So, is it bye-bye NDX?

A couple of related questions.

1. What are people using to power their RPi? Phone charger or better?
2. Has anyone used a RPi running Volumio with the DAC-V1?

Thanks

If you're looking for something quick, dirty and effective, you can start with an iPad (NOT iPhone) charger and a decent micro-USB cable. No anemic chargers please.

I definitely recommend Rune Audio over Volumio, BTW - no Raspbian needed, (Arch Linux ARM + application) can be imaged directly to SD card.

From Volumio's website...

"You never heard your music sound like that. It doesn’t matter what you listen to, it will sound amazing. This is what Volumio does best.

The system is carefully optimized to offer uncompromised and pristine sound quality."

Big statement, sounds more like those washing powder adverts.  Whiter than white indeed.

After reading this thread I had an interesting weekend trying out both Volumio and Rune Audio -- thanks to Conrad for the pointer.

I had a Raspberry Pi that wasn't doing anything, along with a CA DacMagic gathering dust in a cupboard. I hooked these up to some Audioengine powered speakers for testing which I was using for occasional listening directly from an Android phone with a UPnP control point.

I tried Volumio first. At the moment it has two advantages over Rune Audio, from my perspective at least: built-in wifi configuration in the GUI, and a built-in UPnP renderer. I don't want to manage yet another library, so being able to use the existing UPnP servers I have running is great. Just as well, because Volumio seems to have a 10,000 track limit in its MPD database, so this doesn't work for me anyway.

Everything works fine, and although the original DacMagic is limited to 16/44 over the USB connection from the Pi, the quality is pretty good! The Audioengines are not "serious" speakers but the improvement over using the phone is substantial.

I then tried Rune Audio, and found that the 0.3-alpha download available for the Pi includes wifi configuration but the UPnP renderer integration is not there yet (it's coming in the 0.3-beta). Again, quality is excellent and I prefer the UI to Volumio, although ultimately I'd use a UPnP control point on a phone/tablet such as UPnPlay or Bubble.

The Rune 0.3-beta has been "imminent" for some time but the devs are talking about a possible September release. I'm going to stay with Rune for now and try 0.3 when it's out.

Thanks

Adrian

I hardly understand a cd, what the hell are you people talking about! Damn technology, I just bought my first ipod and ipad and bought a Queen album through i-tunes. Turns out i-tunes format is not cd quality recording, I have learned to change setting to WAV. Why the hell does a boofhead like me need to gain a degree in electronics to buy and use my stereo. Oh I miss the old days, Dolby was it, good cassette quality and unscratched vinyl. So simple......And I'm only 45! Am I slow?

Has anyone tried Squeezeplug for Raspberry Pi. It looks pretty good but i have not tried it myself.

Graeme

Graeme,

The wonders of Open Source and the Raspberry Pi! So many projects, so many choices...

I've now got SqueezePlug running alongside Rune Audio on a second SD card on the Raspberry Pi. SqueezePlug is configured to use the SqueezeLite player since I already have LMS running on my NAS serving existing SqueezeBox Receivers. It's happily using the DacMagic over USB.

Hard to tell if the audio quality is that different to the Rune Audio setup on the AudioEngine speakers -- I think Rune sounds better -- but for a bedroom system it's absolutely fine.

Adrian

Just tried to synchronize the Squeezeplug player on the Pi with my two existing Squeezebox Receivers -- it works flawlessly. Very impressive!

This is still not possible with UPnP as far as I can tell, and Naim's Multi-room feature isn't implemented on the NDS so I can't use it, so I still use the Squeezeboxes for multi-room audio. I can now extend their reach a little further.

Adrian

Hi Adrian

You are so right, so many options so little time to test them all out. I'm going to try to set up Squeezeplug this evening. I was advised that if i was not going to run LMS on the Pi then to use picoreplayer instead of Squeezeplug. Not looked into this.

Can you tell me which NAS you have. I run a Synology DS414, is LMS available for this do you know and is it easy to install and is there any benefit to installing on a NAS rather than Pi. I'm ok at following instructions but this Linux stuff is like a foreign language to me.

Graeme

Graeme,

I have a Synology DS412+ NAS. This has a dual-core Intel Atom CPU, while the DS414 has a dual-core Marvell Armada SoC based on ARM7. The DS414 still has plenty of horsepower to run LMS, and this package is available for your NAS. Installation is as simple as selecting it from the Synology Package Centre and clicking Install.

It's easier to run LMS on the NAS than on a Pi using Squeezeplug but the Squeezeplug config doesn't look too difficult. The developer has made setup menu-driven -- you just need to login to the Pi as root and then run the setup script and follow the options. This is documented in the Squeezeplug wiki.

I run LMS on the NAS because all my music is stored on the NAS, the dual-core Atom has more than enough power to run LMS (and a few UPnP servers simultaneously) and it simplifies management. I don't think your NAS would struggle, but why not give both options a try?

Adrian

Cheers Adrian

Der should have looked shouldn't i. Will try that out.

Put Squeezeplug on the Pi yesterday, but could not get it to see music folder on NAS so think this will be a better option. Hopefully LMS will see folder as its in the same place.

Graeme

Well i have installed logitech media server onto the NAS and installed Squeezeplug onto the Pi running squeezelite. Installed iPeng on iPad and so far everthing is looking good.

Awaiting a Wolfson audio card for the Pi to get a digital output so i can get a comparison against NDX. Hopefully by weekend.

Will update

Graeme

Just out of curiosity, why don't you try HIFIBerry (spdif output toslink and electrical) with the Pi. No redundant DAC stage and class D poweramp.

Hi Josipo

I would rather have gone for the HiFiBerry Digi but there is quite a wait for delivery on that unit. For the quick option, as ive ordered from amazon, i can try the Wolfson and see how this sounds.

If the SQ of this unit is good, i'll keep it for a few weeks see how things go. Then if i'm happy and i decide to replace my NDX then ill order up the opto version of the HiFi Berry.

Graeme

On the Wolfson Audio Card, the Class D amplification section is switched off and out-of-circuit when output is set to SPDIF out. This should not be an issue in performance, especially as there are issues that dominate the performance of the setup at a much larger scale.

I'm currently using ND5xs into Chord Hugo - since I thought the Chord Hugo was superior to that of adding an external Naim Power Supply and Naim DAC, not to mention the overall saving 

Are we now suggesting that the Raspberry Pi and various bits and pieces outperform the NDX/Hugo (or ND5xs/Hugo)

Very interested to know, since I'm always willing to consider alternatives in the quest for improved sound quality.

Mr Frog, for me the Pi streaming into the NDX into the Hugo is a really superb chain.. And really sounds infectious.

Simon

Hi David

Could you expand on your comment. Have your heard this setup. Be interested in your views.

Graeme

Thanks Simon - you ought to start charging for your excellent guidance on a consultancy basis 

Sounds really interesting and I assume that the Raspberry Pi acts as the UPnP server rather than the NAS itself with software preloaded.

I currently use a QNAP TS-212 NAS (2x 2TB drives in RAID) with MinimSever loaded on it and streaming to the Naim ND5xs. I'm guessing that putting the MinimServer UPnP software onto the Pi must improve the sound somehow (electrical noise? Unless I'm barking totally up the wrong tree ....). IIRC I think you use Assett which I could also invest in, if MinimServer doesn't work with Pi (not really sure).

okay, what bits and pieces do I need to purchase to add to my current set up?

Looking forward to hearing from you 

Ok, should be simple (well relatively).. Install Asset on your Pi, and then mount your QNAP NAS over the network... I recommend CIFS method as it seems simple straightforward .. Instructions are on the dbpoweramp/asset web site.

Once done the Asset on your Pi will start busy building its media database ready for your ND5XS to enjoy..

On your iPad your Naim app (previously known as Nstream Grrr marketing depts....) will show the Asset symbol as a UPnP server assuming your Pi is on the same network as your Naim and ipad.... And voila sorted....

Mr Frog

Simes_pep did a great walk through for setting up Asset on the Pi, see this link

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/bu8etep76nu4v5z/aMw624ZA5U

Thanks Simon and Graeme - really appreciate your kind assistance and guidance.

Just been looking on Amazon and there are various models, options and 'accessories'.

Could you possibly point me in the right direction as to which version and parts I need to order, since I wouldn't want to get the wrong items 

thanks again for all your help.

there are lots of starter kits on fleabay. Pi, case, PSU and memory card. This is all you need to get started. There is a new model B+ Pi which has 4 USB ports, mine is the older Model B which has 2 USB ports.

I don't know if there are any other differences that may cause an issue running Asset. It maybe worth having a look over on the Asset forum to see if the B+ is suitable.

Good luck and have fun

Graeme

There's no obvious sonic advantage to the Raspberry Pi B+, except as the Ethernet and USB ports are better aligned for EMI shielding. The verdict is out on the sonic performance of the switching regulators on the B+; for most, the standard (linear-regulated) Model B should be fine.

Software is the same for both.