Gigabyte Brix PC / Topping TP 32 DAC + AMP / LUA AMP

Diy and Tweaks Diy Volumio Projects
1

brix_volumio.JPGFollowing this write up

typingoutloud.org/raspberry-pi-i … io-pibang/

i installed Voumio on a Gigabyte brix PC (amazon.de/GIGABYTE-GB-XM12-3 … abyte+brix) .

Base for the installation is a very lean debian distro, crunch bang.(crunchbang.org)

The output is converted to analogue by the Topping TP32 USB DAC+AMP (amazon.de/Topping-TA2024B-Di … hone+15Wx2)

The DAC is automatically detected by volumio as “TP32”.
It runs as preamp through the headphone jack.

My files are stored on a usb drive which is mounted to volume following the above mentioned writeup.

The amp is my good old LUA4545

Everything together looks quite nice.

Running on the PC the sound is very clear and detailed, but i have the impression, that it does not have the depth and bass as my UDOO Setup (volumio-lua4545-project-dac-usb-t696.html?hilit=LUA4545%20UDOO#p2597) produces.

But in direct comparison (switching the input channels on my amp with both setups attached) i am not sure anymore…

Nevertheless the PC gives a lot of opportunities due to its performance and disk memory which the raspy or udoo do not offer. I will start tuning the sound.

Maybe someone has an idea if the kernel could be tuned. Any comments will be appreciated.

2

… in the meantime i have set the “Mixer type” to hardware which is a tremendous improvement of the sound !
Now i have the sound i expected.

3

Very nice.

Inviato dal mio SM-N9005 utilizzando Tapatalk

4

Hi,

For those of us who are not so Linux-fluent, could you please explain in more detail how you got Volumio running on a PC.

Thanks in advance.

Joel

5

Hi Joel,
After setting up crunchbang-linux (You can download and create a usb stick for installation if you follow the link below)

crunchbanglinux.org/wiki/downloads

i just followed these instructions
typingoutloud.org/raspberry-pi-i … io-pibang/

I am afraid there is no way to make it easier than explained in the link above.

The only way to make it easier would be to send a preconfigured Hard disk to you.
If you live in europe i could prepare something for you and send it via ups or dhl

BUT. For my current configuration i went back to the pure volume implementation with an O2 Objective DAC and just added “squeezelite” following this instructions

tutorial-install-squeezelite-volumio-rasppi-t657.html#p2402

in order to be able to stream my huge itunes collection and independently stream to several raspis.

Finally there is nothing that sounds better than michelangelos Volumio kernel and a O2 Objective dac which can be acquired here

headnhifi.com/dac/odac-rca

6

Thanks so much, Kall1705,

I guess what’s been throwing me about these instructions is the mention of the installation to the Pi.

So I would just substitute a PC wherever the Pi is mentioned (as I’m looking to install Volumio on my PC)?

I’m really sorry for how basic my questions are.

I’ve gone from Mac, to Windows Server 2012, now to Linux.

And I have a feeling I’ve left the toughest (but possibly the best) for last.

And as for using squeezelite, that would be fantastic as I would love to continue to use Ipeng to control my music if at all possible.

How would you say this configuration compares sonically with Daphile (my current player)?

Finally, that you would even offer to send me a configuration via a hard drive is too kind and says a lot good about you.

Thanks for the very generous offer but I’ll first see about making myself crazy by trying to make this install happen on my own.

The screams of frustration you might be hearing from the center of the U.S. will likely be coming from me. : )

Thanks again,

Joel

7

Hi Joel,
no need to excuse !
I think that is what these forums are for:
Everyone helping everyone.
Because everybody is a learner and a teacher at the same time. (At least in the technology driven 21st century…)

OK, concerning your technical questions:

  1. PI / PC
    I am sorry for the confusion, i could have been more specific.
    Yes just exchange “pibang” against “crunchbang” and “pi” versus “pc” while reading the instructions.

  2. Comparison between daphile on pc and volumio mockup on pc
    In my old setup (gigabyte brix pc/O2 Objective dac/ LUA4545 AMP) Daphile sounds better than the volumio mockup. Because of the crunchbang kernel.

According to my impression the best combo ist to run daphile on a pc as server and then use volumio running on a pi as a player with squeezelite (tutorial-install-squeezelite-volumio-rasppi-t657.html#p2402).

If both components are in the same network it just runs smoothly…

As volumio uses in this case its original kernel the soundquality is dramatically better.

8

Kali1705.

What a fascinating idea.

I love it and am going to give it a try.

Thanks so much for all your great help.

Joel

9

Kali1705,

One more question (for now, anyway),

If I have Volumio running on the Pi, why would I also need squeezelite?

Volumio is a player and so is squeezelite.

I’m sure I’m missing something obvious, but I don’t know what it is.

Also, is there a power supply you recommend for the Pi to get better sound?

I’ve put a lot of money into my PC server and would like the Pi (or something similar) to match the quality of the server (or as close as possible).

Thanks once more for your excellent help.

Joel

10

Hi,
a better power quality for a PI as Hifi device could be delivered by an apple charger.
I connected one to my Pi but could not hear a difference in comparison to the original power supply.
But i did not hear classical music (which generates high dynamic differences to the cpu usage and therefore the need for power)
I will give it a try…

Another audiophile powersupply could be this one which just delivers more power at the same voltage:

modmypi.com/5v-2A-modmypi-r … wer-supply

Why squeezelite ?
I am using my Pi(s) to play music from

  • Iphones /ipads
  • a server wich runs daphile and has all my itunes music on a 3TB HD as well as my personal FLAC ripps from CDs
  • HQ Internet Radio stations

So the usage of squeezelite and mpd as players is a convenient solution to play music in multiple locations (outdoors,Headphone amp,Living room tube amp)
as daphile allows the synchronization of several players.
The shairport implementation of volumio makes it easy to stream audio from my i-devices.

So surely Volumio is sufficient to play high quality audio content but daphile makes a multiroom environment possible with volumio as high quality player.

11

Interesting. I would also like to run Volumio on x86, specifically I’d be interested in running this as a virtual machine. I would use minimal Debian or Crunchbang as a basis, together with the tweaks from the Volumio page, the tweaks for Voyage MPD (an x86 MPD distribution) and a switch to Linux RT kernel (see rt.wiki.kernel.org).