Audiophile wishes from new user

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Hi, i am Micha.

i am new here and think about how to stream my flac files with best quality to my DAC.
I have one Pi 4 already running Volumio OS having my Musicdrive attached to it. On first look i was pleased with performance and sound quality via USB but i am open for better solutions. My idea is to have one pi (pi 4) next to the router serving as fileserver and streamer, another Pi (Pi zero W?) next to my Hifi which gets the stream and sends it to my dac and another Pi (Pi 3 or 4) with touchdisplay to control the Streamer an acting as a Display for the Library.

I hope for suggestions to get best Performance in Soundquality.

Thanks in advance,

Micha

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Hey Micha,

The streamer would be the Pi attached to your DAC and If you ever plan to use Fusion DSP (which I strongly recommend) you should use at least a pi 4 or any x86 (cheaper).
I believe the pi zero would be s good file server tho.

For controlling any android tablet with a kiosk browser does the job and might be more portable.

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For the sound quality, you already are set very well. Volumio on a Pi4 is one of the best choices. Only your DAC can make a difference. If that one also is a very well made product, Volumio will get the best out of it.
I’ve built already 4 Volumio streamers myself, with 3 different models of DAC’s, and yes there are slight differences.
For the rest, i second @StefanGu mostly. I control the streamers from phones, tablets and laptops.
As a server I use a home build NAS, using OpenMediaVault. That works like a charm.

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Hey Stefan,

thanks for your reply. The DAC i use is a RME DAC 2 FS which has allready a kind of DSP integrated. I use a 2nd DSP aminidsp just as a crossover and to reduce some room modes. As of now i activated Fusion DSP just a few moments and was not happy with the result so i deactivated it.
I am still developing my Speakers so the day may come where Fusion DSP may become useful.

greetings, micha

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Hey Mischa,

thanks for your reply. After some hours testing i have to say that the Sound quality of the Pi via USB is not that great in my ears. My Macbook sounds way better by now. The Hifi i use are Fostex 8" fullrange drivers driven by a class A amp. They have a really high resolution which makes smallest things audible. I had a similar sound with the DAC before changing the plug-in power supply to a linear PSU. I just ordered a 5V version to drive the Pi.
For testing i configured samba to my needs. Later on i will go for a similar solution as you mentioned.

greetings, micha

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Hi Micha,

Is the pi connected to your DAC? Because if you don’t use any resampling the sound quality should be bit perfect.
Or are we talking about your file storage?

Regarding Fusion-DSP what filter did you try and how did your measure your room?
Fusion DSP with Camilla is extremely mighty and I would always prefer it over a hardware DSP since it gives me theoretically full control of my audio routing.

The only thing that really bothers me is tidal and Qobuz Connect not working properly since Qobuz stutters when the audio sauce isn’t the same bandwidth as the filter and tidal connect is bypassing the audio pipeline.

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Hi Stefan,

thanks for yout thoughts. The Pi is connected to the DAC via USB. I am not happy with the sound yet. It is a bit harsh and lacking musicality. Activating Fusion DSP without any filters used made it even worse. As i said, i don’t need another DSP at the moment, i just wanted to see if it works and what it hast to offer. I think the reason of the “not so optimal” sound is the original Pi power supply. I ordered a linear PSU from Aliexpress to solve the problem. And yes, the USB 3,5" HD is connected to the Pi and has another power supply connected, not ideal. I’ll try a different configuration with usb SSD as soon as the PSU arrives, maybe tomorrow i hope :slight_smile: cu, micha