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

Ghent is good but these days aliexpress is 2 weeks maaaaybe 3 to france. And Ghent is talking about much slower times.

 

I confirmed with the seller this cable is “CANARE LV-61S” and uses neutrik connectors. So it’s probably better than the bluejeans cable. I’m trying to see if he can cover the blue with a black sleeve/jacket.

 

That's part of their charm

 

But BlueJeans offers a choice of 10 cable colors

 

I ordered a pi2aes. I plan on using the pi3 which is presently attached to a digi+. Excuse the stupid question but i have volumio installed on the pi3. When i change the digi+ to the pi2aes, do i have to re-install volumio?

 

No. Just switch the HATs, start everything up again, and it'll run as usual. If you're using separate power supplies for HAT & Pi, the sequence matters - I think it's HAT first, so the Pi knows it's there, but it's in the manual.

 

Yes, that is the correct order.

 

I should've mentioned - I see you say you've been using a digi+. In the audio output section of Volumio's settings/playback option screen, make sure you set DAC model to HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro (you could use Allo Signature too). If you set it to HiFiBerry Digi, which has only one clock, it might play 48/44.1 x too fast. Happened to me.

 

I have a Holo Spring 2 arriving soon (sucker for NOS caught again...). Looking at its HDMI I2S pin assignment, it looks different from the Pi2AES assignment, with SDO and LRCLK + and - swapped and everything from 13 not connected or ground. (see image). Is there a way to make this work that does not involve rewiring HDMI cables, which I've proven totally inept at?

 

I have one too, out of the box it works but with channels reversed. @Michael Kelly mentioned that sometime soon he was going to launch a PSAudio adapter to fix that.

 

I am. Got delayed by a bunch of other issues mostly getting PI2AES squared away so we had sufficient stock. I have just sent off the PCB design to have the new boards made. I am not going to sell it officially, but I will make it available to people on this forum. I should have them back by the middle of January, but if this last year has taught me anything it is this: I truly suck at estimating delivery times!

 

Thanks, I guess I could just swap the audio L and R cables from the DAC to the amp then

 

With picoreplayer there is a option to swap channels: (beta) main page - extras - asound - swap channels.

Never tried myself.

 

I’ve been using the Pi2AES for a week now and while Volumio is frustrating, I’m loving the Pi2AES. I thought it was going to be an added complication for better SQ. But I’ve discovered how easy it is to use airplay to volumio. I now use it for movies instead of plugging in a usb cable and it’s so nice to have one less cable connected. I can use volumio for listening to music and then switch to Tidal app and use AirPlay to listen to my test tracks to tune orthos. My whole rig is untethered now and it’s just really nice. I would remove the usb cable completely if it weren’t for the occasional WiFi dysfunction. Thanks @Michael Kelly for such an awesome affordable product! It’s made listening to music more enjoyable just because of the untethered experience.

 

I also find Volumio to be quite frustrating for me too, and I ended up using Moode instead. I do like Volumio's user interface over Moode in terms of navigating around, but I find the latter to be more stable and has a nice flat UI minimalistic look. Plus I like how it's easy for me to modify the CSS and tailor the front end interface to my tastes, such as increasing the font size on my non-official touchscreen and other things.

I also like the new version of Moode v7.0.1 that just got released recently, especially with its new built-in EQ settings. EQ'ing from my laptop into my chain doesn't sound as good as it coming out from the Pi2AES. I'm just glad Pi2AES arrived right before the holidays. So now I use Pi2AES exclusively for music, and honestly, it made my ZMF VC even more enjoyable than before (more clarity and just slightly more energy on the treble). Pi2AES also solved the issue of me not worrying about setting the soundcard to WASAPI exclusive mode, and sometimes I forget to switch it back to the other mode when another app needs it. Now I'll just leverage that toggling ability to my Bifrost 2, where my laptop is connected via USB and Pi2AES over coaxial.

I do wish on the i2s selection screen, for both Volumio and Moode, displays Pi2AES instead of selecting the Allo one, my only pet peeve =P

 

Tell them to add it to the list. It's the exact same driver. personally I don't care, because I didn't have anything to do with the development of the driver so I certainly don't want to take any credit. But it would make it easier for customers. I have pinged both companies and because we are a manufacturer, they're interest in us is strictly monetary, i.e. will I pay them to put us in the list. Doesn't make them bad guys though, they're just trying to make a living too.

 

is changing font size difficult for someone that has 0 knowledge on this matter? that would come in handy but i got the official screen.

 

Anyone have any thoughts on mconnect with MoOde vs the volumio app? Specifically UI?

 

Mconnect is good because it is OS agnostic as long as UPNP/DLNA is enabled.