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

An update: Spent some time looking into audio device compatibilities on the software I use. It appears the only real way to get this stuff to play nice is to have it recognized as a standard audio device by OSX. Does anyone here happen to know of any easy way to do this, or am I outta luck here?

 

Does Airplay satisfy your situation? It's easy to setup. Otherwise I'm not aware of another way to use it as an external sound device for the OS.

 

Eh... not really? To my knowledge Airplay does resample and I'd rather not do that. It would work, and I guess it's not as critical with non-audiophile music software (so theoretically speaking I could switch between Airplay and UPnP depending on what I need) but it's not ideal at all. I wish there were an all in one solution that did it a little cleaner.

 

Yeah, it can be rather fiddly. To address your audio quality concerns you're probably stuck with UPnP. Overall I'm fine using UPnP as my primary audio protocol but it sometimes tries my patience when I need to restart various things for the device to show up. Fortunately that is more rare but Airplay seems to be more reliable in this regard and of course UPnP doesn't show up as an audio device for OSX as you requested.

 

UPnP is definitely usable for general listening purposes, I don't have anything against that. Resampling isn't really an issue with Finale since it's just notation software anyways and the output's fidelity hardly matters. It's more Audition and Logic Pro that's kind of a pain here, since sound quality does matter a fair bit there. I may just have to put up with it if I get a PI2AES, which I kind of want to, to streamline my setup.

 

Thanks again to @Michael Kelly for the case promo code, fast shipping, and for the great products that you make.
Everything fit together almost too perfectly and made for a nice project on a Friday night.
I almost wish we had a sticker or logo to fill up some of the left over real estate on the panel area, but I also appreciate the minimalist look.
Sounds much clearer out of moOde -> Gungnir Multibit (BNC) -> Jot 1 (Bal) -> HD650M (Bal) as compared to Unison USB straight out of the Pi4.

P.S. If you ever decided to make a smoked acrylic version of this case, I would buy one in a heartbeat

 

Hi, I'm a new member and extremely interested in the PI2AES. I currently use an old Mac Mini w Euphony Stylus as the OS and also have a USBridge Sig w Moode as the OS into a Yiggy w Unison. I was wondering if anyone has compared the PI2AES vs USBridge Sig? also can the PI2AES mount and work on a USBridge Sig since it appears to have the needed connector?

 

Hi, Stevj.
Please read the rules here:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/what-is-sbaf-10-articles-for-behavior.5555/

And introduce yourself here:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/new-members-introduce-yourself.17/

 

@stevej
You can find some comparisons on this page, and in general the thread:
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?threads/raspberry-pi-i2s-to-spdif-hat.1990/page-95

There's a convenient Supersearch feature to help find answers to questions which may have been covered previously.
https://www.superbestaudiofriends.org/index.php?pages/FeaturedContent/

 

With the 90 degree power adapter @Michael Kelly recommended about 50 pages back there is a much smaller footprint, and all cables face the same direction.
Seems like this should be what's included in the original packaging. Much better!

 

I totally agree, unfortunately the 90° bend parts are four times as much money. Not a huge factor, but still, stupidly more.

Also it doesn't really do you much good if you are using the HDMI since they stick out in the same direction as our power adapter. Perhaps not as much obviously!

yeah, this is really just me justifying the fact that I'm too cheap to spend that much on the stupid adapter!

 

I'm guessing everyone would be cool with you bumping the price a couple of bucks so they don't have to chase one down. I remembered reading about this a while back and the cable bugged me enough that it was worth me starting at the beginning of this massive thread and finding every time you posted in here until I found the right post.

Either way, it's an awesome product that people will buy. It's just so much better with the adapter though.

Here's the alternative:

 

Sorry for my pure unadulterated and shameful level of idiocy, but after five minutes combing this thread I couldn’t find it, and that’s my laziness vs consideration limit. Can you post the link to the 90 degree adapter item again? Thanks!

 

Adapter:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07YWPGGCG

 

I will totally agree to post the link on the website so people can find it as an alternative.

And I will think about supplying them with the power supply. But I am not going to raise the price because that just pisses too many people off and frankly the price seems to be about right anyway.

 

Shipping to my country costs more than the actual adapter so I'll have to look for something local. Thanks for the link anyway.

 

Maybe one of these? As low as $0.40 each (even cheaper in quantity).
https://www.google.com/search?q="mean+well"+"DC+PLUG-P1J-P1MR"
https://www.google.com/search?q="mean+well"+"DC+PLUG-P1J-P1LR"

 

I decided to look at my industrial wholesale suppliers, which normally don't have these kinds of items. However mouser which distributes mean well power supplies which we buy from them, has a right angle adapter that is 45 cents in quantity of 250. I will place the order tomorrow and with next day shipping I will ship all open orders by Wednesday with a right angle adapter and a straight adapter, until I run out of straight adapters. I probably won't buy more unless you folks can tell me if there is a benefit to it.

 

Still nope but I found one on german Amazon that looks to be exactly what I need.
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Connector-Straight-Coupling-Adapter-Converter/dp/B0848MBRS8/ref=sr_1_52

Can you add a dropdown to the store where users could choose whether they want an angled or a straight one?