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I have no experience whatsoever in building a Raspberry Pi based anything. But I already have a DAC, and most of my music is on CD and vinyl anyway. But I would like to set up a very high quality file based setup (dsd if possible) on a black box controlled by my ipad, rather than via a computer. There are no easy 'go-to primers that I can find. Where do I start, if I am to use my own existing DAC?

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14 hours ago, vintageaxeman said:

I have no experience whatsoever in building a Raspberry Pi based anything. But I already have a DAC, and most of my music is on CD and vinyl anyway. But I would like to set up a very high quality file based setup (dsd if possible) on a black box controlled by my ipad, rather than via a computer. There are no easy 'go-to primers that I can find. Where do I start, if I am to use my own existing DAC?

 

Do you want a device that will rip your CDs (and maybe vinyl) as well as play downloaded files?  Or just play future downloads?

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14 hours ago, vintageaxeman said:

I have no experience whatsoever in building a Raspberry Pi based anything. But I already have a DAC, and most of my music is on CD and vinyl anyway. But I would like to set up a very high quality file based setup (dsd if possible) on a black box controlled by my ipad, rather than via a computer. There are no easy 'go-to primers that I can find. Where do I start, if I am to use my own existing DAC?

Sounds like you're looking for a UPNP/DLNA server and streamer. You might get more specific suggestions if you tell us what DAC you have and how much you're willing to spend on new items.

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11 hours ago, mansr said:

Sounds like you're looking for a UPNP/DLNA server and streamer. You might get more specific suggestions if you tell us what DAC you have and how much you're willing to spend on new items.

Indeed and posting in the Music Servers (as opposed to Networking, .. and Streaming) section would likely attract 'traditional' computer based music server responses.

 

There's also no mention of any (separate, networked or otherwise) device for the audio files to be stored, so may be an 'all in one' "black box" is what the OP is after.

We are far more united and have far more in common with each other than things that divide us.

-- Jo Cox

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3 hours ago, Cebolla said:

Indeed and posting in the Music Servers (as opposed to Networking, .. and Streaming) section would likely attract 'traditional' computer based music server responses.

 

There's also no mention of any (separate, networked or otherwise) device for the audio files to be stored, so may be an 'all in one' "black box" is what the OP is after.

As well as the all important budget allowed....

Regards,

Dave

 

Audio system

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I have a very high end stereo system, which includes a top CD player and a lovely turntable to play my CDs and LPs on. That won't be changing, so I won't be ripping all my CDs.

However, my system includes a Naim N-Vi so that I can play the SOUND only, from music DVDs. This Naim N-Vi has an optical and RCA digital input to its DAC, which is currently unused.

When I went to the HiFiWigwam show this year, a number of folk were using Raspberry Pis into their systems, controlled from MacBooks or iPads. They sounded great, so that's what I want to do, in order that I can play music from a file based system, stored on a drive, through my Naim N-Vi DAC, into my stereo system.

Does that make my needs clearer, or do you need any further information? Many thanks in advance for any help I get!

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If I understand you correctly, there are two ways of doing this. Either attached storage to your Pi, which acts as a server/player; or you need something to serve your files on your network-some sort of server, pc or network storage. If that and the Pi are both connected to the network, then all you need  is the right software.

There are a lot of software choices. You can install something like Roon, Logitech Media Server,  JRiver, or others. Once you’ve chosen your software, these can be installed on the server and/or on the Pi, depending on the software and how you want to run things or how powerful your server is. The Pi can be used just for playback (as an endpoint) if the main software is installed on your server, or it can do full serving if you have your files on a more modest form of network/attached storage. 

 

You then use the corresponding app on you iPad as playback controller.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

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4 hours ago, vintageaxeman said:

I have a very high end stereo system, which includes a top CD player and a lovely turntable to play my CDs and LPs on. That won't be changing, so I won't be ripping all my CDs.

However, my system includes a Naim N-Vi so that I can play the SOUND only, from music DVDs. This Naim N-Vi has an optical and RCA digital input to its DAC, which is currently unused.

When I went to the HiFiWigwam show this year, a number of folk were using Raspberry Pis into their systems, controlled from MacBooks or iPads. They sounded great, so that's what I want to do, in order that I can play music from a file based system, stored on a drive, through my Naim N-Vi DAC, into my stereo system.

Does that make my needs clearer, or do you need any further information? Many thanks in advance for any help I get!

If I might cut to the chase, with this verbal exemplification using a RaspPi, the highest quality path IME is using your Pi as a "client"(streamer only). Your Mac/Win/Linux "server" would house and play the files, sending them to the Pi (or something akin there are many ready made streamers). Many such as myself would choose to upsample or DSP(tone controls, room correction ect...) in the server before it is sent to the client. Your files could also be stored on your network, and not local in the actual server. It is not a requirement and mostly about accessing your files elsewhere too.

 

It all sounds more complex than it really is. Around here, the most prominent programs to run this client server that will upsample or DSP seem to be:

Squeezebox/Logitech Media Server

Audirvana

JRiver

Roon

HQPlayer (with or without a library program)

 

I happen to use the last one. The developer is very active here and it runs on all platforms. I could not recommend HQPlayer enough despite a steep initial learning curve. We would all walk you through the initial problems if you had any...

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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5 hours ago, vintageaxeman said:

I have a very high end stereo system, which includes a top CD player and a lovely turntable to play my CDs and LPs on. That won't be changing, so I won't be ripping all my CDs.

However, my system includes a Naim N-Vi so that I can play the SOUND only, from music DVDs. This Naim N-Vi has an optical and RCA digital input to its DAC, which is currently unused.

When I went to the HiFiWigwam show this year, a number of folk were using Raspberry Pis into their systems, controlled from MacBooks or iPads. They sounded great, so that's what I want to do, in order that I can play music from a file based system, stored on a drive, through my Naim N-Vi DAC, into my stereo system.

Does that make my needs clearer, or do you need any further information? Many thanks in advance for any help I get!

 

Okay, yes, that helps.  The trick here is that you will need an RCA coaxial output to send the digital signal to your Naim.  This is not stock on an RPi board, so you will need to add either a Hifiberry Digi+ Pro "hat" or an Allo Digione "hat".  These hats are little boards you pop onto the RPi to provide the RPi with RCA coax output.  The Allo is a little more expensive but is slightly better sounding than the Digi+.

 

Check out the Allo and Hifiberry web sites.

 

I would recommend Volumio software:

 

volumio.org

 

It is free, easy to install and works perfectly with either the RPi/Digi+ Pro or the RPi/Allo Digione combos.  You control it from a web browser or an MPD client on your pad or phone.  Add a USB storage drive and you are ready to go.  Be aware that you will need to connect the RPi to your network with an ethernet cable.  You *can* use a wi-fi adapter with an RPi but it's not as reliable for streaming hi-resolution files.

 

Hope this helps!

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