The Dark Side; Digital audio equipment recommendations and setup.

AnthonyI said:
So a few things on what's going on in the streaming front. Love the set up, happy I ended up pursuing it :)

Been using Spotify (Have a premium account), trying out Qobuz on a free month and using Plex for local files. So what I've noticed is that with Qobuz my streams get interrupted if I'm doing something on my PC, it's really weird. The sound quality is great, no complaints there, the library is pretty beefy as well. When using Spotify, I don't get any "glitches" while working, and the sound is just fine, I'm finding that my streaming habit truly is for discovery so I think we're just going to stick to Spotify and forgo an additional expense.

As for the Chromecast connection, it's sometimes a little wonky, it'll disconnect for no apparent reason and I have to close the actual web window and start over for it to connect, not sure what's up there, not happening enough to be overly annoying though. I'm kind of half thinking about taking my Windows tablet and connecting it via USB and leave it by the system to use as a control device.........I could always remote into the tablet as well to control it.

All a work in progress, lol
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Yeah I’m guessing you’ve got connection issues there. Qobuz used to cut out when I had an older pi with only a 2.4GHz connection. I had to connect with a wire because it wasn’t getting the bandwidth it needed, a 24/192 FLAC is an enormous file in comparison to a 320k mp3! When I got the newer pi with the 5GHz WiFi I’ve had no problems wireless. Are both the computer and the chromecast a little distance from the main router?
 
AnthonyI said:
So a few things on what's going on in the streaming front. Love the set up, happy I ended up pursuing it :)

Been using Spotify (Have a premium account), trying out Qobuz on a free month and using Plex for local files. So what I've noticed is that with Qobuz my streams get interrupted if I'm doing something on my PC, it's really weird. The sound quality is great, no complaints there, the library is pretty beefy as well. When using Spotify, I don't get any "glitches" while working, and the sound is just fine, I'm finding that my streaming habit truly is for discovery so I think we're just going to stick to Spotify and forgo an additional expense.

As for the Chromecast connection, it's sometimes a little wonky, it'll disconnect for no apparent reason and I have to close the actual web window and start over for it to connect, not sure what's up there, not happening enough to be overly annoying though. I'm kind of half thinking about taking my Windows tablet and connecting it via USB and leave it by the system to use as a control device.........I could always remote into the tablet as well to control it.

All a work in progress, lol
Click to expand...
Qobuz does seem to need a decent amount of processing power to work from the app directly. I had a really bizarre glitch for awhile where the music would play back at 1/2 or 1/4 speed on my desktop. I think it ended up getting fixed with an update though. And @Joe Mac is right about Qobuz I think--those files can be really hefty to stream.

Both seem like a bandwidth issue to me as well. Hope it gets sorted for ya!
 
MikeH said:
Qobuz does seem to need a decent amount of processing power to work from the app directly. I had a really bizarre glitch for awhile where the music would play back at 1/2 or 1/4 speed on my desktop. I think it ended up getting fixed with an update though. And @Joe Mac is right about Qobuz I think--those files can be really hefty to stream.

Both seem like a bandwidth issue to me as well. Hope it gets sorted for ya!
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Yeah that’s the good thing with the NUC running ROCK as an appliance connected with Ethernet, I know that the stream from the Internet is solid (I have 1Gb broadband lol) and there is no shortage of processing power. It does still require a fair old amount of WiFi bandwidth to stream all my hi res files from it to the pi on the other side of the apartment!
 
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Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’m guessing you’ve got connection issues there. Qobuz used to cut out when I had an older pi with only a 2.4GHz connection. I had to connect with a wire because it wasn’t getting the bandwidth it needed, a 24/192 FLAC is an enormous file in comparison to a 320k mp3! When I got the newer pi with the 5GHz WiFi I’ve had no problems wireless. Are both the computer and the chromecast a little distance from the main router?
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They're actually close to each other, the PC is connected directly to the router and the Chromecast is only about 15-20 feet away from the router. I'm also wondering if Comcast is messing with their system with all the stay at home we're going through, I know they mentioned it and credited out bill for a few months, our wireless is usually pretty solid and we have Roku's throughout the house and they seem to be working fine, or at least not showing any issues with the picture quality and such.
 
MikeH said:
Qobuz does seem to need a decent amount of processing power to work from the app directly. I had a really bizarre glitch for awhile where the music would play back at 1/2 or 1/4 speed on my desktop. I think it ended up getting fixed with an update though. And @Joe Mac is right about Qobuz I think--those files can be really hefty to stream.

Both seem like a bandwidth issue to me as well. Hope it gets sorted for ya!
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The file size is a valid point, but I think It just falls back to what I intend on using my streaming for, so the "lightweight" Spotify will suit my needs just fine as a filler while working and a sampling for physical purchases. On the bright side, I can see this all helping my finances over time since it will really boil down to what I REALLY need to have in a physical format..........which is a good thing ;)
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I’m guessing you’ve got connection issues there. Qobuz used to cut out when I had an older pi with only a 2.4GHz connection. I had to connect with a wire because it wasn’t getting the bandwidth it needed, a 24/192 FLAC is an enormous file in comparison to a 320k mp3! When I got the newer pi with the 5GHz WiFi I’ve had no problems wireless. Are both the computer and the chromecast a little distance from the main router?
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My new pi4 has been really stable on quboz too. Volumio is stable also and it’s great that it’s got the Radio Paradise plugin also so I’ve been streaming that a lot working from home.
 
Bsdmr2 said:
My new pi4 has been really stable on quboz too. Volumio is stable also and it’s great that it’s got the Radio Paradise plugin also so I’ve been streaming that a lot working from home.
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Yeah I am using the 3B+ which was the first one to have the 5GHz WiFi and it made such a huge difference over the old 3B model! I’ve been doing the same streaming 6 music to it direct from Roon when I’ve not been in the mood for listening to albums whilst working from home!
 
Joe Mac said:
Yeah I am using the 3B+ which was the first one to have the 5GHz WiFi and it made such a huge difference over the old 3B model! I’ve been doing the same streaming 6 music to it direct from Roon when I’ve not been in the mood for listening to albums whilst working from home!
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Ah yes, 6music too. 😍
 
Got my new Hifiberry HD2 hat. Cant give an honest review because Volumio doesnt support the newest Linux Kernel yet that the chip is on. That said using the hifiberryos Spotify sounds a little bit better, but Flac sound noticeably better than Sporify which wasnt so much the case before.
When Volumio updates I will give another review.
 
for my DAP/Phone (LG V35), i am wondering what would be a really good sub 100 IEMS (sound i prefer is basically 58X but maybe a bit more bass and impact)
 
Volumio updated 7/16 so I can now safely say that Volumio in my humble opinion is slightly better than the official HifiberryOS. Not even debate if Android user for ease of app.

I still think at price the Dac+ Pro is an exceptional value. Definitely worth price and might be good for some people. I was happy with it especially for Spotify only and if at low levels at reference distance.

The Dac2 HD is twice the price at $100 and just sounds more open and effortless. It can go louder without seeming louder. My kitchen is on other side house and now sounds much better in there. I think it is worth the price personally, especially for flac files. On Spotify I'd say like 20-25% improvement at close range.
 
Looking at volumio it looks mostly like a free alternative to roon... The thing is I don't need a streamer or a library, I just play all my music on my pc or on Spotify so I just need something as good or better than foobar
 
duke86fan said:
Looking at volumio it looks mostly like a free alternative to roon... The thing is I don't need a streamer or a library, I just play all my music on my pc or on Spotify so I just need something as good or better than foobar
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I think that was someone giving their impressions of a new piece of gear and two different software options, not a piece of advice to you. Volumio is a music streaming os for pi, it’s an alternative to Roon, Sonos, BlueOS streaking infrastructures too but it’s also capable of being used in concert with Roon, my Pi Roon endpoint uses volumio as is os.
 
Joe Mac said:
I think that was someone giving their impressions of a new piece of gear and two different software options, not a piece of advice to you. Volumio is a music streaming os for pi, it’s an alternative to Roon, Sonos, BlueOS streaking infrastructures too but it’s also capable of being used in concert with Roon, my Pi Roon endpoint uses volumio as is os.
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i was just giving my personal opinion on the app from what i see since everyone is mentioning it... i more just need something like Jriver or audirvanna, whatever would work best
 
I have a Roon question!

So I literally only discovered this whole system in the last week - what started as wanting to add a CD player to my vinyl setup has taken a distinct left turn, am already thinking about how I can find the $A2000 for the Cambridge CXN!

With the Roon core - are there any NAS units you could attach directly to your Router that could/will run Roon? Wondering if there's a way I could build the core without needing a dedicated laptop etc. I have an old crappy Macbook Pro, another old crappy MacBook air, a VERY old crappy MacBook mini (I'm talking about 2008!) so i feel they would all be very clunky to run a Roon core. My nice Mac is my locked down work Mac so forget that...

Then I need to work out how the hell I will rip these CDs - would those old Macs be up to the job of ripping 500 CDs into gorgeous high-res FLAC files???
 
AngryVal said:
I have a Roon question!

So I literally only discovered this whole system in the last week - what started as wanting to add a CD player to my vinyl setup has taken a distinct left turn, am already thinking about how I can find the $A2000 for the Cambridge CXN!

With the Roon core - are there any NAS units you could attach directly to your Router that could/will run Roon? Wondering if there's a way I could build the core without needing a dedicated laptop etc. I have an old crappy Macbook Pro, another old crappy MacBook air, a VERY old crappy MacBook mini (I'm talking about 2008!) so i feel they would all be very clunky to run a Roon core. My nice Mac is my locked down work Mac so forget that...

Then I need to work out how the hell I will rip these CDs - would those old Macs be up to the job of ripping 500 CDs into gorgeous high-res FLAC files???
Click to expand...
I bought an external Blu Ray player and used that to rip my CD's with my Mac. Used DB Poweramp as my software, and it all worked really well together.
 
AngryVal said:
I have a Roon question!

So I literally only discovered this whole system in the last week - what started as wanting to add a CD player to my vinyl setup has taken a distinct left turn, am already thinking about how I can find the $A2000 for the Cambridge CXN!

With the Roon core - are there any NAS units you could attach directly to your Router that could/will run Roon? Wondering if there's a way I could build the core without needing a dedicated laptop etc. I have an old crappy Macbook Pro, another old crappy MacBook air, a VERY old crappy MacBook mini (I'm talking about 2008!) so i feel they would all be very clunky to run a Roon core. My nice Mac is my locked down work Mac so forget that...

Then I need to work out how the hell I will rip these CDs - would those old Macs be up to the job of ripping 500 CDs into gorgeous high-res FLAC files???
Click to expand...

There are some NAS’ that can run Roon core. BUT it’s highly diiscouraged and Reportedly buggy. A NAS simply does not have the computing power to do that kind of task reliably.

If you want to have a headless always on Roon core the better option are to use Roon ROCK software on an intel NUC with an internal hard drive for file storage (I did this and highly recommend it) or If you have the money get a Roon nucleus. My NUC sits on top of a bookcase in my hallway attached directly to the router and just does it’s job wonderfully and without fuss.

If I want to add music to it I just use the iPad Roon controller app to add Qobuz streaming albums to my library and or for CDs I get out the laptop and cd drive, rip them and copy them across to the NUC over my network, couldn’t be easier.
 
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