Raspberry pi streamer

[amper42]

The HW assembly - putting the board in the enclosure with four screws and plugging in a microSD card and a PS - was trivial. I used my PC and a SD-to-microSD adaptor to copy the OS image (and then plugged the microSD into the RPi). No RPi-attached monitor is needed, only some run-rime web-interface based configuration. RoPieee page offers installation instructions.

Personally, I use a regular RoPieee SW as a Roon end-point (with an external USB DAC). The RoPieeeXL adds some other functions - including Apple Airplay and DLNA client (though I have no experience with the latter).

RPi-4’s internal WiFi is good enough, so no external dongle is generally needed.

If you buy two SD cards can you install one with RoPieeeXL and the other with MoOde OS and see which one you like best? Is it as easy as installing an OS on each card and then swapping them into the RPi4 for testing?

 

[drfous]

Yes, once the setup is done. pwroff, swap cards, pwron.

 

[amper42]

Flash the SD card with the software of choice. I use Moode Audio. USB Pi4 to the same RME DAC.

If Moode Audio is installed on the Pi4 will it allow the artwork of the album playing to be shown on the TV if you use a mini-HDMI cable from the Pi4 to an HDMI input on the TV? The Denon 4700 does this with a wifi DLNA connection from Audirvana and it looks really nice.

 

[AudioSQ]

If Moode Audio is installed on the Pi4 will it allow the artwork of the album playing to be shown on the TV if you use a mini-HDMI cable from the Pi4 to an HDMI input on the TV? The Denon 4700 does this with a wifi DLNA connection from Audirvana and it looks really nice.

You have to change a setting for it to display on the TV, by default it's off. If you use Spotify Connect the TV will just say you're using Spotify and doesn't show anything besides that.

 

[amper42]

You flash the SD card from your mac.

Go to Moode. Download the latest.

http://moodeaudio.org/

Also download/install BalenaEtcher. This is the program that will flash the moode OS file you downloaded onto the SD card and make it readable by the pi.

After you flash the SD card with the MoOde OS, insert the SD card into the pi. Boot it up.

You will need to follow the moode instructions for setting up all the parameters. Easiest if the pi is connected by ethernet to your network. Once you are in, you can set up wifi.

Here's a link to the setup guide. It's little intimidating at first, but very simple once you understand the process.

https://github.com/moode-player/moode/blob/master/www/setup.txt

OK, I give up.
I ordered all the same items in the Raindog123 post.
Flashed without an issue. Hardware assembled - no problem.
I tried the posted Moode directions...
They are nothing like the hundreds of options inside the Moode r721 app. lol
I got it on the ethernet network but it would not pass any audio out the USB 2.0 ports even though they were selected in the setup file. Restarted a few times. Never got it to work.
When they can't post directions that look like the actual menus it's a guessing game.

The Moode never showed up in the Audirvana selection options.
I could get the wifi to work before it was on the local ethernet network, but never after it was on my wired network. Does Moode require removing all the ethernet data and a restart to get the wifi to work again.
This is a crazy little box.
I may have to give up on Moode.

 

[drfous]

have you tried to play one of the radio stations?

that's probably one of the easier places to start.

My Audirvana trial has expired, but I would think you need to turn on the Airplay renderer in the config>audio section.

 

[amper42]

I turned on UPnP as that's the method I use with Audirvana. No Radio Station audio would play from the RP4 using the USB 2.0 port and a wired cable connection to the Hegel H90 USB internal DAC. Obviously, it's not working on a basic level. No matter what radio station is selected - no sound.

 

[drfous]

Under audio config:
I2S Device - both should be none since you are outputting to USB dac.
make sure you hit "set" if you make any changes before moving on.

Under MPD options:
Hit edit.
Output device should show your dac.
Make sure to "save" before moving on.

If that doesn't work, check your volume setting. lol

 

[Musty]

There's a breakaway version of RuneAudio that has ongoing development and worked really well for me until I decided to the route of the regular Raspberry Pi OS and MPD. It's worth a try since it merely requires swapping-out the SD card.

https://github.com/rern/rAudio-1

 

[Beershaun]

Here are the step by step instructions for using a USB audio device in Moode. Let us know if you have trouble with any of these specific steps first.

2. AUDIO DEVICE SETUP
- USB DEVICE
a) Menu ("M" in the top right corner), Configure, Audio
b) Select "None" for I2S audio device then SET
c) Restart
d) Menu, Configure, Audio
e) EDIT MPD Settings
f) Leave Volume control set to "Software"
g) Set Audio output to the name of the USB audio device
h) SAVE
i) Restart

 

[amper42]

Under audio config:
I2S Device - both should be none since you are outputting to USB dac.
make sure you hit "set" if you make any changes before moving on.

Under MPD options:
Hit edit.
Output device should show your dac.
Make sure to "save" before moving on.

If that doesn't work, check your volume setting. lol

Thank you for your help. I got the RPi4 setup working with Moode and UPnP. The Wifi is up and running and it sounds pretty great with the RME ADI-2 FS. I have volume set using "Software" mode. I tried the "Fixed 0 db" option but it was harsh and bass sounded distorted.

Question: Have you discovered an optimal volume setting for Moode to keep volume high but clean while using the RME remote to actually control the volume? I'm using 93 on the volume in Moode for the RPi4 and it seems pretty good. But, I was wondering if anyone has found an optimal setting when controlling the volume with the DAC?

 

[forlau]

I'm running a "pi zero w" with moode and "bubble upnp" on android. The pi zero even does the upsampling to 192 kHz. On top is the hifiberry dac. No cooling needed, power consumption is low.

 

[amper42]

New Moode 7.4.0 update adds Multiroom synchronized audio. The setting is located under audio preferences. The Sender RPi4 streams music to one or more RPi4 units setup as receivers. Interesting new feature.

moodeaudio.org

moodeaudio.org

 

[drfous]

I'm just happy they added the capability to backup and restore settings. lol

 

[Ata]

I have built a Rpi based streamer as well, running Moode Audio, soon to get my room correction filters.

My issue is that I cannot get higher than 48KHz/16bit output out of the HDMI output going into my AVR. Moode reports that has been supported since 2017, yet my Rpi 4B is not happy to go any higher. Reading up on the various forums did not help much...

Has anyone had this problem?

 

[dtaylo1066]

I am using Volumio on a Tinker Board for some time and all is good. What DAC are you feeding?

 

[Ata]

I am feeding my DENON AVR which is capable of 8 channels of audio at up to 192KHz/24-bit sample rate on its HDMI inputs. That does the DAC, pre-amp and power amp duties in my system.

I managed to get 44.1/48KHz sampling rate music is passed on, but the 24-bit samples are truncated to 16-bit. This appears to be either a RPi4 hardware or software limitation not related to the use of Moode specifically (as it depends on MPD, same as most other music frontends for the Rpi).

 

[Beershaun]

I am feeding my DENON AVR which is capable of 8 channels of audio at up to 192KHz/24-bit sample rate on its HDMI inputs. That does the DAC, pre-amp and power amp duties in my system.

I managed to get 44.1/48KHz sampling rate music is passed on, but the 24-bit samples are truncated to 16-bit. This appears to be either a RPi4 hardware or software limitation not related to the use of Moode specifically (as it depends on MPD, same as most other music frontends for the Rpi).

You may want to try a spdif HAT digital output instead of the HDMI. I know I am able to get bit perfect out of my rpi streamer using the hifiberry Digi+ HAT.

 

[Ata]

Yes, that is a solution but requires a bit extra time and expense, will not fit physically in the case I have, and I will have to let go of multichannel (uncompressed) music. I think I will stick with 16-bit music for now, that should objectively be sufficient, and keep looking out for a solution down the track.

One other thing I would like to do -- use the Rpi as a USB OTG audio receiver, so that I can connect a computer or mobile device via USB, pass the bit-perfect PCM audio stream through the wizz-bang room correction filters, and then forward to the receiver in pure digital form -- has anyone done that? Ditto for an SPDIF input, so that I can room correct my CD/SACD player if feel like spinning a disk.

 

[dtaylo1066]

You could try running Moode on another SBC, but of course you would have to purchase a different SBC such as Tinker Board, and with no guarantees. I have never tried the HDMI out of my Tinker Board as I do not have a DAC that would take HDMI. Good luck.