Choosing a computer for my DIY Classic 'Cassette based' Audio Streamer

[roog]

I would like to make my own streamer, more precisely, I would like to create a themed custom case for a streamer and I am at a loss as to which 'computer' to use?

The feature set I would like are: (like being the operative word here)

1. Access to Qobuz or and Tidal natively
2. Output that can be used to connect a 5" to 7" colour screen to display track playing and album art work,
3. Digital output by USB or and SPDIF by copper or toslink to allow use of external DAC
4. Built in Analogue output to allow me to drive UV meters, (most important this one!)
5. Digital and analogue inputs to enable interfacing to physical controls, push buttons and rotary knobs, (really nice to have)
6. WiFi and RJ45 access to network

I guess this could be a lot to ask.

As a secondary point the platform would need to be able to run commercial software that can support the items listed in 1 to 6 above as well. Coding is outside of my skills set.

I have thought about using a modest cost dedicated streamer like the Bluesound Node 2i but this doesn't seem to offer a display output and the digital/analogue control inputs, (start, stop, next track & Vol.) would need work.

If anyone knows of a dedicated streamer which can display track No./data/artwork on a separate if fairly small screen I would be interested.

Alternatively I am thinking of using a NUC, Apple Mini or RPi3 or 4. I have some experience with an RPi3 plus SPDIF hat running Picore squeezebox simulation and it was bordering on 'too geeky' for me.

I would love to hear of your ideas.

Many thanks

 

[dtaylo1066]

Take a look at the Asus Tinker Board. I am running one with Volumio. I play music wirelessly from WD My Cloud. Works flawlessly. Also, look at offerings at audiophonics.fr. Good luck.

 

[mdsimon2]

Cambridge CXN V2 or 851N are commercial offerings that seem to offer everything you are looking for.

Michael

 

[somebodyelse]

I'm not sure how to reconcile that list of requirements with piCorePlayer being 'too geeky'

 

[Ralph_Cramden]

With LMS and Squeezelite, there's no need to do this "all in one" - two or more Pi Zero's can be perfectly synch'd, one for the digital out, one for the analog out to drive a VU meter (or just drive a virtual meter directly).

 

[somebodyelse]

@Ralph_Cramden gives a good example of the dilema - I can think of several routes to achieve the goals using a combination of things that are already out there, but if piCorePlayer was already borderline 'too geeky' then I can't see any of them falling on your side of that line.

 

[threni]

@Ralph_Cramden gives a good example of the dilema - I can think of several routes to achieve the goals using a combination of things that are already out there, but if piCorePlayer was already borderline 'too geeky' then I can't see any of them falling on your side of that line.

I guess moving onto moOde is a small step away from the geekiness that is tinyCore!

 

[Lambda]

Second hand "dell optiplex 3070 micro" (has 9gen cpu)
Depending on budget 3060 or 3050 might also be ok. they can be had cheaper then an PI.

small an cute.

but you can get the same from HP called "Elitedesk sff " don’t uses below gen2
or from Lenovo or Fujitsu...

 

[roog]

Thank you for all of the suggestion, perhaps I overplayed my aversion to geeky solutions, if there is a little support I would probably find the confidence to take that step!

definitely need to check out the pi zero

 

[roog]

U

@Ralph_Cramden gives a good example of the dilema - I can think of several routes to achieve the goals using a combination of things that are already out there, but if piCorePlayer was already borderline 'too geeky' then I can't see any of them falling on your side of that line.

if I were to dial back my angst over geeky solutions would you let me know your ideas Please? Cheers

 

[JoeBrooklyn]

Also consider a used Dell Wyse 3040 thin client. They run $25-50 on eBay and can run any of the media players and have space inside for a HD or SSD.

 

[somebodyelse]

U

if I were to dial back my angst over geeky solutions would you let me know your ideas Please? Cheers

1, 2, 3 & 6 are already done by pretty much every available audio-specific linux distro and its target hardware within normal config options. A lot of the small displays marketed as being for the Pi are actually using HDMI, plus USB if they've got touch, so will work with PC hardware too. I think paid Volumio is the only one with non-dodgy Tidal Connect support if that's important to you.

4 needs some clarification about requirements. Ralph showed some on-screen ones commonly used with piCorePlayer. There are others, like the ppm mode of bellini which can take input from a number of sources so should be applicable to most of the distros. There may be guides for combining them if you look. I'm fairly sure I've seen a similar one that outputs to physical meters or LEDs but I'll have to search my bookmarks as it hasn't popped up in a quick search. Syncing multiple audio outputs is another option, but wouldn't be my first choice.

5 is probably easier on the Pi or similar SBC as they have general purpose input/output (GPIO) pins that can interact with buttons, rotary encoders etc. rather than needing separate hardware. I don't know if any of the distros have support for this built in. If not it'll be getting geeky, and the problem may be more in finding the easy method out of the many available. Pikeyd used to make it easy by making buttons and rotary encoders generate ordinary keyboard events, but I don't know if someone else has taken over maintenance, or if you'd need to track down a more recent alternative. SqueezeButtonPi was another option for LMS based things. The more generally applicable but more geeky option is to use a small board like the Pi Pico programmed to turn your buttons, knobs, rotary encoders etc. into USB human interface device (keyboard, joystick etc.) - the PC, Pi or whatever just sees it as a standard keyboard or whatever, with whatever keys you have configured it for. I haven't tried it with a Pi Pico yet, but have with an Ardiuno Leonardo (the Micro and clones should also work) and an STM32 'blue pill' but they've got more expensive with the chip shortages.

On the SBC side The Pi has the advantage of strong community support and available hardware, plus long term backup from the manufacturer, and kernel patches being pushed into the mainline linux kernel. The down side at the moment is availability.

On the PC-like side I'd agree used thin clients are a good way to go when combined with daphile or Volumio. They're mostly tiny fanless PCs with small (<=4GB) internal SSDs, and often very cheap, but they can have quirks and you will need to do a bit of research, particularly if you want one that can take more internal storage of some sort. https://www.parkytowers.me.uk/thin/ has a lot of useful info about different models. I picked up a Wyse R90L for <£20 and added an internal nvme ssd which daphile can use for music, while the OS is on the small drive it came with. I use it headless, but you could add an HDMI touchscreen. I don't know if they're compatible with the DisplayLink USB screens though. You can always put the board in a custom case if you don't like the stock one, or want to build the screen into it. If you'd prefer to use one of the HTPC cases with built in screen you'll probably want a fanless miniITX motherboard instead.

 

[JoeBrooklyn]

Here's an example of a cheap, pre-built thin client that would meet your criteria. Volumio is not my fave - i have used it, but prefer Moode.

For Sale: Dell Wyse 3040 x86 Thin Clients with pre-installed Volumio for 50€!

This is a limited offer for units out of 10 piece batches of pre-owned, non-wifi Dell Wyse 3040 Thin Clients. As new, manufacturing date 2018. Depending on demand, new batches are added when the current one is sold out. Wyse 3040 Thin Client for Virtual Desktop Experience | Dell USA ook The...

community.volumio.org

 

[roog]

Thank you @somebodyelse for your comprehensive advice, there’s a lot to consider here I like/am comfortable with a PC so the thin client solution is interesting.

I wasn’t going to include on board music storage, but I can see that it would be a sensible option. I might buy one of these little PCs just to have a play!

 

[roog]

Here's an example of a cheap, pre-built thin client that would meet your criteria. Volumio is not my fave - i have used it, but prefer Moode.

For Sale: Dell Wyse 3040 x86 Thin Clients with pre-installed Volumio for 50€!

This is a limited offer for units out of 10 piece batches of pre-owned, non-wifi Dell Wyse 3040 Thin Clients. As new, manufacturing date 2018. Depending on demand, new batches are added when the current one is sold out. Wyse 3040 Thin Client for Virtual Desktop Experience | Dell USA ook The...

community.volumio.org

Thank you @JoeBrooklyn just as others have suggested these tiny PCs look interesting hadnt heard of them before this thread. Like you I am not especially a fan of Volumio which I ran on my RPi3 + Allo hat. I currently have Picore LMS and SB running on it, I don’t think I’ve tried MoOde.

this all needs further thought

 

[roog]

I thought that I might post my progress on my repurposed 70's HiFi as a digital Music Streamer as it is now beginning to gain some momentum.
I have chosen to use my RPi3 which I had along with an Allo Digi One hat and recently acquired 7" touch screen.
After a bit of a tussle I have it running Picoreplayer allowing access to Qobuz and locally stored music files in the Micro SD card. So all good so far.
Here is a picture of the donor chassis I have a choice of a 1978 JVC or a 1975 Sony Cassette deck, both ebay 'not working' purchases, (Well actually i have since fixed the JVC, loose flywheel issue) so it looks like the Sony is going to be the selected donor. It is also the best made, very solid indeed.

The plan is to remove the cassette mech and put the RPi 7" display behind the front facia in its place. I can see that I am going to need a bigger hole than just that left by the cassette door opening. Careful metal working may be required here!

The usual RPi/Allo Digi guts behind the display.

The plan is to use this as a SPDIF digital out only device with the bnc output going to the back panel and the RCA digital out feeding the VU meters. I have ordered a cheap DAC to provide a line level signal to drive the VU meters and a mini QWERTY keyboard to hack to provide momentary push button inputs to the RPi for functions like, FF/Play/Stop/RW/Pause etc. The plan is to fit new microswitches to the cassette piano keys so that they can operate the Picoreplayer functions of the same description via the hacked USB keyboard.

However I am a 'bit at a loss' to know what to do with the 'Record Level' and 'Line level' Knobs and the 4 No. 'toggle switches' Any ideas?

I can use the keyboard hack to access up/down/left/right in the picore player, but the knobs have potentiometers attached, as you would expect for 70's electronics, I could modify them to operate a couple of micro switches for left/right/up/down 'etch-a-sketch' style, but its going to be quite a task and I really not sure what to do with them that might be worth while even then?
I have tried a USB mouse, but I am not able to get a reaction from Picore to this device. Do you know of any cheap USB devices that might allow me to tap into the rotary action of the knobs that i can use via the Picore player?

The touch screen and phone/tablet interface can do everything but, it would be nice to give most of the front controls a use, don't you think?

I would appreciate any ideas you might have.

 

[Vict0r]

What about a tiny barebones system like the AsRock Deskmini X300? All it needs is an AM4 cpu, and I think it has everything you're looking for.

EDIT: Sorry, missed that you already went with the RPi.

 

[JoeBrooklyn]

However I am a 'bit at a loss' to know what to do with the 'Record Level' and 'Line level' Knobs and the 4 No. 'toggle switches' Any ideas?

Change the display from song to VU/Level meters
Change DSP profiles or bass boost
Headphone/output volume if you build in an amp

 

[roog]

"Headphone/output volume if you build in an amp" I like this idea.

And yes using the switches to charge display would work for me, I haven't found the DSP profiles or bass boost yet, I must have a look for those.

 

[somebodyelse]

There are a bunch of tutorials around about using a Pi Pico, stm32 'blue pill' or certain Ardiunos like the Leonardo as generic USB human interface devices like keyboard, mouse, joystick etc. which may be easier than connecting directly to the Pi. A pot would map well to a joystick axis, or you could trigger key combinations when the pot enters or leaves a given segment for example. I've done this before with a Leonardo, and did a proof-of-concept with a blue pill and quadrature encoder, but the Picos have only arrived recently and I haven't tried them yet. Or you could hack a cheap gamepad to use the pots. From what I remember the pygame libraries provide an easy way to do other things with joystick and button input on the Pi.

I'd be looking for a smaller screen to fit behind the window in the existing cassette door to retain the old look. I can imagine a 'screensaver' showing revolving spools and maybe indicating track or album progress with the thickness of tape on the spools.