Dummies Guide to Pi2AES! Throw away your PC or laptop.

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    FWIW, here's a 44.1kHz JTEST signal (the sidebands are part of this signal and designed to trigger jitter if any) from the pi2AES SPDIF outputs into the AverLAB SPDIF inputs. Essentially perfect and according to the JTEST wav source file.

    upload_2020-1-31_16-15-29.png
     
    Last edited: Jan 8, 2021
  2. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    FYI - Pi4 usb into Yggdrasil Gen 5 is actually OK; like WTF is happening OK. Much better than gen 5 straight from my PC and this despite all my efforts to super saiyan my PC (super low tdp processor, passively cooled, linear power supply, process lasso etc).

    Running MoOde as a UPnP client to Jriver over Ethernet. Runs like a dream. Can't wait to add Pi2AES.

    On the flipside, I've got 3 micro sd cards with Moode, Volumio and PiCorePlayer and they all suck in comparison to Jriver in terms of handling music folders on my NAS. None of them read the entire library. People using direct attached storage like a usb stick or hard drive will have much better luck here.

    I've got Jriver's IdPi OS on the way. You can't download it you have to buy the SD card from jriver with IdPi already installed. Its expensive but I'd rather run the Pi by itself instead of using it as a renderer if I can and IdPi allegedly handles large NAS folders well. Since it is expensive, I'll write a review and comparison here once I get it.
     
  3. Ntbm3

    Ntbm3 Friend

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    Hardest part was pealing the paper off the acrylic pieces....
     
  4. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    That's my project for Saturday evening :)
     
  5. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    Try putting all your music that you want to be found in one root folder, then share that root folder. For example, my setup is as follows and never has a problem getting the whole library if I select the music folder:

    Code:
    Music/
    ├── Lossless/
    │   ├── Led Zeppelin/
    │   └── Rush/
    └── Lossy/
         ├── Misery Signals/
         └── Suffocation/
    
     
  6. Azimuth

    Azimuth FKA rtaylor76, Friend

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    Also remember that the format of your dive matters. Linux has to do extra work reading NTFS and it won't even recognize a drive over 1GB. On a NAS, formats don't matter, but your USB drive counts.

    You could do Ext4, but kind of unnecessary for a storage drive that can only be read on Linux. And I can't remember why I didn't use exFAT on my 1TB external, but used FAT32 instead, but it works great.

    For WiFi, I turned an old router into bridge mode using DD-WRT. Probably more DIY work most might want to dive into. But it beat throwing something useful away and buying a specific device.
     
  7. fastfwd

    fastfwd Friend

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    Probably because your Linux devices couldn't read it otherwise. It's only in the last few months that Microsoft has made it possible for exFAT support to be added to the Linux kernel.
     
  8. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    ^ seriously. That was the hardest part.

    The most stressful part was not knowing if the first boot-up fired up right. That worry was allayed quickly when I saw Volumio pop up on my Google WiFi devices list and confirmed by Fing.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2020
  9. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Please accept my sincerest apologies!

    I tried cutting them with the paper removed, but the laser leaves discolored areas and is also easily scratched.

    Honestly that’s a big reason we don’t offer pre-built kits!

    Michael
     
  10. bixby

    bixby Friend

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    Every time I replaced a laptop with a desktop the sound got better. One area has to do with the noise caused by the built in screen. Even turning the screen off helped a bit. You won't even know how bad a lappy is until you switch to a desktop or SBC.
     
  11. Ntbm3

    Ntbm3 Friend

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    Seriously, no worries! Very happy that is the hardest part :)
     
  12. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    @Michael Kelly : you should add a pair of fake fingernails with the enclosure :p
     
  13. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    That is exactly how I have mine setup. I finally got MoOde to read the whole folder I just had to run the folder update tool something like 15 times so I am just going to assume that it dosent like adding thousands of files all at once. I shouldn't have any issues going forward since I usually add at most 60 files to my library at a time. My library isn't nearly as big as some folks though. I'm a little under 13,000 music files.
     
  14. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    :) I wonder if I could a simple piece of plastics to add to the kit. If anyone can think of something I can buy cheap send me a link.

    Michael
     
  15. shabta

    shabta Facebook Friend

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    And by extension, everytime I replaced a desktop with a dedicated SBC with a pHAT (like piAES), the sound got much better. Too many things going on even in a desktop.
     
  16. Elnrik

    Elnrik Super Friendly

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    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNT49G5/ref
     
  17. msommers

    msommers High on Epipens

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    Guitar pick haha....but seriously getting the paper off is not that hard. I would encourage you to put zero effort into that concern.
     
  18. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    It turns out guitar picks are about 6 to 8 dollars for 100! So the question then becomes would they be strong enough to actually work. Anybody have any ideas?

    Cheers,
    Michael

    P.S. Maybe I could even get custom printed ones!
     
  19. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Just use the spare pieces to start on an edge to start the peel. The spare plastic is already included.
     
  20. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Duh! I totally forgot about that, you get left side and front panels for the 3 and the 4, but you’re only going to use one set. I are a dummy!

    Michael
     

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