Using Raspberry Pi 4 as a stand alone streamer
Posted: Mon Jul 27, 2020 12:10 pm
Okay appreciate this is stretching things a bit to say it is a new topic but bear with me . I have used a Raspberry Pi as my stand alone Music server for about nine years now . It all started with a Raspberry Pi B and has been changed each time a new Pi was introduced and the outgoing unit would be converted to a player .
The set up I use is not very exotic or difficut to use Logitech Media Software is used (free) then I use the Material Skin plug (free) which does not alter things but makes the GUI a much nicer experience . Distro I use is Max2play which you have to pay for but I like the way it has so many automatic versions when you add DAC hat,s Digi Hats or even Amp Hat,s you just click it and most of the loading and settings are done for you .
Now from the start I have thought that the sound quality of this tiny box working as just the server has been very good and I admit to being more than a little sceptical that changing the server would improve sound quality . I have tried a Linn Sneaky , Cambridge CNX and Cyrus streamer over the years and honestly used as pure streamers (not DAC,s) I would be hard pushed to tell one from the other.
When the Pi came out within the first week I ordered a 2gb and 4gb unit to use in my systems the 2 gb as a player and the 4 gb as the stand alone Music Streamer . So much so normal and I got exactly what I expected sound quality the same but a much faster and more responsive feeling to the use . When looking for tracks and changing music the Pi 4 was much smoother and more like the much more expensive streamers. This would have continued had I not tried an LPSU which not only did not work but fried itself and the Pi 4 4gb .
LPSU back the mfg and see what they had to say . Now I was going to just order a Pi 4 4gb but decided at the last minute to order an 8 gb what the hell . Now while the Pi 4 4gb was down I had used the SD card and power supply it had been plugged in to in a spare Pi4 2gb unit I had so the music would keep playing . Slightly slower than the 4 gb but the same sound . This was the 2gb Pi 4 I had bought at the same time as the 4 gb when they were first released. Pi 4 8 gb arrives and I put that into the IIRC case I had used the same SD card and Pi standard power supply I had used with the 4 gb . First the good news everything worked as it should including being faster and smoother , then the really good news this 8 gb unit has taken the sound of the system up a whole couple of notches . Everything is more natural and imaging in all my systems is wider . Bass has more seperation and texture , vocals sound more like real people singing , or unreal people singing (Kraftwerk you know who you are) .
I have no real idea as to why this should be the case and I know that using a Pi as a stand alone streamer puts very little stress on it so the extra ram should make no difference . I have since found out from others who know that there have been a number of hardware and firmware revisions to the Pi 4 since it has launched but it hard to find what these are. Any way the important thing is that it is a real improvement in sound quality and it appears to be available with any of the Pi4,s so long as they are the latest hardware . If you use a Pi and have either a Pi 3 or earlier or an very early Pi 4 then I would say get yourself a nice new unit and give this a try it is not subtle and two other people that have tired it have both reported hearing the same improvements so I am not going mad but maybe it is a placebo / induced effect . Not that bothered if it is because the sound improvement is happening in all my systems from the best ones to the simple Amp hat powered kitchen one .
The set up I use is not very exotic or difficut to use Logitech Media Software is used (free) then I use the Material Skin plug (free) which does not alter things but makes the GUI a much nicer experience . Distro I use is Max2play which you have to pay for but I like the way it has so many automatic versions when you add DAC hat,s Digi Hats or even Amp Hat,s you just click it and most of the loading and settings are done for you .
Now from the start I have thought that the sound quality of this tiny box working as just the server has been very good and I admit to being more than a little sceptical that changing the server would improve sound quality . I have tried a Linn Sneaky , Cambridge CNX and Cyrus streamer over the years and honestly used as pure streamers (not DAC,s) I would be hard pushed to tell one from the other.
When the Pi came out within the first week I ordered a 2gb and 4gb unit to use in my systems the 2 gb as a player and the 4 gb as the stand alone Music Streamer . So much so normal and I got exactly what I expected sound quality the same but a much faster and more responsive feeling to the use . When looking for tracks and changing music the Pi 4 was much smoother and more like the much more expensive streamers. This would have continued had I not tried an LPSU which not only did not work but fried itself and the Pi 4 4gb .
LPSU back the mfg and see what they had to say . Now I was going to just order a Pi 4 4gb but decided at the last minute to order an 8 gb what the hell . Now while the Pi 4 4gb was down I had used the SD card and power supply it had been plugged in to in a spare Pi4 2gb unit I had so the music would keep playing . Slightly slower than the 4 gb but the same sound . This was the 2gb Pi 4 I had bought at the same time as the 4 gb when they were first released. Pi 4 8 gb arrives and I put that into the IIRC case I had used the same SD card and Pi standard power supply I had used with the 4 gb . First the good news everything worked as it should including being faster and smoother , then the really good news this 8 gb unit has taken the sound of the system up a whole couple of notches . Everything is more natural and imaging in all my systems is wider . Bass has more seperation and texture , vocals sound more like real people singing , or unreal people singing (Kraftwerk you know who you are) .
I have no real idea as to why this should be the case and I know that using a Pi as a stand alone streamer puts very little stress on it so the extra ram should make no difference . I have since found out from others who know that there have been a number of hardware and firmware revisions to the Pi 4 since it has launched but it hard to find what these are. Any way the important thing is that it is a real improvement in sound quality and it appears to be available with any of the Pi4,s so long as they are the latest hardware . If you use a Pi and have either a Pi 3 or earlier or an very early Pi 4 then I would say get yourself a nice new unit and give this a try it is not subtle and two other people that have tired it have both reported hearing the same improvements so I am not going mad but maybe it is a placebo / induced effect . Not that bothered if it is because the sound improvement is happening in all my systems from the best ones to the simple Amp hat powered kitchen one .