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

@earnmyturns If it helps at all to know that different software yields different results, I'm running Moode through BubbleUPnP to two different DACs (Yggdrasil and BF2) and both DACs disengage (and click) when tracks end or pause.

 

Ahah, thanks, that's where my vague memory comes from! In BC times (Before Covid) I had one of my Pi2AESs running moOde for my work office system.

 

One can change that behavior by adding snd-soc-core.pmdown_time=xx to /boot/cmdline.txt
where xx equals to the number of milli-seconds before power-management kicks in and shuts off the output(will cause click and increase annoyance of the owner of the Yggdrasil DAC).

If xx= -1 it means the power-mgmet will never shut it off.

This should work independent of the software that's chosen.

 

Hope someone here can help me out while I'm waiting for a reply from Michael. I received the pi2AES, with the 7 inch display case.

I did not receive the adapter mentioned on the home page, but that's no big deal to me. I bought the one in the amazon link on the pi2AES site https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FB13JP1 , but the Meanwell PS still doesn't fit into the adapter (or the Pi2AES). I also tried the adapter on the Pi2AES, and it doesn't fit (as it seems to be the same size as the Meanwell termination). I must be missing something.

The Meanwell is a female termination and it doesn't fit into the pi2AES slot. It looks like the pin on the Pi2AES is too big a diameter. I pushed relatively hard to make sure and it would not fit. The adapter from Amazon is the exact same size so that made no difference.

I feel like I must be missing something, but perhaps one of these parts (Meanwell or the adapter) is the wrong one. What am I doing wrong?

 

The meanwell psu plug doesn’t directly fit the pi2aes power socket, it needs an adapter that should have been included with the power supply.

 

Sounds like Amazon sent the wrong thing... the tip on the adapter from Amazon should be bigger than the meanwell tip. I purchased this right angle adapter. I believe (but have never confirmed), that the adapters are color coded... all the adapters I've purchased (I have 3 Pi2AES's) have yellow tips.

 

These plugs are such a pain in the arse. The Meanwell plug is 2.1mm but the Pi2AES takes 2.5mm. @MarkWayne , Amazon's description of the one you ordered is correct, as is the right-angle one linked by @dasman66 . It does indeed look like Amazon sent the wrong thing.

 

Amazon sent me the wrong ones first time I ordered them...

 

Thanks for the replies. I'm sure Amazon sent the wrong adapter with the 2.1 to 2.5 the wrong way around. I ordered an adapter from a different amazon store. Hopefully I'll be up and running next week.

 

Same thing happened to me on eBay. Instead of 2.1 to 2.5 angled I got 2.1 to 2.1 angled.

 

I just commissioned the Pi2AES hat on a RPi 4B.
I’m running Ropieee. Not a SW guy so this was as easy as it gets. Roon only so far.

I am very impressed with the design and implementation - it is top shelf all the way.

The documentation is excellent.

I especially like the super low noise dedicated LDO for the clock oscillators.

I’m an electrical engineer (analog/RF) and I know good design when I see it. Congrats on a solid design Michael.

One issue - the ground pins for the BNC connector on the Pi2AES hit the metal case of the RPi USB connector housing. Assuming this is not a good thing, I cut the BMC pins down with diagonal cutters. Problem solved.

Now listening via AES/EBU with my Yggdrasil and Benchmark DAC3 HGC. Very positive initial impressions.

 

yes, we have been remiss in making sure those pins were checked. They were supposed to be cut at our contract manufacturer prior to shipping to us but the last handful of boards were not. I suspect that was due to a missing part that was shorted when they were built and put on afterwards. That must have disrupted the flow of of the process including cutting the pins.

I have been cutting them manually as I go through test, but I apologize if some have slipped through.

 

Also posted this on the touchscreen thread... I got the proper power adapter and the pi boots up to the volumio login screen, but I am now stuck as I can't figure out how to get to volumio.local to install the touchscreen plugin.

I have no experience with rasberry pi, and am not as tech-savvy as I'd like to be so I apologize for what may be stupid questions. I'm stuck at the volumio touchscreen plugin step. I hope someone can help. 1. I have never used volumio, so I just paid and have an account now. 2. I'm doing this at my office where I have ethernet as well as a wifi network.

My rpi4 and pi2aes hat are assembled and powered up. The SD card with volumio was installed and when I boot up I see the screen set forth in the instructions ("Volumio login:").

However, I don't understand how to get to volumio.local/playback on my desktop (plugged into the ethernet network) or laptop (I have a windows laptop with an ethernet port which is what I tried, but I also have a Mac laptop with no ethernet port and no adapter so I can only use it with wifi) so that I can go into settings and install the touchscreen plugin.

What is my next step and what should be plugged into what in terms of the ethernet connections?

 

review post #6... get the IP address from your router, or using an app (ie., Marv used FING). Put the IP address into your browser and you should get there.

Of course, the pi needs to be on the network, so you'll want to use a hardwire from your router/switch to your pi (at least until you get wifi setup)... and your computer also needs to be connected to the network...

 

Dasman66, I think I'm making progress. I have volumio.local up, but it isn't seeing the device yet. I'll follow your instructions... thanks.

 

Just a few things:

• My BNC pins were also touching the USB shield. I didn't notice until I saw the post above. I also cut them down, took less than 5 minutes total, but if @Tom R above didn't mention it, I would've missed it (so check yours).
• I am also using RoPieeeXL. Setup was simple to set up, free, and it works well with Jriver (Windows) and Tidal (iPhone via Airplay).
• This sounds better than the Eitr with my Modi multibit. There is more clarity.
  • I used to have a Geek Pulse Infinity and the Eitr was clearly superior to the Skysong XU208, so the Pi2aes sounding a little better than the Eitr says a lot.
• One of the reasons I bought this was to also use as a Retropi classic game player. Once set up, you just have to swap sd cards and the pi works great as a game emulation system (I love playing classic arcade and Nintendo games).

Overall, very happy with everything. Bravo @Michael Kelly !

 

I'm not sure I understand... . Do you mean volumio isn't recognizing the Pi2AES? If so, then look at @Bozoskeleton s suggestion related to the BNC pins being shorted out...

 

I thought selecting the Pi2AES was simply a setting, not something that is "seen". Do you not see a list of devices to choose from or do you mean something else?

 

I'm not sure why it wasn't showing up at first, but with some trial and error it finally showed up and I got it working. Thanks for the replies. I'm already fairly certain that it is an improvement over my Mac Airbook (though I was able to switch from USB to coax into my Schiit Bifrost 2 which may be where the gains were made). Little more separation in things like background vocals and a touch more body to bass, which is important in my system (Magnepan .7s). That's with stock Meanwell PS. I know others are reporting significant gains in SQ with pricier power supplies. Thanks for the great engineering Michael Kelly.

 

Actually, I think most state that the Pi2AES doesn't see significant gains due to exotic power supply over the meanwell (I know my LPS made little difference). The link someone posted earlier is the only time I've heard someone state that a power supply change made a significant improvement.