I have an external Dac Topping E30 II and I would like an opinion from you experts.
Having to create a streamer with external Dac for the new versions of Volumio, is it better to use the Raspberry pi4 (possibly with 8 gb of RAM), hardware platform used for this purpose for a longer time or is it better to buy a Raspberry pi5?
I would like to know, in addition to performance, which one you prefer also in terms of system stability, reliability etc etc.
Thanks everyone!
I have an external DAC (Peachtree Carina150 which is ESS Sabre 9068) and upgraded to the Pi 5 and could not be happier. It is so much faster and more stable. It also has other advantages like having a on/off capabilities and other improvements. It’s just better.
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For Volumio a rPi4-2GB will do.
I’m using Rpi4 and it’s pretty stable, but I would like a bit more speed. However, I’ve read that Rpi5 gets hotter and I don’t want to use a fan.
Do you have a fan? Or it doesn’t need one with Volumio?
TIA
@vmiguel interesting question. I bought the argon case amazon.com/Argon-ONE-NVME-PCIE-Case/dp/B0CT2MDV2D/ref=sr_1_1?adgrpid=1337008552753798&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.m__uIHgRqhF_Ibw1kPxjwhkkkHEgcPl0SBacXLlzcpQJQQkihR6FFA8pICBq7cp6EO2jMVef18vVR2ubT2UxcIRE0KGCmAuCfYVo1pVq_OILHM5UOXLeOxAucfxQjtDeTU8glder4Xt2hYMDYllO1zVk7ow1ov-dQ_FdxZ29ooJIFJJ-XOdiWjQ9CZsChup6wubVABwvsUmwTfIbso-xkhHEJw2ybILZj3nuqzAYczU.P_lRFApfZB32_vrQcyFmxty7WeWdh0r9ayeKAnS4i1w&dib_tag=se&hvadid=83563299634280&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=91297&hvnetw=o&hvqmt=e&hvtargid=kwd-83564094485857%3Aloc-190&hydadcr=24357_13514954&keywords=argon+raspberry+pi+5&msclkid=23801b684776166fb4f57da71f312fee&qid=1724864585&sr=8-1
and it has a fan plus heat sink. I the Pi5 wth the case is out in the open and I have never heard the fan go on. it does get warm, but I have had it for about 5 months and it is all working really well.
Now you got me thinking on an upgrade… Right after I said “I’m good for 2 or 3 years” 
I prefer the good old Raspberry Pi 3B+ for its better energy efficiency and moderate power consumption In my opinion, it has more than enough resources to deliver excellent audio performance with Volumio.
As for the Pi 4 and Pi 5, I don’t think there’s much difference between them when it comes to running Volumio, considering that the Pi 3B+ already handles that task perfectly.
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I still have a 3, but relegated to server duties due to the fact that I’ve noticed an improvement in sound quality with the 4 (maybe because the usb bus on the 3 is shared with the ethernet data?).
I did not see any reason, sound quality wise, to upgrade to the 5 version. In fact, due to it being hotter and may need an active cooler (noisy fan), the 5 did not interested me the least… but a bit more UI speed would be nice, and if the Argon case is really silent, the upgrade bug might bite me…
In my case, I have to say that I don’t use the USB ports on my Pi 3B+, except for the one connected to the external hard drive (which is self-powered). For the connection to the DAC (Topping D50 III), I use the Allo Digione board connected via coaxial cable. This is also why I don’t feel the need to upgrade to a higher Raspberry Pi model.
I have the Raspberry Pi 2/3/4 and 5, I like the Pi 5 best because I have quite a few external devices attached to it and it remains super fast.
gets a little warmer than the rest.
With today’s price, there’s no reason not to go with the 5. I have RPi4s with 2/4/8 GB and they are very good and stable with Volumio. However, I have been using RPi5/8 for almost a year now with heatsink/fan (which the fan actives only when starting up) and a 1TB NVME on a NVME hat on top of the 5. It’s been on 24/7 for 3 months now. I use the 27W power supply from Raspberry without any problem.
Currently my system is very stable.
RPi5/8GB
Volumio 3.742
USB Dac - Topping D90mqa
Plugins:
Touch Display 3.4.0
PeppyMeter Screensaver 2.2.1
Now Playing 0.7.3
System Information 3.0.5
Spotify 4.0.5
Get a 4, been around for ages and all you need.
Waiting on an sd card extender so will load up Plex as well (there is a problem with Tidal connect so save yourself some grief).
Bigger is not always better. I operate a Pi Zero W with an SMSL Sanskrit 10th V2 DAC, which runs superb when you only play regular 44/48kHz streams, no facy features. It also does 96kHz very well (there is this one radio station that I often listen to that streams in 32kHz, but as the DAC doesn´t support it over USB, the stream is upsampled by the Pi/Volumio to 96kHz without issues).
The big advantage of this setup is the very low power consumption.
Running a 4GB Rpi 5 with a Topping E30 II external USB DAC.
Official cooler - this only spins up during boot and doesn’t normally need to run.
PineBerryPi Base NVMe HAT with an Integral 2TB NVMe 2242 Gen3 x 4 SSD.
All powered by a 5V 4A Power Supply Adapter (laptop style).
Makes a nice little stack with the bases off some Old RPi cases…
Noticeably faster than my Rpi4 system, particularly when scanning drives.
I have been using a Raspi 3 A+ satisfactorily for 18 months. Mains limitations are
- Single USB port - not a problem since I am using an IQaudio DAC hat
- No Ethernet Port so WiFi connection only - again not a problem since I have a good WiFi signal
Advantages
- Smaller footprint than standard Raspberry Pi
- Lower power consumption
The setup works nicely from an Audio Database [flac ripped] on an NAS built from another RPi using OpenMediaVault. Furthmore, streaming from Qobuz is excellent as well as Radio streaming. I have had no problems with speed in spite of the smaller RAM (512 MB) - I am not using a screen - just headless with laptop or phone +app.
No need for “go faster stripes” !
New raspberry pi 5 with 2 GB RAM might be an interesting option. According to benchmarks it consumes about 30% less power and runs cooler. Also it is cheaper
https://www.jeffgeerling.com/blog/2024/new-2gb-pi-5-has-33-smaller-die-30-idle-power-savings
This is what i was thinking.
So, the pi5 CAN use more power, but it is more efficient for the same use scenario than the Pi5.
I was under the impression that the 4 was noisier electronically than the 3b+.
Is that not right?
I am using a Pi zero 2W in the garage streaming over wifi with no problems. The speakers are the limiting audio factor there.
My main system is a CM3 (currently sat at 39C in a british summer in an enclosed box) using the Allo USB Sig board.