Raspberry Pi streamer - is it a good idea??

Celestion44

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Having only very recently started down the slippery & costly slope of hi-fi upgrades, I have turned my attention to how best to access my collection of FLAC files.
Currently, they are housed on a stand alone hard drive with copies on my Samsung Galaxy.
I also have the following;
IPAD mini (old and only 32 Gb)
Samsung Galaxy S9
Dragonfly Red
Playing the FLACs from the Galaxy, connected by OTG cable, into the Dragonfly Red (into the amp) currently gives me the “best quality” source I can muster. The alternative is 3.5mm cable from the IPAD headphone socket.
I’m not now finding it as convenient as I though I would with the Galaxy spending too much time in the hifi cabinet.
Attention has been drawn to the Raspberry Pi option and despite plenty of reading about how easy this is to implement (I am fairly technically minded), I remain a bit nervous about whether I will be able to complete the project.
To start the ball rolling, though, could I please ask for any clarification re the following;
Could my portable hard drive be plugged straight into the Pi’s USB and with appropriate software, be used as a FLAC player?
If yes, how would I control the Pi (assuming I don’t have a dedicated screen/LCD)?
is it possible to plug the Dragonfly into the PI’s USB socket, and then connect into my amp. This method would do way with the need for a DAC “hat” for the PI but I have no idea as to advantages/disadvantages of this approach.
As an alternative to individual answers, if anyone would care to point me in the direction of a very simple, straightforward to understand guide, then I would be very much obliged.
 
There was a similar thread in the music streaming forum. You'll see me answer there.
The Hifiberry site has a nice list of the operating systems to play with.
In short, there are loads of things to try for little money and it's a lot of fun
I'm a squeezebox guy so am biased.
Personally I would go for a pi based something and a quboz subscription. I haven't added to my flac file collection in years
 
There is an excellent you tube video by John Darko.

Here.

It's well worth a watch.
 
It should be doable. I think a hdd will need its own power supply or a powered USB hub though. I have my music on a cheap 1 bay NAS, which has the logitech media server package installed, and picoreplayer on my pi.

Interesting idea with regards to the use of a USB DAC, no idea if that'll work. If not, it is very easy and not an expensive option to add a DAC hat as most music packages will have software for the DAC provided you go for a mainstream eg hifi berry or Boss.

Without a screen, control can be done by using an app eg squeezer, on your phone.
 
I've seen at least 2 posts where someone was using a DF with a Pi. Worse case scenario you've not lost anything by trying it

Personally I'm also in the Logitech Media Server / squeezebox camp.

For control you don't even need an app anymore (although some of the LMS apps are pretty good) as the web interface with the material skin enabled is pretty slick these days.

My own favourite OS for using as a streamer is PiCorePlayer. You can use a Pi a combined player and server with an attached drive, although personally I'd suggest 2 RPis as a good upgrade path. One a dedicated player and the other tucked away where you won't hear the hard drive. Either way is fine though.

 
I've been playing around with this for a couple of weeks now. It is a rabbit hole

Pi 4
Hifi Berry Dac+ Pro in a metal case

I've tried Volumio, Moode and PiCorePlayer

Have tried both LMS installed on my Synology NAS and installed on the Pi

been back and forth too many times.

Advise you get several SD cards :)

I have also tried adding an official Pi 7" screen with case to the mix. Worked best with the pCP set up, but was not really that helpful.

The one that has stuck the most is Moode audio. I think it has (in my opinion) the best sound

Can use if for:
Spotify connect
Tidal via mConnect(ios) and BubbleUPnP(andorid)
NAS stored FLAC and MP3 using network share and LMS

I need to take a break and just listen.

BB544E88-75BB-4F60-8B87-BF515A86D456.jpg
 
There was a similar thread in the music streaming forum. You'll see me answer there..........
Thanks. It wasn’t until after posting that I realised that it was in the wrong forum! i’ll Have a look at the other thread and your reply.
 
I've been playing around with this for a couple of weeks now. It is a rabbit Hole......
Thanks. I’m not in the least bit surprised to hear your experiences and I can see myself going round in ever decreasing circles. Something says I ought to be giving it a go though.
 
I've seen at least 2 posts where someone was using a DF with a Pi. Worse case scenario you've not lost anything by trying it>.........
Thanks. this is behind my thinking at the moment. Buy a Pi as cheaply as possible, try a couple of bits of software, plug in the DF Red and see if I can get on with it.
If yes, consider upgrading with different hats, perhaps a screen, spend some time on trying to understand all the associated twists and turns - for example, I see Logitech/squeezebox talked about often but am a bit embarrassed to admit I don’t really understand any of these references!!!!
If no and I either get bored (unlikely) or frustrated to the point that I think it’s all about beyond me, then sell the Pi and take probably a £20 hit.
 
for example, I see Logitech/squeezebox talked about often but am a bit embarrassed to admit I don’t really understand any of these references!!!!

It's not that vital to know the history but for interest sakes I'll waffle on anyway, feel free to ignore it of it's a bit dull.

Back in the day Logitech made a whole range of multiroom audio devices that were branded Squeezebox.

Unlike the competing Sonos ecosystem at the time Logitech's system used a slim client type arrangement which basically means most functionality was driven by the server program running on a PC or other device, this server was called Logitech Media Server or LMS for short.

The devices themselves didn't need to be powerful or even have comprehensive file support as the server does all the heavy lifting and can transcode between formats on the fly.

Logitech have long ago discontinued the range but the software itself was always open source, in addition the main developer from Logitech has continued developing LMS and anyone with appropriate skills can join in and make plug ins or modify the source code. As a result although the products are long gone the system itself is still live and kicking. Even at its heyday when you could still select from a whole range you could also use a software player on a suitable device and it will behave pretty much like an actual Squeezebox.

Like a lot of large tech companies Logitech actually bought a smaller tech company called slim devices, the very first hardware player was called a SlimP3 and the server was called Slim Server, Logitech rebranded it Squeezebox, the server itself was called Squeezebox server and then renamed again to LMS.

I still have an early Squeezebox 2 and it still works perfectly, it doesn't support all my music directly but the server downconverts to a format it can play on the fly.
Logitech made quite a few different devices over the years including the legendary Transporter which was a high end full size hifi streamer that even had balanced XLR outputs and one of the nicest control knobs I've ever used, the Radio and boom were portable powered speakers (the radio looked a bit like a Pure DAB radio with an LCD screen and mono speaker and a battery, the Boom was a larger stereo device with an green LED matrix display)

There's a few of the old devices in the is picture below
download.jpeg


None of that matters of course but just a bit of interesting background.
 
It's not that vital to know the history but for interest sakes I'll waffle on anyway, feel free to ignore it of it's a bit dull.

Back in the day Logitech made a whole range of multiroom audio devices that were branded Squeezebox.......
Thanks for the info, Jamie. I feel I’ve really learnt something today.
If it’s not yet another daft question, does this mean that LMS can be run on a Pi and be used to stream music from a connected HDD or am I still missing the point?
Thanks
Stuart
 
following all if the above helpful replies (and lots of you tube videos), on the hardware side of things I think I’m nudging slowly towards a Pi 4 (still have no idea if 2gb RAM enough) and putting it with a Allo Boss DAC, which sadly seems to be OOS everywhere!
My plan would then be to test sound output quality v my DF Red and if I can’t hear any significant difference, to sell on the Red.
 
Sounds like a sensible plan. I'd say the simplest option to start with is to use the Pi with something like Volumio or Moode (I use an old build of Rune, though there's not much dev on it these days), and plug your DF Red into the USB port. I'm assuming it will work on the Pi, of course. That way you can see if you get on with the system before spending any more money.
Mine is running with a HiFiBerry Digi+ (digital output only) connected to the digital input of my amp. The FLAC files are on a self-powered external HDD plugged into a USB port, though I'll probably remove that soon and just access a NAS over the network instead. For me, there's no reason to use LMS, as it would just make things more complicated.
I have pretty decent amp/speakers (over £2k new price between them, not that I bought them new). If I wanted to upgrade my system, the Pi streamer is absolutely the last thing I'd consider changing.
 
Thanks for the info, Jamie. I feel I’ve really learnt something today.
If it’s not yet another daft question, does this mean that LMS can be run on a Pi and be used to stream music from a connected HDD or am I still missing the point?
Thanks
Stuart
Yes it can. There's practical things to think about like making sure the HD gets enough power so a desktop drive might be a better option.

Regarding a Pi4, I've found a pi3 to be adequate for LMS and playback, I've not tried a pi4 yet but I've heard reports that it can get hotter than is desirable so might require extra cooling or even a fan. There's no doubt scanning will be faster but unless you have a large library that gets added to regularly you won't be scanning that often, you can also schedule a regular scan overnight if you wanted to.
 
I am running on a 2gb Pi 4 and it is fine. You don't need a fan just a good heatsink.

If you are planning on using the DF, you will want the Pi 4 since they have improved the usb circuitry. there is interference on the previous models because it shares its bus.
 
I am running on a 2gb Pi 4 and it is fine. You don't need a fan just a good heatsink.

If you are planning on using the DF, you will want the Pi 4 since they have improved the usb circuitry. there is interference on the previous models because it shares its bus.

I've got a couple of couple of Pi4's running without heatsinks and so far both are happy. No harm in adding one given how cheap they are, but if you don't have a tube of heatsink paste lying around it will work fine without one attached — it's not like a PC where you need to attach a heatsink to the CPU before you do anything. Definitely no need for a fan esp. if you have it in a metal case which will help dissipate heat anyway.
 
Sounds like a sensible plan.
......... If I wanted to upgrade my system, the Pi streamer is absolutely the last thing I'd consider changing.
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I was particularly interested to read your final comment re the Pi streamer being the last thing you'd replace.
 
I am running on a 2gb Pi 4 and it is fine. You don't need a fan just a good heatsink.

If you are planning on using the DF, you will want the Pi 4 since they have improved the usb circuitry. there is interference on the previous models because it shares its bus.
Thanks for this. I'd read about bus improvements/separation on the Pi 4 (v the Pi 3) and i think you've answered the question that I hadn't yet asked! Thanks
 
I did this for years and it worked really well.

I had a RaspberryPi 2 Model B running RaspBMC, hooked up to a powered USB hub with three HDs and a DAC (Behringer UCA202 - pretty basic). The HDs had video and audio. The DAC went straight to the amp. The RPi also had HDMI (video only) to the TV. A tiny wifi dongle was plugged into the RPi which gave network/internet/NAS access. I built a lego case for the whole monstrosity...

You could use the main screen on RaspBMC on the TV to select music/video, or you could use a separate app on your phone tablet. The app I use is BubbleUPnP - I think this is generally accepted as (one of) the best. Setting it all up perfectly (RaspBMC is highly customisable) required it to be hooked up to a screen however for audio only, once the setup is done the screen (TV or monitor) becomes redundant. Music could played from the HDs attached to the RPi, the NAS, the phone/tablet itself, or any other library shared on the network.

I never had any issues with it and I imagine the newer RPis will just be even more slick.

I recommend you check the compatibility pages for the DAC with whichever distro you use because they're not all compatible.

I had this setup for around 7 years probably and barely had any issues. Maybe once every six months I had to un/plug the RPi because it froze - but for something that's on permanently, and so cheap, I was fine with that. Again I guess this would be less of an issue with newer RPis.
 

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