*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* THIS IS A TEST -- With this video, we are trialling a new way of doing things: the comments section below has been switched ON but will be *moderated by a third party*. The upshot? You get to leave a comment below the video and I don't get tied up by comment moderation to stay focussed on making the next video or podcast as well as keeping the Darko.Audio website and Patreon up to date. That means more content for EVERYONE. Our new third-party moderator is under strict instruction not to approve racist or sexist remarks, URLs, (the seeds of) conspiracy theories or the unsubstantiated ramblings of grumpy geezers.
Thank you for all your videos, John. If there's one thing bringing back the comment section does that is beneficial, it is for us to express our gratitude and appreciation for your content. Cheers!
I love how you keep a healthy perspective about the price of audio gear. You evaluate inexpensive gear on its audio quality and never dismiss it from serious consideration because it is cheap. That would be very easy to do in light of the very costly gear you have reviewed. Thank you for your excellent work. Roger in Wisconsin
Thanks for enabling the comments, definitely helps the more zoomer audience. Definitely turning me onto the Audiophonics RaspDAC. The LCD is also helping tip me over the edge on it. I can't wait to see Spotify's rollout of Hi-Fi, and it'll start a network streaming craze with me for sure.
Just to add to your informative video: HiFi Berry make various quality Audio HATs for the Raspberry Pi ( digital output and DACs ) with the added bonus of being a Roon end point when you use their OS and is Spotify Connect compatible. This has been my cost effective solution for my 4 music zones in my home.
Excellent that comments are back on!! I often feel that I am the only audiophile that listens to electronic music (basically exclusively!), since discovering your RUclips content, I know I am not alone! Keep up the wonderful work!
Have always enjoyed how your content moves between aspirational Hifi gear and the more pragmatic options available to everyone. This video is no different. Nice work.
Great video. I've been building and using Raspberry Pi's with Hat's and DAC's since 2014. Rock solid with Ethernet connections to my Synology NAS. Currently using a Pi 4 with a Topping E30 DAC and the sound is phenomenal. Thanks for spreading the truth about low cost but very great sounding gear!!
Just built a Volumio based Spotify connect system. Using an old Pi from 2015. Software works, but stream keeps dropping out. I'm guessing that it doesn't have the processing power to actually work. I'll try it with an external DAC to see if freeing that computing headroom helps. Perhaps something else is wrong. Any troubleshooting advice? Figured it out. Wifi connection was weak. Physical connection fixed it. Now to troubleshoot the WiFi!
Glad to see the comments are back! I built a raspberry Pi streamer with an RPi4, Allo Digi One HAT and Schiit Modi 3 running volumio last year after watching some of the earlier videos about the Allo HATs and comparing them to Sonos...and it's flipping brilliant. I've not looked back since. Like a lot of others out there I'm working from home at the minute, the system gets turned on in the morning along with the laptop and it will run all day, no issues. Really looking forward to Spotify Hifi finally launching. Keep the videos coming, John!
In one year of COVID-19 lockdowns following your videos I've discovered the Raspberry Pi. Little by little I've chose the DAC (better the DACs) that better suits my tastes and purposes. I've tried many different OS and ended up finding one that fits my needs and my seek for simplicity. I've now a Raspberry Pi 4 that sits in an Argon fanless case, Dragonfly Red/Cobalt (according to the music I listen to and the headphones I use) that works as DAc and preamp and feeds my Schiit Asgard 3 headphone amp. rAudio is my OS of choice. The beauty of the Pi is that allows you to experiment and TRY BY YOURSELF what's better for YOUR NEEDS and TASTES without investing a lot of money. Look at a project around the Raspberry Pi as an educative project around you, your music, your tastes. I thank you for all the hints and inspiration that came form your videos about the Pi, especially the one I consider the most important: try for yourself, experiment, discover your tastes and follow them. Thank you.
Thanks for this intro video John! It was the catalyst I needed to replace my Airport Express --> Optical --> DAC chain with a RaspberryPi 3 --> USB --> DAC chain. Feels incredible being able to actually stream true Hi-Res tracks AND it finally gave me a use for that old Pi.
Built one of these the other week on the basis of your previous vids. Got my first hifi system as compensation for a grim year working in hospital. Spotify connect rasberry pi helps make it more fun. Has meant a lot to me. Cheers for the vids. Hope the comments don't descend into rubbish. Jack
Thanks, Jack, for your help during the last year. I retired on health grounds at the end of 2019 after nearly 35 years in the NHS and wasn't able to help out but still have many colleagues working on the front line. I know how hard it has been for them. Like you, when the shit hit the fan (as it did with monotonous regularity) I always found refuge in great music. Glad it has helped you. Enjoy your system.
Watched this video on Wednesday and now already have my raspberry pi player set up. I would have never thought of this. Love the vid and am looking forward to Spotify rolling out its lossless audio
Thanks for these types of videos in particular, John. Once I got an overall understanding of the Pi audio world from your previous entries, I bought a HiFiBerry Amp2 setup - it's handsome, works well, and I'm very happy with it. Keep up the good work!
Thought the Schiit Modi or Topping a10 might have made an appearance. So glad to see the comments open again - i always enjoyed the community talking to each other
Thanks for the informative content sir. Very low on hype and high on substance. Love it! The great thing about having the comment section, and I hope it can stay that way, is that we can build on user reactions en experiences also. Win win. Greetings from Amsterdam.
I bought the rPi4 and Allo DigiOne signature thanks to you. And I have to admin I haven't expected such a huge difference in sound quality. It is better by all criteria. Even my girlfriend can hear the difference. Thank you John!
The power of pie! This is one of the best aspects of the channel. John’s tinkering with affordable components and the Pi is great for those of us who want to play around with hardware and not spend a ton of money doing so.
I watched this video (twice now) and the introduction video, and I’ll be back for the next one. This Raspberry Pii may be just what I need to get into streaming. I love that you are willing to crack open a case and show us how to put a kit together. I also learn so much about what’s current in the marketplace these days when I listen to your videos. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
Always enjoy your videos John, thanks for taking the time to make them. Good to have the comments on. I’ll probably just buy one of these and have a tinker.
Good post. I’ve been using this arrangement for months, the Pie feeding the Iris and then to the Denafrips Ares2. This is the basis of mt headphone system.
This is great timing. Just about to put together a network streamer for my sons room. This vid combined with your beginners guide to DACs vids have been a great place for me to start my research from. Thanks
A little correction there. Actually have audiophonics older machine (without screen). Their machines needs drivers for 3 things! Screen display l, soft power shut down and remote access. If you have a machine without screen and remote, you really do not need their special version of volumino. It’s all about the drivers! Not exactly specially modified volumino to begin with. Also the reason why raspdac has better sounds than dragonfly (which I also have, but I have the cobalt version), is that raspdac actually has separate boards to control power and usb from a raspberry! Which further reduce the signal noise from the raspberry pi itself. 💪 usb dongle dac suffers the feeding power! Without extra clean and stable power supply through the dac itself, those compact dac simply just doesn’t sound as good. I’ve several HAT DAC. I found out rasspdac from audiophonics is way better because you feed power through their board!! Not to raspberry pi itself!! It’s just sounds way cleaner than other HAT I’ve owned that sucks the power from raspberry pi’s ports! At least that’s how my observation presented itself.
Thank you for plainly explaining bitperfect and the shortcomings of the android / tv streamers. I will trial volumio later this week. Cheers from Michigan!
Nice episode, John. Some of your audience may want to use a Pi4 rather than an earlier incarnation if they're going to interface to a DAC over USB. The Pi4 doesn't share its USB circuit with the network, so the signal path will be cleaner. And folks who are OK with messing around with RPis might check out Raspotify, which we use for Spotify Connect on our Pis... although Volumio is a nice choice as well.
After seeing this video today I've ordered an IQaudio DAC+ Hat for my Raspberry Pi. Shipped today and will arrive tomorrow. Very excited to see how Volumio and Spotify works together. Love your channel!
Hey John, thanks so much for this updated video regarding the raspberry pi. every since the very first video you put out regarding the raspberry pie I have now made that my primary streamer/dac component in my Hi-Fi system. These raspberry pie and hat extension boards truly rival equipment 10 times the cost in my opinion. Keep them coming.
Hi John, Good to see that the option to respond to your channel is enabled again. I tried to mention this before, mainly by coming across your channel I picked up my interest in audio and music, and want to sincerely thank you for that. This episode is again a great source of information and my RaspDac Mini LCD (indeed with a color display) is on its way and will replace my current setup (Pi 3 with an IFi micro iDAC). Then a comment regarding a topic that I don't think gets much attention, thank you also very much for sharing your choice of music, a whole new world of music unknown to me has opened up and I really enjoy listening to these new musicians. Looking forward to the next episode.
Received my RaspDac today, speechless what a sound compared to the iFI .. The only thing that isn't that great, the SD card extension cable, mine is already faulty and I had to re-flash the SD card with a standard Volumio image and connecting the SD card to the onboard SD card slot. Now I also lost all the RaspDac extra's like the Oled screen. Lets see if support will be able to fix this in a timely manner. But again, what a sound, detail, image stage flabbergasted
Spot on about "Bluetooth Hi-Res" audio. There is no such thing. And the marketing groups for the various audio companies are always looking for tricks to get their products to sound "Hi-Res" to lure customers to purchasing their products which are full of garbage and they know it. This is very frustrating to those who know how they play the game to unsuspecting customers and the customers think that they are getting a great deal when in reality, they have been duped and don't know it. Thank you for sharing this video. I hope that this will educate potential buyers on how not to get screwed by the various marketing groups that just want to throw a "Hi-res" badge on everything they sell and see it for what it really is.
That was a fun watch. Thanks for the info. I hope to see a similar video in the future comparing cost effective AirPlay/AirPlay 2 devices, especially one with as much background information. I’ve always read that AirPlay was bit-for-bit but if anyone can find the nuances it’s Mr. Darko.
Today I built a rasbery pi 4b with a hifiberry DAC2 HD hat and a ifi 5v power supply. I have it to stream to my entire house. My router/computer is across the house from my bedroom. I can now have the pi in my bedroom and connect rca outs from the pi to my cavalli hybrid amp next to my bed. I run volumio with tidal and spotify. Very, very happy!!
John Darko is super informative. His passion for higher end audio that is still grounded in budget constraints is very commendable. He has done a SUPERB job explaining Raspberry PI over numerous videos. I would love to use Raspberry PI but my understanding is it does not work with Amazon Music HD which is my streaming service of choice due to our Amazon Prime membership. Someday......
I recommend Diet-Pi for those not wanting to dedicate their Pi to Volumio. I’ve tried to love Volumio but it continues to crash reading my lossless library, the same one used everyday with Roon. Diet-Pi is lightweight and allows you to install Raspotify, Roon bridge, AirportSync and I even got Tidal connect working on it. (If you can gain access to the shell on the Audiophonics box, you can run Roon bridge).
Pi 3 on a Peachtree and Wilsons. This is literally the year 3021 🤩 I used to run the Allo Digione Signature with the shanti power supply and it was realllllly great. I think the introduction of Spotify connect on platforms like volumio is a real positive game changer for the hobbyist audiophile , and defo not to be sneered at
Thank you for another excellent guide to streaming audio playback. I listened to the RUclips video streaming to Volumio on a Pi 3 with Justboom Amp Hat and Mission bookshelf speakers - not quite audiophile but it’s what the wife will accept in the living room! The Audiophonics solution seem like a sensible upgrade as it provides a screen as well as better sound quality. Keep up the good work helping those of us at the more budget end of the audiophile community.
Great job on putting a spotlight on Spotify and cheaper streaming options! This will get more people into the hobby and it's a very good thing for us all. As long as Tidal and Qobuz keep being supported I'm a happy camper.
Great video John, and thank you for turning the comments back on. I am so sorry you have had issues here. Your video was very informative and I am going to take this approach to improving the sound quality of my Amazon Music Streaming set up. My thought is keep my Echo Dot for voice control, but use a "PiFi" as an end point. I can get the DAC in the echo dot out of the signal path and stream Amazon Music over my WiFi to the PiFi and come out USB, or SPIDF out of a digihat, into the DAC in my Emotiva preamp or Dragonfly Red. I am excited to get started.
44.1Hz --> 48kHz is actually one of the worst conversions too because they're not a clean multiples of each other like 48, 96, and 192 are. Also nice to see the comments section back, it makes videos feel far more homely.
I’m very happy with my PI2AES hat with it’s separate outputs. I connect it my RME ADI-2 DAC and it makes it sing like never before. Best music server, I’ve had so far. Great bass, very detailed and blows away my Mac mini
A suggestion for those on a budget like me. I am running volumio on a Raspberri Pi ZeroW and have a Pimoroni Audio DAC Shim. The total cost with the micro sd card is about $50. Works great as my office streamer. I mostly play the FLAC files from my NAS but this is small enough I can use it with a phone battery and take it mobile to play files from the sd card itself.
Yay comments! I want to start by saying thank you for refining my understanding of the audiophile world. I started delving deeper into audio gear since the beginning of COVID. Currently I'm running a PowerNode 2i w/ KEF LS50's. Can't wait to see what other tweaks I can do to step up my system.
Thank you for this very informative video. I especially appreciate your mention of the Android TV boxes at the end, as I have wondered why one could not simply run the optical digital output on one of those boxes to a DAC and save $20 or $30 off the cost of a raspberry pi unit, plus have something that plays video and Android video games.
Love all vids and inspiration. I picked up an old Mac mini for less that a pi4 with a hat etc. And use it as a Spotify endpoint. It has toslink out, but after watching all these videos I learned that usb out I had much more information. Almost went with topping d10s as recommended here, but then I saw measurements of the smsl Sanskrit mark ii. For $20 more. And I think it looks better. So yeah Mac mini usb to Sanskrit mkii to a Yamaha amp to ELAC debut d5. Rather happy with the set up, and have now learned how much source and dacs do makes a difference. And Spotify is controlled via my iPhone and the Spotify app. I’m I also have a CD player with coax out to the Sanskrit which also sounds better than the CD players dac. So, my tunes are sound pretty clear and I am wondering about my next upgrade, if I should upgrade my integrated Yamaha amp or move to elac unify’s. Or build LX mini’s with a mini dsp. The Yamaha amp has a direct bypass button that bypasses 3 tone pots which is sweet. Anyways, if anyone feels like making a suggestion for my next upgrade, I’d appreciate it. Ortofon red is the next install, but what to do after that?
Great video, thanks for this. I'm planning to build a pi with a DAC hat into an amp based on the LM4780 chips, so it can run purely headless. Look forward to hearing more about pi accessories!
You have got me hooked as I already have a couple of Raspberry Pi 4's. Having watched a few of your vlogs, my cunning plan for a system that is already in train is to fit an Allo BOSS "Master" DAC to the Pi get a couple of Adam T5V speakers and (having just about died when I saw the type and the COST of audio cables you and other Audiophiles have) I will get Chord C-Line audio cables. I have Volumio and have started a Spotify subscription which I did initially just to check that I could get the downloads working directly with the Pi before spending any more money, this was a direct swap for my Amazon standard subscription. I will give you a bit of feedback in, hopefully, a few months once I have got everything together and working with a chance to listen. So a few weeks later and with a couple of subtle changes. Firstly I realised that I needed a volume controller, as Raspberry Pi and Allo Boss were not fitted with one, so I got a Dolla Tek Passive Pre Amp. Second change was to go for Amazon Basic RCA cables, as a 62 year old I strongly suspect that my hearing will not notice the difference. The system is now working, I am happy with volumio running Spotify, as advised once initial link set up with smartphone the phone can be switched off as the connection is directly through the internet cable that I use. I am looking forward to the likely upgrade of Spotify. I would estimate total price is in the £400 region. So thank you John Darko for your excellent vlogs and for the guidance for what can be achieved.
So this has been my obsession for the past month. Pi4 + Topping E30 = crazy good front end. Add in allo sig on using coax... even a little better. I even got a R Pi Zero working with the apple USB C dongle (which does 192/24!?). I own two Node 2i and I find myself nudging towards the Pis/Topping combo. So far Volumio has offered the best experience and sound. Roon is next up...
Great video. Now I understand and think I may have waited a week before buying the Node 2i. Thanks also for helping me decide the colorway for the Lava Lamp I just ordered.
Glad to see the comments open again! Thank you for the videos and the amazing content, maybe you should open a Discord channel or a Forum for HiFi enthusiasts!
What are those weights I see you use to hold down the smaller components? I've searched high and low with no luck? Oh keep up the great work love your videos!
Hi John! Great videos about these raspberry pi's. I bought one a few months ago and I like it very much. But I find all the different types of software that you can run a bit overwhelming. Maybe it would be a good idea for a future video of yours to explain all the different types of software and how to go about installing and running it? Anyways, thank you for all the quality content! Greetings, Stijn
Hi, John, I just wanted to thank you for these videos. They are fabulous, possibly the very best, clearest and most useful audiophile information on RUclips. Just excellent! Now, here's my general question for everybody: I have watched, I think, all of John's videos about using the raspberry pi as a streamer. I have a raspberry pi 4 just sitting unused, all assembled. (I purchased it for a project that never materialized.) So I am very interested in putting together a streamer based on John's recommendations. The thing is, I already have an excellent integrated amp with a really terrific, built-in DAC. So all I need is one of those hats that will give me very high quality audio out to the DAC. I could use SPDIF, toslink or USB, as the DAC has all three of these inputs. The thing is, in an ideal world, I would also like to be able to stream the few albums that I have in DSD format, and Allo has only one solution, a USB bridge, that will stream DSD files to an external processor. And that is a standalone product, based on an included raspberry pi 3, not compatible with my raspberry pi 4. So my question is, should I just give up on using my DSD files on this streamer that I am going to try to put together, or is there some other solution that anyone knows of? Thank you!
Love these videos, it was one of the early ones that got me to setup a raspi Roon streamer and dac to a set of Meze 99 Classics. And it has got me listening to allsorts of new Music,fantastic! 😃
Raspberry Pi So much Fun! You were the inspiration to roll my own setup, only recommended for those in the hard core Linux camp! That being sad I already had a great DAC (actually a couple). went for a server, clyent player setup. I am and have been looking at some of the all in one software solutions, just for ease of use. In my own experiments I was able to mix audio on a raspberry pi4 through my Audio interface. Though I rate the PI Zero W usb output as one of the better USB outputs (for USB2) actually the hint of USB2 seems more stable for USB audio. Any Way Keep up the content!
Thankyou very much for this carefuly made review. It is very very rich of information and good quality sources in the references witch complete each other . I read all the articles and they are fantastic. I learned a lot about jitter this so commom subject in audio texts . For this reason you get our respect. And due this knowledge I'm going in to the RPi audio world. 👍
Woot! Comments are back! Thanks for the vids, I now have 2 Pi streamers with Hifiberry hats into my powered speakers and headphone amp, sounds great with Tidal / Volumio.
I had a spare RP4 (in an Argon case) just sitting in a drawer so I was inspired to flash Volumio to a SD card and get it up and running as a network streamer. I also had a Dragonfly Red lying around so I added it to the Volumio streamer to get cleaner sound. Now my family can stream to the family room sound system, thanks!
John, love your videos. I am new to 2 channel audio and very much into tinkering, so using a Pi to stream audio is something I am going to try. All thanks to you. I will give my Node 2i a break for awhile.
Are you familiar with Rasposify? Well, as the name suggests Spotify only OS for RPi. After the setup no need to ever touch it again and works great. It might be handy for some, if Volumio is too much. I am running RPi4 ? Allo DigiOne to stream into NAD D3020 all good. Do you think using this streamer combo with a high(er) end amp will be fine, or would it kill the purpose of going for an 1200€ integrated amp (CA CXA81)? Thanks for the video.
BTW, the weights used are weighted door stops like the Sumnacon Heavy Duty Floor Door Stopper @t and the heavier large stainless steel door stop on blomus @t
Hurrah for comments! I built a network streamer after watching a previous video of yours, based on the Pi 4 and hifiberry DAC 2 pro. I'm using Moode Audio OS and not Volumio as it doesn't play nice with the DAC. I'm very pleased with it and thinking of making a second for the living room.
*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* THIS IS A TEST -- With this video, we are trialling a new way of doing things: the comments section below has been switched ON but will be *moderated by a third party*. The upshot? You get to leave a comment below the video and I don't get tied up by comment moderation to stay focussed on making the next video or podcast as well as keeping the Darko.Audio website and Patreon up to date. That means more content for EVERYONE. Our new third-party moderator is under strict instruction not to approve racist or sexist remarks, URLs, (the seeds of) conspiracy theories or the unsubstantiated ramblings of grumpy geezers.
Thank you for all your videos, John. If there's one thing bringing back the comment section does that is beneficial, it is for us to express our gratitude and appreciation for your content. Cheers!
Totally agree!
Same thing
What ☝🏼 said!
yes! agree 100%
Want to be the first to comment how great it is to have the comments section turned back on. Thanks!!
I have to admit that I smiled when I saw the video about Spotify was sponsored by Roon
Lol, same
@@renaulth2009 88i8n8in8nnnmn
Exactly. Great irony!
Truly appreciate the return of the comment section. Your channel is without peer. Grateful.
I love how you keep a healthy perspective about the price of audio gear. You evaluate inexpensive gear on its audio quality and never dismiss it from serious consideration because it is cheap. That would be very easy to do in light of the very costly gear you have reviewed. Thank you for your excellent work. Roger in Wisconsin
Thanks for enabling the comments, definitely helps the more zoomer audience.
Definitely turning me onto the Audiophonics RaspDAC. The LCD is also helping tip me over the edge on it.
I can't wait to see Spotify's rollout of Hi-Fi, and it'll start a network streaming craze with me for sure.
as a zoomer i definitely agree with this, yt comments are a great and easy way to find extra info about the topic of the video
Was surprised to see the LCD model is also cheaper than the discontinued LED one
Just to add to your informative video: HiFi Berry make various quality Audio HATs for the Raspberry Pi ( digital output and DACs ) with the added bonus of being a Roon end point when you use their OS and is Spotify Connect compatible. This has been my cost effective solution for my 4 music zones in my home.
Doing god's work caring for the budget audiophiles. ❤️
Excellent that comments are back on!! I often feel that I am the only audiophile that listens to electronic music (basically exclusively!), since discovering your RUclips content, I know I am not alone! Keep up the wonderful work!
Have always enjoyed how your content moves between aspirational Hifi gear and the more pragmatic options available to everyone. This video is no different. Nice work.
This episode was brought to you by Roon, which doesn't and likely never will support Spotify. Brilliant.
Great video. I've been building and using Raspberry Pi's with Hat's and DAC's since 2014. Rock solid with Ethernet connections to my Synology NAS. Currently using a Pi 4 with a Topping E30 DAC and the sound is phenomenal. Thanks for spreading the truth about low cost but very great sounding gear!!
Are you doing that via USB or with some sort of SPDIF HAT?
Just built a Volumio based Spotify connect system. Using an old Pi from 2015. Software works, but stream keeps dropping out. I'm guessing that it doesn't have the processing power to actually work. I'll try it with an external DAC to see if freeing that computing headroom helps. Perhaps something else is wrong. Any troubleshooting advice?
Figured it out. Wifi connection was weak. Physical connection fixed it. Now to troubleshoot the WiFi!
Thanks for Enabling Comment Section so that I can Thank you again for your very informative Videos.
Glad to see the comments are back! I built a raspberry Pi streamer with an RPi4, Allo Digi One HAT and Schiit Modi 3 running volumio last year after watching some of the earlier videos about the Allo HATs and comparing them to Sonos...and it's flipping brilliant. I've not looked back since. Like a lot of others out there I'm working from home at the minute, the system gets turned on in the morning along with the laptop and it will run all day, no issues. Really looking forward to Spotify Hifi finally launching. Keep the videos coming, John!
In one year of COVID-19 lockdowns following your videos I've discovered the Raspberry Pi. Little by little I've chose the DAC (better the DACs) that better suits my tastes and purposes. I've tried many different OS and ended up finding one that fits my needs and my seek for simplicity. I've now a Raspberry Pi 4 that sits in an Argon fanless case, Dragonfly Red/Cobalt (according to the music I listen to and the headphones I use) that works as DAc and preamp and feeds my Schiit Asgard 3 headphone amp. rAudio is my OS of choice. The beauty of the Pi is that allows you to experiment and TRY BY YOURSELF what's better for YOUR NEEDS and TASTES without investing a lot of money. Look at a project around the Raspberry Pi as an educative project around you, your music, your tastes. I thank you for all the hints and inspiration that came form your videos about the Pi, especially the one I consider the most important: try for yourself, experiment, discover your tastes and follow them. Thank you.
I love the editing, music and camera work of your videos as much as your amazing insights! Cheers John!
Thanks for this intro video John! It was the catalyst I needed to replace my Airport Express --> Optical --> DAC chain with a RaspberryPi 3 --> USB --> DAC chain. Feels incredible being able to actually stream true Hi-Res tracks AND it finally gave me a use for that old Pi.
Built one of these the other week on the basis of your previous vids. Got my first hifi system as compensation for a grim year working in hospital. Spotify connect rasberry pi helps make it more fun.
Has meant a lot to me.
Cheers for the vids. Hope the comments don't descend into rubbish. Jack
Thanks, Jack, for your help during the last year. I retired on health grounds at the end of 2019 after nearly 35 years in the NHS and wasn't able to help out but still have many colleagues working on the front line. I know how hard it has been for them. Like you, when the shit hit the fan (as it did with monotonous regularity) I always found refuge in great music. Glad it has helped you. Enjoy your system.
Watched this video on Wednesday and now already have my raspberry pi player set up. I would have never thought of this. Love the vid and am looking forward to Spotify rolling out its lossless audio
Thanks for these types of videos in particular, John. Once I got an overall understanding of the Pi audio world from your previous entries, I bought a HiFiBerry Amp2 setup - it's handsome, works well, and I'm very happy with it. Keep up the good work!
I just bought the HiFiBerry DAC2 HD and am excited to get it set up. Did you use Volumio for the OS?
Absolutely the best audio streaming related content on RUclips. My RPi 4 and Pi2AES are currently inbound so this is perfect timing!
I have been waiting to thank you for such a long time now. Thank you John.
Thought the Schiit Modi or Topping a10 might have made an appearance. So glad to see the comments open again - i always enjoyed the community talking to each other
Yeah same I expected to see the modi/topping I bought the topping and a pi a while ago and I wonder how much better the audio phonics sounds
I just started my home diy audio setup. Although cheap, Im enjoying it and so far, you are the only audio guy that made sense.
Thanks for the informative content sir. Very low on hype and high on substance. Love it! The great thing about having the comment section, and I hope it can stay that way, is that we can build on user reactions en experiences also. Win win. Greetings from Amsterdam.
I love these Pi videos. Please keep them going.
Thanks for turning back on the comments. I love reading through the comments on these kinds of videos.
I bought the rPi4 and Allo DigiOne signature thanks to you. And I have to admin I haven't expected such a huge difference in sound quality. It is better by all criteria. Even my girlfriend can hear the difference.
Thank you John!
The power of pie!
This is one of the best aspects of the channel. John’s tinkering with affordable components and the Pi is great for those of us who want to play around with hardware and not spend a ton of money doing so.
I watched this video (twice now) and the introduction video, and I’ll be back for the next one. This Raspberry Pii may be just what I need to get into streaming. I love that you are willing to crack open a case and show us how to put a kit together. I also learn so much about what’s current in the marketplace these days when I listen to your videos. Your enthusiasm is contagious.
Always enjoy your videos John, thanks for taking the time to make them.
Good to have the comments on. I’ll probably just buy one of these and have a tinker.
Good post. I’ve been using this arrangement for months, the Pie feeding the Iris and then to the Denafrips Ares2. This is the basis of mt headphone system.
This is great timing. Just about to put together a network streamer for my sons room. This vid combined with your beginners guide to DACs vids have been a great place for me to start my research from. Thanks
Darko I finally get to comment and tell u I love ur videos man. So high quality and so professional man. Love the content!
A little correction there. Actually have audiophonics older machine (without screen). Their machines needs drivers for 3 things! Screen display l, soft power shut down and remote access. If you have a machine without screen and remote, you really do not need their special version of volumino. It’s all about the drivers! Not exactly specially modified volumino to begin with.
Also the reason why raspdac has better sounds than dragonfly (which I also have, but I have the cobalt version), is that raspdac actually has separate boards to control power and usb from a raspberry! Which further reduce the signal noise from the raspberry pi itself. 💪 usb dongle dac suffers the feeding power! Without extra clean and stable power supply through the dac itself, those compact dac simply just doesn’t sound as good.
I’ve several HAT DAC. I found out rasspdac from audiophonics is way better because you feed power through their board!! Not to raspberry pi itself!! It’s just sounds way cleaner than other HAT I’ve owned that sucks the power from raspberry pi’s ports! At least that’s how my observation presented itself.
Thank you for plainly explaining bitperfect and the shortcomings of the android / tv streamers. I will trial volumio later this week. Cheers from Michigan!
Nice episode, John. Some of your audience may want to use a Pi4 rather than an earlier incarnation if they're going to interface to a DAC over USB. The Pi4 doesn't share its USB circuit with the network, so the signal path will be cleaner. And folks who are OK with messing around with RPis might check out Raspotify, which we use for Spotify Connect on our Pis... although Volumio is a nice choice as well.
Fantastic presentation, I'm retired now and have the time to play with these, thanks for sharing your knowledge!
After seeing this video today I've ordered an IQaudio DAC+ Hat for my Raspberry Pi. Shipped today and will arrive tomorrow. Very excited to see how Volumio and Spotify works together. Love your channel!
How did the hat work out for you?
Snapped off a Pi4 order because of this video, and now I have that RaspDAC bookmarked if I like it enough.
THANK YOU!
Hey John, thanks so much for this updated video regarding the raspberry pi.
every since the very first video you put out regarding the raspberry pie I have now made that my primary streamer/dac component in my Hi-Fi system.
These raspberry pie and hat extension boards truly rival equipment 10 times the cost in my opinion.
Keep them coming.
Hi John,
Good to see that the option to respond to your channel is enabled again.
I tried to mention this before, mainly by coming across your channel I picked up my interest in audio and music, and want to sincerely thank you for that.
This episode is again a great source of information and my RaspDac Mini LCD (indeed with a color display) is on its way and will replace my current setup (Pi 3 with an IFi micro iDAC).
Then a comment regarding a topic that I don't think gets much attention, thank you also very much for sharing your choice of music, a whole new world of music unknown to me has opened up and I really enjoy listening to these new musicians.
Looking forward to the next episode.
Received my RaspDac today, speechless what a sound compared to the iFI ..
The only thing that isn't that great, the SD card extension cable, mine is already faulty and I had to re-flash the SD card with a standard Volumio image and connecting the SD card to the onboard SD card slot. Now I also lost all the RaspDac extra's like the Oled screen.
Lets see if support will be able to fix this in a timely manner.
But again, what a sound, detail, image stage flabbergasted
Spot on about "Bluetooth Hi-Res" audio. There is no such thing. And the marketing groups for the various audio companies are always looking for tricks to get their products to sound "Hi-Res" to lure customers to purchasing their products which are full of garbage and they know it. This is very frustrating to those who know how they play the game to unsuspecting customers and the customers think that they are getting a great deal when in reality, they have been duped and don't know it. Thank you for sharing this video. I hope that this will educate potential buyers on how not to get screwed by the various marketing groups that just want to throw a "Hi-res" badge on everything they sell and see it for what it really is.
That was a fun watch. Thanks for the info. I hope to see a similar video in the future comparing cost effective AirPlay/AirPlay 2 devices, especially one with as much background information. I’ve always read that AirPlay was bit-for-bit but if anyone can find the nuances it’s Mr. Darko.
As always, appreciate the 'Comparison' approach as well as nuanced differences and new product awareness.
Today I built a rasbery pi 4b with a hifiberry DAC2 HD hat and a ifi 5v power supply. I have it to stream to my entire house. My router/computer is across the house from my bedroom. I can now have the pi in my bedroom and connect rca outs from the pi to my cavalli hybrid amp next to my bed. I run volumio with tidal and spotify. Very, very happy!!
I just ordered hifiberry dac2 hd, and I am expecting more involved sound, comparing to hifiberry dac+ pro, which I have and happy with it
John Darko is super informative. His passion for higher end audio that is still grounded in budget constraints is very commendable. He has done a SUPERB job explaining Raspberry PI over numerous videos. I would love to use Raspberry PI but my understanding is it does not work with Amazon Music HD which is my streaming service of choice due to our Amazon Prime membership. Someday......
Lovely John . All this is like playing LEGO for you . Always inspired. Always awaited. Keep it up .
I recommend Diet-Pi for those not wanting to dedicate their Pi to Volumio. I’ve tried to love Volumio but it continues to crash reading my lossless library, the same one used everyday with Roon. Diet-Pi is lightweight and allows you to install Raspotify, Roon bridge, AirportSync and I even got Tidal connect working on it. (If you can gain access to the shell on the Audiophonics box, you can run Roon bridge).
Pi 3 on a Peachtree and Wilsons.
This is literally the year 3021 🤩
I used to run the Allo Digione Signature with the shanti power supply and it was realllllly great. I think the introduction of Spotify connect on platforms like volumio is a real positive game changer for the hobbyist audiophile , and defo not to be sneered at
I have been seriously thinking of the Digione Signature with a different power supply. Out of interest what have you moved to?
Thank you for another excellent guide to streaming audio playback. I listened to the RUclips video streaming to Volumio on a Pi 3 with Justboom Amp Hat and Mission bookshelf speakers - not quite audiophile but it’s what the wife will accept in the living room! The Audiophonics solution seem like a sensible upgrade as it provides a screen as well as better sound quality. Keep up the good work helping those of us at the more budget end of the audiophile community.
Great job on putting a spotlight on Spotify and cheaper streaming options! This will get more people into the hobby and it's a very good thing for us all. As long as Tidal and Qobuz keep being supported I'm a happy camper.
Great video John, and thank you for turning the comments back on. I am so sorry you have had issues here. Your video was very informative and I am going to take this approach to improving the sound quality of my Amazon Music Streaming set up. My thought is keep my Echo Dot for voice control, but use a "PiFi" as an end point. I can get the DAC in the echo dot out of the signal path and stream Amazon Music over my WiFi to the PiFi and come out USB, or SPIDF out of a digihat, into the DAC in my Emotiva preamp or Dragonfly Red. I am excited to get started.
It would be nice if you could turn on closed captions, as well.
Thank you John. You make a very comfortable and informative presentation.
Now that comments are back just want to say love the content and the approach and keep up the fantastic work!
44.1Hz --> 48kHz is actually one of the worst conversions too because they're not a clean multiples of each other like 48, 96, and 192 are.
Also nice to see the comments section back, it makes videos feel far more homely.
I’m very happy with my PI2AES hat with it’s separate outputs. I connect it my RME ADI-2 DAC and it makes it sing like never before. Best music server, I’ve had so far. Great bass, very detailed and blows away my Mac mini
Thanks John, and small team behind this. RUclips is best when there is a sensible community of commenters, rather than ghost town nothingness.
A suggestion for those on a budget like me. I am running volumio on a Raspberri Pi ZeroW and have a Pimoroni Audio DAC Shim. The total cost with the micro sd card is about $50. Works great as my office streamer. I mostly play the FLAC files from my NAS but this is small enough I can use it with a phone battery and take it mobile to play files from the sd card itself.
Great content, presentation, and production John. Thanks for your good work. It’s definitely work supporting your quality journalism via Pateon.
Yay comments! I want to start by saying thank you for refining my understanding of the audiophile world. I started delving deeper into audio gear since the beginning of COVID. Currently I'm running a PowerNode 2i w/ KEF LS50's. Can't wait to see what other tweaks I can do to step up my system.
Thank you for this very informative video. I especially appreciate your mention of the Android TV boxes at the end, as I have wondered why one could not simply run the optical digital output on one of those boxes to a DAC and save $20 or $30 off the cost of a raspberry pi unit, plus have something that plays video and Android video games.
Marvelous "Lego" video.
Learned a lot today. Keep up the good work John.👌
Stay healthy.🙏🙌
Thank you for this video, its not often i learn this much from one video on youtube ! this will help me build out backyard small audio system
Love all vids and inspiration.
I picked up an old Mac mini for less that a pi4 with a hat etc. And use it as a Spotify endpoint. It has toslink out, but after watching all these videos I learned that usb out I had much more information. Almost went with topping d10s as recommended here, but then I saw measurements of the smsl Sanskrit mark ii. For $20 more. And I think it looks better.
So yeah Mac mini usb to Sanskrit mkii to a Yamaha amp to ELAC debut d5.
Rather happy with the set up, and have now learned how much source and dacs do makes a difference. And Spotify is controlled via my iPhone and the Spotify app. I’m
I also have a CD player with coax out to the Sanskrit which also sounds better than the CD players dac.
So, my tunes are sound pretty clear and I am wondering about my next upgrade, if I should upgrade my integrated Yamaha amp or move to elac unify’s. Or build LX mini’s with a mini dsp.
The Yamaha amp has a direct bypass button that bypasses 3 tone pots which is sweet.
Anyways, if anyone feels like making a suggestion for my next upgrade, I’d appreciate it.
Ortofon red is the next install, but what to do after that?
My standard pi with volumio runs straight usb into a chord qutest. Love it man! I can’t imagine anything better.
Great video, thanks for this. I'm planning to build a pi with a DAC hat into an amp based on the LM4780 chips, so it can run purely headless. Look forward to hearing more about pi accessories!
You have got me hooked as I already have a couple of Raspberry Pi 4's.
Having watched a few of your vlogs, my cunning plan for a system that is already in train is to fit an Allo BOSS "Master" DAC to the Pi get a couple of Adam T5V speakers and (having just about died when I saw the type and the COST of audio cables you and other Audiophiles have) I will get Chord C-Line audio cables. I have Volumio and have started a Spotify subscription which I did initially just to check that I could get the downloads working directly with the Pi before spending any more money, this was a direct swap for my Amazon standard subscription.
I will give you a bit of feedback in, hopefully, a few months once I have got everything together and working with a chance to listen.
So a few weeks later and with a couple of subtle changes. Firstly I realised that I needed a volume controller, as Raspberry Pi and Allo Boss were not fitted with one, so I got a Dolla Tek Passive Pre Amp. Second change was to go for Amazon Basic RCA cables, as a 62 year old I strongly suspect that my hearing will not notice the difference.
The system is now working, I am happy with volumio running Spotify, as advised once initial link set up with smartphone the phone can be switched off as the connection is directly through the internet cable that I use. I am looking forward to the likely upgrade of Spotify. I would estimate total price is in the £400 region. So thank you John Darko for your excellent vlogs and for the guidance for what can be achieved.
Thank so much for your doing a video like this. I have started this slowly due to your encouragement from your last video on it.
So this has been my obsession for the past month. Pi4 + Topping E30 = crazy good front end. Add in allo sig on using coax... even a little better. I even got a R Pi Zero working with the apple USB C dongle (which does 192/24!?). I own two Node 2i and I find myself nudging towards the Pis/Topping combo. So far Volumio has offered the best experience and sound. Roon is next up...
Love the vids!
Nice to see that the comment section is back! And thanks for your helpfull videos.
Great video. Now I understand and think I may have waited a week before buying the Node 2i. Thanks also for helping me decide the colorway for the Lava Lamp I just ordered.
Glad to see the comments open again! Thank you for the videos and the amazing content, maybe you should open a Discord channel or a Forum for HiFi enthusiasts!
This is a terrific episode. Thanks for introducing all these products to us. Really helpful.
These are so good and super informative. I nearly fell at the grumpy old man filter . Top job 👍
I love the Noguchi Akari Light Sculpture. I guess it’s also good for room treatment.
What are those weights I see you use to hold down the smaller components? I've searched high and low with no luck? Oh keep up the great work love your videos!
It’s great to see the comment section open again!
Hi John!
Great videos about these raspberry pi's. I bought one a few months ago and I like it very much. But I find all the different types of software that you can run a bit overwhelming. Maybe it would be a good idea for a future video of yours to explain all the different types of software and how to go about installing and running it?
Anyways, thank you for all the quality content!
Greetings, Stijn
Hi, John, I just wanted to thank you for these videos. They are fabulous, possibly the very best, clearest and most useful audiophile information on RUclips. Just excellent!
Now, here's my general question for everybody: I have watched, I think, all of John's videos about using the raspberry pi as a streamer. I have a raspberry pi 4 just sitting unused, all assembled. (I purchased it for a project that never materialized.) So I am very interested in putting together a streamer based on John's recommendations. The thing is, I already have an excellent integrated amp with a really terrific, built-in DAC. So all I need is one of those hats that will give me very high quality audio out to the DAC. I could use SPDIF, toslink or USB, as the DAC has all three of these inputs. The thing is, in an ideal world, I would also like to be able to stream the few albums that I have in DSD format, and Allo has only one solution, a USB bridge, that will stream DSD files to an external processor. And that is a standalone product, based on an included raspberry pi 3, not compatible with my raspberry pi 4. So my question is, should I just give up on using my DSD files on this streamer that I am going to try to put together, or is there some other solution that anyone knows of? Thank you!
Love these videos, it was one of the early ones that got me to setup a raspi Roon streamer and dac to a set of Meze 99 Classics.
And it has got me listening to allsorts of new Music,fantastic! 😃
Raspberry Pi So much Fun! You were the inspiration to roll my own setup, only recommended for those in the hard core Linux camp! That being sad I already had a great DAC (actually a couple). went for a server, clyent player setup. I am and have been looking at some of the all in one software solutions, just for ease of use.
In my own experiments I was able to mix audio on a raspberry pi4 through my Audio interface. Though I rate the PI Zero W usb output as one of the better USB outputs (for USB2) actually the hint of USB2 seems more stable for USB audio.
Any Way Keep up the content!
Thankyou very much for this carefuly made review. It is very very rich of information and good quality sources in the references witch complete each other .
I read all the articles and they are fantastic.
I learned a lot about jitter this so commom subject in audio texts .
For this reason you get our respect.
And due this knowledge I'm going in to the RPi audio world.
👍
Excellent video Johno, looking forward to many more.....forget the high priced stuff!
Woot! Comments are back! Thanks for the vids, I now have 2 Pi streamers with Hifiberry hats into my powered speakers and headphone amp, sounds great with Tidal / Volumio.
I had a spare RP4 (in an Argon case) just sitting in a drawer so I was inspired to flash Volumio to a SD card and get it up and running as a network streamer. I also had a Dragonfly Red lying around so I added it to the Volumio streamer to get cleaner sound. Now my family can stream to the family room sound system, thanks!
Appreciate this! I've been using a chromebook for my outdoor audio and a headless Pi is just what I wanted to replace that
John, love your videos. I am new to 2 channel audio and very much into tinkering, so using a Pi to stream audio is something I am going to try. All thanks to you. I will give my Node 2i a break for awhile.
Are you familiar with Rasposify? Well, as the name suggests Spotify only OS for RPi. After the setup no need to ever touch it again and works great. It might be handy for some, if Volumio is too much.
I am running RPi4 ? Allo DigiOne to stream into NAD D3020 all good.
Do you think using this streamer combo with a high(er) end amp will be fine, or would it kill the purpose of going for an 1200€ integrated amp (CA CXA81)?
Thanks for the video.
I love the PI videos very cool. Thanks John!
Very, very good video Darko !
Fantastic content, all the other reviewers are having to up there game because of you!
That weight keeps the Pi from sliding off the table 😹🖤
BTW, the weights used are weighted door stops like the Sumnacon Heavy Duty Floor Door Stopper @t and the heavier large stainless steel door stop on blomus @t
Really interesting video! I do wish we could have seen the Volumio Primo in the mix too, but I imagine you'd to get your hands on one first.
Wonderful! Thanks for the videos, John!
Loved the video..
Plz make a video on budget bookshelf speakers...
Hurrah for comments! I built a network streamer after watching a previous video of yours, based on the Pi 4 and hifiberry DAC 2 pro. I'm using Moode Audio OS and not Volumio as it doesn't play nice with the DAC. I'm very pleased with it and thinking of making a second for the living room.
If you have more time, try Picore player, better than both hands down.