My Raspberry Pi + HiFiBerry Music Server

[ifor]

Whether it can 'access' files on a networked Mac, i.e. use the Volumio player to 'take' the files from the Mac and play them, I don't know - I haven't tried that.

If you think the RPi + HifiBerry + Volumio being a replacement for a an Airport Express, you're about there (but it sounds much better)

Thanks for your reply. It really is 'taking' the files from the iMac that I am interested in.

It certainly can access network shares. I know it supports smb/cifs and NFS (may support other protocols but those are the two I've used/tested)

Yep I believe cifs is the way to do this - I think you'd have to get your hands dirty with linux and install it on the pi. The volumio forums should give you a better idea (sorry, I have no experience with macs).

Maybe this is beyond me!

 

[MoJoe]

So I have the 1.2 beta on the go now and it is working well. Sometimes it just seems to crash and I have to write the sd card again. I thought to leave the Pi plugged in at all times but was worried about the safety of doing that and how much it would cost to have plugged in 24/7. I know it won't break the bank but I always thought it was good practice to unplug or turn off devices when not in use.

Anyone suggestions or put my mind at ease somehow.

 

[daveh75]

The RPI draws a couple of watts, so doesn't cost much to run, I have mine running 24/7.

How are you shutting it down? Not just pulling the power I hope, as that will corrupt the SD card.

If you want to improve the reliability (i.e don't keep corrupting SD cards) and improve performance, i would install the rootfs to USB stick.

There are numerous guides out there on how to do it,

http://www.samhobbs.co.uk/2013/10/speed-up-your-pi-by-booting-to-a-usb-flash-drive/

http://www.dingleberrypi.com/2013/05/install-and-run-raspbian-from-a-usb-flash-drive/

 

[margetti]

The RPI draws a couple of watts, so doesn't cost much to run, I have mine running 24/7.

How are you shutting it down? Not just pulling the power I hope, as that will corrupt the SD card.

If you want to improve the reliability (i.e don't keep corrupting SD cards) and improve performance, i would install the rootfs to USB stick.

There are numerous guides out there on how to do it,

http://www.samhobbs.co.uk/2013/10/speed-up-your-pi-by-booting-to-a-usb-flash-drive/

http://www.dingleberrypi.com/2013/05/install-and-run-raspbian-from-a-usb-flash-drive/

+ 1

Mojoe -

I haven't had any corruption issues running straight from the SD card on volumio, but certainly have on my other Pi running RaspBMC until I moved the rootfs over to USB...

Other things to consider regarding SD corruption is (1) power supply - do you have a good quality (1 Amp min) power supply? Whilst mobile phone chargers etc can be used, their lack of adequate voltage regulation can cause corruption , (2) do you have a decent SD card? Whilst there seems to be some debate on whether a class 10 SD card will bring any performance gain over a class 4 for example, the occurence of corruption is certainly lessened with the use of a higher class card, and (3) what USB devices do you have plugged in to the Pi? If for example you have a wi-fi dongle plus something else, a powered USB hub *may* help.

And as daveh says, they only draw a couple of watts when idle - I leave mine on all the time fwiw...

 

[MoJoe]

aye, i am just pulling the power lead out so that may indeed be it. I am not using any usb connections to the Pi. I am using it to read FLAC files from my NAS. I am considering buying a DAC (Arcam irDAC i think it is called) but i want this little device to run smoothly and consistently with no troubles. Thanks for the tips. I'm using a sandisk 2gb that is a bit old. I think it was used in a camera a few years ago. It doesn't seem to say what "class" it is. it does say 15mb/s.

 

[MoJoe]

Sorry i have the usb dongle but nothing else.

 

[DigitalLivingRoom]

For anyone who wants a low cost addition to their hifi with fantastic sound, i can fully recommend this! I have a squeezebox touch connected to a musical fidelity DAC via QED composite cable and Chord RCA Leads to my Rotel Amp which sounds very good. The touch also has a software mod to optimize the audio output.

I started out using a raspberry pi and squeezeplug and connected it to the external DAC however there was too much popping on it. I then decided to try the HifiberryDAC, and used ethernet to connect to my music share on my NAS drive. This sounded much better but it wasn't quite there yet, maybe sounding a little lacklustre in all areas. I then read about the interefernce using ethernet, so i bought a cheap usb nano adapter. So decided to try it once more - Wow! what a difference the sound was clear & detailed in all areas, in short i was blown away! I compared the sound between the Squeezebox Touch with the touchtoolbox mod installed and i really couldn't tell the difference! To put it into perspective i was using a device costing a third of the price than my touch and musical fidelity V-DAC!

[EDITED BY MODS - house rules. See also rule regarding commercial links in signatures]

 

[BMFDrums]

For anyone that is interested in such a solution without the hassle and faff of making one yourself...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310905451046?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649

 

[ifor]

For anyone that is interested in such a solution without the hassle and faff of making one yourself...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310905451046?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649

The link doesn't seem to work, but I found it on eBay.

 

[BMFDrums]

For anyone that is interested in such a solution without the hassle and faff of making one yourself...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310905451046?ssPageName=STRK:MESCX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1554.l2649

The link doesn't seem to work, but I found it on eBay.

Sorry!

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/310905451046

 

[DigitalLivingRoom]

I use this hifiberry DAC with a raspberry pi to add to my existing Logitech squeezebox ecosystem which I love.

The raspberry pi music player can use MPD software such as volumio or squeezeplug using Logitech media server in the same way that the squeezebox players access their music collection. I personally prefer the squeezeplug software which is more flexible

The sound quality is very favourable compared to the touch.

I found a really extensive review on the internet of the player by digitallivingroom.

 

[Monkeyfist]

I'm glad other people are finding this. I've been using this since January and it is superb. For anyone looking for a further improvement, I found a move away from a plug in power supply to a battery pack was an improvement. It removes any chance of the noisy mains affecting sound quality. I used an Anker pack which offers upto 4amp draw at 5v. I charge it up and it lasts for days using it to a couple of hours every night.

Also, if you dont want to modify cases, I raided my sons lego to build one. Its on Volumio and Crazy Audios site if your interested.

Lastly. Beta versions of the next Volumio with fixes are available from the sourceforge site before they appear on Volumios webpage. Therefore signup for notifications on the volumio sourceforge page and you will be emailed when a new version is out.

 

[ifor]

Do you use Ethernet or wifi?

 

[Monkeyfist]

Neither, I use a usb Hard drive with flac files and control using ios. The Usb hard drive is powered by the Anker power pack as well (it has three usb outs) for anything else its Spotify or Qobuz.

The Rpi is connected to my router via the ethernet.

 

[ifor]

The Rpi is connected to my router via the ethernet.

That's the bit I meant.

 

[twnznz]

If you don't mind getting your hands dirty, 'Mopidy' (freeware-non commercial at http://www.mopidy.com/) is more flexible than Volumio. It presents both an MPD and HTTP server, and can use a local library AND simultaneously integrate with Spotify/Google Play/Soundcloud/...etc.

As soon as someone writes a Qobuz extension for the backend (Qobuz streams lossless!), it'll be ideal.

Current setup: Linux server (Mopidy) -> Optical SPDIF -> Audio-GD NFB-11 -> Arcam FMJ A19 -> KEF LS50

 

[Nahassa]

Hi Margetti,

First off, very nice work on this. Could you please direct me to where you found the project case? I am looking to build something similar, maybe in a smaller case though, but I am having trouble finding anything worthwhile in the rather small kingdom of Denmark. I am hoping there will be greater luck in the UK.

 

[margetti]

search google for ha5ia

 

[margetti]

I wrote a whole load more including a direct link to the ebay site referred to above but I keep getting blocked, so sorry for the short reply!

 

[Hugh56]

The Raspberry Pi 2 and Hifiberry digi+ requires no soldering. The coax stage has an optional isolating transformer to reduce noise to the DAC. I use mine with an rDAC, picked up from ebay for around £110. Output to Naim Nait 3 amp and B&W 685 S2 speakers. It sounds amazing. Probably will upgrade it to a Chord Qute2 in the future.