Raspberry Pi2 and Hifiberry Digi+: A cheap transport that made me happier

Couldn't resist. After hearing the difference a good USB -->SPDIF converter makes, I ordered a Pi & Digi+ to see if I get similar gains.

 

I forgot to write that I loaned also the chinese version of the hifiberry which is cheaper (25 euro with isolation transformer on coax), the digiPi
http://www.audiophonics.fr/en/raspberry-pi/audiophonics-digipi-p-9155.html
As soon as one of my best audio friend listened to this setup he bought a secondhand pi2 and and a digipi. The digipi is also good. The most important difference beetween hifiberry digi+ and the digipi was a lack of body in the bass department in the digipi. Maybe the digipi is also a tad less extended in the bottom. Not much but these differences were easy detectable after a 5 song roundup. Nonetheless the sound is comparable. In my setup I preferred the body of the digi+.
Hope this can help.

I totally agree, there's people that just want to push a switch and doesn't want to do nothing else. But all you said above can be achieved by every user with the pi2, except for the warranty of course Plus there's also the poor lazy man option:
http://www.audiophonics.fr/en/appar...-streamer-raspberry-pi-20-spdif-p-10856.html#

The micro rendu concept was an inspiration for me in this setup. I read the thread with the producer on CA but when they finally announced the price (640 usd plus taxes for an ethernet to usb board alone without a psu and without a spdif output) I thought they can keep it for themselves. A little pricey for my taste. I understand the custom os, but it is a customization of an open source OS. I don't wanna be mean with sonore but I expected a smaller price.

As I said above I'm still experimenting and waiting for a lt3042 kit to come. What I recommend for sure is not to use the common smps wallwart. Powerbanks for smartphones were not a big step up but were a tad better. A linear power supply with, say, an ancient lm317 would be the minumum IMHO. Right now I'm listening with a regulated 12v Pb battery.
I'd say something like this is a good cheap start kit for those who don't like to build complicated PSU board, like myself:
http://www.audiophonics.fr/en/linea...aire-regule-double-lt1084-12v-15a-p-8424.html

I'm not affiliated to the shop, but it is a nice shop if you live in the EU and I already bought stuff there. Add a 20\30VA transformer (beetween 7vac and 10vac in the secondary to output 5dc, depends on the chip voltage drop) to a kit like that and you have your poor man LPSU.I'd also like to hear a LT3080 based psu, but I can't find someone to loan it from.
Of course if you know your way with electronic (and I don't) and have bigger budget (again I don't) the sky is your limit.

I agree on all the line. I'm not so fond of the penguin too. I tried it and was not blown away soundwise. I use windows for everything. And I found a macmini superior to several windows notebook. I don't know why. But from memory the rpi2+lpsu (no digi+) is superior to the mac as a transport to stock usb. And even cheaper usb\spdif bridges sound better out of the Pi2 with lpsu. Beware... Rpi2 (and 3 afaik) FROM HIS USB to a usb dac or transport has a problem with high resolution files, since ethernet and usb share the same bus (480mbit\60MB in theory, less in practice). The digi+ being a I2S to spdif transport will allow 24\192 files playback flawlessly.

The whole process is very easy and dumbproof (not your case obviously). Should you need any help I'll be glad to assist you, mate I'm not a linux geek but I managed to set up the pi2 several times with different OS's with no problem.

Please let us know what spdif converter you tried and how the Pi2\digi+ compares to them.

Edit: grammar corrections

 

Will do I tried @Hands' Transient MKII for ~2 weeks. Full writeup of my impressions coming as soon as my workload lightens up.

 

This will sound like a really dumb question, but I see a bunch of DIGI + boards from different manufacturers (or are those just vendors?). Is the Hifiberry Digi+ different from Kuman or SainSamrt?

 

Those you are referring to are the digipi Chinese boards, that I described at the beginning of my previous post as lacking a little body.
The original digi+ is made by hifiberry based in Switzerland.
https://www.hifiberry.com/digiplus/

I believe they are distributed outside of EU.

Edit: https://www.hifiberry.com/about-us/resellers/

 

You can order the Hifiberry ones right from their page or through Amazon in the US.

 

I see. I will go for the HIFIBerry then, but hold off until they have support for the RP3 for Roon, so i was just getting my knowledge up.

 

Would this work ? Or is this just an addon and I need to attach it to the Raspberry Pi unit ?

http://www.pakronics.com.au/products/hifiberry-digi-standard-ss114990510

How do I install Volumio on it ? I understand i need to install it via SDCard ?

Sorry for the newbie questions

 

Interesting that this subject would come up now. I just built one of these last week and I'm blown away by how well this little $100 gizmo performs. I was looking to build a totally self-contained system (with hard drive attached) so I wouldn't need to have a PC or server constantly running and that I could pick up and take with me to a friend's house or to a meet-up.

Hardware I used:
Raspberry Pi3 from element14
Digi+ board from Hifiberry
Black Acrylic case from Hifiberry
5V 2.5A PS from Canakit (via Amazon)
Kingston microSD card from Amazon (I bought the cheapest Class 4 I could find, but Class 10 would boot faster)
Toshiba Canvio Connect II USB-powered HD (2TB via Amazon)
6" USB TypeA to MicroB cable (to stack the RPi3 on top of the HD via Amazon)

Software used: RuneAudio (beta 4 03/21/2016 supports RPi3)

I downloaded the RuneAudio OS image and flashed the microSD card. While waiting for the flashing to complete I assembled the hardware, took about 15 minutes. After the OS image was flashed, I edited the config file to enable the Digi+ board.
Attached the Toshiba HD to my PC and copied my FLAC files to it. When that was done, I attached the HD to the RPi3, loaded the microSD card into the RPi3 and connected the RPi3 to a network switch with a UTP cable. Connected the power cable and waited for it to boot up.
Fired up my browser and accessed the RuneUI interface and proceeded to go thru all the configuration settings (can be accessed and controlled with any smartphone/tablet/PC/laptop).

Notes: 1) currently connected to LAN via embedded WiFi, since the HD is directly attached to RPi3, WiFi is only used to access the UI. 2) I also have my FLAC files available on a router NAS and RuneAudio has no problem seeing/using these files too. 3. thus far no problems powering the HD straight off a USB port.

Chain is: RPi3/RuneAudio -> Coax SPDIF -> Agd DAC-19 -> Cavalli LC -> HFM HE-400i
also: RPi3/RuneAudio -> USB -> Schiit Bifrost 4490 -> Schiit Valhalla OG -> Senn HD600

Totally happy with the build and thinking about doing another for my bedroom stack.

 

Yes, it is only an add-on card for spdif output . You still need a raspberry 2 or 3 to attach it on. Then get a micro SD card and a 5v power supply and you can install volumio following this guide:
https://volumio.org/get-started/

 

Also if some of you is interested in A/V, check out open elec OS, it is based on kodi, and it is a way to make a raspberry a 1080p network media player. Nice interface.

 

I've been itching to build something, and I think this might be it. LPS, RPi3, Hifiberry+ in a little mini ITX case would be really nice for a dedicated listening station.

Am I to assume that it has the potential to sound better than my PC chain because it is basically a single use device? Is the circuitry in the Hifiberry+ up to the standard of even the cheaper standalone USB to Spdif converters? I am perfectly happy with the sound I am getting, but might be in a position to have a dedicated listening station later this year that isn't near my office computer (where I do my listening now). It will probably cost me $200-250 to build the system, which is in the range of some of the cheaper USB to Spdif devices. I have a Win10 tablet that I could use as a source instead.

Also, anyone try Pi2design stuff? Looks like they have a DAC hat that does Spdif out as well.

 

I don't know how your PC it sounds, but in my experience the raspberry setup is better than the typical windows pc followed by a low tier usb\spdif interface. Usb bridges sound better off the raspberry than every notebook\desktop I tried. The hifiberry digi+ out a Pi2 is imo much better better than a gustard u12 out of a PC. I suspect that the gustard out of a raspberry would improve too.
Common opinion on the matter is that a mnimalistic streamer would be better for audio beacause of lesser electrical noise compared to a PC with commercial hardware.
Even if everything in raspberry pi board screams that it is not made for audio purpose (shared usb bus, i2s without masterclock, switching regulators to lower power consumption), I have to agree.
Do the math with your budget and good luck

 

Thanks for this! How is the elec OS performance on a Rasp 3? Interested as I currently run Kodi on a notebook, and this would be much more convenient.

 

I don't know about the Rpi3, I gave it a run on Rpi2 to see how it was and it worked hassle free. I tried a few compressed 1080p video file and then uninstalled, I have only a micro SD card around. I didn't use the digi+ at the time, don't know if it is compatible.

 

I have a RPi3 powered by my HDPlex LPS running RuneAudio as a renderer, outputting USB to my Mutec 3+. This setup does not sound as good to me as my fully tweaked PC running Server R2, Audiophile Optimizer, Fidelizer, and Jplay. Of course for a fraction of the price the RPi comes close. I have a Digi+ transformer version coming hopefully in a week or so. My intention is to use the SPDIF Coaxial output of the Digi+ to my Mutec 3+ as well. I will report back what I hear.

 

Oh man... Thanks for the feedback. Was looking for somebody to tell me how the mutec sounds out of a Rpi and how it compares to a digi+.
How close is the Pi to your pc with the mutec via usb? In what ways is the PC superior?


I heard hdplex lpsu are pretty good. Has your PC any other hardware tweak? (regulators on the mobo, separete psu for ssd, etc...).
Also knowing the hardware config would be nice.

edit - What are you powering the pi with right now?
Edit2 - the hdplex, you said that already, doh!

 

Are you going to run the coax from the Digi+ out to the Mutec for reclocking? Or is there another reason to go coax->Mutec->DAC instead of Digi+->DAC?

 

I was also wondering how these nicely priced units would do against a well tweaked PC or MAC. I've spent years doing little things to improve my Main Mac Mini setup. Not saying there can't be something better, I am sure there are, but I think I am going to have to get someone to bring one over and let me hear it.

Anyone in Denver with a pi and a berry board that would like to do some listening?

 

The music with RPi3 USB out to my Mutec 3+ sounds a bit bloated and the mids are not as full. For me, I prefer a bit of a warmer sound with some weight to the mids as I listen mainly to vocal jazz and folk music, mainly female. Some people would say I am a tube guy. I dont think its a matter of saying how close the RPi3 is to my PC because I think it is but the little bit it is lacking is the difference to me between a nice sounding system and one that engages me and draws me into the music.

My PC acting only as a renderer (I have another PC running Minimserver acting as my server) has the mobo, SSD, and CPU powered by separate rails of the HDPlex. I was about to also add a Paul Pang V4 usb card too but then I decided to see if a RPi3 could sound as good. At least in theory, it makes sense to me to use a lower powered device to act as the renderer since all of the computing is being done on the Server PC.

As for my system, here it is:
8TB NAS >> PC#1 - Server/Control PC >> PC#2 - Audio PC - CAPS Zuma >> Mutec 3+ USB Converter/Reclocker >> Luxman D-06 CDP/DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub

Other components:
Windows Server 2012 Essentials R2 OS
Audiophile Optimizer 1.31
Fidelizer Pro
JPlay 6/JPlaystreamer
Minimserver UPnP Server
BubbleUPnP Control Point
PS Audio P3 AC regenerator
HDPlex 300W ATX Linear PSU
Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable
Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords
Tara Labs The One speaker cables
Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC
Oyaide R1 outlets
Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers
Hi-Fi Tuning fuses
Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments