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

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Jan 29, 2020.

  1. Biodegraded

    Biodegraded Friend

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  2. Hrodulf

    Hrodulf Prohibited from acting as an MOT until year 2050

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    Got the Pi2AES yesterday. Sounds absolutely glorious on the Yggdrasil with Volumio. Couldn't get to work with Moode, but it was late and I was tired.

    One thing - when playing Spotify, I sometimes hear pops. They're full amplitude, regardless of internal volume. They're there even with TOSLINK. CPU throttling?

    Update: looks like the problem persists only when on software volume control. Disabling that gets rid of it.
     
    Last edited: Feb 18, 2021
  3. stevej

    stevej New

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    Just received my Pi2AES. Very pleased with the build quality. I’m using it with the Meanwell PS and AES into a Yggdrasil A2. Running Gentooplayer with BT, Wifi, HDMI and Pi sound all disabled. The Pi4 temp stays at 53-56C.
    Haven’t done A/B sound quality testing yet but my initial thoughts are SQ is very good with better clarity and crispness and better soundstage. Some might call this a more digital sound or less warm. Personally I prefer this sound vs warm or softer sound. Not sure if a LPS/better power supply will improve things but would be concerned if it softened the sound which seems to be the case with LPS.
     
  4. gixxerwimp

    gixxerwimp Professional tricycle rider

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    Got my 2nd PI2AES for the bedroom. So glad to be freed from the USB OTG cable! The 90° power cable adapter rocks too, allowing me to snug it up right against the wall. A bit of photog tape was necessary over some of the holes to get it completely blacked out.

    232564.jpg

    I was lazy and cheap, so got another RPi Zero W like the one I already have running in the living room. I left the front face plate off on that unit as the Zero's SD card slot is in a different position from Pi 3/4. But being the bedroom, I ordered the black case and had to customize the face plate for the Zero. Having limited tools, I used a drill to rough out the opening. But the bit caught when breaking through and cracked the face plate in two. I finished off the opening with files, and it fits together tightly so the cracks are pretty much invisible. It's much more apparent in the photo than IRL, especially if viewed from more than an arm's length away.

    232558.jpg

    I don't really need access to the SD card as piCorePlayer is so stable, and it's pretty easy to just take the face plate off if necessary. If I were to do it again, I'd drill more carefully from the inside, almost but not all the way through, to provide just enough clearance for the card.

    Thanks again @Michael Kelly for a great product!
     
  5. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    I was just hearing a static noise in my system AGAIN. I’ve spent so much time and money trying to get rid of noise. I have replaced all my power cables (except my backup DAC the Drop RDAC because it’s DC) with shielded Pangea power cables, all my interconnects are shielded, all my digital cables are shielded, I replaced my 789 and Loki in case they were defective and I consigned a Sigma11 LPS for my 789. Sheesh!

    And the static came back! I figured the only thing could be the meanwell power supply so I added a NoiseNuke to the Pi2AES and it nuked the f**k out of the noise!! It’s so damn quiet now the phrase black background is making a lot of sense. It really actually sounds quieter than before in general aside from getting rid of the noise. I can’t tell about SQ changes for sure because my headphones are new (just finished [probably] modded LCD-2 Classic)

    very cool! Noise nuked!

    too bed no one makes the NoiseNuke as a commercially available product.

    but know that if you are hearing blips of static in your rig the meanwell could be to blame.
     
  6. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    My Pi2AES picked up noise along the AES cable. It crossed over the stock power supply cable - once I moved it from near/crossing the power line, it was back to dead silent.
     
  7. Zoophaugus

    Zoophaugus New

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    Hi all, I got my Pi2AES in late November and it's feeding my Yggdrasil A2 via Aes/ebu cable. I just recently tried powering it with my uptone LPS1.2 and do notice a difference for the better. A little better separation and micro details.. I like it and the LPS1.2 will be staying staying in the equation .. it works fine on 12 volts.
    My Yggdrasil feeds a fully analog vacuum tube pre amp and monster power amp pushing some floor standers with external ribbon tweeters and some good cabling.
     
  8. Syzygy

    Syzygy Friend

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    I ended up connecting mine to an old Pi2 I had lying around doing nothing. Put electrical tape on the top of the RJ45 jack and the USB jacks, just to ensure the solder joints and BNC pins above wouldn't touch and ground.

    Didn't take long at all to notice the SQ improvement over the USB.
     
  9. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    I guess the problem could be the Meanwell itself, but it could also be really bad noise on your power that managed to pollute the Meanwell's DC side. My Meanwells are on Furman conditioners, no issues once I got all my signal cabling organized properly away from power cables.
     
  10. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Enough people have no issues with the meanwell that I don’t think that’s the issue either. I seem to have a lot of interference in this room for whatever reason.

    I have a Furman power conditioner too. The 180$ one o_O My rig is up against a wall and in a position where I can’t keep interconnects from touching power cables. They don’t go parallel with them but they do cross each other unavoidably.

    I actually think the Pi2AES sounds better with the NoiseNuke. But hard to say for sure because these headphones are so new to me as are all my others. I guess I might test it with my Andromeda but this kind of subtle change won’t be easy to hear from memory.
     
  11. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    It's not impossible that you have a flaky Meanwell (it's electronics after all...) it might be worth testing with another power supply.
     
  12. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    Well it’s quiet as hell now so I’m not too worried.
     
  13. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    @Michael Kelly have you thought about making a tube version of the Pi2AES? I just added a tube to mine and it sounds amaaazing. It’s like I’m streaming vinyl it’s so rich and full bodied. The difference is not subtle at all. Seems to pair really well with HD650’s.

    [​IMG]
     
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  14. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Umm, what??? A bit early for April fools!
     
  15. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    How about this (stacks on top of the PI2AES):

    pi2aes-hta_top.PNG

    pi2aes-hta_bottom.PNG

    We built some protos and the test results:

    pi2aes-hta_p1_1khz_dac_0dB.PNG

    pi2aes-hta_p1_1khz_dac_-6dB.PNG

    pi2aes-hta_p1_1khz_dac_-12dB.PNG
     
  16. rhythmdevils

    rhythmdevils MOT: rhythmdevils audio

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    every day is audio fools day on SBAF ;)
     
  17. dasman66

    dasman66 Self proclaimed lazy ass - friend

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    New company slogan - "we make reality for April's Fool"

    LMAO;):D
     
  18. Gazny

    Gazny MOT: ETA Audio

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  19. CEE TEE

    CEE TEE MOT: NITSCH

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    @rhythmdevils You are not crazy...I was having the "weird static" last week and it was driving me nuts until I moved several things around (a few times) and now I am back to quiet. Not sure what the offender was. But there are types of noise and this "digital rapid clicking" was not the type you can ignore.
     
  20. RedLipstick

    RedLipstick Acquaintance

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    I'm planning to connect the pi2aes to the Spring2 using the I2s connection but I'm not sure if it needs a special cable, or just a normal HDMi will do the job?
     

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