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

I put one of these giant heatsink and leave it on 24/7

https://www.pishop.ca/product/large-heatsink-for-raspberry-pi-4-random-color/

 

https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...7-display-case-build.10023/page-2#post-330351 has info on getting the display working with Moode

 

Is anyone using the allo nirvana to power the pi?

Which connection setting is best?

Thank you

 

For those who own SBooster 24V LPS:

• It really worth it? - over the Meanwell PSU.
• Which traits (bass, soundstage, mids, treble) were improve in your sound?
• It is as good as 5V Vmod? if you tried it?

 

Hi,

Recently I moved from an AppleTV 4K to a Nvidia Shield TV Pro due to the audio passthrough feature. However, up to now I could not find a way to send the audio from the Shield to the Pi2AES with quality. The Bluetooth option is very poor quality and the other option is via USB. Is it possible to connect the Shield to the Pi2AES via USB?

Anyone using the Nvidia TV Shield Pro?

Thanks in advance. QJA

 

The PI2AES is not the device that is playing or receiving audio. It is merely a means for the raspberry pi to output audio in a high-quality way.

There is not a reasonable way that I know of to send system audio from the Nvidia shield to a Pi. You can stream files to it via UPnP/DLNA, you can stream audio to it via airplay, but it cannot be a Chromecast device, as Chromecast is locked down.

I have my Pi sending audio via digital coax to my DAC, and my Shield sending audio via USB to my DAC.

 

I wonder (obviously I don't know the answer fer sur) if he could not stream to the Raspberry Pi via TCP/IP (wired, wireless, whatever) and use the Pi's USB to output to his Nvidia device...of course the Pi2AES "shield" would be superfluous in this specific configuration.

 

Does your DAC accept USB? Just run USB from the Sheild to the DAC.

If your DAC doesn't have USB input, you need a USB to SPDIF converter - lots of those out there depending on the quality you want. Singxer and Matrix make good ones.

 

I think you would need a custom android app for the Shield to split the audio and video, send the audio over the network via DLNA/UPnP plus the ability to sync the video to audio. I'm sure a kotlin/java developer could do this if they really wanted to but it would be a pretty massive project for such a niche use-case.

 

@LetMeBeFrank and @rlow

Thanks by your responses and hints.

Currently I am sending the USB output of the Shield to the USB input of my Gungnir Multibit USB input (Gen 5). In my previous tests, I verified that the Pi2AES sending signal to the Gungnir Multibit BNC input was better than sending the signal via USB. I saw a thread discussing the Unison USB comparison with Pi2AES, but it is not my case.

The main reason for this question is that sometimes, I like to see the videos on the YouTube and Tidal and send the audio to the Gungnir Multibit and not to the receiver.

However, when I want to hear stereo with quality, I use the path Pi2AES/Volumio 3/Tidal -> Gungnir Multibit -> Integrated amplifier. No video involved.

@LetMeBeFrank, I agree with you that this feature is a niche use-case.

Best Regards. QJA

 

Another option would be for someone to write a protocol for Debian/Linux that allows the pi to pretend to be a USB DAC. You hook it up via USB A to A, the device thinks the pi is a generic USB Audio 2 device (like a DAC, wireless headphones, etc.) The pi takes the incoming audio stream and passes it along to whatever HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) you have via I2S.

Again, another big undertaking for a niche use case, although I would use this myself if it was ever created.

 

It's been done:

 

Wow I missed that one. Very cool that someone got it that far, seems very fiddly though. Definitely for advanced users. In my mind this would have to be as simple as a "sudo apt-get PiDAC" or whatever name.

 

I'll bet @Michael Kelly would sell a ton more units if he could figure out a robust software solution that could come pre-configured. No need for the buyer to setup any network or software: just connect to PC via usb and to DAC by any output.

 

I just remembered now. The Volumio paid Premium tier (and their old Superstar tier) supports USB input to I2S interface cards (like the Pi2AES). I still have the mid level Virtuoso tier and it tells me to upgrade when I try to turn it on.

Maybe one of you can try it on a free trial of the Premium tier. I won't try it myself because I don't want to lose my cheap Virtuoso tier (if I went to Premium, I can't downgrade back). The Virtuoso tier already supports playing and ripping from a USB CD drive, but not generic digital audio.


Edit: I misunderstood and actually this Volumio feature is to support Pi HAT cards that have audio input, and couldn't be used in combination with Pi2AES.

 

@Metro

I verified that I have this option available in the Volumio 3. However, I did not understand properly, how to perform the connection, configuration and test.

Connect the Nvidia Shield TV Pro USB output to and USB input of the RPi4 of the Pi2AES and set this Digital to Analog inputs functionality? Cable with both sides USB A?

Did I capture that properly?

Best Regards, QJA

 

I tried the procedure that I understood above, but the Nvidia Shied did not recognize the Volumio3.

Maybe I did something wrong.

Waiting for other tinputs or coleagues tests results ....

Regards, QJA

 

Can you see if it works with USB audio from a computer?

 

Okay, I may have misunderstood what this Volumio feature is supposed to do. Looking at their forum, I think it is to support HAT cards that have audio input (digital or analog).

https://community.volumio.org/t/added-input-playback-on-myvolumio-superstar-v2-632/11048

 

@Metro

It is OK. At least, we discuss about some potential feature that can be useful to the Pi2AES.

Thanks by the support.

Best Regards, QJA