSP I use a USB stick which transfers the new configuration to the RPI when it is plugged in. So even Linux laymen can do the individual settings.

CamillaDSP also has a WebGui user interface, but I haven't used it yet.

Here is the prototype (still needs a nicer box)
IMG_20220729_141633a.jpg

and teardown
IMG_20230106_140530.jpg


:)
*** Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version) ***
 

BDE

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[...]
RaspberryPI as computer hardware and e.g. Topping DM7 as USB DAC and IMG Sta2000d as amplifier.
(USB or HDMI DAC and amplifier according to your taste).
[...]
Three software components run on the RPI:
1) as renderer umpmdcli
2) as DSP CamillaDsp
3) as StartStop Service Cleanshut
Perfect, that it runs stable!
For me there are just two more options necessary, digital inputs (e.g. Toslink) and a IR volume control, is it possible?
Maybe by using a USB DAC ADC combination, like Behringer UMC1820?
 

tinnitus

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@BDE digital input is possible, but i know only one Rpi Hat from hifiberry (digi-io+) but the driver is lousy and i had a lot of problems to us it as input for the DSP.
And therefore i don't use it anymore. The DM7 has also IR volume control, but i use only the volume control of the smartphone Upnp Controler.
 

mdsimon2

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TSB

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Sorry to be a party pooper, but I am very skeptical about some of the goals mentioned in this thread..

Let's look at some of the services mentioned:

Google Cast (requires product plan approval and certification)
Apple Airplay (requires certification, proprietary crypto hardware)
Spotify (requires certification)
Tidal (requires certification)
Roon (requires certification)
Amazon music (requires certification)

Voice Assistants same story - but worse. A lot of testing for microphones. Proprietary libraries for echo cancellation.

Most of these companies won't risk the reputation of their services by certifying hobby projects. Even if they would you're talking about tens of thousands in costs to get certified at an external company. And then the development costs to meet these certifications (which can be quite demanding) are very significant (for example, Google Cast requires you to provide a smartphone app (Android+Ios) to set up the wireless network)..

Just integrating these services if they are all existed as free open libraries would be hundreds of thousands of your favorite currency in developer time..

You're lucky to just get UPnP and Bluetooth working smoothly..

Sorry again, as I am quite sympathetic to these efforts, but this all seems to be based on a significant underestimation of these products.
 

voodooless

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What’s the obsession with certificatios? Most of the things you mention already live as functional open source projects. They work fine without any stamp of approval.
 

TSB

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What’s the obsession with certificatios? Most of the things you mention already live as functional open source projects. They work fine without any stamp of approval.
I think that's a little too optimistic. For some, there are reverse-engineered projects that implement some subset of the protocol. For example, there is an airplay receiver, but it does not implement track information. Another one doesn't support Apple's DRM (it's likely to break or already be broken at this point).

For some of the key ones (C4A, Siri, Alexa, GVA - ok who cares, it's dead anyway, AMZ music) there is nothing at all.

The best supported ones are probably Tidal and Spotify, but those are also reverse engineering efforts that can break without warning.

Of course it's up to you. If you only need a few features and those are supported, you might be happy to take the risk and spend money on building a "high-end" streamer around that.

In the end, you will have a hard time reaching feature parity with commercial streamers and without access to official libraries you're likely to have a lot more bugs.
 

anphex

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Let's keep this thread alive! I am close to pulling my hair out finding a decent balanced multichannel DAC with DSP and UBS+Optical in.

Either you have to accept an AVR with bad SINAD at the pre-outs, take one of the few multi-channel DACs - which are currently only very inflexible - or a professional interface, which has complicated drivers and/or a high price.
I have not even mentioned the lack of a good FIR DSP that works at full resolution.

Therefore, I have a thought:
- Banana or Orange Pi as control center and DSP
- Mean Well SMPS 12V
- DC-DC converter for various ICs
- ESS 9038 Pro as DAC
- 8 TRS outputs each with a 1612 op amp

Maybe:
- OLED screen, control buttons, knobs

I want an ADAT input but didn't find any smooth way so far to connect it to the Pi natively. Also I can't seem to find any IC for that.
Then there is the thing, even if we find in IC that somehow turns ADAT optical signal into electrical I2S signal that could be connected to the Pi, we only have limited amount of pins.
If I read right, there are 26 assignable pins. Two can be shared between all channels for "LRCK" and the overall clock. Ground is shared anyway and there are dedicated pins available. That leaves about 24 pins. 16 are reserved for balanced output (though I don't know if the ESS9038 can be fed with one signal and it creates a balanced signal from it somehow for its interal processing, worst case would be using two ESS 9038?), so we have a 8 left for the ADAT input? This would leave no pins for the buttons and the screen though...

I really need to make a block diagram soon. As you may have noticed, I am kind of thinking aloud here.

I looked at some microcontrollers but these require writing the "OS" from scratch while Pi operating systems can be accessed via monitor, web interface, ssh etc and bring more flexibility to the table.
 
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voodooless

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Just get a multichannel USB audio interface with ADAT in and out. It has all the hardware you need already, including DAC's.
 
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anphex

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Just get a multichannel USB audio interface with ADAT in and out. It has all the hardware you need already, including DAC's.
Tried that with MOTU, but it can't be set to surround in windows and has no FIR dsp. This is the core problem. Quality of a recent stereo DAC, but with multichannel input/output over ADAT and USB AND FIR DSP EQ for all connected devices.
 

voodooless

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What do you have anyway that outputs multichannel over ADAT?

I think Motu is a notoriously bad choice for an audio interface with Linux support. There are others that will work much better.
 

anphex

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@voodooless

Oh no, ADAT is only necessary as input. I consider ADAT+USB to cover 95% of all possible home audio devices. Output should be TRS 6,3mm only.

I could use an RME or Antelope, but the FIR EQ DSP problem would stay. The closest option is a recent MiniDSP, but it still has some issues (mediocre rolloff filter suppression, rather high multi tone distortion) that would bother me.
 

tinnitus

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@voodooless

Oh no, ADAT is only necessary as input. I consider ADAT+USB to cover 95% of all possible home audio devices. Output should be TRS 6,3mm only.

I could use an RME or Antelope, but the FIR EQ DSP problem would stay. The closest option is a recent MiniDSP, but it still has some issues (mediocre rolloff filter suppression, rather high multi tone distortion) that would bother me.
What is youre source with ADAT output.
My input to my streamer is 99.9% Lan or Wlan.
 
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