Pi-fi newbie!

[Stu23]

Hi all, been browsing the forum looking for answers and thought I'd sign up and chat instead.

I've put together a little headphone system, mostly out of bits I had lying around...

Chromecast Audio > toslink > MF V-DAC > MF V-CAN2 > AKG K550ii

Used purely for Spotify so far, it sits on my bedside table hidden inside a 1930s radio case, controlled by iPhone or android tablet. It sounds very nice, but there's always the feeling things can be improved. One of the things that drives me nuts is that the CCA doesn't do gapless and I like my Pink Floyd and Genesis albums among others (yes, I'm old).

So, after much reading, I bought myself a RPi 3B+, popped Volumio on it, and connected the Pi to the V-DAC by USB... it works, but that's about all I can say for it. I was a "bits is bits" guy until I heard this! Yes, it plays DSOTM gapless, but all the musicians are lumped into one and all the air and separation has disappeared. I guess they don't make Digi Hats for nothing... something between the Pi's USB bus and the USB implementation on the DAC is really screwing it up. I would hope the purchase of something like a Digi2 Pro from Hifiberry and digging a coax cable out of the pile will solve the sound quality; despite everything I read on the net I was hoping not to have to bother!

Next... the CCA not only sounds much better it also has a digital volume control from the phone... the Pi doesn't do that (bit perfect, no doubt)... and as my head amp is inside a box, that's really useful!

Apart from the gapless thing, that CCA is quite a neat device and is going to take some replacing!

 

[Stu23]

Just for fun, my 1938 Emerson radio case.

 

[tomtoo]

Welcome to ASR!
Hope someone can help. I love this case.

 

[Stu23]

Thanks… looks something like this in the back…

 

[Martinvb]

Hi @Stu23, In my experience, if the USB implementation of the DAC is OK, the sound of your system should at least be better than acceptable. The Pi3 + Volumio mainly hands off the audio processing to the external DAC (the Pi4 is theoretically preferred over Pi3 for USB audio processing, because in the Pi4 the power supply to ethernet and USB circuitry is better separated). If you cannot find the cause, indeed you may want to try a hat DAC that come in many flavours and which are quite affordable nowadays. The Allo company has well designed and reasonably priced DACs (better compared to HifiBerry or IQ-Audio, to name a few), e.g. the Boss DAC, that was positively reviewed on ASR not so long ago. The result might surprise you…Nice system, BTW!

 

[Count Arthur]

I have a Raspberry Pi 4 with Volumio and the Dacs I have, an RME ADI-2 DAC, Topping NX4 and a little HiDiz S9 dongle, sound the same connected to the Pi via USB as they do connected to my PC, or a phone.

I wonder if the USB output of the Pi 3 is significantly different to the Pi 4, or whether the USB implementation on the V-DAC is in some way inferior to the SPDIF/Toslink connection, although Sterophile's tests suggest it may be better: https://www.stereophile.com/content/musical-fidelity-v-dac-da-processor-measurements, so what do I know.

Do you have an alternative DAC you could try?

I like the radio case too.

 

[JSmith]

in the back

Cool project... just worried that larger transformer plug in the middle may eventually pull out of the socket from weight/gravity/motion/time, so you may want to secure same.



JSmith

 

[Count Arthur]

Hi @Stu23, did you intend to Name this thread “Hi-Fi newbie verses “Pi-fi newbie? If so I can edit the title if you wish?

No, he's talking about Raspbery Pi.

 

[MCH]

Very cool, did you think of "pairing" it with wooden headphones?

 

[Stu23]

Hi @Stu23, did you intend to Name this thread “Hi-Fi newbie verses “Pi-fi newbie? If so I can edit the title if you wish?

No, I’m a long way from being a hi-fi newbie! As pointed out above, I’m playing Pi for the first time.

 

[Stu23]

Cool project... just worried that larger transformer plug in the middle may eventually pull out of the socket from weight/gravity/motion/time, so you may want to secure same.



JSmith

Nope, those UK 13 amp plugs won’t fall out in a month of Sundays. The double sided tape holding the gang socket has given way once, though.

Do you have an alternative DAC you could try?

No, nothing comparable. The DAC works great with optical in from the Chromecast, so I have no intention of changing it. If Pi and or USB don’t work, I’ll revert to Toslink/SPDIF.

Your question has made me think of an answer to a different one. I do have several other USB outputs to plug in to the DAC. At least that will identify if the problem is the Pi output or the DAC input.
Won’t happen until the weekend… I’m 1000 miles away from the kit this week.

 

[Stu23]

But with nothing to do except lay in the sun and play on my phone this week, I’ve ordered a digi hat ( Hifiberry Digi2 Pro, I’d like the Allo but can’t justify more than twice the price).
Also bought another vintage radio on eBay last night… this one will get speakers in.

 

[quattr0]

. I would hope the purchase of something like a Digi2 Pro from Hifiberry and digging a coax cable out of the pile will solve the sound quality; despite everything I read on the net I was hoping not to have to bother!

Couple things...as above already mentioned, using USB, pi4 is preferred.

I have Hifiberry Digi+ Pro, RME ADI-2 FS Pro BE and Khadas Tone Board. For most listeners, the Khadas Tone Board, skip the Hifiberry, will satisfy the sound quality. The only reason I keep the RME is because it has stronger bass....other than that the Khadas does very good job in detail, soundstage, not too bright...just almost perfect and definitely worth 10 times cheaper than RME's (the regular version, not the Pro).

 

[Stu23]

Thanks. I saw people saying a pi4 was better than a 3 USB but I guess I knew I was going to get a HAT eventually so thought I’d give the 3 a try (at half the price of a 4). My (very faulty) reasoning was that anything must be better than the little plastic Chromecast Audio.
In practice I think the CCA’s optical out is going to take some beating, but getting back to using the S/PDIF inputs on the V-DAC will be a good start. The USB input is the old synchronous type and was only “fixed” in the V-DAC2. I guess the combination of that and the pi3’s output create a bit of a mess. Looking forward to getting home tomorrow and putting the ‘Berry in the system. I’ll let you know!

 

[Count Arthur]

The USB input is the old synchronous type and was only “fixed” in the V-DAC2.

That makes sense, I was a fairly early adopter of the PC/USB DAC set-up and I remember at the time there was quite a lot made of the fact that some DACs had asynchronous USB input and others didn't. I think all the newer DACs are asynchhronous and USB connection issues have largely been resolved, such that it's generally considered as superior to SPDIF and Toslink, provided you don't run into any ground loop issues.

 

[Stu23]

Couple of weeks have passed, and things are much, much better. The Hifiberry digi2 pro is now fitted on the Pi and playing through its coaxial output. Unfortunately the coax input on the v-dac has decided to go AWOL, so I treated myself to a v-dac2 from ebay. It went in today, and I've been plugged in all evening, listening to every from Pink Floyd's Wall to Beethoven....
I've swapped to HifiberryOS and now have excellent sound, gapless playback and volume control from the phone. I think I'm done...