I’m immensely happy to announce that Volumio is finally out. You may have heard that a porting of RaspyFi was under development, and finally here it is .

Why Volumio?

In the end, who talks you is Italian. So, wanted an italian name to describe the new creation. Volumio literally means  ”My Volume” , to emphasize it’s main goal : be YOUR music player. Be what YOU want for enjoying your music library.

So, let’s see what Volumio brings us:

MULTIPLATFORM:

Volumio is compatible with the most interesting embedded devices out there: UDOO, CuBox and Beaglebone Black (and PI, of course). The Pi was an exciting hardware to start tinkering, but in the end there were lots of devices out there. And let me tell you, when you’re going to try one of them, you’ll be staggered by their performance. Both in terms of speed and sound quality.
So, not only it works smoother, but you can now have S/PDIF, I2S or Coaxial native output!
See here for Volumio supported devices, and spec comparisons.

I2S DAC SUPPORT ON RASPBERRY PI

Oh yes, Volumio features i2s Dac Support. A features I always wanted to implement since RaspyFi saw the light. Just a tick of a button and i2s driver is enabled. The best part? That there are 2 shiny and brand new i2s DAC avaiable to use with Volumio. You’ll see a complete review on Volumio.org soon.

MULTIROOM SOUND

Yes sirs. Thanks to the shiny and  brand new  Sound@home Android App, Volumio can stream its subtle airwaves to multiple Volumio devices. Isn’t this amazing? Thanks to Diego Tafuto who developed this fantastic app. Again, you’ll better find out this functionality in the next few days on Volumio.org

MANY ISSUES ADDRESSED:

Thanks to your precious feedbacks Volumio is more stable than RaspyFi and works better. It’s webui has been improved and lot of early bugs were addressed. You can also have NFS Network shares support. As well as various under-the-hood improvements.
Thanks to latest Raspberry PI kernels, I’m really happy to announce that Raspberry (with Volumio) can now easily play in bit perfect mode up to 24/192khrtz. Even with Aysnc DACs, and without glitches!
So, all the credentials to become your favourite audiophile music player!

So, what are you waiting for? Jump to Volumio download page and grab it while is still hot!

If you just appreciate that, take a moment also to tell the World that Volumio has arrived !

FEATURES:

-Ready to play: flash it and you’re ready
-Audiophile Quality: bit perfect playback
-FLAC, WAV, MP3, AAC, ALAC, PLS support
-Music libraries on Samba, NFS and USB drives
-Webradios support out of the box
-Control it via integrated Webui with PC, Smartphone, Tablet
-Airplay capability
-Ramplay Support
-DSD Native Playback
-Multiroom Playback via Android App
-Output playback device Selection
-Audio out via HDMI, USB, Analog Jack, S/PDIF, I2S (depends on platform)
-Compatible with all UAC2 compliant USB DACs
-Wireless Network configuration
-Various resampling options, up to 32bit/384khrtz

See you on Volumio.org then!

L'articolo Volumio, your new favourite Audiophile Music Player is out! sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

it has been a long long time since the new version of RaspyFi has been promised… But here we are finally ! You’re favourite audiophile linux distribution is here!

It took so long for various reasons, all of them will be explained later on. But let’s start with the amazing features you’re gonna find on RaspyFi!

-Various fixes, such as nas parameters optimized, more stability and less sound glitches (even with async DACs with Hi-Res files)

-A fully functional web-user interface . Here goes a huge applause to ACX and ORION, which joyned RaspyFi and developed this amazing  WEBUI.

Here it is:

To access it, simply write http://raspyfi/ on your browser. From here you can browse your music library, control the playback and playlist, and configure RaspyFi in the most  user-friendly way we could think on. It works natively on every platform, Android, Mac, Linux, iOS. No need to install anything, just make sure you’re connected to the same network as RaspyFi, point to raspyfi.local/ on your browser and you’re good to go! Or just write the IP of RaspyFi on your browser. Audiophile linux has never been so easy!

Want to know how it works? There’s also an help section, take it as a little User manual…

-AirPlay support built out of the Box, just select it as airplay device. Easy as it sounds. You can use RaspyFi as a remote speaker for your PC, iPhone, iPad or Android Device. Remember to stop local playback before starting Airplay playback!

-WebRadio Support built on the WEBUI, with some selected Radios already built in. Want to add a WebRadio? Easy! Just go on Network, you’ll find the RaspyFi share. Go to the WebRadio folder and paste your .pls or .m3u  radio playlist there! To have a .m3u or .pls radio station file, simply open a blank document, paste the webradio url and save it with .pls extension.

-AAC and ALAC support

-More optimizations to the OS.

-Experimental RamPlay capability. Just copy your files (max 256mb total) on the Ramplay samba share, browse to ramplay on the webui, click update this folder, browse it and play it!

Then, there’s a big news for you all. As you may imagine, RaspyFi Team has increased. During the development process of the 1.0 Version, new people have joined the Team. So what you get here is a combined effort of 4 people. ACX and ORION put their skills in developing the amazing WEBUI and further optimizing the system, plus enriching the whole dev experience with their human and professionals qualities. Then we got Buscia, a close friend of mine which can do amazing things while designing which made the brand new RaspyFi logo and gave us some hints on the ergonomic side of things.

So, here it is guys. Hope you will enjoy RaspyFi  as much as we did creating it!

DOWNLOAD 

SSH Credentials

user: pi

password: raspberry

ROOT ACCESS

user: root

password: root

UPDATE

We’ve got a lot of feedbacks of RaspyFi 1.0 not booting on some Raspberry Pis. These are new Raspberries with the Hynix RAM. RaspyFi was developed on an older model. So for those of you with a non-booting Pi, here’s the Fix (huge thanks to blueberry who found this)

• Download this files: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B6GMsyByGsfdQXVXeV9tdk1lejg/edit
• Insert your SD Card in your Card Reader, and open the first partition (the only one you can see in Windows)
• Replace start.elf , start_cd.elf  and start_x.elf with the ones you previously downloaded
• If you can’t replace them, open “my computer” as administrator

Then, plug again your SD and enjoy RaspyFi! For more information, and reports about this procedure, please refer here:

http://www.raspyfi.com/forum/raspyfi-install-and-troubleshooting/raspyfi-wont-boot/

We are also receiving lots of feedbacks about what is working and what is not. We are working hard to address all this issues, so you can expect a new fixed release shortly (I hope). I must say these days we are facing lot of things to do, thanks also to the huge amount of incoming  traffic on RaspyFi.com . That makes us really proud, and we want to thank you all, who are enjoying RaspyFi and are spreading the word. We are doing our best to address the issues and reply to everyone, as you deserve. Please continue providing us with precious feedbacks, this is helping us a lot!
(Semi) Proper changelog

-MP3, FLAC, WAV, AAC ALAC support

-USB AUTOMOUNT (NTFS, FAT32)
-Webui for configuration and playback
-WebServer for CoverArt Delivery
-bit perfect mode with sync, adaptive and async DACS
-Better NAS compatibility and mounting wizard
-Airplay/Airport playback capability
-Webradio playback capability via GUI
-Logging Disabled (less space wasted and sd card lifespan improved)
-Beets for managing library
-Most of Wi-Fi dongles compatible out of the Box
-Wi-fi network configuration via web-gui
-Samba folder for WebRadio and Ramplay
-Ramplay capability
-Less processes active
-Easy discovery on the network thanks to Avahi/bonjour/Samba

WEBUI FEATURES

-Browsing local library and Webradio
-Nas mount points configuration
-MPD configuration
-Static network configuration
-Wireless network configuration
-CM6631 FIX option
-Various kernel profile to be selected
-Reboot, poweroff and updatedb funcions
-Internal user manual

L'articolo RaspyFi 1.0 audiophile linux is out! sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

So that’s why I’m stressing this a lot. Most of the times, malfunctions of the pi are to be tied with a bad PSU. A proper Raspberry Pi Power Supply must be rated (and comply to ratings…) at 5v ( and real world output should be between 4,75 Vdc and 5,25 Vdc) and at least 1 A (if you plan to connect other devices to your Pi).

I tested different PSUs and these were my results:

These are the PSUs I took for comparison. From left to right: a Sony Xperia mobile charger, 2 cheap chinese Psus and a 1A usb Hub PSU.

Without digging into technical details, I can tell you that best results came with the Xperia Mobile Phone charger. Using the third PSU repeatedly corrupted my SD, while the other 2 were ok but sometimes I heard some pop noises from the loudspeakers. So, choosing the best Raspberry Pi Power supply could seem like a random choice, if you’re luck you’ll get one suitable, if don’t you just buy another one and so on. But we don’t want to just pick a random choice, don’t we?
OK, time to get a better Raspberry Pi PSU, the right way.

If you feel like If you want something done right, do it yourself, there are only  2 options for you, mate. Diy or full Diy.

Or this, which I would like to but I fear it might result in an extremely poor WAF, (even if I’m not married…)  :

Full DIY Approach

What we do need here is something that is worth the pain of looking for the components, buying them, solder them on a breadboard and put it in a box. If you are the kind of guy who likes all of this stuff, well, this is for you.

The core of a good PSU is it’s regulator. So, for newbies:

In electronics, a linear regulator is a system used to maintain a steady voltage. The resistance of the regulator varies in accordance with the load resulting in a constant output voltage. The regulating device is made to act like a variable resistor, continuously adjusting a voltage divider network to maintain a constant output voltage, and continually dissipating the difference between the input and regulated voltages as waste heat. By contrast, a switching regulator uses an active device that switches on and off to maintain an average value of output. Because the regulated voltage of a linear regulator must always be lower than input voltage, efficiency is limited and the input voltage must be high enough to always allow the active device to drop some voltage.

Linear regulators may place the regulating device between the source and the regulated load ( a series regulator), or may place the regulating device in parallel with the load (shunt regulator). Simple linear regulators may only contain a Zener diode and a series resistor; more complicated regulators include separate stages of voltage reference, error amplifier and power pass element. Because a linear voltage regulator is a common element of many devices, integrated circuit regulators are very common; linear regulators may also be made up of assemblies of discrete solid-state or vacuum tube components.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_regulator

 

What I used for my custom PSU is a relatively new devices, which is rated by audiophiles to achieve similar measures to a battery, amazing. Isn’t it? I’m talking of the LT3080. What we’re gonna do is basically find a suitable transformer to get an AC voltage of, let’s say, 12 volts. Then, use a single resistor or a trimmer to set the desired output voltage. It took me some hours to get it finished, but I’m pretty pleased with the result. Here is the application diagram:

This is how I built mine:

From the top. Notice that is very compact in size, and doesn’t need any heatsink.

Bottom view, pretty simple layout…

Testing it. On an incredibly tidy desktop.

Boxed, the final size is about the same as the Pi. Nice work indeed.

This PSU will cost you around 30 euro plus some labor hour. As I said before, this is quite a good result, and I had lot of fun doing it. But, if I would have knew… I’ve choosen the next method… You’ll see why. In the end, as I told you, I do want the best raspberry Pi power supply available…

The sunday Diyer option

Lately I found several chinese ebay stores, and with them came my personal gizmo heaven. Not my pocket’s one. I found a perfect solution for powering a raspberry Pi, a DAC, a transport and even an hard drive, if you need it. This is the optimal solution, since you get 4 different voltages, to power up 4 different devices. Here, you can really squeeze out all the quality of your little Pi, powered with RaspyFi obviously… What are we talkin about?

Here it is, in a tiny board we have 4 ultra low ripple TPS7A4700 voltage regulators. Which has pretty impressive specs. You can choose to have 5 Vdc or 3,3 DC. So you can directly feed your Dac or your transport.  Add to this 2 2×6 10vA power transformers or find 2 in your house… these listed are just enogh with 800 Ma, if you wish to have confortable amount of current just go with 2 toroids. Then box it, with your Pi, your dac and everything you want. I can say my personal quest for the best raspberry pi power supply has finally come to an end…
I just ordered this, I think it will beat all these fancy USB PSUs sold for 200 euros… iUSB reminds you something?

This is the link where you can buy this amazing PSU. I ordered mine today, and sincererly can’t wait till it comes. I know in the end it doesn’t come cheap, I guess it will cost more than 100 euro when finished. But I’m not gonna worry no more about the quality of my PSU. In the end, I’m having 4 different PSU’s of exceptional quality.  And I think I’ll get lot of audible benefits… I will use it to power up my Pi, my XMOS2 + SABRE 9023 DAC  (the DAC and XMOS will have different power rails… bye bye USB crappy DC). And I’ll have one remaining hi-quality 5v rail. I could use it for an headphone amp, for example. All in the same box. Guess this is the final piece of my Reference Audio Server, powered by RaspyFi. Guess this could put into shame hi-end devices…

And you, guys? What is your idea for the best raspberry Pi power supply?

L'articolo The best Raspberry Pi power supply sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

So, these ones could be the right USB DAC for your Raspberry Pi

Budget Conscious

Hifimediy Sabre USB DAC 2

This is a dac closely resembling Nwavguy’s ODAC. You should however not expect the same build quality and attention to details. But this has an advantage over it’s famous competitor: it can eventually be fed with an external psu (external PSU will improve dramatically audio quality, not relying on Pi’s polluted DC, and releaving you from buying a good psu for the pi itself). Furthermore it can output Spdif signal via coax, you can use it as a cheap transport. My friends at Tforum report that it’s capable of driving low-impedance headphones, altough a custom headphones amp is commonly suggested.

PROS:
-Cheap                                                                                       NO LONGER AVAILABLE ON EBAY
-Can directly drive headphones
-Spdif Out

Bang for the buck

Schiit Modi DAC

This is the latest dac from the guys from Schiit. For less than 100 bucks you get an async usb receiver (the highly regarded CM6331A) paired with the legendary AK 4396. For sure a really hard to beat combo for that price. This DAC sounds really really good, and it’s design just increases its appeal. RaspyFi is being developed while listening to this dac. Is this enough for you?

PROS:
-Async Receiver
-Features one of audiophile’s favourite DAC
-Excellent performance/price ratio
-Elegant design                                                               Get it on Schiit’s Store

I also reccommend to read the (italian) review by stereo-head.it , is well worth it!

NwAvGuy’s ODAC

Take it as a statement. This DAC set lots of controversies since the beginning of it’s development by the heretical designer NwAvGuy. The ODAC was designed to prove that engineering a really transparent musical device required a careful trial and error approach, debunking some audiophiles myths. It was built to have outstanding measurable specs. I bought it as soon as it came out, fascinated by the phylosofical meaning it had. You know, I’m quite pragmatic and I don’t like the “esoteric” fuzz most designer use to develop their produtcts. This DAC, when it came out, outperformed most highly regarded dac as of S/N ratio, db range and so on. Just math, only objective evaluations (that’s where the name comes, O stands for objective). Well, I love it. But honesltly I have to admit that nowadays you can have something better in that price range, especially with Diy. I dropped it in favour of my Diy XMOS2 + Sabre Dac

PROS:

-It’s engineering is carefully documented
-Sounds really neutral and detailed               Get it on Epiphany Acoustics or HeadnHifi

If you’re in headphones mood, then you should definetely consider also the Nwavguy’s combo of ODAC + H2.  Again, this device came trough a pedissequal engineering process, aiming to obtain verifiable transparent performances. If you wish to know more about this, well here are your answers. I did not listened to it, but if I should put on an headphone system, this will be my device of choice.

PROS:

-It’s engineering is carefully documented
-A complete USB to Headphone device            Get it on Epiphany Acoustics
-The combo will sound theoretically better than separate devices

XMOS ES9023 Asynchronous DAC Decoder USB to Optical Coaxial 384K 32Bit Weiliang

This device seems really interesting, and not only thanks to the longest name ever seen on Ebay. What you get here is a boxed unit featuring the ESS 9023 DAC (my favourite so far, until I’ll listen to 9018), paired with an XMOS2 receiver. You also get otpical and coaxial S/PDIF out. I cannot imagine something more flexible out there. So, on paper this seems really promising. Please don’t take this as a blind endorsement, I didn’t listen to it so cannot pronounce about it’s sonic qualities. Just saying we have a potential bang for the buck champion.

PROS:
-XMOS2 async receiver
-Features one of audiophile’s favourite DAC
-Already boxed and finished
-Analog JACK, SPDIF out (optical and coaxial)
-Really flexible device
-Can be fed with an external PSU (definetely suggested)

Usb to Spdif

Hiface Two

If you need to get Spdif out out of Raspberry Pi, or any other device relying on USB  just buy it. There’s not much to say on the Hiface Two. It’s a status symbol, the guys at M2Tech did an excellent job. This features an XMOS receiver that will go as high as 24/192. It’ compatible out of the box with RaspyFi and all other Linux distros. Of course it works as well with Pcs and Mac.

PROS:
-Async  USB Transport
-Compatible with RaspyFi out of the box                 Get it on ebay or amazon

XMOS 192kHz high-quality USB to SPDIF

This could be a solid and cheaper alternative to the Hiface II, the module is exactly the same found on my XMOS2 to i2s receiver, which I strongly recommend. With this you get spdif out, in a nice box… Maybe gold could not be your favourite colour, but I mean… This is definetely worth!

PROS:
-Async  USB Transport
-Compatible with RaspyFi out of the box       Get it on 

-Boxed and ready to play
-Cheaper than an Hiface Two

Diy

DAC SABRE 9023 + XMOS2

I may be biased. But guys, this is definetely the best combo you can have for the 100 euros pricetag. This DAC is well known, and its sound is recognized to be one of the best nowadays. This guys makes excellent products and this DAC is a masterpiece. It’s so tiny but it features a ultra low noise regulator and the semiconductors are carefully selected. In few words, it sounds amazingly good. I DEFINETELY suggest you to visit it’s store, if you’re a diyer looking for hi quality stuff, this is the place
I paired with an USB XMOS2 receiver. This features a full thesycon windows driver, and it’s compatible of course with Linux (RaspyFi as well). This can go as high as 384khrz!!! If you wish to feed it with a custom PSU, instead of USB’s DC, you can. You can also change some resistor to match your dac’s impedance… What do you want more? I sugest also to visit it’s store…

I’ll cover the building of this DAC, you can find my preliminary thoughts here

PROS:
-Sounds amazing, for less than 100 euros
-Highly customizable
-GET IT!
Buy on ebay:

UPDATE

As an alternative, you can also try this DAC

I received mine few days ago, so haven’t tried it yet. So I cannot say anything on this DAC, only that is compatible with the i2s transport listed above

DAC Mini AK4396

If you want to try a diy AK4396, which is an highly regarded piece of silicon, just go with this DAC. It has an high reputation on DiyAudio and amongst other audiophiles circles. Furthermore, you can decide where to push its performance. A respected user of Tforum and DiyAudio published a BOM that will raise its performance a lot. You can find all info here.
If you wish, you can also connect it directly via i2s to the  XMOS2 USB TO I2S following this guide .

PROS:

-A custom solution, in every aspect                  Get it on ebay

UPDATE :

I’m currently building another step up of my Reference DAC. It sits on a completely different level from the ones you have seen before on RaspyFi, in terms of performance, build complexity and pricetag. But on paper, it seems that I’m gonna end up with something truly impressive. It will feature :

• The top end ESS SABRE 9018, in a 7.1 configuration (yeah, I really meant 7.1)
• XMOS2 USB Input via i2s
• Optical and coaxial input
• Both balanced and unbalanced analog out
• Separate and improved clock

The Recipe is :

• A custom 4x8vac 1A PSU custom built from Audiophonics.fr

So, on paper, this DAC could be an ending point for every audiophile around. But its building is something really challenging, so please start this adventure only if you are an experienced DIYer. I’m going to document the building of this DAC in a future article, since it really deserves a careful and comprehensive explanation. I looked out for months to find the best recipe for me, this is what I ended up with. So again, if you want something really over the top this is what you’re looking for, mind that it’s gonna need quite some time and expertise to be built.

Medium Price DACS

(Please note: I don’t own any of these DACS, but if I would spend some more to have one, I’ll have one of these)

Audioquest DragonFly

This is one of the most interesting DAC available today, an async USB DAC as compact and as good sounding is difficult to find, you’ll read about the only contender later on…
I suggest you to read this article by John Atkinson, which can describe this DAC way more better I could ever do.

PROS:
-Confortable with it’s tiny dimensions
-Excellent measurable performances
-Can directly drive Headphones

Get it on ebay or Amazon

Musical Fidelity V-DAC II

I’ve dreamt a lot about owning this DAC. If you need to be flexible, for example using a cd player with coax output, a blu ray with a optical output and RaspyFi with USB input, this could be your DAC. The USB receiver is not the best one available (Ok let’s say that people is not so enthusiast about it), but you can always use a Hiface Two to improve USB performance.
So, if you need lot of flexibility and a good sounding DAC. This is your choice.

PROS:
-Features lot of connections (USB, Coax Spdif, Optical Spdif)
-Regarded as very natural and relaxed
                                                      Get it on ebay or Amazon

Micromega MyDac

A respected diyer regards this DAC as the best you can get under 1000 euros. I must confess that I desire it a lot, and  if everything goes well I’ll buy this in few time (birthday…) . This DAC has all the flexibility you can have with the V-DAC II, but it features an async usb receiver (XMOS) . So you can reasonably espect an higher quality out of it if USB is your source of choice. Plese note that the price tag of the MyDac is higher than the one of the VDAC II. But if you can go that extra mile, go with this. All I know of this DAC comes through reviews, and my friends spoke to me about the MyDac with enthusiastic words. The implementation seems very good on paper. Please note that Micromega has built its reputation through the years with excellent products, especially with cd players. So you should go confortable with this firm.
I want it.

PROS:
-Features lot of connections (USB, Coax Spdif, Optical Spdif)
-XMOS async receiver
-Enthusiastic reviews on web                                           Get it on ebay or Amazon

Hiface DAC

The guys at M2Tech just released this DAC. I consider this as a contender for the Dragonfly DAC. Because of it’s tiny dimentions. On paper this little device has excellent capabilities: 384kHz/32bit, async transfer (based on XMOS as Hiface Two) and can drive medium to high impedance headphones. I don’t know which DAC chip it relies on, but sure we’ll find out when a friend of mine will end his review.
The only concern is that it needs at least 500 mA at 5v to work properly, so no direct connection with the Raspberry Pi. But we can always use an additional psu. See later to find out.

Check also this excellent review (in Italian)

PROS:

-Tiny Dimentions
-XMOS async receiver
-Can directly drive headphones
                                                    Get it on ebay or Amazon

SOMETHING TO IMPROVE YOUR USB DAC 

I found a pretty valid comment from Klinkt Beter (one of the best contributors here on RaspyFi) stating that he could improve his system overall performance connecting his dac to the  iFI iUSB psu:

Here’s what he said:

tried many things:

1. soundlogic XT 5600mAh battery pack with micro usb cable to pi
2. Tentlabs tube heater supply calibrated to 5V direct on the 5V GPIO headers (which claims to have very low noise and is powered by a lineair supply using a real transformer)
3. usb power output of the iFI iUSB power supply using a cheap 1 euro micro usb cable to the pi.

The iFi wins on all levels as it also directly powers your usb dac and ignores the usb power from the pi on the USB outputs, only passes the signal through.

The iUSB has a second USB output which can be used to power the pi, or to use iFI’s special cable that combines two USB host connectors and on the other end one printer style USB connector to have even more power to your dac.

The Tentlabs heater supply has slightly better transients and more bass, but sounds more aggressive to my ears. The iFI is lighter and more spacier, which is what I prefer.

Wiring scheme:

Power output of iFI iUSB -> PI micro usb input
USB output of Pi -> USB input of iFI iUSB
iFI iUSB usb+power output -> dac

Basically, what this device does is replace the crappy usb dc with a stabilized one, they report their psu to achieve a 0,1 uV noise factor, that is (if verified) pretty remarkable. You can find out more at http://www.ifi-audio.com/en/iUSB.html

I want to test it out, I’ll report my results as well.

Any suggestions?

You can also give a look at RaspyFi’s DAC compatbility list

L'articolo The right USB DAC for your Raspberry Pi sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

But today the postman knocked on my door. And nothing is gonna be like yesterday (maybe exaggerating lol).

He got me an xmos usb receiver I ordered from China some time ago. It features a brand new xmos receiver, a damn efficient oscillator and some pretty  coupling capacitors.

Incidently I also have an i2s dac lying around. Well, I thought, I can connect em just to see if it works, then I’m gonna back to work. So, connected 12 v dc to the dac (from a stabilized linear psu) I got lying around, connected via i2s, connected via RCA to my hybrid pre… And then… Magic happened.

This combo sounds astonishingly good! What a detail, what a prat, what a soundstage! It even makes me look more handsome!

So I am so happy I wanted to share briefly this with you. This combination sounds really awesome.

Guess you want the recipe, don’t you?

1- Get RaspyFi, if you didn’t, and flash the 1.0 beta

2- Get this

These are the specs:

● ES9023 DAC Chip
● 0.1% Low Noise Thin Film Resistors at Signal Pass and Regulator Circuit
● Low ESR Tantalum Capacitor
● High Quality SMD Film Capacitor
● WIMA FKP2 Capacitor for Output Filter
● Ultra Low Noise Regulator Circuit
- Noise: 8nV√Hz @1KHz
- PSRR : 106dB
● Gold Plated PCB
● Size: 71 x 24(W x D:mm)

<Specificatron>
● I2S Input(MCLK, DATA, LRCK, BCK, GND)
● Dynamic Range : 112dB
● Output Level : 2.0V RMS
● THD + NOISE : 0.002%
● Resolution/Sampling Rate : Up to 24bit/192KHz
● DC Offset : <4mV
● Supply : Regulated or Unregulated 6~20Vdc/31mA

And trust me guys, it’s well worth it. And it costs less than 40 euros!!!! A sabre dac! It is compatible out of the box with linux (RaspyFi of course) and mac. And it comes with a very feature-rich driver for Win.

UPDATE

You can also have this DAC, as an alternative:

I received mine few days ago, so haven’t tried it yet. So I cannot say anything on this DAC, only that is compatible with the i2s transport listed above

Then,

-Get this

Here the specs, again:

XMOS 384kHz high-quality USB to I2S PCB with ultralow noise 6.5uV regulator

This is the best USB to I2S PCB for audiophile Diyer to enjoy.

Feature:

1) Newest XMOS chip and uses 48MHz oscillator to asynchronous reclock usb audio data to I2S line, old XMOS uses only 13Mhz oscillator, over 4x better jitter rejection theoretically.

2) 6.5uVrms Ultralow noise linear power regulator (use of decade old LM317/1117 regulator is kidding for audiophile)

3) Solid ground plane (a must for high speed digital circuit)

4) No Via in active circuit (via inductance always create jitter problem)

5) FOX ultra low ppm oscillator and Murata capacitor sourced from Digikey USA (guarantee no fake product from China)

6) Gold plate USB connector (Molex, FCI, or other depends on stock)

7) Compact size 50mm x 30mm

8) PCB is USB powered(default). Diyer expert can remove FB1 and use 5V external power connect to CN1(warning: over-voltage or reverse-voltage can damage the xmos chip immediately, any modification void item warranty)

9) Extreme diyer can cut and install series resistor in the pre-allocated 0805 footprint space in the I2S line to match their DAC line impedance

No drivers needed for MAC OS version 10.6.4  and above
No drivers installation required for Linux with UAC2 compliant kernel
ASIO/KS/WASAPI/Direct Sound drivers for Windows XP to 8 (32 and 64 bit)
Fully featured Thesycon driver package (without 30 min. periodic beeps)

UPDATE :

I’m currently building another step up of my Reference DAC. It sits on a completely different level from the ones you have seen before on RaspyFi, in terms of performance, build complexity and pricetag. But on paper, it seems that I’m gonna end up with something truly impressive. It will feature :

• The top end ESS SABRE 9018, in a 7.1 configuration (yeah, I really meant 7.1)
• XMOS2 USB Input via i2s
• Optical and coaxial input
• Both balanced and unbalanced analog out
• Separate and improved clock

The Recipe is :

• A custom 4x8vac 1A PSU custom built from Audiophonics.fr

So, on paper, this DAC could be an ending point for every audiophile around. But its building is something really challenging, so please start this adventure only if you are an experienced DIYer. I’m going to document the building of this DAC in a future article, since it really deserves a careful and comprehensive explanation. I looked out for months to find the best recipe for me, this is what I ended up with. So again, if you want something really over the top this is what you’re looking for, mind that it’s gonna need quite some time and expertise to be built.

So, what?

This combination, xmos2 usb receiver + i2s dac sabre 9023 connected via i2s is the best dac I had so far. And it’s something really bang for the buck, as chuck norris could say, if you think that it costs only around 90 euros! You only have to find a good case and a good psu.

This is how it is sounding today, and if I think that the i2s connection wire is 10 cm long, I’m even happier. I will cut them ending with a 2 cm wire, feed it with 2 separate shunts (the receiver can be fed with it’s own psu, isolating it from usb’s crappy dc). And then heaven…
Connecting them is extremely easy as well, even my gf could do it…

Guys, once again, trust me. You’re gonna build a killer music player for less than 150 euros. RaspyFi + Xmos2 + Sabre9023 and your hi-end friends are gonna be sooo sad when listening to what you have for that!!!!

I’ll keep you updated with the building of my reference dac, and review it more deeply. Now is only to share the joy! You’ll gonna thank me!

L'articolo Building my reference dac (xmos2 to i2s dac sabre 9023) sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

All the info you need here!
http://www.raspyfi.com/forum/giveaways-news-thoughts-from-raspyfi/raspyfi-1-0-in-beta-test/

Thank you and enjoy!!!

L'articolo RaspyFi 1.0 in Beta Test sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

finally usb audio problems affecting the Pi, have been solved! For those of you seeking a Raspberry Pi Usb Audio fix, you’re in the right place!  I was compulsively lurking this thread hoping that the foundation would eventually find a fix for the usb issue. What was it?

Well, to make it simple, when the usb bus of the pi was receiving lot of i\o requests, it cannot satisfy them all, and as a result part of the data travelling trough usb was lost. So, while communicating with a usb dac , if the file being played was more than 44/16 the usb bus was overwhelmed and some parts of the data (packets, jargon comes in finally) was lost. If you google for packet loss, you can figure out what was happening.

I’ve been investigating a lot on the matter, hoping to find a Raspberry Pi usb audio fix , tried almost everything. But this was in the hands of the foundation, since there is no extensive documentation available.

Finally, the Raspberry Pi usb Audio Fix came on Thu May 09, 2013 9:19 am, from gsh (which has my imperiture gratitude)

Basically, this updates some part of the pi firmware and kernel, via rpi-update (this is an experimental branch you won’t find on the master branch of rpi-update by hexxeh 

For those of you on RaspyFi, update is hassle free since you already have rpi-update up and running. Just do this to enable the Raspberry Pi Usb Audio Fix:

sudo apt-get install git-core binutils

sudo BRANCH=fiq_split rpi-update

Let it run, it will need almost 20 minutes to complete. In case you’re receiving some errors, just retry. Sometimes the git servers are not able to face the requests of thousands users simoultaneusly.

Once it’s done, and you’re not getting any error, just reboot.

Now, it’s time to enable bit perfect playback on RaspyFi via mpd.conf

sudo nano /etc/mpd.conf

the line:

format “44100:16:2″ # optional

becomes

#format “44100:16:2″ # optional

ctrl + x to save.

Now, we’ll restart mpd:

sudo /etc/init.d/mpd restart

Now, play and enjoy! Files >44/16 will be played without glitches, and I hope that async dacs will work flawlessly as well! I cannot confirm this by now since I don’t have any async to the test this Raspberry Pi usb audio fix for them… But please let me know via comments below.

To check if your Pi now resides in Bit Perfect heaven just type, while playing:

cat /proc/asound/card0/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params

The output will show you current bit rate and bit depth, that should be the same as the file. Please note that if a bit rate/bit depth is not supported by your dac, mpd will automatically resample it to  the nearest supported one.

Here, an example (showing different bitrates/bitdepths, with perfect sound)

Raspberry Pi in bit perfect mode

Obviously, this raspberry pi usb audio fix will be implemented and working out of the box in next Release of RaspyFi, which is in its final stage of development.

This raspberry pi audio fix, also can be excecuted on plain Raspbian and all the other distros out there. Just type that:

sudo apt-get install git-core
sudo wget http://goo.gl/1BOfJ -O /usr/bin/rpi-update && sudo chmod +x /usr/bin/rpi-update
sudo BRANCH=fiq_split rpi-update

Et voilà, you’re done! Please let me know if it works for you, and if you got some troubles doing it !

UPDATE FOR SAMBA USERS

As suggested by Klinkt Beter and Carlo Bernardini this fixes the samba issues for async dac users. With my new xmos to i2s dac  and this fix I don’t have any stuttering at 24/96 , some reports this works well with 24/192 as well. So edit /etc/auto.nas as follows:

Nas    -fstype=cifs,file_mode=0777,dir_mode=0777,iocharset=utf8,sec=ntlm,rsize=2048,wsize=4096,cache=strict,username=pi,password=    ://192.168.nasip/sharename

L'articolo Raspberry Pi Usb Audio fix sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

• Supports 150 Mbps 802.11n, so if you have a N network, you’ll have enough bandwith to stream even Hi-res FLACs
• Low power consumption, it can work directly attached to the Pi withouth a powered usb hub
• Works automatically with Raspbian, since it’s drivers are included
• It’s very small, so there’s plenty of space left on the Pi to attach your USB DAC or USB Dongle
• It’s quite cheap, you can find easily at prices above 10 euros (see later)

You can buy it on Ebay

or here on Amazon .

Now we’ll start the setup of the WI-Fi on Raspberry Pi. RaspyFi comes with Wicd-curses already installed and running, this a user friendly gui  wi-fi setup utility. With Wicd-curses the setup of Wi-Fi on Raspberry Pi is simple and straightforwarding. You should access the Pi’s shell, this can be done in 2 ways:

• Get a monitor and a keyboard attached to the Pi
• Connect trought SSH, the Pi has to be connected to a wired network to do this. Refer to this guide to do this.

If you’re using Raspbian, and you’ve not installed Wicd-curses just type:
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install wicd-curses
Ok, now we are ready to start, type:
sudo wicd-curses
You’ll get a list of the wireless network found by the Raspberry PI

Now, you can select your Wi-fi Network, just highlight it with arrow keys and press right arrow key to edit its properties:

Sorry for Italian language, (not being nationalist!!) but you should be able to guess what these lines mean. You just insert the WEP or WPA KEY. If you wish, you can assing a static ip, configure alternative dns and so on. Remember to check the auto connection.

If you wish to have static ip, just put the ip you desire (e.g. 192.168.1.3), the subnet mask (255.255.255.0) and your router’s ip (e.g.: 192.168.1.1). Please note that the Ip of the Raspberry Pi and the gateway ip should have the same index, so if your router has 192.168.1.ip then also the raspberry pi should have the same, the only thing that will change is the last ip digits (192.168.1.ip).

When you’re done, just press F10 to save, then it should connect!

Now you’ve Wi-Fi on Raspberry Pi! Feel confident to try other wi-fi dongles other than the one suggested here. You can check the Raspberry Pi compatiblity list.

The Main WICD-CURSES windows, will also tell you the ip of your Raspberry Pi, so you can be able to connect to it via GMPC or your preferred mpd client.

UPDATE

Since I got some reports of Wi-Fi dongle not being recognized, this is how you can sort it out:

Then, back to the main screen, hit R to refresh, et voilà!!!

L'articolo Wi-fi on Raspberry Pi, a simple guide sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

Is my power supply good enough? 

Terrible drama then, desperation, no certainesses, no peace. Then he will start to browse and google compulsively, ask in forums, call his mom, loose hairs etc etc.

Well, at this point, there is only one thing you can do. Get a better one. So, for those of you in these miserable condition, here’s a tip on how to choose wisely a good power supply for Raspberry Pi.

Let’s introduce what are we talking about

Why Power supply is so important? Trivially speaking, we can say that our fancy audio\electronic gizmos work with electricity. And, the better and the most stable electricity we can give to them, the better they will work. This comes to an extreme importance in Audio, but can be true also for all kind of electrical equipment.  Let’s see why:
Most circuits works with DC. DC is direct current, which is:

used to refer to power systems that use only one polarity of voltage or current, and to refer to the constant, zero-frequency, or slowly varying local mean value of a voltage or current.For example, the voltage across a DC voltage source is constant as is the current through a DC current source. The DC solution of an electric circuit is the solution where all voltages and currents are constant. It can be shown that any stationary voltage or current waveform can be decomposed into a sum of a DC component and a zero-mean time-varying component; the DC component is defined to be the expected value, or the average value of the voltage or current over all time.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct_current

 

Usually, direct current is obtained by rectifying AC (Alternated current), which flows by our wall socket. A rectifier is an electrical device that converts alternating current (AC), which periodically reverses direction, to direct current (DC), which flows in only one direction.
This is the first quality sensible step that our electrons are faced to do. In these process, it could happen that some residuals of the AC’s typical voltage oscillations will remain in the DC stream, producing some kind of “fluctuation” from our desired voltage.
This phenomenon is called ripple:

The most common meaning of ripple in electrical science is the small unwanted residual periodic variation of the direct current (dc) output of a power supply which has been derived from analternating current (ac) source. This ripple is due to incomplete suppression of the alternating waveform within the power supply.

This could be better described with picture below:

As you can see, by simply rectifiying AC (first scenario) we will end with lot of oscillations in voltage, this will result in poor performance (in audio domains). As for our Raspberry Pi, a power supply with high ripple will result in malfunctions, sd card corruptions etc etc.
In the second picture, we’ll see how a filter applied to our power supply can dramatically reduce ripple. This more stable voltage will result in a HUGE improvement in audio applications, and for our raspberry Pi will mean better working conditions.
Those of you who already know about this matter could find this explanation extremely reductive and simple. I know it is, but I’m trying to keep things simple.

So, what power supply should I choose? There are 2  main categories:

Linear power supplies

These are the type we discussed earlier, as you can see the first component (from left side) is a power trasformer, this transform the voltage from our wall socket to a desired one (let’s say 24 volts), passing this step the current is still alternated.
Then it passes trough some diodes (1,2,3,4), their function is to rectify current and make it dc. Passing this step our DC is very dirty, and that’s why there will be some filtering capacitors (C) to smooth it out and reduce ripple. This is a very simple schematic, but should give you the idea. Usually, where a given voltage with very low ripple is needed you’ll use also a voltage regulator. This component will reduce the imput voltage to a given one, and provide very low ripple output. Capacitors are often used to further smooth the output voltage, and their quality is hugely responsible of subsequent psu quality.
The main disadvantage of these kind of power supply is their efficiency. Lot of energy got wasted in this process (as heat, for example) and they usually drain lot more current than they put out.

Then, we’ll find

Switching power supply

A switched-mode power supply (switching-mode power supply, SMPS, or switcher) is an electronic power supply that incorporates a switching regulator to convert electrical power efficiently. Like other power supplies, an SMPS transfers power from a source, like mains power, to a load, such as a personal computer, while converting voltage and current characteristics. An SMPS is usually employed to efficiently provide a regulated output voltage, typically at a level different from the input voltage.

Unlike a linear power supply, the pass transistor of a switching-mode supply continually switches between low-dissipation, full-on and full-off states, and spends very little time in the high dissipation transitions (which minimizes wasted energy). Ideally, a switched-mode power supply dissipates no power. Voltage regulation is achieved by varying the ratio of on-to-off time.

So as you can understand, switching power supplies achieve the same result by turning on and off repeatedly (thousands of times per second) the electrical stream, resulting in better efficiency (no rectification, no voltage transformation, no voltage regulation). The main disadvantage are in terms of quality. Switching power supply usually have higher ripple than linear power supplies.

So now the choice is between quality and efficiency. Since our raspberry Pi will draw as much as 700 mA (current) at 5 ± 0,25 volts      (voltage) we should choose a psu which can output at least 1 amp (extra 300mA for connected devices such as DACs or usb keys), whith a voltage between 4,75 and 5,25 volts. Any different value from these will (and I mean, it will) result in SD Card corruption, especially if you decided to overclock your PI.
By choosing a linear power supply for Raspberry Pi, like

, you’re sure gettin highest quality power supply, but this will result in lot of enery wasted and a higher electricity bill (of course, relatively speaking) (please also mind that you should change the DC jack in favour of a microUSB plug). By the other hand a switched mode power supply for Raspberry Pi like this (or

if you’re on the other side of the Atlantic)  will  be an energy saving savy choice but quality wise, is the worst scenario you can get.

And after telling you all of this, I’ll let you cry in tears and desperately wating to know what to do by saying goodbye !

Next , will come a comparison of multiple power supply for Raspberry Pi, and a project of a custom power supply which will hopefully satisfy both quality and efficiency!

L'articolo Power Supply for Raspberry Pi, what you should know about sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.

Well guys, since some of you wanted to use the HiFace 1 on RaspyFi, here’s how to get it working. Basically all you need to do is compiling it’s drivers, and execute it on boot. I plan to include those drivers on next release of RaspyFi.

Let’s start:

In order to build the driver you need to install your kernel-headers, the build-essential package and git-core binaries, this is quite a hefty amount of data, so make sure you have at least 600 mb free on your SD Card:

apt-get install kernel-headers-$(uname -r)
apt-get install build-essential
apt-get install git

Now, we’ll clone the git repository

git clone git://github.com/panicking/snd-usb-asyncaudio.git

Then, we are ready to build our driver:

cd snd-usb-asyncaudio
make

Then, we’ll start the module by typing:

sudo insmod snd-usb-asyncaudio.ko

Then, we should add the module to /etc/modules in order to make it start at system boot.

Et voilà! Hiface on Linux, so on RaspyFi!

This tutorial is made thanks to following pages:

https://github.com/panicking/snd-usb-asyncaudio/wiki

https://github.com/panicking/snd-usb-asyncaudio

L'articolo Hiface on linux: Getting Hiface 1 working on RaspyFi and Debian sembra essere il primo su RaspyFi.