Quality of Raspberry Pi4 USB For Streaming

[watchnerd]

Similarly there are server side EQ plugins for LMS so the endpoint doesn't need to do the EQ. Having said that, Moode's EQ is meant to work with its squeezelite endpoint out of the box.

This seems like the better architecture.

Run the heavy compute stuff on the remote server, which has far more computing horsepower.

This lets me keep the higher heat, higher noise CPUs out of the listening room entirely.

 

[somebodyelse]

This seems like the better architecture.

Run the heavy compute stuff on the remote server, which has far more computing horsepower.

This lets me keep the higher heat, higher noise CPUs out of the listening room entirely.

It depends on the 'server' - LMS needs few resources by modern standards, so can run on things that may not be up to the job of doing EQ, especially for more than one endpoint. Think of cheap NAS drives from a decade ago, or an OG Pi. I used to run it (among other things) on a fanless Via EPIA board (500MHz) until the perl modules started needing an instruction that it didn't have. Compared to those a Pi 4 is a powerhouse and has more than enough grunt to run the EQ - even a Pi Zero 2 W should be able to do that as a stereo endpoint.

 

[ctakim]

The hifiberry DAC2 HD is the one I use on two RPi streamers even though the difference between that and the 'not that good' ~£15 DAC HATs is probably not audible. It's only £40 plus shipping so what sort of good external DAC is cheaper than that?

I have another question about using RPi4 with an external DAC. Can the DAC be powered by the RPi to save on wall warts for a tidier solution? I'm definitely going to use an Rpi streamer with an external DAC, probably in the form of a Minidsp Flex and I want to minimise cables and wall sockets used. With each speaker and sub needing a socket as well that can be a number of sockets in use! It also looks like I definitely want to replace the RPi3 with a 4 as part of this upgrade path having read about potential issues.

I'm listening to a Raspberry Pi 5 connected to a Topping D10s DAC through a USB cord right now and the only power to the DAC is via the RPi5. I've not done this with a RPi4 though. However, I presume it will also work just fine.