Recommendation for budget setup: Apple Music to small 4-ohm full-range speakers (~$350 / €300)

[PristineSound]

Is that budget including the amp?

If so, that is a very tight budget for amp and speakers. You may have to hit the used market.

 

[MunizO]

Is that budget including the amp?

If so, that is a very tight budget for amp and speakers. You may have to hit the used market.

No, only for dac/amp

 

[MunizO]

Apple Music lossless can be streamed CD quality via AirPlay 1 to select receivers. I have a Raspberry Pi with bare linux and Shareport Sync setup for this purpose. All it does is provide an 'AirPlay 1' destination for my MBP, iPhone, and iPad

Which Pi would you recommend? Is the Pi Zero enough for this? For now, I'll be using my old Topping D30 DAC and buy the Topping Mini 300.

 

[yelloguy]

Which Pi would you recommend? Is the Pi Zero enough for this? For now, I'll be using my old Topping D30 DAC and buy the Topping Mini 300.

If you're buying a new one the price performance sweet spot is at Pi 4. At least it was 6 months ago. Pi 5 was known to run too hot and <= 3 were expensive for the processing performance.

 

[MunizO]

If you're buying a new one the price performance sweet spot is at Pi 4. At least it was 6 months ago. Pi 5 was known to run too hot and <= 3 were expensive for the processing performance.

They've bumped up the prices by up to 20% for the 2 GB and 4 GB models. Do you think 1 GB is enough? I don't want to spend too much.

 

[Marc v E]

My personal experience is that a WiiM has a very friendly user interface and is a very complete product.

A raspberry pi, is more dyi, for the tinkerer imo and ime.

 

[MunizO]

My personal experience is that a WiiM has a very friendly user interface and is a very complete product.

A raspberry pi, is more dyi, for the tinkerer imo and ime.

Fair enough, but I enjoy tinkering! At the moment I really only need AirPlay, so most of the extra features would be wasted on me.

 

[ShadowBoxer]

The WiiM units have the option of an excellent BT physical remote (mine was $20).

 

[yelloguy]

They've bumped up the prices by up to 20% for the 2 GB and 4 GB models. Do you think 1 GB is enough? I don't want to spend too much.

1 gig is enough. I have the 1 gig version. Never a problem. Mind you the only thing I use it for is this. If you want to do more with it, like run Volumio or MoOde, then you might want to get something else. I ran MoOde on it for a few weeks. But I started seeing some problems needing a reboot. So I wiped it, installed bare linux and a couple of packages using SSH and it has been ROCK SOLID since. All it does is AirPlay 1 and CamillaDSP to my Focusrite Scarlet 6i8.

 

[popej]

Do you think 1 GB is enough? I don't want to spend too much.

I have run moode on Pi Zero W, the only problem with memory was during moode update, swap file solved it. Zero 2 W should be much better. See other example here:

PiZero AirPlay Receiver

PiZero AirPlay Receiver: Hey Guys, this instructable will show you, how you can add AirPlay to any hifi system with cinch inputs and use it with multiple units as a synchronized multi room audio system. It's quite simple and cheaper than an Apple AirPort or AppleTV. For thi…

www.instructables.com

 

[popej]

Other notice: if you are using Airplay, then the phone is the real streamer, Airplay is only a connection to amplifier. Phone battery is drained and phone have to stay in WiFi range. Alternatively you can use USB DAC dongle and a wire instead of Airplay.

 

[Marc v E]

Other notice: if you are using Airplay, then the phone is the real streamer, Airplay is only a connection to amplifier. Phone battery is drained and phone have to stay in WiFi range. Alternatively you can use USB DAC dongle and a wire instead of Airplay.

Good point.

If you're using spotify premium on a suitable for instance, the streamer is directly connected to receive music from your router, and your phone merely acts as a remote. Ime this makes streaming more reliable (less/no interruptions).

Ime when I was using my phone, casting or airplay would sometimes interrupt or just lose connection. Haven't experienced that with spotify connect.

 

[yelloguy]

I listen to AirPlay 1 for hours using an iPhone or Macbook Pro and there are zero issues. The quality from Apple Music is better than Spotify Connect (to my ears).

Pi < 4 route might be cheaper but you get far less hardware for a little less money. Pi 4 is where the sweet spot is OP.

 

[MunizO]

I listen to AirPlay 1 for hours using an iPhone or Macbook Pro and there are zero issues. The quality from Apple Music is better than Spotify Connect (to my ears).

Pi < 4 route might be cheaper but you get far less hardware for a little less money. Pi 4 is where the sweet spot is OP.

Thanks for the positive feedback! That confirms my choice to go with the Pi 4B. The Zero 2 is completely out of stock around here, and the Pi 3 isn't much cheaper either.

 

[MunizO]

Amazon Prime Deal Days