Grey_Friar

I stand corrected. The Toslink output on HiFiBerry Digi+ does indeed transmit 24/192, without downsampling. I tried it today with a consumer grade plastic optical cable and my Denon indicates that it is receiving the full 192 KHz.

I don't think the Toslink transmitter in the Pi/HiFiBerryDigi+ combination can handle 24/192. But the CoAx output from the Digi+ definitely will -- that's how I've connected to my Denon 4308ci, with some great sound.

Tim, Thanks for an outstanding job and for being so responsive to user inputs. I have a rather elaborate HTPC system based loosely on the Computer Audiophile C.A.P.S. designs, with a lot of specialized tweaks, including SOtM filters, a Scientific Conversion galvanic-isolation transformer at the output to a BNC S/PDIF connector, etc., -- playing via JRiver MC20 software. It sounds great and has a terrific user interface. Mostly out of curiosity, I decided to see how a system based on the Raspberry Pi would compare. So I combined a Pi 2 (since upgraded to a Pi 3) with a HiFiBerry Digi+ i2S interface and tried the various software alternatives that seemed to be most popular -- Kodi, Volumio, Moode Audio. Kodi is very stable, has a great and very rich user interface; but the sound was not really compelling. Volumio and all earlier versions of Moode both sound amazingly good -- and both, of course, use the highly regarded MPD player. Frankly, it's hard to discern major differences in sound from my main system, which cost more than five times as much. As good as the RPi system sounded with MoOde and Volumio, I eventually put it back in the box out of frustration with slow response, random hangs and lost connections. Well...Moode 2.6 changes all that!! Very responsive, stable and extremely user friendly. Now it's a pleasure to use. Well done and deserving of a donation to keep up the fine work. Regards,

You might consider the highly-regarded Musical Fidelity V-Series, which I have used quite successfully. The Headphone Amp and DAC, ~ $200 - $300 originally, are both in their third generation now. You may be able to find used 1st or 2nd generation units close to your $100 targets. Good luck,

Tim, First, thank you for a fine piece of work. I've gotten everything working perfectly except for loading music files into an expanded SD (64 Gig SanDisk Ultra) card. I loaded the music files into the second partition of the expanded card via a Synology NAS, updated the MPD database and browsed into the SD card -- and nothing. Saw the above post; so I loaded some files (in folders) directly into the "sdcard" file location -- still nothing. Finally, tried loading some individual music files into "sdcard" -- and they appeared, along with artwork! There must be an easier way? Grey_Friar

I also have the HiFiBerry Digi+card, use the Coax SPDIF output playing into a Musical Fidelity DAC -- but have never had a problem playing 24/192 FLAC files via Volumio. I do, however, use a USB power supply from MCM Electronics designed specifically for the RPi -- it's rated for 2A at 5.1 V, so that it never drops below 5 V under load. This may, or may not, be the difference. Regards,

I have found (as many reported) that certain types or brands of SD card simply will not work in a RPi, even though they may work in a camera, for example. I've had good luck with SanDisk and MicroCenter-branded cards. There are lists of trusted cards available on several Raspberry help sites. It has also been reported that USB power converters must put out at least 5 Volts under load for the RPi to function reliably.

Looks like a good value-based system for those not DIY-inclined. (Website indicates they use a Raspberry Pi-B+, not Pi 2.)

Good advice. It is also possible to see what IP address has been assigned by connecting the RPI to a monitor and looking through the text output for the "Bound to..." address. Once you do connect, it's probably best to use a fixed IP address, as your router may periodically reassign addresses. I've also observed that when you type "volumio.local" on an iPhone control point, for example, the resultant output may also include suffixes from the previous connection that may be inappropriate and will cause Volumio to hang.

Very encouraging -- Sounds like they're addressing the very issues I mentioned earlier: "Volumio sounds noticeably clearer to me than OpenELEC, with better depth of sound-field. On the other hand, OpenELEC has a much richer media interface and broad support base. It also seems to be a lot more robust: I hardly ever have a problem connecting with it or using it, whereas with Volumio I often lose connection to my Synology DS-411 NAS. Volumio also seems to have a slower, and more variable, command response time." Regards,

mac_and_dac, Thank you kindly for your observations. I'm not sure how OpenELEC uses MPD, if at all. It is described on the group's website as: " ...not based on any Linux distribution; OpenELEC has been built from scratch specifically to act as a media center." The latest versions (5.0.2 or higher) do, in fact, have the ability to change ALSA settings for the HiFiBerry Digi+ via menu selections (after editing the config.txt file and adding the appropriate "hifiberry device-tree-overlay"). The Digi+ sound card version I purchased does provide for galvanic isolation via a shielded isolation transformer (Pulse-T6074). Since I have no basis for comparison, I cannot attest to the benefits of the transformer; but the coax SPDIF output works very well up to 192 KHz with my Musical Fidelity DAC. Still listening with Volumio...but wishing it were as stable as OpenELEC!

Chris, Excellent article...once again! I had purchased a RPi-2, along with a HiFiBerry Digi+ daughter board (transformer version) and HiFiBerry Case+, right after introduction in February. Wish I had waited until after your article -- could have saved a lot of wasted time playing with arcane Linux commands. I really started this project just for the learning experience; but the resulting sound is amazingly good playing through my main system and compares very favorably with my HTPC, which is similar to C.A.P.S. v3. My question is this: Is the sound quality playing via Volumio intrinsically better than with other MPD-based players, such as OpenELEC/Kodi? Both claim to have "tweaked" MPD for best audio quality. It may be the placebo effect, but Volumio sounds noticeably clearer to me than OpenELEC, with better depth of sound-field. On the other hand, OpenELEC has a much richer media interface and broad support base. It also seems to be a lot more robust: I hardly ever have a problem connecting with it or using it, whereas with Volumio I often lose connection to my Synology DS-411 NAS. Volumio also seems to have a slower, and more variable, command response time. I'm using an Edimax EW-7811Un WiFi adapter, though wired Ethernet behaves about the same. Regards,

Hi sbullard,<br /> <br /> I understand your issue in trying to use a full-height Juli@ sound card in a low-profile case. You may be aware that the DAC portion of the Juli@ is contained on the top half of the card, which is invertable to use the balanced outputs -- but also removable if you are using an external DAC. I don't know if this would help with your space constraint problem.<br /> <br /> BTW, I've been using the Juli@ card with an Intel D525MW motherboard for several months now, and it works beautifully.<br /> <br /> Good luck.

First, thanks to bleedink and Notung for their very complete response to my questions. John, I can empathisize with your frustration. I was in a very similar place a couple of months ago. I have been an "audiophile" for decades, always looking for a better solution. I had an Oppo BDP-83SE (NuForce Edition) and was very pleased with the sound, but decided to upgrade to the 95 because of the additional features and (allegedly) better internal DAC. The sound, as we've all agreed, is fantastic -- particularly when playing Blue-Ray HD, HiRez files or SACD. About the same time, I made the decision to rip my 30-yr CD collection to digital -- using Chris Connaker's recommended dBpoweramp (it's terrific). I also assembled an HTPC based on Chris's C.A.P.S. v1 design, but with a Juli@ soundcard that some reviewers believe to sound better than Chris's Lynx (also cheaper). As Notung points out above, Chris's recommended J River Media Center is excellent player software -- and as an added benefit you can control remotely with a smartphone or iPad. I also tried the Squeezebox Touch (another of Chris's recommended players). It's certainly the easiest to set up and has the additional advantage of not requiring your computer and monitor to be on continually while you're listening to music. (It is limited to 24-bit/96 kHz, however -- but will play higher res files by downsampling.) In a three-way comparison, I would say the Oppo wins on sound quality. The Juli@ soundcard playing through my Musical Fidelity V-DAC is very close and, for most material, totally indistinguishable. The Squeezebox definitely has the most useful interface; and it also can be controlled with a smartphone/iPad. It comes in a close third in the sound quality run-off. Having lived with all three systems for several weeks now, I find myself listening through the computer using J River 95% of the time. But the best musical experience, for me, is listening to a Blue Ray HD or multi-channel SACD through the Oppo analog outs. Hope this helps.

At least two of the recent posters have Squeezebox Touch's, as I do. The Squeezebox's user interface certainly beats the Oppo's hands-down, even with the file management workarounds suggested above. There is evidently a hack available on the web that will turn the Touch's USB input into an output. Has anyone tried feeding such a signal into the Oppo's USB inputs? Another issue I've experienced using the Oppo as a self-contained digital player: The latest firmware release (7/13/2011) does now support some metadata functionality, including album artwork for FLAC files. However, when I play FLAC files wirelessly from my NAS (Synology DS411 slim) the Oppo plays them as WAV files and loses all artwork. The same files played through the USB port stay in their native format and display metadata, including artwork. Am I doing something wrong here? Thanks,