Diretta Thread

You have to know that the host influenced the sound in a big way. I use a rpi4 and the settings in software (gentooplayer) is audible. The powerunit is important and even the harddisk and USB cable to harddrive makes a big difference. And than the way you connect to ethernet/wifi

Even vibration controle is really important

 

Ehh, it’s an endless rabbit hole. I’ve tried all the above and in the end would recommend just sticking with a OS/software-ish solution over getting too crazy with the hardware tweakery. No cheap way to do that stuff, really, with serious diminishing returns vs something like Diretta. I guess you could give the FMC’s we were talking about in the BF2 thread a shot since Diretta is streaming-based - trusted members have vouched for those, and they’re sub-100 bucks.

 

So is one's sanity

 

This post cause me to have diarrhea in my mouth. This is like Computer Audiophile land right here.

 

Its a nice hobby

 

I decided to go ahead and buy another rpi4 and run it as a Diretta host. Hey, you only live once. I really do like how it sounds on my system.

 

Can you even say you've heard quality music without running this sata cable?

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/dollar500-audiophile-sata-ssd-cable-with-superstar-crystals-listed

 

Audiophile molex cables or bust

https://www.fis-audio.de/kabel/pc-line/fis-audio-molex-24pin-24pin-atx/

 

Get a dual sfp card & install on your gaming pc. I think you should be able to isolate well with optical. Use one sfp port to connect to net via FMC/ existing sfp router & other sfp port to rpi4 via FMC. After configuring gentooplayer & putting it in ram you can directly connect to PC. Diretta ASIO will detect it. There are some settings on diretta ASIO window which should be configured properly. You can ask on gentooplayer thread on audiophile style for same.

 

Make sure you have the right diretta host settings as shared by Gp developer. You’ll need a usb to Ethernet device for 2nd connection. One rj45 port connects to net & other directly to rpi4 target. Both diretta host & target/endpoint should be properly configured.

 

Thumbs down.

Not coated in fermented unicorn piss.

 

You don't need GentooPlayer for the host, if you're familiar with a bit of Linux admin, you can install Diretta ALSA on any recent distro. I recently upgraded my Roon core to Ubuntu 22.04 LTS and I was able to install it with no issues.

Having said that, I recently installed GentooPlayer on my Allo Usbridge Signature and while my audio memory is a bit hazy... there does seem to be some audible benefits to GentooPlayer compared to DietPi that I was running prior.

 

I thought it'd be good to share how I use diretta in case anyone else is in a similar situation.

The only space I have where I can set up speakers for serious listening is in the same room as my computer so I use my computer to store and play all my music. I also like to use my speakers for video so using diretta for windows sounds (i.e. netflix, youtube, video calls, etc) was essential to me.

Current setup - PCIE Card with SFP -> fiber cable -> Afterdark diretta bridge -> USB -> Hydra Z -> i2s -> DAC

Setup is fairly easy. You have to set up the fiber card (or any network card) to be IPv6 and install the Diretta ASIO driver. If you want to use ASIO bridge to listen to windows sounds, you need to use the v100 driver. After installing that, you use the panel to find the diretta bridge and set up the settings how you like it. After that, any audio player will see the diretta bridge as long as it can output to ASIO.

Now I can have my audio rack anywhere in the room cause fiber cables can be long and inexpensive compared to USB cables. It's been pretty flawless so far. It's never really crapped out randomly or anything. It's a great way to not use USB with a PC (I'll be getting a holo red to replace the afterdark so I can get rid of USB entirely) and sounds good at the same time. It's basically "streaming" without streaming.

 

Are there any specific instructions for installing the Diretta driver on a linux host? I'm ready to give it a go with the Red.

 

Due to licensing being tied to the target (think endpoint), the only ways to install it on your own ARM based hardware is to use GentooPlayer, once you've installed that distro, there will be a script to let you install the Diretta target.

Hosts (think audio source) are unlicensed so you can install it on as many computers as you want. I have a setup guide for how to install that in Linux.

 

I just got around to this yesterday. Thanks to @famish99 for the GitHub guide to install the host in Ubuntu. Followed steps and it worked perfectly. Gentoo was dummy proof on the target.

I've successfully seen the ALSA target DAC using the command aplay -l on the host. Creating a new zone in Roon and playback works properly as well. Same for HQP Embedded, I can see the target DAC in the ALSA Backend menu and upsample and playback through Roon.

My question is I mostly use UPnP now, and I installed aprenderer and playback works through jplay, but how do I know whether it is using diretta as opposed to the standard UPnP protocol? I don't see a log for the diretta target in gentoo.

 

@Failed Engineer

I use Gentooplayer as host. But i think it wil be the same.
You have to install aprenderer on Host, not on target. On target only diretta target.

If you go to ipadres:7779 you can see if diretta is used on tab: card

 

@AukePauke thanks for your help. I think I see your point. aprenderer at the host will pass off to diretta host which sends stream over LAN to diretta target? Same as HQPe will pass audio stream to diretta host which sends stream over LAN to diretta target over LAN?

Do I have that correct? Thanks for your help.

I use AssetUPnP as my server, I still need aprenderer and then in my UPnP controller I'd select the diretta host aprenderer to play to?

 

I think so, but i don't know AssetUPnP



For better sound quality you can try direct LAN cable from host to target.

You do need a second LAN adapter on host. Maybe a usb one.

 

I couldn't get aprenderer to work with jplay control point, it kept crashing aprenderer on the diretta host. But then I remembered that HQP Embedded is a UPnP renderer and that works perfectly.

It's early but I think upsampled HQP PCM sounds better through Jplay/UPnP than Roon via Diretta. Whether Diretta itself is better than just NAA or UPnP I can't say yet.