Life of Pi

[Fretless]

I've nicked a spare SD card out of an MP3 player and am formatting it to install Moode (downloaded and ready).
Will see if I can get that running this evening or tomorrow.

Thanks for the tip, Lazmo.

[Fretless]

Fired up Moode in my computer-desk setup on headphones and it does sound noticeably better than Rune: clearer, punchier & more detailed. Better functionality as well.

Next stop; a trial run against Volumio in the Pi2 with the NVA's. Tomorrow.

[Lazmo]

I know many professional musicians and many own hi fi systems (used i must say as a reference to play and learn from by most of the people i know) more than sat at listening for pleasure! as a musician they are usually out working each to their own eh

Quote" You could write what you've written about any thread on this forum (or most others). When they work well, these are about sharing experiences in reproducing music to the benefit of the readers.

Precisely terry it is about sharing your experience with others who may have a interest in trying to reproduce good music in a good fashion without having to spend an almighty fortune to achieve it and it is a hobby a learning curve education to stimulate the mind for those who wish to take part !
As an avid music fan of many many years i have been to more gigs than i have had hot dinners and still continue to go to them

Far better than being negative on forums or watching inane drivel on what is television nowadays.

[Lazmo]

Thanks for the tip, Lazmo.

Your very welcome Fretless

I have just returned to my istallation of moode now it all seems to be working fully and i have an updated source of music from the nas i can have a better play around with it tomorrow before i put it through the nva system but as you say it does sound punchier and more detailed than rune .
Some of the radio sations streaming quality are very impressive indeed more to come from i hope

[Fretless]

It 's tomorrow (after midnight anyway). Comparing two OS on a Pi is a simple matter - off, card out, other card in, on - and Moode did sound good, very detailed and full-bodied. Then I put the Volumio card back in, playing Bill Evans 'Waltz for Debby' album (a jazz classic). The sound was more restrained and rounded, less in-your-face. But more integrated and freer from the speakers. Volumio is just that little bit more natural.

it's a hair-splitting exercise and Moode has a load of functionality missing from Volumio. I'll keep it running in the office and have a play with all of the radio stations.

Goodnight all.

[Fretless]

Whilst having a trial run on Rune a couple of pages ago I found a video from Hans Beekhuijzen in which he describes his experiments with the Pi and Digi+ board. He mentioned something that has been nagging at me ever since and that is that the HifiBerry Digi+ comes with an optional Galvanic Transformer on the Coax SPDIF output. This specific component is included to electrically isolate the output signal from any interference from the boards circuitry - a thoughtful addition for the audiophiles wanting to squeeze the best performance out.

But - this extra bit makes the coax output extremely cable sensitive and is matched to the 75 ohm resistance that a 'proper' digital cable should have. My Hegel DAC only has one coax input - and my CD player is hooked up to that with NVA SSP and sounding great. Up to now I have been running the Pi into one of the two optical Toslink connections, Also sounding just great.

In my office setup, though, I have room to experiment a bit. A Pi B+ / Digi+ is running into the old MF M1DAC via toslink, but the coax input is still free. Remembering that I have a nice Supra Trico digital interconnect hooking up some video equipment, I grab that and can now compare the two.

Supra pride themselves that the Trico is one of the few interlinks to offer a strict 75 ohms. A big thick, chunky affair that feels like it means business.

Soundwise, the performance is rounder, fuller and slightly mellower. Switching back to optical it sounds brighter, sharper and a bit grating. Although more detail would appear to be evident, but that might just be that the treble is more pronounced over the midrange. Certainly this cable is sounding very musical with the Pi and those interested in this should take note of being careful in partnering the Hifiberry Digi+ board with a coax interlink.

Time for more coffee

[selby]

Anyone tried this DAC for the Pi - http://www.iqaudio.co.uk/

[terrybooth]

Yes. I couldn't put a hair between it and the hifiberry unless you turn on the digital volume control on the iqaudio, then the sound suffered.

[Fretless]

Latest bit of Pi geekness:

Continuing from the above 75 Ohm coax saga, I wanted to put the Supra Trico back in the TV setup, as a composite video connection it is unbeatable. So I was looking around for another link that would fit the idiosyncracies of the Hifiberry Digi+ (galvanic TF) output. I have already used a Beresford Toslink on the Pi in the main rig and thought - maybe I should just get another one, looking at their site I saw that they also do a 1m digital Coax cable, the TRC-222.



The blurb gushes about accuracy and transparency - but it does also state that this cable has an exact 75 Ohm rating. At 40 euro it was nicely affordable, so I ordered one.

Beresford have their own little webshop in Holland, and the cable arrived in the post within 2 days. Bright red, sturdy, and with solid-looking, gold-plated plugs. Slamming it into place between the Pi and MF M1DAC I had a listen. Not bad, nice full sound, deep bass - but a bit muffled in the treble. Soundstage not as focussed as the Trico. Hmm, maybe it has to burn in a little first.

The Trico went back onto the telly and I had the Beresford coax in my office rig for a week or 2, enjoying the full sound and finding it very pleasant and musical.
By chance, last week,I ended up looking again at the product description for the TRC-222 and read the following words; "Highly directional grain structure of PCOFC". A little warning light went on in my brain, this cable is directional ??? I hadn't thought about that. Carefully inspecting the red PVC surround I saw minute white lettering - and a tiny arrow pointing the way from source to DAC. Yup, I'd done it again, put the thing in the wrong way around!

So, unplug, reverse, re-attach. Firing things up again and giving Jean Michel Jarre's new 'Electronica' a blast I was struck straightaway by the huge improvement in top-end-detail and dynamics. The soundstage clicked into place and the effects I had missed from the Trico were back in evidence. Don't know if I can say that the Beresford coax is any better than the Supra. But performance-wise they are very close to each, other and the TRC-222 is cheaper. Certainly it would seem to be a good match for the tricky output of the Hifiberry Digi+ galvanic transformer circuit, and that is what I was after.

The fact that digital coax cables can affect the sound quality has been a surprise to me in the past, but that their directionality also provides audible differences is nothing short of downright weird.

[Fretless]

For those who think that an RPi at 30 pounds is too expensive - they have just announced the new Raspberry Pi Zero. Costing less than a fiver, half the size of the original model A - and more powerful !



They are being given away free with this months MagPi magazine.

Info here: https://www.raspberrypi.org/blog/raspberry-pi-zero/