PI2AES Digital Audio Shield for the Raspberry PI

[navin]

I am not offended at all! I am glad you read the manual and I can clarify the last few points.

1. The PI2AES has no impact on the functionality of the Raspberry Pi it is attached to. I would guess the same is true for the Allo device.

2. The I2S over HDMI is LVDS and supports the Gustard Pinout directly. All you need is a standard HDMI cable. Just keep it short (1-3Meters) and you'll be good.

3. The PI2AES provide 5V@4A to the Raspberry Pi GPIO header. You will need to refer to the Allo docs to find out if thjis is sufficient. it is my understand that the USBBridge behaves like a standard Pi so you should be fine.

As for software, that is not something we can advise on. I suggest asking that on the forums the software vendors maintain.

Thank you.

The only reason I considered the USBridge is that it was purpose-built for audio. Hence I expect it to have better audio performance than a standard RPi4B.

My HDMI cable will be 1m or less. My DAC will be less than 10cm from my streamer. I expect to keep them next to each other.

Let me figure if Allo can survive on 4A. I suppose it should. That way my DC power supply need only supply 24V/3A.

Thanks again.

 

[Michael Kelly]

Thank you.

The only reason I considered the USBridge is that it was purpose-built for audio. Hence I expect it to have better audio performance than a standard RPi4B.

My HDMI cable will be 1m or less. My DAC will be less than 10cm from my streamer. I expect to keep them next to each other.

Let me figure if Allo can survive on 4A. I suppose it should. That way my DC power supply need only supply 24V/3A.

Thanks again.

If I understand their documentation correctly, the Allo device is primarily optimized for USB control of a downstream DAC. If you aren't using USB to control your DAC, then I don't know what the benefit is. Maybe others can speak to this? I certainly don't mean to dissuade you from using it. As far as I know they produce very high quality products.

 

[navin]

If I understand their documentation correctly, the Allo device is primarily optimized for USB control of a downstream DAC. If you aren't using USB to control your DAC, then I don't know what the benefit is. Maybe others can speak to this? I certainly don't mean to dissuade you from using it. As far as I know they produce very high quality products.

You are absolutely right Michael.

The use the Pi2AES, I would have to purchase an RPi 4B. Since Allo products are made in India (where I live) the cost of a USBrdige Signature is not much more than an RPi 4B 8GB. Most imported products cost about 2x the prices of the US.

Hence it might make sense to have the USB option available even if one never needs it. My preference would be to use the Pi2AES's I2S output to the corresponding input of Gustard X16's DAC but I am still to understand how to get the RPi (and hence the USBridge which I understand is just a break out board for the RPi3 Compute Module) to decode MQA so the X16 can render the same.

Thanks.

 

[imnotdrunk]

I've been thinking about getting an RPI as a player for my NAS and portable devices, hooked up to a Topping L30. I ordered the bits now to get this project moving.

Couple of questions, somewhat of a newbie in Hi-Fi and RPI stuff
- I have an old RPI 2 b, can I use this one? Any compatibility / performance issues? I will likely upgrade at some point but since I already have this, might as well do a first version with it.
- I am streaming my music from a Linkstation LS220D NAS. There are some walls between my Hi-Fi and the Linkstation and reception isn't perfect. Can I connect it to the RPI with a zero cable, mount the NAS and share from my RPI as a NAS for the rest of my devices?

 

[somebodyelse]

Possible? Probably - the Pi is versatile. Some things are nicely packaged so you can set things up with little skill, while others need the skill and knowledge to set up manually. Are you aiming to use the Linkstation's media server, or run one on the Pi?
The Pi 2 B should be fine as a pure streaming endpoint - most of them will also run on a Pi Zero W. If you want to use it as a server too, or do much DSP, you may need something more powerful. Try it and see if it'll do the job.
Not sure what a 'zero cable' is - a typo or autocorrect problem?

 

[imnotdrunk]

Possible? Probably - the Pi is versatile. Some things are nicely packaged so you can set things up with little skill, while others need the skill and knowledge to set up manually. Are you aiming to use the Linkstation's media server, or run one on the Pi?
The Pi 2 B should be fine as a pure streaming endpoint - most of them will also run on a Pi Zero W. If you want to use it as a server too, or do much DSP, you may need something more powerful. Try it and see if it'll do the job.
Not sure what a 'zero cable' is - a typo or autocorrect problem?

Cheers, yeah I'm not sure if I should use the Linkstation media server or one in the PI. I can do some stuff manually, I actually have the PI 2b from my last try, but back then there was much less documentation etc available, I can do basic linux stuff especially with some format of instructions. Used to have problems with SMB connectivity / media library usability with hundreds of gigabytes of music. With Moode Audio I think all that should be solved.

'Zero cable' was a rudimentary translation of the Finnish term, looks like what I mean is called a "crossover cable", which is what I need if I want to connect the linkstation directly to a computer.

 

[SeaNNyT]

Could one still use APO EQ and Peace UI with this device? I can't imagine you could as usually it requires you to apply it to the device, and this isn't connected via anything other than a network

 

[somebodyelse]

Could one still use APO EQ and Peace UI with this device? I can't imagine you could as usually it requires you to apply it to the device, and this isn't connected via anything other than a network

I think that's Windows only. You can get broadly similar functionality with Moode's CamillaDSP, or the brutefir plugin for Volumio.

 

[somebodyelse]

Cheers, yeah I'm not sure if I should use the Linkstation media server or one in the PI. I can do some stuff manually, I actually have the PI 2b from my last try, but back then there was much less documentation etc available, I can do basic linux stuff especially with some format of instructions. Used to have problems with SMB connectivity / media library usability with hundreds of gigabytes of music. With Moode Audio I think all that should be solved.

'Zero cable' was a rudimentary translation of the Finnish term, looks like what I mean is called a "crossover cable", which is what I need if I want to connect the linkstation directly to a computer.

The audio streaming part should be fairly easy with most of the usual pi streaming distros. For sharing with other devices piCorePlayer with LMS should work reasonably well - it has interoperability plugins for most of the available options. Between the installation instructions and the squeezebox forum there should be enough instructions to get you going. I've not looked into that aspect of the others, so don't know if they could do it. NFS may be easier to get going than SMB unless you know the details of different SMB versions.

The networking part probably needs more explanation of your existing setup, and what you want to do with the Pi. The streaming distros cover the usual basic configuration, but can probably be made to do more complex things with manual intervention. They're usually based on one of the common linux distributions, and can be configured in similar ways once you have ssh access.

 

[imnotdrunk]

The audio streaming part should be fairly easy with most of the usual pi streaming distros. For sharing with other devices piCorePlayer with LMS should work reasonably well - it has interoperability plugins for most of the available options. Between the installation instructions and the squeezebox forum there should be enough instructions to get you going. I've not looked into that aspect of the others, so don't know if they could do it. NFS may be easier to get going than SMB unless you know the details of different SMB versions.

The networking part probably needs more explanation of your existing setup, and what you want to do with the Pi. The streaming distros cover the usual basic configuration, but can probably be made to do more complex things with manual intervention. They're usually based on one of the common linux distributions, and can be configured in similar ways once you have ssh access.

The Linkstation supports uPnP too, but I've found that using in windows, SMB has been more reliable. I live in a shared household have my own VPN enabled router connected to the main one, with the Linkstation hooked up to my router. They are on the first floor and I'm on the ground floor. I'm thinking things would run smoother if I connected the Linkstation directly to the raspberry PI feeding audio to my DAC and amplifier. However I also have video files I want to play on my TV so being able to serve the network would be required. Also so I can add stuff to my collection wirelessly.

I'm also mirroring my collection into the cloud, so I can access my music when out of the house but that's another developing story.

 

[sanjivnayak]

For audio there seems to be no obvious sound quality benefit to any one Pi. But, I personally would get the Pi 4 w/2GB as it is the most bang for the buck and gives you more computing power for other tasks. Running an audio app does not create heat issues, but other, more intensive multimedia tasks might.

As for DAC input, I2S over HDMI would give the lowest jitter. But, depending on the DAC you may find no discernible sound quality benefit over AES Balanced (XLR), AES Coax (BNC) or SPDIF (RCA). However I do know the optical is definitely higher jitter (though again, not necessarily better sound).

Yesterday I ordered for a pi2aes along with meanwell psu. I have a rpi4 8gb running volumio free version and using mconnect app to stream tidal to sabaj d5. Can I use i2s output of pi2aes to sabaj d5 ?

 

[Michael Kelly]

Yes you can. In fact we use the D5 internally for production testing of the PI2AES.

 

[Veri]

Yes you can. In fact we use the D5 internally for production testing of the PI2AES.

That's interesting indeed!

 

[sanjivnayak]

Yes you can. In fact we use the D5 internally for production testing of the PI2AES.

I was told by my friend that "pi2aes doesnt have an rj45 i2s output. you have to use the unbuffered one from the pins"
Does it mean I can not straight away connect pi2aes to d5 using a normal hdmi wire.

 

[Michael Kelly]

You have been given bad info. The D5 uses the I2S over HDMI interface, not RJ45.

 

[Michael Kelly]

You have been given bad info. The D5 uses the I2S over HDMI interface, not RJ45.

BTW, the parallel I2S output on the expansion header pins are buffered. Many customers have used these pins with wires to an RJ45 adapter very successfully.

 

[jtwrace]

Any plan to have Amir measure this?

 

[Michael Kelly]

No we don’t have any plans for that.

 

[jtwrace]

No we don’t have any plans for that.

Any reason(s) why not? It would seem to be advantageous if it’s well designed.

 

[Michael Kelly]

It is extremely well designed, but the method of testing this type of device is not something that has been done here often and there does not seem to be a consistent methodology.

BTW, we have detailed jitter plots on our web site if you are interested.