mwhouston Posted June 8, 2017 Posted June 8, 2017 Just one of my three Pi setups. This is part of a temp setup for when the daughter is studying and I'm on phones. Pi2B in Armadillo steel enclosure (no longer available) with a Jaycar HDMI audio extractor. Beauty of this setup is the Pi powers the extractor and if I power the Pi from a phone charger power pack and use my portable triode HP amp I don't need any external power. The extractor will handle 24/192 files and has HDMI pass through. Under $100 is sound is very good. But still one of the even better sounding temp setups is another of my Pi2B with HiBerry Digi daughter brd. and Jaycar D2A. It requires external power. I think it improves on the extractor sound quite a bit and does DSD64! I use the optical connection with a very short optical lead. I can use a digital coaxial connection between both but this sound bloody excellent. This once more is connected to my portable triode HP amps. I have to say it again, an absolutely stunning sound. A friend whos technical opinions I respect said he believes optical is not the best connection and coax is better. I'd like to hear other opinions. The beauty of optical is electrical isolation.
Brad67 Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 Yaay! Finally got my RPi setup. After a few abortive attempts to set up as Plex server, I decided to do the simplest option and ran NOOBs with KODI. So far so good, I have a couple of 32gb flash drives loaded with my favorite flac files controlled by Yatse app on my phone. The bulk of my library is still on laptop running Plex which is readily accessible when on. Output is usb to Calyx Coffee dac for main system and via Chromecast + Fiio Dac on vintage set up (oxy-moron of sorts). When funds allow, will order an Allo Boss unit but for now, the Calyx sounds pretty sweet. Will do a couple of pics later.
frankn Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 I read posts like this and I know, just know that CA isn't for me! Sounds like you'd need to be an IT pro if anything went wrong. 2
mwhouston Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 27 minutes ago, frankn said: I read posts like this and I know, just know that CA isn't for me! Sounds like you'd need to be an IT pro if anything went wrong. You are just so wrong. 20mins is all it takes - no screen, no keyboard no mouse.
Schnuck Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 24 minutes ago, mwhouston said: You are just so wrong. 20mins is all it takes - no screen, no keyboard no mouse. Really ? I haven't played with these for maybe a year now but when setting up a RPi2B a screen, keyboard and mouse came in handy.
mwhouston Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 1 hour ago, Schnuck said: Really ? I haven't played with these for maybe a year now but when setting up a RPi2B a screen, keyboard and mouse came in handy. I have set up two Pi2s and two Pi3s with four different interfaces\daughter boards and have never used any more than a browser on my iPad or smart phone. 20 minutes from downloaded files to a playing Pi. All setup and fine tuning is down through any browser. 1
Brad67 Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 I probably made it sound more difficult than it was. In my defence, have never attempted setting up any computer from scratch before. Second go was very simple. Would like to learn how to do headless set up and mods one of these days [emoji16].Sent from my 5056I using Tapatalk
Schnuck Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 (edited) 6 hours ago, mwhouston said: I have set up two Pi2s and two Pi3s with four different interfaces\daughter boards and have never used any more than a browser on my iPad or smart phone. 20 minutes from downloaded files to a playing Pi. All setup and fine tuning is down through any browser. Ok. Different way of doing it. I never got to using mine as a media server but have planned to get it going again for this purpose when time allows. Your method sounds like like the way to go. So so I assume you control playback with your phone/pad after setup is completed ? Edited June 12, 2017 by Schnuck 1
mwhouston Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 No app. required just the browser in phone or iPad or anything.
mwhouston Posted June 12, 2017 Posted June 12, 2017 I should add you can do everything via Rune or Volumio WebGUI. From here you play access all music, create favourites, play lists etc. and configure your server. All from you smart phone and browser. Crazy easy! 1
bob_m_54 Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 1 hour ago, mwhouston said: I should add you can do everything via Rune or Volumio WebGUI. From here you play access all music, create favourites, play lists etc. and configure your server. All from you smart phone and browser. Crazy easy! Or MoOde ;-) But yes, I have to agree, it's pretty simple to set up headless. Unless of course you add something to your network and the b@%#y router decides to reassign all your IP addresses (which is what happened to me the other day) LOL. Even accessing the router webpage to check assignments didn't want to play the game. For some reason my router just would not display assignments, even though I was logged in. I ended up manually browsing through the last octet of the IP, one at a time till I found it. Took a while too, with 2 smart TVs, network capable AV receiver, PS3, NAS, 3 computers, digital recorder, 3 Xboxs and the Boxee I picked up for $10.00 at a garage sale, oh, and the RPi2b. I know some of the headless players will display the IP as it scrolls through the boot procedure (usually visible via the HDMI output), but you may have to be quick to see it. 1
mwhouston Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 Fortunately my router displays all leasing. Seperate lines for wired and wifi. But my setup is pretty simple. Just the way I like it. 1
bob_m_54 Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 3 minutes ago, mwhouston said: Fortunately my router displays all leasing. Seperate lines for wired and wifi. But my setup is pretty simple. Just the way I like it. Mine used to, but now the page doesn't list them, for some reason. All other aspects of the router interface seem to work though? I just tried it again, and this is all I get, and I am logged in.
Peter Sherriff Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 2 hours ago, bob_m_54 said: Mine used to, but now the page doesn't list them, for some reason. All other aspects of the router interface seem to work though? I just tried it again, and this is all I get, and I am logged in. I've seen this before if there's a "host name" with a non-standard character on the network, any chance of that in this case? If you have an Android device something like the 'Fing - Network Discovery' app can tell you what devices are connected, along with their IP addresses. There's similar types of discovery software for OSX and Windows, I'm not sure about iOS though as I don't currently use any iPads/iPhones.
bob_m_54 Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 No, there doesn't appear to be any strange characters in device names, most aren't named though. I have since downloaded Advanced IP Scanner, which is a free basic IP discovery tool, that seems to do the job.
marten Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 On 08/06/2017 at 10:54 AM, mwhouston said: Just one of my three Pi setups. This is part of a temp setup for when the daughter is studying and I'm on phones. Pi2B in Armadillo steel enclosure (no longer available) with a Jaycar HDMI audio extractor. Beauty of this setup is the Pi powers the extractor and if I power the Pi from a phone charger power pack and use my portable triode HP amp I don't need any external power. The extractor will handle 24/192 files and has HDMI pass through. Under $100 is sound is very good. But still one of the even better sounding temp setups is another of my Pi2B with HiBerry Digi daughter brd. and Jaycar D2A. It requires external power. I think it improves on the extractor sound quite a bit and does DSD64! I use the optical connection with a very short optical lead. I can use a digital coaxial connection between both but this sound bloody excellent. This once more is connected to my portable triode HP amps. I have to say it again, an absolutely stunning sound. A friend whos technical opinions I respect said he believes optical is not the best connection and coax is better. I'd like to hear other opinions. The beauty of optical is electrical isolation. Apologies for dropping in like this. I second the opinion that for short distances and when using standard-compliant cabling, optical connection should give electrical isolation and sound quality equal to coax. Question about your Pi2B with HiBerry Digi setup: Can that setup play music files stored on a NAS server connected to the Rasp-PI via ethernet cable? Thus no PC involved - just the NAS, the Pi-HiBerry and a smartphone?
mwhouston Posted June 13, 2017 Posted June 13, 2017 5 hours ago, marten said: Apologies for dropping in like this. I second the opinion that for short distances and when using standard-compliant cabling, optical connection should give electrical isolation and sound quality equal to coax. Question about your Pi2B with HiBerry Digi setup: Can that setup play music files stored on a NAS server connected to the Rasp-PI via ethernet cable? Thus no PC involved - just the NAS, the Pi-HiBerry and a smartphone? I'm sure it can. It just requires IPs etc.
bob_m_54 Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 8 hours ago, marten said: Apologies for dropping in like this. I second the opinion that for short distances and when using standard-compliant cabling, optical connection should give electrical isolation and sound quality equal to coax. Question about your Pi2B with HiBerry Digi setup: Can that setup play music files stored on a NAS server connected to the Rasp-PI via ethernet cable? Thus no PC involved - just the NAS, the Pi-HiBerry and a smartphone? In answer to your question; yes the Pi can play files stored on a NAS via ethernet cable, with no PC involved. I have been using mine this way. 2
mwhouston Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 I have all my music on two 2TB drives. One is a backup of the other and allows me to have a permident setup and one temp setup else where when the daughter is studying. 1
bob_m_54 Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 I normally use a 1TB drive connected via USB, but bought a WDMycloud a while back for general storage, and so I can play digital music via my old original xboxes, in my shed. I have been trying to work out if there is any difference to the sound through the Pi, between NAS stored music via ethernet, or directly connected HDD. So far, I'm undecided, although lean towards the HDD slightly (and I don't really know why at this stage LOL, maybe psychological). It's a bit of a pain comparing though, because with both storage methods connected, it is confusing in library view. 1
betocool Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 I went for the HDD via USB solution because the Rpi3 was not coping over wifi to the NAS. I have not tried via network cable, I suppose that would help heaps, but Wifi was... well, not a nightmare, but a bad dream. When I update the NAS with more data, I just replicate that onto the PI's drive. Easy. 1
betocool Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 I went for the HDD via USB solution because the Rpi3 was not coping over wifi to the NAS. I have not tried via network cable, I suppose that would help heaps, but Wifi was... well, not a nightmare, but a bad dream. When I update the NAS with more data, I just replicate that onto the PI's drive. Easy. 1
Brad67 Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 Are you running the USB HDD off the RPI? I'm keen to try it but was advised the power supply isn't up to the task. Mind you the price for 128 GB flash drives is cheap option...?Sent from my 5056I using Tapatalk 1
bob_m_54 Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 I'm running my HDD from a separate power supply, which is a bit messy, with extra cables etc. And running the Pi from a phone battery recharge bank. 1
mwhouston Posted June 14, 2017 Posted June 14, 2017 2 hours ago, Brad67 said: Are you running the USB HDD off the RPI? I'm keen to try it but was advised the power su You're right the Pi will not power it. Add a USB3 powered hub. That way you can have four USB storage devices to choose from. Lots of flexibility. 1
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