[stereocilia]

Santa brought me a Raspberry Pi 3 B to play with. What a cool little thing! It's now connected to an Aune S16.  I'm coming from a Squeezebox Classic (with a linear power supply that I wired up).

I am a slow learner and/or total noob. So Yeah, I didn't even realize that the host computer (is that the right term?) through a browser is used to control the moOde software (just like Logitech Media Server).    Keyboard and mouse connected to the Pi? Totally unresponsive. "OMG everything is broken!" Well, Turns out it was a good thing I made that stupid mistake or I may have never figured out that writing an image to the SD card is NOT the same thing as extracting the zip file of the downloaded MoOde software to the SD card. You need to download some other obscure little utility to make that transition. Obviously I needed Win32DiskImager. As apparently everyone but me knows, this ancient little program will give you an error with a foreboding red "X"  in Windows 10 if you don't explicitly tell it to "Run as Administrator" before it will work for some weird Windows reason. Thankfully my Google skills were sufficiently on fleek when I encountered that little speedbump.

I have played some music through Kodi (a really good open-source media server software), and it sounds fine, but using MoOde everyting sounds better to me, and it's superior to the squeezebox classic. I really don't know why. Bits are bits? Man, I don't know. Maybe it's entirely a placebo effect. I'm okay with that. Just keep it coming.

Now, I need to go figure out how to play Tidal through this thing. I also should also try Logitech Media Servier with piCore. I love using Squeezecommander on my Android. BTW I think Squeeze Commander should win some kind of award for being awesome.

My point is: to those who have blogged, commented, answered dumb newbie questions in this forum and beyond; and, especially to those who have coded programs (I still recoil at calling them "apps" because I'm well-over 30) to entertain us normal techno-curious music lovers I give my heartfelt thanks. And yes, I did donate via PayPal.

[dB Cooper]

Keep us posted. The "Pi"has been on my radar awhile but I see a lot of stories of "adventures" like yours and I am looking for a "turnkey" solution. I am trying out Tidal, plan on keeping it, and would love to find out I could stream it through a Pi. BTW, looked at MoOde's setup "instructions", and they are great if you already know how to do it. I am aware of a player software called Volumio which is apparently available as a preloaded SD card with a skeletal version of Linux and the music player preinstalled on it. Not interested in becomong a Linux jockey, but I can follow well-written instructions, which MoOde's are not IMHO.

[mfsoa]

Hi stereocilia,

I'd be glad to offer whatever help I can. I was in your shoes a few months ago and now have 3 Pis connected to my Marantz SA8005 digital inputs as follows:

1) Pi used as HQPlayer Naa via USB  (next level Pi stuff - outside the scope of Moode, Volumio, PiCorePlayer etc. discussion). Pi can output 2X DSD no probs.
2) Pi running PiCorePlayer, so it thinks it's a Squeezebox. I stream Tidal through this one using the Tidal plug in thingy in Logitech Music Server (LMS). I use an add-on card to the Pi (HifiBerry Digi+) to get spdif digital output to the Marantz.
3) Pi running Moode. Very cool program. I only use it for its list of built-in radio stations (~200) at the moment but it can also access music on hard drives, networks, thumbdrives etc. I use a HifiBerry add-on card and use its optical out to the DAC. Can do 24/192 all day.

To offer encouragement, none of the above installations required one spec of linux programming. Mine are all hard-wired so I have no wireless experience to share.

If you are familiar with the LMS environment then go with PiCorePlayer. It turns your Pi into another squeezebox in your system. But PiCorPlayer allows for mucho customization - upsampling, DSD, adjustability from linear phase to minimum phase (or any in-between!) filters. All kinda cool stuff.

The install is easy. Basically:
- Load that Win32discimager program. You will need this to write to the cute little memory card
- Download PiCorePlayer (or Moode or whaterever program)
- Unzip if need be to create the image file (the program file that gets loaded onto the card and then the Pi)
- Using Win32... copy the image file onto the memory card
- Pop the memory card into the Pi
- Plug shit in (OK the order of ethernet cable, power connector, usb or spdif connectins could make a difference)
- In LMS, the Pi will show up as another squeexebox. Play music
- Explore PiCorePlayer, play with upsampling. DSD etc if interested.

Yes each step takes a few minutes but it's almost as easy as it can get. Load program on Pi. Connect Pi. Use Pi (with LMS or by finding it on the network and using your PC to control Moode or Volumio etc.)

Still haven't done any linux programming and we have music playing!

Seriously ask away and I'm sure you can start enjoying in no time! Yes, it does sound better than a SBox Touch!

Incorporation of the Pis into my system has greatly increased the quantity of musical pleasure that I consume.

-Mike

[stereocilia]

Mike, Thanks so much for laying out the steps for getting piCore going. That's my next move. It looks like MoOde does not have the option for using Tidal right now.

 One of the cool things about the Pi is that I can just have a few different SD cards; no need to undo anything--just drop in a new card. ...and try not to drop that tiny little f*@&er or it will bounce into a clever hiding place for sure. Don't ask me how I know.

 You know, the more I dive into this, the more I realize the advantages of having a NAS instead of relying on the local HD and backup drives for storage and service. (just like sts9fan has been telling me for years). Not just for audio, I have a growing library of photos, too.

My idea is to have one pi serving up a random slideshow of family photos when the TV off. Kodi seems like the best choice for that.

Just wondering: will DSD work over WiFi on the Pi?

Thanks again

[JRace]

Just wondering: will DSD work over WiFi on the Pi?

Thanks again

The Pi3 has 802.11n wireless, which in theory has enough throughput to handle DSD.
It will depend on your Wifi Access Point (router) though.

I have not tested it myself, but may be possible.

I use RUNE audio on my Pi 3/ HiFi Berry Dac+ Pro with the official 7" touchscreen.
Love the sound, and with the touchscreen I get both local control and browser control.

[JohnR]

I've played DSD over wireless to a Pi but it depends on a lot of things.

[stereocilia]

Well, I got the piCorePlayer in LMS, and it looks like it's working. But, there's no sound.  I have the dac (Aune S16) connected by USB and it displays PCM 384. There must be some setting somewhere I got wrong.

edit: just realized I have LMS 7.8.1.  off I go to get 7.9....

[stereocilia]

that didn't work either. now I'm stuck.

[mfsoa]

Did you go in to PiCorePlayer and set the output settings?

[lcrim]

One method of getting Tidal to play on Moode is to add BubbleUPnP, to your Android device..  Its available for download from Google Playstore.  You will need to configure your renderer (in this case) Moode as  DLNA /UPNP compliant. 
You may have to mess w/ the ALSA volume settings in Configuration Settings under System.
Volumio and Moode utilize Linux Player Daemon which is a terrific sounding player.  Sorry,Volumio is way more difficult to set up than Moode for me anyways, did not know about  PiCore until now. Hey Mike,  would love some help in setting up HQ Naa. Please memo me.
Larry

[lcrim]

BTW using Tidal in both of my systems has greatly increased the availability of Jazz and Classical music and my own musical enjoyment.
Larry

[stereocilia]

Did you go in to PiCorePlayer and set the output settings?

I don't know how. I  went to file explorer / netowork/ media devices/ picoreplayer -> "view device webpage" and then IE gives me "Hmmm, we can't reach this page.

[stereocilia]

I don't know how. I  went to file explorer / netowork/ media devices/ picoreplayer -> "view device webpage" and then IE gives me "Hmmm, we can't reach this page.

...I just hooked up a monitor to the pi and copied the ip address it displayed into the web browser and there it is!  not sure why it's wrong in windows, but whatever. back to it...

[stereocilia]

now it says Squeezelite "not running" I didn't stop it. and the restart button does not resolve it.
edit: --SOLVED-- I had a typo in the output device specification field. ugh.

[mfsoa]

When I need to see the IP address of the Pi running PiCorePlayer, I do it through Logitech Media Server by hitting "Settings" on the bottom right of the main screen and then "Player".

Typing that IP address into the browser takes me to PiCorePLayer.

The first Pi you set up will take a few hours. The next literally a few minutes.

-Mike

[mfsoa]

Do you plan on upsampling or playing with the filtering? The filtering makes a big difference in SQ.

Here is as good a guide as I've found to the upsampling options. By John Swenson:

http://audiophiles.slimdevices.narkive.com/U1eeRcWv/upsampling-impressions

I'm using hI:::28   

-Mike

[stereocilia]

I will check out that guide for sure; also the bubble Upnp method is worth investigating--i first need to wrap my head around it. (Bubble wrap my head around it)? I do like LMS very much. There are lots of little things like the "don't stop the music" plugin is a nice way to automatically discover new artists for instance.

Right now I'm getting a few pops and micro dropouts. Maybe buffer settings need adjusting or something.

[stereocilia]

I magically seem to have solved the pops and dropouts by playing with the FIQ-Split acceleration setting 0x1 and 0x3 (the only ones I've tried so far). I still have no idea what any of that means. This will require some Googling and/or a more-advanced degree. 

mI:::28      is working pretty well for me, but I haven't tried them all. The L and M filters never seem to sound better than 'I'. Everytime I changed the stop_band start or pass band end all the sound goes away. So I leave that one alone.

[jk@home]

I've been running a RP2 and HiFiBerry Digi+ w/ picore and LMS for almost a year now. For Christmas I  treated myself to an upgrade. A RP3 board, a new HiFi Berry metal case to replace the cheapo plastic one, and an iFi iPower to replace the power supply. Picoreplayer is very easy to set up, IMO more so than Moode. But the web site instructions are a bit lacking (like figuring out how to access the player's web address).

I use the setup in the 2 channel system for my existing FLAC files, but more so for Spotify premium playback. Recently added a Chromecast Audio in the living room HT system so my wife can have her own Spotify account. That was also fairly easy to set up and sounds great, even when using the analog output.

So has anyone one here compared the sound quality of a RPI/Digi+ against a Chromecast Audio, using it's digital output, while playing Spotify?

[chip]

I've been running a RP2 and HiFiBerry Digi+ w/ picore and LMS for almost a year now. For Christmas I  treated myself to an upgrade. A RP3 board, a new HiFi Berry metal case to replace the cheapo plastic one, and an iFi iPower to replace the power supply. Picoreplayer is very easy to set up, IMO more so than Moode. But the web site instructions are a bit lacking (like figuring out how to access the player's web address).

I use the setup in the 2 channel system for my existing FLAC files, but more so for Spotify premium playback. Recently added a Chromecast Audio in the living room HT system so my wife can have her own Spotify account. That was also fairly easy to set up and sounds great, even when using the analog output.

So has anyone one here compared the sound quality of a RPI/Digi+ against a Chromecast Audio, using it's digital output, while playing Spotify?

Is the case you got https://www.hifiberry.com/shop/cases/steel-case-for-hifiberry-dac-brushed-cover-2/?

Thoughts on the  iFi iPower?