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My first Raspberry Pi streamer - Please have a look at the parts list :-) Thank you!

Wegi76

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Apr 8, 2021
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Hello there,

I would like to build a Raspberry Pi based Roon endpoint for my old active speakers. These do only have RCA inputs and I have to control the volume seperately for the left and right speaker with an anlogue dial, so not very convenient. When I used the speakers in my home office in the past I had a nano patch to control the volume for both speakers between source and the monitors.

Now I`d like to reanimate the speakers with a RP4-based roon endpoint (running ropieee) and I want to use the 7" touch display to control volume (instead of the nano patch) and to have basic playback control. I have no ethernet cabling availabe in the room, and the thing has to connect to my wireless network.

Will the following parts list be good or would you suggest to pick some other components:

- RP4 board, 2GB RAM
- Official 7" TouchScreen + plastic casing (supported by ropieee)
- 32GB Micro SD Card
- Official RP4 USB-C power supply, 3 Amps
- Passive cooling kit
- Topping E30 DAC (orginially wanted to buy the D10S. ButI read that there are complaint the D10S would pick up noise becaue of the share DATA & power through a single cable) Not sure if this is really relevant. The D10S would save 40€.

Questions:
Does the parts list make sense or would you pick different components for "the job"?
Will the Raspi be able to run the display AND the Topping E30 using the single Raspberry Pi USB-C power supply? Or should I use a seperate Powersupply for the DAC instead of pulling the power from the Raspi?
Will 2GB of Memory be sufficient mid term for audio streaming purposes or should I buy the 4GB version right away?
Is the E30 really necessary or is the above mentioned concern about noise nonsense?
Will the volume control via the touch screen definitely work with the E30? For the D10S I found voices that confirmed it`s volume can be hardware controlled.

Thanks a lot in advance!

Cheers, Markus
 

Chrisr

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Apr 2, 2021
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As I am new to this unfortunately I can't say much with any authority. However I just yesterday installed my first ever RPI and am running moode on a 2GB model and am having no issues whatsoever. Obviously roon might have other demands but it would surprise me greatly if 2GB of ram wasn't enough.

Also for memory card I am running 16GB without any issues at all. But obviously that depends on what else you want to put on the RPI.

With regards to power supply I can't really say. Personally between your two choices I would probably go with the safe bet of E30 + separate power supply. That way you avoid any potential issues with both power and noise. Unless of course if you can get first hand reports that the D10S + screen work without issues (that would be a neater solution if it works). Actually I am waiting for my Loxjie D30 to be delivered, so I went for separate power supply.

Wish I could give you better information, but figured it might help a little bit as none of the people who actually know what they are talking about have replied yet ;)
 

FooYatChong

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Feb 2, 2019
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Does the parts list make sense or would you pick different components for "the job"?
Yes

Will the Raspi be able to run the display AND the Topping E30 using the single Raspberry Pi USB-C power supply? Or should I use a separate Powersupply for the DAC instead of pulling the power from the Raspi?
Both the screen and the E30 require 0.5A so you should be fine.
Only encountered problems with the Pi powering both the E30 and a 4TB mobile disc (which required 1A at times)

Will 2GB of Memory be sufficient mid term for audio streaming purposes or should I buy the 4GB version right away?
2GB will do. On my Pi I run JRiver on Raspbian and memory usage stays below 1GB, even when playing music from memory.

Is the E30 really necessary or is the above mentioned concern about noise nonsense?
Don't know but with the E30 you have the option to power it separately if necessary.

Will the volume control via the touch screen definitely work with the E30? For the D10S I found voices that confirmed its volume can be hardware controlled.
I can control volume from the Pi with any software I tried.
 
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Wegi76

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Many thanks @ both of you for your advise. I just ordered the components.:cool:
 

mash

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Oct 8, 2020
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I'll add some comments as I just set up a similar RPi (RP4, Ropieee, Roon/Spotify, D10S)....

- I got the RP4 with 4G....2G should be fine
- You don't need the 7" screen (unless you want it). I use Roon for all playback control and the Ropieee UI is a web interface. Apparently, the 7" screen does give you some display/control right at the device but I never felt the need for that given Roon's interface (I control Roon off of an iPad when I'm moving around the house and basically use the RPi as a headless device).
- 3V power supply should be fine for the RPi
- I bought a Flirc case which double duties as a passive cooler....mine only gets slightly warm after running it for hours (either as a Roon endpoint or Spotify connect)
- I'm using the D10S and am very happy. The USB noise should not be an issue...the DAC should filter that out. See Amir's review below....the D10S is powered via the USB cable from the RPi without issue (don't need another power supply). The D10S does not have a remote and/or volume control. I use a combination Roon and end devices to control the volume while using Roon I use a mix of end device (hardware) and Roon DSP volume control (Software) when using Roon. For Spotify, I use software based volume control (i.e. Spotify player controls the volume)
- the E30 is also a great box and does have hardware based volume control, more digital inputs, and a remote....which gives you some extra pre-amp functionality....if you need/want that
- volume control. If you are using Ropieee and the 7" to control playback (as opposed to Roon), I would think that should work with either the D10S or E30 but I haven't tried the Ropieee player interface. If you use Roon DSP for volume control it will work with either DAC. (note that if you are using software to control the volume, you would either turn off the E30 volume control or set it to 100). Also, Roon allows you to set the gain on the channels separately within the DSP settings (effectively changing the balance).

D10S review:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...topping-d10s-usb-dac-and-bridge-review.14859/

also, here's a good link for setting up Ropieee along with hardware minimums:

https://codexwilkes.com/downloads/ropieee-guide-for-beginners.pdf
 

Aldoszx

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Aug 19, 2019
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You can use the remote of E30 for volume control, which is the best choiche from my point of view.
Ropieee interface is usefull only for play, pause, next - previous track and volume control.
You cannot navigate and change the album.
And I would not reccomend to use DSP volume in Roon.
 
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