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

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by Michael Kelly, Jan 16, 2021.

  1. edwyun

    edwyun Facebook Friend

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    I assume a 12V/4A iFi iPower Elite will work?
     
  2. michael stevener

    michael stevener New

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    AMB Labs sigma 11, sounds great!
     
  3. Andrew Watson

    Andrew Watson New

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    Yes iFi Power Elite works great (I'm enjoying mine)
     
  4. edwyun

    edwyun Facebook Friend

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    Will the V2 have the wifi antenna on the left or on the right? Just planning ahead. Thank you.

    [​IMG]


    [​IMG]
     
  5. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Left side (top drawing is the final).
     
  6. That St Kilda Guy

    That St Kilda Guy Acquaintance

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    In anticipation of my new Mercury V2 (ordered).
    Could those more knowledgeable than me, please advise what would be the best connection to connect it to these two dacs?
    I'm using Qobuz through Roon as well as my stored music
    Bitfrost 2/64
    RME ADI-2 fs

    Cheers
     
  7. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    Looks like Coax is the way to go for both so you may have to get an adapter for BNC to RCA coax so that you can connect both DAC via COAX as neither BF2 nor RME take AES and considering you connect BF2 via RCA coax then you have to use BNC from Mercury and connect to RCA coax in RME DAC
     
  8. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    The best is the one you like best! All outputs are on simultaneous so hook them all up and switch around. AES Balanced, AES COAX and SPDIF are virtually all the same performance. Optical lags a teeny, tiny bit.
     
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  9. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    You can avoid an adapter if you get a cable terminated with BNC at one end, and RCA at the other. Digital audio uses the same 75 ohm coax as video, and such cables are readily available at Amazon, Blue Jeans Cable and other sources.
     
  10. That St Kilda Guy

    That St Kilda Guy Acquaintance

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    I don't have intentions to connect both the dacs simultaneously, so it looks like Coax is the go.
    I have a one meter Supra 75ohm coax cable.
    I suppose I asked just to see if Toslink or USB would be mentioned. But my understanding is that the Mercury doesn't output via USB anyway
     
  11. Zachik

    Zachik MOT XMEMS

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    As mentioned last week - I got one, and it has arrived over the weekend!
    First, the included DC cable fits my Mercury V1 without the need for any adapter. That was a good start :)
    As for sound comparison to the stock Meanwell power brick:
    Switching back and forth between the 2 power sources takes time. Probably 2 minutes or so.
    My auditory memory (and I think most people's) is not long enough, unless the differences are huge. And from my limited tests - they are not.
    I think the FiiO LPS is a little better (cleaner sound especially in quiet passages), but I am also suspecting it could be my bias tricking my brain (and ears)...
    Maybe with more resolving chain (I am now using Modi MB DAC and Nitsch Piety amp) it would be a clear winner over stock switching PSU? Maybe it needs burn-in? (I tested it after 1 hour out of its box)
    For $119 shipped - I have no regrets. FiiO PL50 is physically bigger than the stock PSU, but looks cool with its voltage display :D
     
  12. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    Update on Mercury V2 - 11/10/2022
    our assembly house has slipped their delivery date to us by an additional 2 weeks. They are now telling me I will have them in my hands on the 22nd of this month. This is very disappointing, but they explained to me that some of the parts that they received were not in proper packaging and needed to be placed into reels by hand. This was unfortunately necessary because these particular parts were not available in any other way. well this was not a huge issue in and of itself, it caused them to set our project aside until that was taken care of and basically restart of the clock. I had hints of this last week, but did not give you guys update until I had a new delivery date from them.

    The silver lining in all of this is that the cases, the front and rear plates, and all the other pieces parts that we need to finish putting these together are already completed. So we are just waiting on the main board to arrive. We will work as many days and hours as are necessary to ship units to all of you who have been waiting so patiently.
     
  13. That St Kilda Guy

    That St Kilda Guy Acquaintance

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    Thanks for the update, Michael. All good things come to those that wait.
    May I ask what O.S you finally settled on, please?
     
  14. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    We are programming Volumio onto the sd card. Of course, most any other pi os can be used.
     
  15. Metro

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  16. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    BTW, I am thinking I should update the images to the latest of each. All I do is setup the I2S driver to “Hifiberry Digi+ Pro”, then save the image.
     
  17. That St Kilda Guy

    That St Kilda Guy Acquaintance

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    SBAF BrainzTrust
    So I'm thinking of using Ropiee as my OS on my Mercury V2 as it runs Roon. I still have 10 months subscription left and it's $200 per year here in Oz. I'll put aside the supplied Volumio card and format a new one with Ropiee.
    Now I haven't played with Rasperry since the early days of Pi3.
    My Mercury will be hard-wired to my router. Does that mean all I have to do is type in it's I.P address in my browser on my Windows 11 laptop to access it? Or will Roon (on Windows) recognise it?
    It wil be connected to my Bitfrost2/64 via Coax.
     
    Last edited: Nov 14, 2022
  18. Metro

    Metro Friend

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    The IP address in a browser will open RoPieee's setup/configuration pages. RoPieee operates as a Roon endpoint and the Roon core should be able to find it on the local network.

    Have you looked at RoPieee documentation?
    https://ropieee.org/getting_started/
    https://ropieee.codexwilkes.com/downloads/ropieee-installation-guide.pdf
     
  19. That St Kilda Guy

    That St Kilda Guy Acquaintance

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    Thanks, Metro, I didn't notice that forum in the Roon community
     
  20. Aklegal

    Aklegal Friend

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    @Michael Kelly, Any pre-Thanksgiving update? I'm set with a Pi2AES but I have a buddy using a DAP in his main system eagerly awaiting the Mercury.
     

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