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Raspberry Pi USB : noisy?

G-rig

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Hold on, feedback?

As in the one that gets really loud? Or the one where somebody put his mic too close to the speaker during Zoom calls?
Just Power interference, when I unplug the USB cable from DAC it stops. Could be a dodgy old cable, seems it be the culprit
 

Jinjuku

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Just Power interference, when I unplug the USB cable from DAC it stops. Could be a dodgy old cable, seems it be the culprit

Just get a Belkin USB cable and be done with it.
 

G-rig

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Cables are mostly a wank, but an audioquest cinnamon may do the job in this case.
 

G-rig

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Switch off the wifi
Nah the culprit was a ground loop as I had a HDMI cable plugged into the TV as well. Didn't really need it but thought I may be Able to watch videos as well. Probably better trying to use the volumio rpi4 to stream movies, not sure if possible with the custom OS on it
 

Beershaun

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Nah the culprit was a ground loop as I had a HDMI cable plugged into the TV as well. Didn't really need it but thought I may be Able to watch videos as well. Probably better trying to use the volumio rpi4 to stream movies, not sure if possible with the custom OS on it
Try Rasplex for using a rpi as a streaming media player with video.
 

G-rig

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Try Rasplex for using a rpi as a streaming media player with video.
Cheers, bit new to rpi4 so assume you'd need a different micro SD/boot/device for that?

I noticed plexpaas is on sale with workarounds, would be easier bit still need to stream from a bad/PC. The SD card still has a network address but probably not that easy to pull using software if it needs to transcode and all that crap.. usually a HDD plugged into the TV is easiest so may not bother as it gets a bit hard. Just wanted to keep the volumio streamer for that purpose mainly.

Thanks but will look into it
 

Bamyasi

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Cheers, bit new to rpi4 so assume you'd need a different micro SD/boot/device for that?

I noticed plexpaas is on sale with workarounds, would be easier bit still need to stream from a bad/PC. The SD card still has a network address but probably not that easy to pull using software if it needs to transcode and all that crap.. usually a HDD plugged into the TV is easiest so may not bother as it gets a bit hard. Just wanted to keep the volumio streamer for that purpose mainly.

Thanks but will look into it
Plex Media Server runs just fine on RPi4. In fact it runs fine on RPi3 as well. So you do not need a PC to stream from it.
 

G-rig

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ok thank, just don't know if you can run different o/s on it as it's set up for volumio
prob need to build a couple, cheap enough !
 

Beershaun

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ok thank, just don't know if you can run different o/s on it as it's set up for volumio
prob need to build a couple, cheap enough !
Yes. I recommend buying a multipack of microsd cards on Amazon and burn images for different devices on each. So you just need to reboot and swap out the cards. That's what I did for moode vs. Rasplex. Works just fine to swap cards. Rasplex can be either a server or a player for a separate PC or Nas. Also you can use the Plex app on your smart phone as the remote control for the player if you want.

It's pretty good if you want a full featured media player.
 

G-rig

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Yes. I recommend buying a multipack of microsd cards on Amazon and burn images for different devices on each. So you just need to reboot and swap out the cards. That's what I did for moode vs. Rasplex. Works just fine to swap cards. Rasplex can be either a server or a player for a separate PC or Nas. Also you can use the Plex app on your smart phone as the remote control for the player if you want.

It's pretty good if you want a full featured media player.
Thanks may look at doing this.
I've got a Google TV but its has stuff all accessible storage for apps and would still need a hub to plug in hard drive with media on it. Probably bit pointless can plug HDD into the TV if I need to. The Plex app on Google TV would still be ok and or plug powered HDD into the rpi and switch cards/power on when need. Pretty clunky, probably need a nas sometime
 

erwinmayer

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I heard from a famous audiophile youtuber today, that the audio USB output of the Raspberry Pi is very noisy.

I was a bit disappointed at first because this is exactly what I use to stream my music. But then I thought well I can’t hear any noise so why worry, right?

But now there’s this voice in my head... I’m listening to a noisy source. But am I? Is it scientifically proven that this is a ‘dirty’ source? He was also complaining about the power source for the Raspi. I’m using the standard wall plug but as an audiophile you should at least buy a PSU of course!
Hans Beekhuizen mentions that the usb 3.0 is more noisy than the 2.0 outputs... I wonder how much of this is true???
 

G-rig

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Hans Beekhuizen mentions that the usb 3.0 is more noisy than the 2.0 outputs... I wonder how much of this is true???
Unless you can hear a significant difference I wouldn't worry. Hard to usually tell any difference between optical and USB etc
 

stubaggs

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A quick note to report that a RME ADI-2 DAC connected through a generic USB cable to a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ropiee, connected wirelessly to Roon, was able to successfully stream the 'bit test audio files' from the RME product page (link is about near the bottom). Indicating that the usb connection (either usb 3 or 2) on the Raspberry PI was doing its job, regular music sounded much better that the test files :) .
 

erwinmayer

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Unless you can hear a significant difference I wouldn't worry. Hard to usually tell any difference between optical and USB etc
Some comment on Hans's Youtube video:


I was very cynical about the possibility of lower audio quality on a Raspberry Pi 4b. I tested it against a Raspberry 3b+. For both RPis I used Volumio connected to both my USB Topping D10, and my I2S PiFi V1, feeding into a Cambridge CXA 60. The results: RPi 4b degrades sound, exactly like it's described in this video... I especially found a decrease in music resolution and a less defined sound stage. It was a surprise for me.
 

Zensō

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Hans Beekhuizen mentions that the usb 3.0 is more noisy than the 2.0 outputs... I wonder how much of this is true???
Did Hans post measurements to back up his statement?

Any decent, modern DAC is going to filter any USB noise.

 

G-rig

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A quick note to report that a RME ADI-2 DAC connected through a generic USB cable to a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ropiee, connected wirelessly to Roon, was able to successfully stream the 'bit test audio files' from the RME product page (link is about near the bottom). Indicating that the usb connection (either usb 3 or 2) on the Raspberry PI was doing its job, regular music sounded much better that the test files :) .
That's good to know .
I'm more than happy with this setup too, although using volumio (ver 3 is out now too)
 

Killingbeans

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I was very cynical about the possibility of lower audio quality on a Raspberry Pi 4b. I tested it against a Raspberry 3b+. For both RPis I used Volumio connected to both my USB Topping D10, and my I2S PiFi V1, feeding into a Cambridge CXA 60. The results: RPi 4b degrades sound, exactly like it's described in this video... I especially found a decrease in music resolution and a less defined sound stage. It was a surprise for me.

Alright, here we go: I'm gonna say "Hans is way more alchemist than scientist. Don't take his BS as anything useful. Sure, it's true that even a blind hen sometimes finds a grain of corn, but in this case it very likely that what you heard was caused by expectation bias". And then you go "But I was convinced beforehand that I wouldn't hear a difference!". Then I go "That's not how expectation bias works". And then we just go round n' round in circles :D

But then again, show me some measurements or some reliable tests results, and I'll eat my old hat.
 

Phorize

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Hans Beekhuizen mentions that the usb 3.0 is more noisy than the 2.0 outputs... I wonder how much of this is true???
Hans seems likeable enough but his reviews are almost a parody of the genre. I wouldn’t pay any attention to his ratings of audio performance.
 

G-rig

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Yes show some scientific measurements comparing the pi 3 and 4. From all reports the pi 4 is better and has upgraded USB and power management. Any decent equipment it's connected to should work fine together and process the signal well. I'm still blown away by these raspberry pi setups and versatility when you consider the price. Fair bit better than Chromecast audio, particularly now gapless playback is possible.
 
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