The Well-Tempered Computer

An introduction to computer audio

Raspberry Pi & Co

If your smart phone can do things like Internet, video, etc it is because it is a very powerful miniature computer.
Let’s use this platform to build a Music Server.
The most popular is probably the Raspberry Pi.

HATS

A HAT (Hardware Attached on Top) is a card you put on top of a Pi.
It slides onto the 40 pin connector. No soldering needed!.
At boot time the HT is recognized and configured by the Pi.

Raspberry Pi € 33,49

 

Add a 24/192 capable Wolfson DAC € 38,95

Add a box € 24,95

There you have your 100,- music server.

 

 

Allo BOSS I2S DAC V 1.2 $65

 

 

  • BOSS 1.2 is a Master DAC compatible only with RPI 2 and 3
  • Compatible with OSMC / Max2Play / RuneAudio / Volumio / Moode / PiCorePlayer / PiMusicBox / OpenELEC and others + Roon Ready
  • Dedicated 384 kHz/32bit high-quality DAC PCM5122 for best sound quality
  • Audio output connectors: 2 x RCA (Left & Right ) & Allo Volt Amp header
  • HAT size
  • Sampling Frequency ranges from 8 kHz to 384 kHz
  • Ultra-low-noise voltage regulators & LPF for optimal audio performance
  • Integrated EEPROM for automatic configuration (with write-protection)
  • Automatically switching frequencies according to the input I2S signals

 

What kind of performance can we expect for $65?

Amir measured this DAC.

 

 

Not into DIY? At 169,- they put it in a box for you.

BOSS 1.2 PLAYER, NETWORK MUSIC PLAYER $169.00

 

  • A 1.2GHz 64-bit quad-core ARMv8 CPU
  • 802.11n Wireless LAN
  • Bluetooth 4.1
  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
  • 1GB RAM
  • 4 USB ports
  • Ethernet 10/100

DAC

 

SD Card

 

  • 8GB SD pre-flashed or add-on eMMC 16GB
  • DietPi, Max2Play license or latest Volumio image will be provided

Casing

  • Black Aluminum or Clear/Black Acrylic Case
  • Case Dimensions: 105mm x 93mm
Added 2018

 

HiFIBerry

 

SPDIF card with transformer coupled output providing full galvanic isolation. €34.90

 

HIFIBERRY DAC+ PRO XLR €49.90

 

Added 2018

DDDAC 1794 € 209,00

 

NOS DAC (PCM1794)

 

Some believe sound quality improves if you paralleling them.

 

12-deks DDDAC1794 NOS

Added 2018

Dion Audio

Dion Audio

DAC + Class D amp.

 

Added 2016

COLLYBIA – MAMBOBERRY LS DAC+ €89.90

Added 2016

CuBox $ 99

A 2" box running Linux or Android. Runs XBMC.

  • 800 MHz dual issue ARM PJ4 processor, VFPv3, wmmx SIMD and 512KB L2 cache.
  • 1080p Video Decode Engine
  • OpenGL|ES 2.0 graphic engine
  • HDMI 1080p Output (with CEC function)
  • 1GByte DDR3 at 800MHz
  • Gigabit Ethernet, SPDIF (optical audio), eSata 3Gbps, 2xUSB 2.0, micro-SD, micro-USB (console)
  • Standard Infra-red receiver for 38KHz based IR controllers.

If you are not fluent in Linux, you can buy a off the shelve product like the Sonore Orbiter

Added 2016

Allo USBBridge $189

Sparky computer with high quality USB audio out.

 

Added 2017

One DAP (Digital Audio Player) for all your music: MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC, ALAC, DSD and much more. Plus, you’ll get UPNP\DLNA, Airplay, Spotify and Web-Radios all in one place.

 

Open Source media player.

Debian/MPD based with DLNA and Airplay.

Platforms:

Raspberry Pi

BeagleBone Black

SolidRun CuBox

UDOO

Added 2016
References
Raspberry Pi 3 as USB Audio Streamer (with recommended CRAAP config & TIDAL/MQA arrives) - Archimago's Musings

 

© Vincent Kars September 20, 2018