Pi2 Design Idiot-Proof Ready-To-Go RPi/AES Streamer

I don’t know if moode enables hdmi out. On volumio you get there logo followed by a text login. But if you enable the touch screen this also enables hdmi video out. Then you get the full user interface and can even use a mouse via usb.

 

I installed Moode on a separate sdcard and played some flac files stored on Synology DS214Play NAS using Roon Bridge(AES to DAC), and direct AES connection(directly to dac).I Then I enabled spotify Connect and changed its setting to play 320kbps. I played Spotify on Mac Mini and my android phone using Spotify Connect without any problem.

Currently, I have been testing RopieeeXL. Roon Core is running on Mac Mini and I set RopieeeXL as output Zone from Roon player interface. They are connected to the audio switch using CAT8 ethernet cables. It sounds great. In this setup, I can also use the HDMI output of Mac Mini and connect it to my TV for display(Roon Interface etc.).

My only disappointment is not being able to run Roon Core on Raspberry PI4(Mercury Streamer). I see that I did not have the right information about that before. The streamer can only be and endpoint(Raspberry PIs) no matter whichAudio player you use on it. We still need another more powerful device to run Roon Core. I learnt that Euphony OS is preferred for that and it can be run from a USB drive by modifying boot sequence of the devices (PC/Intel NUCs/Macs). Therefore I could not make a direct connection to Devialet using DevialetAIR protocol on Roon(in Mercury streamer case). As far as I see, @bobfa has in-depth experience about Euphony and shared a lot of information on Audiophilestyle.com about it.

Edit: Is there any Tidal Client for free that can be used on Mercury? I am looking for a plugin to stream Tidal..

 

To clarify, it is NOT a shortcoming of Mercury but rather Roon Labs require a core to run on X86 machine...

 

Yes I tried to mention it. It is not about Mercury. As Mercury streamer is based on Raspberry PI4, it is not possible to run Roon Core on it. As far as I learnt, the optimum setup to run Roon would be a dedicated light Linux based operating system(optimized for Audio processes) running on silent modified X86 hardwares. Euphony is just one of the alternatives. But roon is not very necessary if you use the other music players which can be installed on Mercury.

 

AFAIK this still works though it isn’t integrated into any audio distribution so once it’s running you’ll need to make sure to reset the connection to your phone or whatever or the pi software gets confused. The audio distro also won’t show any song details as it’s not in control of the stream. On the other hand it’s free and you get the best (native) tidal interface.

https://forums.raspberrypi.com/viewtopic.php?t=297771

There was a command line instruction in the thread somewhere for setting it up to restart on reboot so read at least enough to get that working.

 

Thanks.. I found 2 other web sites that helped me. https://github.com/tml3nr/Tidal-Connect-RopieeeXL and https://giters.com/dutu/Tidal-Connect-RopieeeXL explains step by step how to enable Tidal Connect on RopieeeXL. Please keep in mind that the file addresses on https://giters.com/dutu/Tidal-Connect-RopieeeXL works They tell exactly the same thing other than that.

You need to connect to RopieeeXL and run some commands using SSH to enable it(Putty can be used) . I used WinSCP on Windows to edit the file described as the last step in these web sites.
After running the commands, I installed Tidal Connect on RopieeeXL successfully. Everything is working great Tidal Connect is enabled in a minute . It's great... RopieeeXL became one of my favorites..

Currently I run Tidal through Audirvana on Mac Mini using the RopieeeXL endpoint on Mercury(AES connection to Devialet). You can also play Tidal from your phone by simply choosing Ropieee Tidal Connect as endpoint device.

 

BTW, they are the exact same output just two parallel connectors.

 

Michael, for those who buy the DAC/Amp, but postpone the purchase of the LPS - is the switching PSU that came with the beta units powerful enough to power both the streamer and the DAC/Amp (with a Y splitter)? or do we need to use 2 power bricks?

 

It will.

 

Can we Pre book now ?
any preference would be given to SBAF members 1st compared to others
Thanks

 

Soon! I just found out the parts we sent to the assembly house finally cleared customs and were delivered I am just waiting on them to give me a ship date and then I will enable ordering.

The SBAF version will require that the customer is an SBAF member. If not the order will be canceled. After the 40 SBAF units are sold we will then turn on general ordering.

Due to ongoing issues with our original metal supplier, the LPS and DAC will look a bit different. As well Mercury after the first 100 ship. I will post some 3D renders later this weekend.

 

I’m not sure how to contribute to this thread in a meaningful way. I am a participant in the early listening to the Mercury, and have been doing so this past week. I have been on work travel, so I have only been listening this past week. I continue to use a disc transport for reference (Marantz CD-60, whose label on the back is so old I cannot read, but was supposedly built in the late 80s and early 90s). It has an organic sound that I have yet to reproduce via USB or network players (COAX, BNC, AES/EBU).

And that is the problem - to describe what I am hearing and listening for, which seems unrelated to the normal terms we use to describe music and our perception of audible sound during digital audio playback. I have been using the original Pi2AES. But when I last wrote about this on the network streamer thread, there was still a wide delta between it and the sonic character from the DAC, when using the disc transport. A few tweaks (kernel change to 64-bit, kernel optimization, moving WiFi outside the case, and power supplies) all seemed to make the network transport sound closer to the “saturation” I heard from the disc transport. But I still heard an audible sheen, a delta that made obvious the music was played from the digital network transport.

I’m not going to suggest from Mercury there is no more delta - there is still between it and the disc transport. But the easier comparison is between the original Pi2AES and the Mercury. Listening to multiple music tracks, but focused on the bonus track by Natalie Merchant, Ophelia, the orchestral version of the song that starts about 4’15” into the last track, I hear an immediate difference in focus. The string instruments sounded significantly more fuzzy on the original Pi2AES versus the Mercury. I’m a headphone listener 99.9% of the time, so headstage is a thing for me. I can place the instruments on that stage through Mercury, whereas it sounds a little more garbled via the original Pi2AES (WARNING: in audio reviews, we always make things bigger than they actually are - deltas are actually quite small).

The specifics of my headphone setup today are Yggdrasil LiM > Mogami XLR > ECP 3F > Forza Noir > ETA GenG. Disc transport feeds COAX and Mercury (music rips are stored on a network share, played through 5GHz WiFi) feeds XLR into the LiM. Far more careful (and long term) listening is required to separate the sound between these two. For example, the headstage is the same. My ears are not that great, and it has taken me about a week to hear any delta for myself. I would rather not try to describe what I eventually heard in a meaningful way, except to say it is there and I almost do not care to try to hear it. Using the stock configuration and the stock supply, no tweaks, the Mercury is very good! How do I describe this goodness in a meaningful way - other than what I wrote above, I don’t know?

 

It looks like I will need to provide an LPS to each beta customer asap. Give me 3 weeks.

 

Michael, would the metal case difference be in: color? size? something else?
Would the 3D renders that you mention show the differences?

 

The new cases are a bit wider with the same depth, but -9mm taller. And the outside pattern on the side is different.

Original 168x229x44.3mm

https://lincolnbinns.com/shop/aluminium-enclosures/u-case-enclosures.html

New 170x120x53.5mm

https://www.digikey.com/en/products/detail/bud-industries/EXN-23364-BK

Note that we won’t use their end plates, but will cut our own.

 

I only have a 720p LCD television available to (move around and) test this with moOde. During moOde reboot, I saw the full Linux console startup followed by nothing. When I switched to volumio, I could tell there was still a video signal during the "nothing" because the TV said no signal as I swapped back to volumio. And volumio showed exactly what you describe, the logo followed by a console login prompt for Linux.

 

What exactly is it you are hoping for? As I’ve mentioned if you enable touchscreen in the volumio plug-ins you will get the user interface on the hdmi screen. Not sure what moode does when you enable the touch screen. I know ropieee try’s to detect the touch screen so it won’t turn on hdmi either way. And I don’t think you can force it.

 

No want for features on my end - I'm good! I was just plugging in to test functionality.

 

I avoid running a display on either Moode or Volumio as I have found that running it slowed operations down a lot. I also "assume" that it would add additional noise??? For my volumio listening things work best with all of the extra "sources" turned off.

As I have mentioned before I am running with an M.2 drive in the Mercury so I do not need any other computing equipment in the playback chain for local music. (Lots of reasons for this)/

 

I learnt that Euphony OS is preferred for that and it can be run from a USB drive by modifying boot sequence of the devices (PC/Intel NUCs/Macs). Therefore I could not make a direct connection to Devialet using DevialetAIR protocol on Roon(in Mercury streamer case). As far as I see, @bobfa has in-depth experience about Euphony and shared a lot of information on Audiophilestyle.com about it.

Edit: Is there any Tidal Client for free that can be used on Mercury? I am looking for a plugin to stream Tidal..[/QUOTE]

Oh, so much water has gone under the Euphony Bridge! I have not used it in over 18months. It got unstable and I migrated to Pi-based systems. My best results have been with Two Pi4s. One running LMS with an attached SSD, the other running Squeezelite and the Pi2AES hat. Both systems were powered but Ferrum Hyposys supplies and were running PiCorePlayer. Note that they were both on WiFi.

The Mercury is changing some of that configuration. I have gotten great results by configuring Volumio properly. I have not gotten PiCorePlayer working properly yet with the internal drive. Not enough time spent.

Note that the best sounding streamer server I have ever heard is the Antipodes K50 that I am setting up for a friend.

Remember that my systems are not uber high end.