RPI 3B+ As a Bath Audio Streamer

[lirsch]

Hi All,
I've been moving to a new home lately and planning to use the pair of audio wires which I've forwarded to my bathroom in order to install there a waterproof speaker while the audio source is outside of course.
I also have a RPI 3B+ which I can use for this purpose.
My requirements:
- Good quality audio - while it's only one speaker (bought these two for a start)
- Control the audio controls from within the bathroom
- Should be able to play a pre-made playlist or spotify/youtube

Questions:
1. Any similar project of RPI that you know and can give a link to?
2. What DAC or other modules I need to buy?

Thanks ...

 

[Iglo]

I can recommend the MoOde Audio as software for your RPI. Good functionality and support for an external DAC or DAC module.
It does support Spotify Connect and you can stream YouTube via you phone/PC.

For the DAC you could pair it with a simple Topping D10 or use a RPI HAT DAC (which I do not know much about to be honest, but MoOde supports many versions).

 

[lirsch]

Well, the software looks great!
Will I need only the RPI, DAC and speaker or will I need other modules as well? (Amp.?)

 

[Iglo]

If you have a RPI 3B+ you can install MoOde as an operating system on it (just like you would install Raspberry Pi OS).

There are multiple DAC options. One would be an external USB DAC (something like the D10) or install an extension board on to the RPI (something like the Hifiberry / ALLO Boss*).

If the speakers you plan to use are active speakers you can link the DAC RCA out directly to the speakers, otherwise you need an amp to power the speakers.

The speakers you mentioned in the opening post are passive speakers so an amp is needed to power those.

* I do not have any experience with these extension modules as I uses and external DAC, but there is plenty info online.

 

[lirsch]

Thanks for your reply again @Iglo ...
I do have a FIIO A3 Amp. I guess it will be enough for this project, right?
Also, will RPI4 improves something for this project or is it an overkill?
As for the DAC, I found some DAC, would like to know if they will be ok for this project:

https://www.amazon.com/SMSL-50Wx2-T...1&keywords=Topping+D10&qid=1615997128&sr=8-13

https://www.amazon.com/TOPPING-es90...=1&keywords=Topping+D10&qid=1615997128&sr=8-4

Also, I found 2 Topping D10 DACs, which one were you referring to?
https://www.amazon.com/Topping-ES90...=1&keywords=Topping+D10&qid=1615997128&sr=8-3

https://www.amazon.com/Topping-D10s...=1&keywords=Topping+D10&qid=1615997128&sr=8-2

 

[Iglo]

If I'm not mistaking the FIO is a headphone amp. Depending on your budget you could pick a more suitable amp (the Aiyima a07 (ASR review) could be a good price conscious option for your purpose).

Looking at the D10s links it seems to me that both are the same but from different sellers. One thing to consider it that potentially a step up to the Topping E30 (or something equivalent) could be interesting. The E30 has a variable output and a remote, so you can use the remote to control the volume. So you can just set the Amp to the desired max level and use the E30 to control playback volume.

The D10s only acts as a DAC (no volume control). You can however, control the volume using MoOde audio (software) or if you stream using Spotify Connect (using the Spotify app on your phone/PC). This is what I mostly do when streaming via Spotify Connect. The remote for me comes in handy for regular audio files and stream radio.

Thinking about it, there could also be cheaper options which would do the same as the D10s (most would offer more then enough sound quality). Potentially something simple like the Apple USB C dongle (with an USB C to USB A converter) would also work on the RPI, will check out if this works on the RPI later today. (After testing I can confirm that the Apple dongle works on the Raspberry Pi, so that would be the most cost effective way to get a good signal to the amp).

So you could go with something like this:

Apple Dongle $9.99
USB C to A Adapter $8.59
Headphone to RCA cable $9.99
Aiyima a07 $79.99

 

[lirsch]

Well, read the Aiyima A07 review and had a problem with the author's statement of "Personally I would not leave these plugged in permanently if I am not around" ...
Do you have any other good (and robust) alternative?

 

[somebodyelse]

That comment in the A07 review is aimed at the 'brick' power supplies rather than the amp. You can get a different PSU from a reputable brand with UL certification like Meanwell instead. Many of the listings for the A07 (or the lower power output A04) don't include a PSU anyway.

The Pi 4 avoids the pop/click problem that some people experience with USB audio on the earlier Pi versions. Hat style dacs avoid this potential problem. If you've already got the Pi 3B+ you may as well try using it - you may not have a problem anyway. If buying new I'd go for the 4 as there's not much difference in price (for the bottom model at least, which has more than enough memory for audio streaming.)

GIven the poor acoustics of most bathrooms, and the relatively poor performance of most moisture resistant speakers, using one of the hat style DAC/AMPs is probably plenty good enough, as well as being an easy compact package. JustBoom, HifiBerry, IQaudio and probably several others make them and usually a case to match. PSU is your choice again, so you can go with a proper UL certified one rather than a cheap generic brick if you like.

 

[threni]

The Pi 4 avoids the pop/click problem that some people experience with USB audio on the earlier Pi versions. Hat style dacs avoid this potential problem. If you've already got the Pi 3B+ you may as well try using it - you may not have a problem anyway. If buying new I'd go for the 4 as there's not much difference in price (for the bottom model at least, which has more than enough memory for audio streaming.)

I bought a new Pi 4 for my system (with a Topping E30) as I kept reading about clicks but later re-used my Pi 3 and a Pi Zero W with the Apple dongle and I've never ever heard a click with any of them (except when I've been simultaneously playing music and copying gigs of data over wifi to the Pi, (which is connected to an external hard drive) and even then it was only like a tiny pop every couple of minutes, and that was the Pi 4!). So I'd definitely give the Pi 3 a go. There's been other discussion of the problem - such as it is - on this site; seems quite isolated to fairly specific software/configuration if I recall correctly.

 

[somebodyelse]

I bought a new Pi 4 for my system (with a Topping E30) as I kept reading about clicks but later re-used my Pi 3 and a Pi Zero W with the Apple dongle and I've never ever heard a click with any of them (except when I've been simultaneously playing music and copying gigs of data over wifi to the Pi, (which is connected to an external hard drive) and even then it was only like a tiny pop every couple of minutes, and that was the Pi 4!). So I'd definitely give the Pi 3 a go. There's been other discussion of the problem - such as it is - on this site; seems quite isolated to fairly specific software/configuration if I recall correctly.

It's complicated and depends on many factors as you can see if you read through the issue #2215 report. I've never had a problem running piCorePlayer despite trying to provoke it. On Volumio I could reproduce it reliably with a 3B when running the brutefir plugin, but not without. However based on one of the Volumio developers' comments in the issue report it seems that other things can trigger it for them too, and I gather Moode can also suffer. What I haven't seen is anything quantifying it - does it affect 1 in 4 or 1 in 4000 users? Is it more, but some just don't notice, like the whole gapless issue? If you've already go t a Pi then try it - I'm still happily using old ones. For new buyers I don't see a reason not to get a Pi 4, or perhaps a Pi Zero W if you know it's up to the task.

 

[charleski]

- Control the audio controls from within the bathroom

I think this is the part you should really be worrying about. You'll need something fairly robust and definitely waterproof. And you'll want something with physical buttons/switches because touchscreens don't work with wet hands. The best I can think of is one of the controllers designed for boats. Unfortunately these all seem designed to interface with specific systems, but the RPi is quite versatile and it's quite probably possible to hack an interface using the GPIO pins.

Or you could make things a lot simpler and simply go for a waterproof bluetooth speaker with some sort of voice control built-in like this one. But then you don't get the fun of hacking something together yourself.

 

[lirsch]

Creative thinking @charleski
I think I'll go with the following parts after all the recommendations above:

1. RPI 3B+ (exist)
2. AiyIMA A07 DAC
3. 3.5 to RCA Splitter
4. USB C to USB adapter
5. Apple lightning to 3.5 jack adapter
6. Waterproof passive speaker (exist)
7, AmazonBasics audio cable (should be long enough ... ~10m from the bath to the RPI location)
8. Software: MoOde Audio

Regarding the controls I thought about an idea, let me know if/how it can comply with RPI and MoOde Audio -
I thought about buying these kind of IR transmitter/Receiver cable and IR eye and have the IR eye connected in the bath (as far as I can from water source) and the other side near the RPI, this way I can maybe buy any kind of waterproof remote control and use it in the bath -

- AUX long cable
- IR Extender

What do you guys think?

 

[threni]

Creative thinking @charleski
I think I'll go with the following parts after all the recommendations above:

1. RPI 3B+ (exist)
2. AiyIMA A07 DAC
3. 3.5 to RCA Splitter
4. USB C to USB adapter
5. Apple lightning to 3.5 jack adapter
6. Waterproof passive speaker (exist)
7, AmazonBasics audio cable (should be long enough ... ~10m from the bath to the RPI location)
8. Software: MoOde Audio

Regarding the controls I thought about an idea, let me know if/how it can comply with RPI and MoOde Audio -
I thought about buying these kind of IR transmitter/Receiver cable and IR eye and have the IR eye connected in the bath (as far as I can from water source) and the other side near the RPI, this way I can maybe buy any kind of waterproof remote control and use it in the bath -

- AUX long cable
- IR Extender

What do you guys think?

In terms of controls: you could install mpd on linux and control it with an android app. For me this was by far a much better solution than running kodi/vlc/volumio etc on the pi and using an app/web interface. Regarding IR, I got this working on the Pi too - it was the first time I'd done anything like it and I found it extremely easy so you could almost certainly spend £5/10 on a sensor and a remote (or re-use an existing remote) and play around a little, and control the Pi that way (not just mpd - anything you can control via the command line). I blogged about this here: https://poldieblog.blogspot.com/

 

[charleski]

Creative thinking @charleski
I think I'll go with the following parts after all the recommendations above:

1. RPI 3B+ (exist)
2. AiyIMA A07 DAC
3. 3.5 to RCA Splitter
4. USB C to USB adapter
5. Apple lightning to 3.5 jack adapter
6. Waterproof passive speaker (exist)
7, AmazonBasics audio cable (should be long enough ... ~10m from the bath to the RPI location)
8. Software: MoOde Audio

Regarding the controls I thought about an idea, let me know if/how it can comply with RPI and MoOde Audio -
I thought about buying these kind of IR transmitter/Receiver cable and IR eye and have the IR eye connected in the bath (as far as I can from water source) and the other side near the RPI, this way I can maybe buy any kind of waterproof remote control and use it in the bath -

- AUX long cable
- IR Extender

What do you guys think?

If you're going with IR (which is a good idea), then something like this might work:
https://www.evervuestore.com/product/aqua-waterproof-universal-remote-control/

 

[Iglo]

Keep in mind that if you use MoOde as an Spotify Connect end-point you can just control tracks, playlist and volume from any device with the Spotify app on the network. So depending how waterproof your phone is (and if you don't mind drying you hand before using the touchscreen) you wouldn't need any remote at all.

You could even take the phone in to the bath in an waterproof case if your want to
It also offers Airplay/Bluetooth for streaming Youtube stuff (although not optimal for video due to some lag, but perfect for music)

 

[somebodyelse]

I was expecting one of the Pi touchscreens would be used since they should be easy to seal around the edges, but I suppose the capacitive sensing might be tricky with the moisture. The only distro I've tried with the GUI is piCorePlayer with JiveLite as the GUI. I've not tried the IR but the settings for it are in the Tweaks tab of the web interface, and it's navigable with cursor keys etc. so that route should be easy. There's also Slimmer, an old style text LCD interface, and an assortment of articles around the web on ways to use buttons and rotary encoders for input to the Pi that would let you use waterproof physical controls. It might be a good excuse to use a Pi Pico to make a custom USB 'keyboard' if you're into such things.

 

[lirsch]

Guys, can you please recommend an EU plug power supply to buy from Amazon for the Aiyima A07? (100-240v)

 

[lirsch]

Is this power supply compatible with this project?

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B013EU4KNK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_fabc_SYVP4D9QKY0EN91C084D

Aren't there a small factor reliable power supplies ("brick" ones) similar to the ones in the review?

 

[charleski]

Guys, can you please recommend an EU plug power supply to buy from Amazon for the Aiyima A07? (100-240v)

The psu listed in the review is sold here:
https://www.amazon.ca/Universal-Ada...dp/B08NVVSCBB?ref_=d6k_applink_bb_marketplace
Or on Alix here:
https://m.aliexpress.com/i/32832612576.html

Since it's a standard 2pin socket you can just substitute the mains cord for one with an EU plug.

 

[lirsch]

I want a reliable psu and not like the ones in the review which made the author write about his worries to leave it on without him around