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 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

 

[MunizO]

Quick update: The Pi 4 2GB arrived today. Full of anticipation, I installed Moode, and it actually runs well. However, booting up takes a full minute, and the device gets warm even while idling. That wasn't part of the deal! piCorePlayer doesn't take quite as long, but it has already crashed twice, or rather, refused to boot up altogether. I'm sending this piece of junk right back and will stick to a non-streaming setup with my Windows PC and an old IPAD Air for now

I would like to try the WiiM amp but in my country it´s way to expensive.

 

[Marc v E]

Quick update: The Pi 4 2GB arrived today. Full of anticipation, I installed Moode, and it actually runs well. However, booting up takes a full minute, and the device gets warm even while idling. That wasn't part of the deal! piCorePlayer doesn't take quite as long, but it has already crashed twice, or rather, refused to boot up altogether. I'm sending this piece of junk right back and will stick to a non-streaming setup with my Windows PC and an old IPAD Air for now

I would like to try the WiiM amp but in my country it´s way to expensive.

Which country are you from?
Maybe we can help with shops that send abroad or other ideas.

 

[davmol]

I'm going to suggest the Fiio Air Amp. If I was looking for a budget all-in-one right now with Airplay (and WiiM was off the table) then this would be my choice. Although, even with WiiM on the table it's an impressive and attractive little all-in-one, at a great price. Ticks all the boxes?

 

[MunizO]

Which country are you from?

I'm based in Europe, and the cheapest WiiM Amp costs €370 from a sketchy eBay shop.

Ticks all the boxes?

It's a shame there's no subwoofer control, but the combo looks really nice otherwise.

I think I'll wait for the new Fosi S3 Rev 2 instead, since the current one won't get subwoofer control anyway.

 

[davmol]

Oh sorry I thought you were just pairing with a pair of bookshelf speakers. If you also have a sub and want full sub integration then you won’t do much better than the WiiM. Alternatively a used Devon Av receiver that has Audyssey xt32, and use with oca’s free acousticx software.