What's the latest on pi based music steamers?

[conqueeftador]

Looking to set one of these up. I played about with some of these a while back but couldn't get any to play ball with a large (2TB+) network stored library. I've realised the inconvenience in such a large library and have separated a smaller one. Aiming to store this split between the USB stick it'll boot from and a micro SD card in the slot, but have a few questions.

Is a Pi 3 or 4 and RAM size going to make any performance difference? Would playing the files from the server be any faster?

What is the best software to use at the moment? I vaguely remember Volumio being the most prominent, with Moode being another favoured unit.

Is there a favoured approach to the DAC? I have a Allo digi one hat available as a transport to feed either a D10S or E30 but either of those could go straight from USB avoiding the digi one in the chain. Don't mind picking up another unit if quality can be improved. I have a cheap 5v 3A linear power supply that could power either the pi, DAC or maybe both.

Is there any DSP with mic available?

 

[VMAT4]

With an Raspberry Pi 4 you can run the digital stream out via usb directly to a DAC. I don't think this is possible with earlier models. I use the Volumio OS.

 

[MCH]

If you need to do eq, moodeaudio has the big advantage of having camilladsp already integrated. Just input your filters and you are done. And it is completely free. The rest of your questions, no idea.

 

[freemansteve]

Not sure why you had a problem with big NAS library.... Some media servers may have had issues with the time it took to catalogue a big collection, but AFAIK that's either in the past, or a "live with it on the first pass" thing....

The Pi4 is electronically better than earlier models though, per VMAT4 above - it's to do with previously-shared buses in the CPU I believe, but many people claim good results on earlier Pi's. I don't think you need much RAM for Volumio etc though, as these are fairly stripped-down Linux OS's. And Volumio is my kind of price - free!

I think there are some good I2S DAC hats these days for the Pi, rather than USB. If the DAC chips are good and use good on-PCB clocks, it probably doesn't matter but will no doubt be another religious war on ASR!

 

[digitalfrost]

Is a Pi 3 or 4 and RAM size going to make any performance difference? Would playing the files from the server be any faster?

I have a PiZeroW, Pi 3 and a Pi 4. I don't use them for music streaming though. The Pi 4s network interface is significantly faster. The Pi3 network card is internally connected via USB, and it will crap out somewhere between 100-300Mbit/s even when it says 1Gbit on the box. If you care about this I would get a Pi 4.

Also, they all run hot without at least a heatsink, so I would either get heatsinks or a case with integrated cooling.

 

[freemansteve]

"somewhere between 100-300Mbit/s even when it says 1Gbit on the box"

That's the difference between throughput and line rate - many devices have similar limitations, not just Pi's....

 

[Martinvb]

I am running Volumio 3.x on a Pi-zero, Pi3 and Pi4: all work fine, but Pi4 is noticably faster in building the web UI (particularly when working with large disk volumes). I recently tested MoOde’s implementation of Camilla DSP, but was not very impressed. The FusionDSP plug-in in Volumio (based on latest CamillaDSP) is more flexible and IMO also more user friendly. It is rather processor intensive when playing highres material (192/24), so you might need a Pi4 to have 100% smooth playback. You also need a paid subscription to use the most recent Volumio (3.x) and its brilliant Manifest UI. After comparing all other options, this was a nobrainer for me.

 

[ezublab]

Just want to precise you don't have to pay to use volumio 3 or plugin. The paid version gives access to the new UI and streaming services Tidal, Qobuz and other options. FusionDsp is based on CamillaDsp. But it is definitely user friendly, with advanced loudness, 8 crossfeed, AutoEq integration and so on... See https://community.volumio.org/t/fusiondsp-for-volumio3-stable-old-beta-thread/50474

 

[kchap]

I would use a RPi 4B if you can get one. Alternatively a 3B. Volumio state 1G ram is good enough. Re heat, Argon40 make a good aluminium case for the 4B which also has a built in On/Off switch. A NAS should be good for terabytes of data; I currently have 2.6TB and still growing. I use Volumio but I've used MoOde in the past and it was ok. Volumio now has a EQ plugin called FusionDSP.

 

[Martinvb]

Is there any DSP with mic available?

You can indeed use FusionDSP also for room correction. You need a program like Rew (+ appropriate microphone) on a PC or Mac to determine the acoustic profile of your room. FusionDSP can then generate a convolution filter, which can be switched on or off. Works great. The Volumio wiki contains a comprehensive manual on how to do this.

 

[Raitsa]

If you need to do eq, moodeaudio has the big advantage of having camilladsp already integrated. Just input your filters and you are done. And it is completely free.

Same goes for https://github.com/rern/rAudio-1/

 

[Smitty2k1]

I'm using PiCorePlayer on a RPi3 with a USB dongle DAC output and it works great with my relatively large NAS library (running on a LMS server docker).

Compared to my HEOS AVR, Chromecast Audio, and Wiim mini it's the best at network media playback in terms of reliability and features.

 

[conqueeftador]

Thanks for the info everyone. I have a Pi4, so will use that, sounds like USB out is going to be a better bet.

Currently stopped at the first hurdle, with a "sh: can’t access tty: job control turned off" error. Volumio loaded to a USB stick. Will try an SD card.

 

[kchap]

Thanks for the info everyone. I have a Pi4, so will use that, sounds like USB out is going to be a better bet.

Currently stopped at the first hurdle, with a "sh: can’t access tty: job control turned off" error. Volumio loaded to a USB stick. Will try an SD card.

Rpi 4B does support booting from USB. Volumio does not. I think it's something that Volumio should address in a future release.

 

[conqueeftador]

Thanks, got it going now. Fairly put off with Volumio now locking plugins behind a login and features behind paywall and asking for a subscription with no outright purchase available. Will try moode.

No library issues this time seemingly. Must of been a Pi3 issue.

 

[Ears of Tin]

Fairly put off with Volumio now locking plugins behind a login and features behind paywall and asking for a subscription with no outright purchase available.

My personal favorite is rAudio after also using Volumio and Moode for many years. Volumio 3.0 motivated me switch one of my RPi's to piCorePlayer/LMS. Try them all. I have a mix of 3Bs and 4s some with heat sinks some without.

 

[Smitty2k1]

My personal favorite is rAudio after also using Volumio and Moode for many years. Volumio 3.0 motivated me switch one of my RPi's to piCorePlayer/LMS. Try them all. I have a mix of 3Bs and 4s some with heat sinks some without.

What do you think? I'm mostly happy with PiCorePlayer/LMS but always willing to try something new.

 

[Ears of Tin]

I like pcp/LMS for one specific plugin - Chromecast audio bridge. We have several Google speakers and CCA devices connected to powered speakers on porch and garage. Otherwise, to me, it suffers from the Volumio/Moode problem of cramming too much on one page (tiny print, tiny buttons, truncated titles) I typically operate from a phone or tablet and may have a beer or BBQ tongs in one hand. rAudio let's you swipe between three primary screens, Library, Now-playing and Queue. As a result, additional info can be displayed on each screen. I also like "consume-play" mode which deletes each track from the queue after play. Guests can add tracks jukebox style all night long and you can pick up where you left off when solitary listening.

pcp/LMS is little more work to install, keep updated and shutdown because it's a set of softwares from different sources. Moode 8 is released which I haven't tried yet. I notice that Moode continues to put the +volume button inside the volume circle at 12 o'clock which led to many disasters for me (perhaps BBQ related).

Other than that it seems rAudio has all the features most of us need: NAS, internet radio, CD player, equalizer, Camilla DSP, lyrics and bios, Bluetooth etc. Please note that I don't use Tidal or Spotify which seems to generate a lot of setup problems for all of these players.

You may notice that my preference for rAudio is entirely based on ergonomics and features which are matters of taste. I have yet to hear a sound quality difference among them.

 

[TheWalkman]

I have a number of different Pi streamer configs and my everyday driver is a Pi Zero 2 W running Volumio connected to a Topping PA5 via USB and it works great.

I also use another Pi Zero 2W with an Apple USB C dongle connected to an Aiyima amp and also works well.

In both cases, I have my music library loaded on the internal SD card. I spend a few extra dollars for Samsung high endurance memory cards.

Most of the time, I'm streaming audio from HD radio sources and listen to my music library less than 10% of the time.

The Pi 3 and 4 work fine but are overkill IMHO.

 

[Tom C]

Since you have an RPi in hand, you’ve already jumped the biggest hurdle.
USB is my preferred, works great
I used to have problems with stuttering and dropout when using NAS, but no longer, since upgrading home Wi-Fi system to Amplfi, which improved coverage throughout the house. The convenience of a central NAS is large, since I like to have entire library available at every listening station in the home.
My favorite player by far is piCoreplayer with Logitech Media Server. Had occasional problems of various sorts with Volumio, Kodi, Raspbian/VLC, JRiver. Not so with PCP. It just works, once properly configured. I’m on Qobuz, and there’s a PCP plug-in for it, which simplifies use compared to my old service Apple Music.
Room correction I‘ve yet to try with RPi, simply because I don’t feel I need it on the compact system I have it on. I would be worried about it being underpowered for running a convolver, but I don’t know that for a fact. Actually, there’s a beautiful tutorial in these pages written by member @mdsimon2 that works smooooth like buttah:

Camilladsp tutorial by @mdsimon2

I came across it when researching ways to resurrect an old Mac Mini the folks in Cupertino had bricked by remote control due to age. It loaded fine on that platform, but I then took a turn toward Ubuntu, got a little lost in the weeds, and put the project on the back burner for now. If using Pi for room correction, this is the route I’d pursue.