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. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    PI2AES consumes less than 1W. The PI4 can consume up to 8-10W depending upon the software. Add on any USB peripherals and 20W is a pretty safe minimum.
     
  2. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    BTW, this is true of the Pi2aes 2.0 except that it runs at 5 V instead of 24 V.
     
  3. KenAR

    KenAR Acquaintance

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    Thank you for the clarification, so if I use one of the USB outs to connect to a DAC, that would automatically bump the watt to 20w?
     
  4. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    It
    depends on how much power the dac draws. The extra power is not from just using usb. It’s from whatever power the usb draws from the port.
     
  5. KenAR

    KenAR Acquaintance

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    I have no idea how to figure that out, it’s going to a Chord M-scaler which is self-powered. I do know for it galvanic isolation to be effective the USB cable requires the 5v portion to be present.
    Appreciate your responses Michael, thank you.
     
  6. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    PI2AES 2.0 Update

    The first batch of units were received this morning and are undergoing initial inspection and test. Current orders will ship starting Friday and may take a couple of days to get through them all. New orders placed after Friday will ship within one week of ordering.
     
  7. RenEH

    RenEH Acquaintance

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    I assembled my pi2aes 2.0 this morning, and I'd like to give some none sound impressions. I’m getting older and grumpier so take this as you will.

    1) First off, it shipped very quickly. Shipped May 5th and arrived May 9th. For those up north, I paid $33.79 in shipping/brokerage. UPS was the method of delivery.

    2) Packaging was pretty good with a lot of packing peanuts.

    3) I hate the brown stickers attached to all the acrylic side panels. I can appreciate that it could protect them during shipping and removing them before shipping out could increase costs, but I still hate removing them.

    [​IMG]

    4) What the heck still no assembly instructions included! It is still fairly trivial to figure out how to put it together, but issue 5 and 6 aggravate assembly issues.

    5) The 40 pin connector does not insert all the way in on the pi 4. As this a version 2, it would have been nice if it included
    some kind of spacer or somehow the spacing sat tightly.

    [​IMG]

    6) A ground pin on my BNC connector touches the shield of the USB 2.0 connector on the pi 4. I don't know if this is by design, as the online build instructions do not specifically state that it should. I downloaded the official manual, but it does not specify if this should be grounded. Spacing in the diagrams of the manual appears to indicate this should not be shorted.

    [​IMG]

    7) Gold coax connector is a cool upgrade from the original pi2aes.

    8) I made a request for a black acrylic case to match my original pi2aes in the order comments. If this was not possible, a quick e-mail confirming to go ahead with the order before shipping the item would have been nice.

    I’m being more nitpicky here as this a version 2.0, and the price has gone up. I paid $204 USD + $20.19 USD shipping via USPS, for the pi2aes, OG Meanwell PSU and black acrylic case in 2021. This time around, I paid $299 USD + $39.53 USD shipping via UPS for the pi2aes 2.0, acrylic case and no PSU, which is a lot of money for many here. I can appreciate the reality of inflation, but I would have liked to have seen a bigger improvement over the version 1.0 in a few aspects noted above. With that said, if it sounds good a lot of the issues can be overlooked, but many of them could have been avoided for minimal cost.

    If sound impressions of the pi2aes with its original meanwell 24V PSU versus the Pi2AES 2.0 with some cheap apple wall adapters are wanted, I can give some impressions on the weekend.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2023
  8. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    First, let me say thank you for the excellent feedback. For each point I wilt try to respond intelligently!

    1 and 2. OK, say that's good!
    3. I hate peeling paper too, but it really is unavoidable.
    4. My bad, There is a link to the instructions on the old PI2AES page, I will now move it to the PI2AES 2.0 page.
    5. That gap has no bearing on performance or reliability. The pins make solid contact and will not be an issue.
    6. That is not a ground pin. It is a soldered down pin, but has no electrical function, only mechanical.
    7. Yeah!
    8. A black case was never offered, but I am sorry I did not tell you this directly.

    As for the price, it is based on recouping development time and cost, perceived and/or actual value, market competition and the need to maintain the business for a niche, low volume product. There are many choices at a wide range of prices. I truly believe that the PI2AES 2.0 will bring a higher level of enjoyment and clarity to your music listening. I do hope you do not regret your decision.

    [edit] we did copy the link to @purr1n getting started guide which includes the case assembly.
     
  9. RenEH

    RenEH Acquaintance

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    Thank you for addressing everything professionally :)
     
  10. George Hincapie

    George Hincapie New

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  11. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    The pinout is documented in the PI2AES 2.0 HW Reference Manual on our web site.
     
  12. George Hincapie

    George Hincapie New

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    So the correct answer is no.

    I'll see if Audial can make a cable.
     
  13. Orange5o

    Orange5o New

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    Good morning, any reason not to use a Pi 3 B+ 1 gb model due to availability? I have a 3 and a 4, and can put either one into this new 2.0 or my Lite in my other setup.
     
  14. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    The audio players (volumio. moode, etc) require very little in resources, either memory or processing power. The biggest benefit to the 4 is it has USB3 and full Gigabit Ethernet. WiFi might be faster as well but I am not too sure.
     
  15. RenEH

    RenEH Acquaintance

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    Could you get away with using a switching supply for the Pi and a linear supply for the pi2aes 2.0?
     
  16. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    That would work. Just remember that the pi2aes has to power up before the pi.
     
  17. Orange5o

    Orange5o New

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    Having trouble using the new Ropieeexl software. I have a mercury and a lite running same hat settings, both show in Roon Bridge under About but in the new xl software on the Lite it does not show as a device or endpoint in the Settings-Audio section. Anyone else using XL?
     
  18. Michael Kelly

    Michael Kelly MOT: Pi 2 Design

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    if you downloaded a new image or did an update, you need to make sure the card setting remained “Hifiberry Digi+ pro”
     
  19. Orange5o

    Orange5o New

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    It is set to that hat, yes
     
  20. Orange5o

    Orange5o New

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    Resolved by refitting the unit back in, sometimes with the light you have to play with the connection since there will be gaps on both sides of the pins.

    Regarding the 2.0 and powering the AES first, when I do this the light on the Raspberry Pi comes on before I even plug the power into that. How do I know that my Allo Shanti is powering each separately when I plug the Pi in? Thanks!
     

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