DAC recommendations?

[0bs3rv3r]

I assume that would be as good or better to connect the rPi to versus the wifi option? Or is sound quality about equal between the two?

For me, there is no audible difference. Maybe if your Wifi is struggling to reach with sufficient signal level, you might find a difference, but I doubt it. Wifi is quite capable of the data bandwidth needed for audio. Still, if the ethernet port is there, why not use it.

 

[Beershaun]

+1 if you have an ethernet port use it. it will have a more stable connection with lower latency and will be more responsive to your commands compared to wifi. But the quality will not be different. I'd get a raspberry pi 4 and an 8gb memory card and you are ready to go.

 

[Sukie]

Recommendation on a raspberry pi kit on Amazon to accomplish this?

My set up, until recently as I'm now using Roon, was this:

2GB RPi4 running Moode Audio controlled by Bubble UPnP android app.
The RPi was connected to the internet via ethernet, but wifi is okay.
The RPi was connected to my DAC via USB.

This is my RPi.
You'll also need a power supply - this is the UK one, obviously you'll need region specific.
You'll also need a case - this is the one I've got. You can get cheaper cases. You won't need a fan if you're running it as a music server.

In addition to this you'll also need a micro SD card. 8 GB card is fine, but any size upwards from that will work.

You can find the Moode download at https://moodeaudio.org/.
There's also a handy set up link. You will need to enable UPnP in Moode after set up. This is in menu, configure, audio.

Moode has recently released version 7 and, in my experience, there were some incompatibility issues with UPnP set up, i.e. Bubble wasn't working properly.

If I were you I'd install an earlier image. Version 6.7.1 can be found at https://github.com/moode-player/moode/releases/tag/r671prod
(You'd need to click on "moode-r671-iso.zip" for the download)

Another alternative would be Volumio. I used Volumio and Moode. Volumio lets you use Tidal directly from its User Interface. Don't do this. You have to pay an additional charge and it's not very good. Just use it as a UPnP renderer. Unlike Moode, this feature is automatically enabled.

Information and downloads can be found at https://volumio.org/

 

[Themarklar81]

My set up, until recently as I'm now using Roon, was this:

2GB RPi4 running Moode Audio controlled by Bubble UPnP android app.
The RPi was connected to the internet via ethernet, but wifi is okay.
The RPi was connected to my DAC via USB.

This is my RPi.
You'll also need a power supply - this is the UK one, obviously you'll need region specific.
You'll also need a case - this is the one I've got. You can get cheaper cases. You won't need a fan if you're running it as a music server.

In addition to this you'll also need a micro SD card. 8 GB card is fine, but any size upwards from that will work.

You can find the Moode download at https://moodeaudio.org/.
There's also a handy set up link. You will need to enable UPnP in Moode after set up. This is in menu, configure, audio.

Moode has recently released version 7 and, in my experience, there were some incompatibility issues with UPnP set up, i.e. Bubble wasn't working properly.

If I were you I'd install an earlier image. Version 6.7.1 can be found at https://github.com/moode-player/moode/releases/tag/r671prod
(You'd need to click on "moode-r671-iso.zip" for the download)

Another alternative would be Volumio. I used Volumio and Moode. Volumio lets you use Tidal directly from its User Interface. Don't do this. You have to pay an additional charge and it's not very good. Just use it as a UPnP renderer. Unlike Moode, this feature is automatically enabled.

Information and downloads can be found at https://volumio.org/

Thank you for all that information! ^^^

I do have one more question. Now that I'm really digging into all of this, I'm starting to consider moving up my price point on a DAC.

Any other suggestions on DACs in the 3-500 dollar range? It looks like Topping has a lot of great options as well as SMSL. Do you all have any personal preferences outside of those two brands?

 

[Sukie]

Thank you for all that information! ^^^

I do have one more question. Now that I'm really digging into all of this, I'm starting to consider moving up my price point on a DAC.

Any other suggestions on DACs in the 3-500 dollar range? It looks like Topping has a lot of great options as well as SMSL. Do you all have any personal preferences outside of those two brands?

Once you get to that price you're looking at features and appearance. What do you want your DAC to do and how do you want it to look?

The basic questions at this point relate to balanced output and MQA. If you're not bothered about either then you don't need to go above a Topping D50s (if you want BT) or an E30 if you don't. If you do want these additional features then an SMSL SU-9 might be a good buy.

Just to be clear, you won't get an improvement in sound quality with a more expensive DAC.

 

[Themarklar81]

Once you get to that price you're looking at features and appearance. What do you want your DAC to do and how do you want it to look?

The basic questions at this point relate to balanced output and MQA. If you're not bothered about either then you don't need to go above a Topping D50s (if you want BT) or an E30 if you don't. If you do want these additional features then an SMSL SU-9 might be a good buy.

Just to be clear, you won't get an improvement in sound quality with a more expensive DAC.

Is there a consensus belief amongst the people on this site in regards to MQA? As in, is the audio quality hands down better? Or are we talking about a 5% improvement most people wouldn't be able to tell?

 

[Beershaun]

Is there a consensus belief amongst the people on this site in regards to MQA? As in, is the audio quality hands down better? Or are we talking about a 5% improvement most people wouldn't be able to tell?

I would consider it a "nice to have."

There is no consensus. There is a lot of religious debate on whether it is "good" or "bad." My advice is, if you are curious about it, is to get a cheap mqa dac like an audio quest dragonfly or smsl m400 and listen to it for yourself to see whether or not you really want it.

 

[Sukie]

Is there a consensus belief amongst the people on this site in regards to MQA? As in, is the audio quality hands down better? Or are we talking about a 5% improvement most people wouldn't be able to tell?

There is a seemingly endless debate on MQA. Feel free to search the site on that one. Personally I don't use it (I use Qobuz) but I don't have particularly strong feelings either way.

If you've got a Tidal Hifi Subscription and you're looking to buy a new DAC, you might want to consider getting one with full MQA decoding capacity. The SMSL SU-9 looks good. Topping have the D90 MQA and the newly released D70s. These cost a little more than the SMSL.