Raspberry Pi I2S to SPDIF Hat

You should leave the HAT powered on all the time (to keep the clocks running), but you don’t have to leave the Pi running.
If you feed the Pi its separate power, you can just turn it on when you need it while leaving the Pi2AES powered on.
I recommend the Jameco Wall linear regulated PSU (like $15) for it. They have a 24V/0.5A that is more than sufficient for the HAT alone and also both the HAT and the Pi if you don’t use power hungry USB accessories.

 

I want to remind everybody about an issue that can occur when you have separate power supplies. The issue is that the Wolfson device on the PI2AES needs to be reset in order for the driver to work. This is done by detecting the 3.3V from the raspberry pi, not the 3.3V developed on the PI2AES. My concern with separate power supplies comes in when the pi power is being turned on before the PI2AES is powered. The reset circuit will not see the PI 3.3V come up before the board and the PI2AES may not operate properly.

Obviously this is not a problem if the PI2AES is always powered, as it will get reset every time you turn the pi on. I just wanted to remind folks of the potential trickiness of powering them separately.

Cheers,
Michael

 

Lately I have been listening to MQA files on Tidal on my kitchen system. *New* MQA encoded music sounds really good on it and I do not want to lose that functionality. If I use a Raspberry Pi 3 and PI2AES>SPDIF >Ifi Micro I can stream MQA from Audirvana on my PC if I install a sharing program like bubbleupnp on my PC?

Thanks in advance. I need to know it is possible before I spend anymore effort learning about the Raspberry Pi option.

 

Audirvana supports UPnP /DLNA so you can use it with Pi based streamer

 

This article from a few years ago seems to imply it can be done as you want. It talks about using Volumio on the PI as the UPnP renderer.

https://www.hifizine.com/2016/06/how-to-stream-tidal-to-the-raspberry-pi/

Michael

 

Any speculation or experience on the HD MQA making it through the process?

 

I can understand your hesitation. My advice is to buy a Raspberry starter kit with power supply (sub $50). Using its own audio jack (yes its crappy) you can test all the functionality out before you buy anything else. There are very low cost DAC boards based on the PCM5122 that are are a good step above that for under $25. So for less than $75 you can prove it out. Then you can tell all of us how you did it. Be brave my young padawan!

Cheers,
Michael

 

I have never used Tidal MQA but I can stream 192khz FLAC without any issue from Audirvana to Pi

 

If the upstream software decodes the MQA and streams PCM to the Pi then it’ll “work” but I don’t think the native Tidal implementation (where you just tell the Pi what files to play and it handles the streaming) supports it. On the upside MQA is lossy DRM-ware so unless bandwidth is your primary consideration you’re better off with actual high-res files anyway.

 

Not trying to make this a MQA thread and I hate that its lossy and the politics of it. When searching new music by Genre on Tidal, much of it is MQA and un-unfolded MQA is much worse than fully rendered. The Ifi micro seems to sound better with MQA files on this system than 16/44.1 also. This is my secondary system with the Fostex factory horns. I will report back on findings when project is complete.

 

Hypothetically, since I don’t own any MQA tracks and only stream to the Pi over airplay for convenience, if you use your computer as the streamer and the Pi as a renderer it should work since the computer will have unfolded it already. It’s not as convenient as just using the Pi but I don’t know if any open source project will ever natively support MQA as things stand.

eta: I’m not suggesting using airplay as iirc it’s limited to 16/48, but there are other renderers you can use.

 

Using Tidal through Roon should work.

Maybe this all can go into another thread. Cheers

 

Were you using a crossover ethernet cable for this to work, PC to RPI? In theory you should do.

One thing to mention seeing some of the comments about LMS and PiCorePlayer, is that there is nothing wrong with that setup and no reason to change if you're already used to it. I know there is other software now that offer better facilities / UI ( though often at a cost) but I've never had any problems using LMS. I've got 2 separate multiplayer setups, used over many years without any hitches. Adding the Pi2AES to my LMS setup was a breeze.

 

I'm trying to use the MCTH power supply as well, but I can't get it to plug into the Pi2AES... is seems that the center prong is slightly too big for the MCTH plug and I don't want to force it. Is an adapter needed? Or has the power plug on the Pi2AES changed ever so slightly?

 

Yes it does need an adapter

 

Please let me know if this question needs to be moved to the questions / advice section.

I've been looking at these Pi type solutions for a little while now ( Pi2Design / Allo DigiOne Signature) as a replacement for my Squeezebox Touch that is feeding a SFD-1. I do not have an ethernet drop in the location that the Touch resides and want to know if these Pi devices can stream wireless from my current Squeezebox host device that is wired in another portion of the house?

1.) Is it possible to use them wireless after initial setup?
2.) Am I wasting my time coming from the touch?

P.S. - the Squeezebox touch is running EDO and a dedicated linear power supply (Sigma11). Coax out to the neutrik BNC/AES adapter at the SFD input.

 

1) yes, 2) idk.

 

2) No. As someone who had the Touch, it was nice but it's dated and its time has been easily surpassed.

 

You might consider home plug ethernet, 1 by your dac pi and 1 by your router, the 502 aes will let you do away with the adapter...

 

You can use Wifi for streaming after initial setup no issues. I am able to stream 192Khz FLAC over wifi now without any drop. Another option would be to use those wifi extender with ethernet plug if you want to have wired connection and Keep wifi module of Pi disabled and router is away.