If it weren’t for the pandemic, I’d probably still be stuck with only vinyls and CDs. Don’t get me wrong, I was using a Logitech Squeezebox to play my music files, mostly MP3 songs. I ripped my CDs and vinyls into digital MP3 files at 320 kbps, which was good enough for casual listening during my long flights, but it still couldn’t compare to the quality of vinyl and CDs.
In 2020, when the government issued the “Order to Stay Home,” I found myself with a lot of time on my hands. Google and YouTube introduced me to higher-quality lossless music files (FLAC, WAV, DSD, and MQA). I started researching music players that could support these file formats and more.
Initially, I considered the BlueSound Node as a music streamer box. The price was reasonable, and I thought it would meet my requirements for digital music. I almost ordered the Bluesound, but then I discovered Volumio and changed my mind. It wasn’t just because Volumio was free; the Raspberry Pi 4/2GB was also very affordable at around $35. I ordered a Topping D50s with a linear power supply (LPS), but I returned it within a month and got the Topping D90mqa instead, which is still going strong in my main system.
During those two to three years of free time, I managed to clean all my 3,000+ vinyls with an ultrasonic cleaner and re-ripped the songs from my vinyls and CDs in WAV format. I couldn’t be happier with my current system.
Today, my system is still pretty much the same as it was several years ago. My main digital player is now a Raspberry Pi 5 with 8GB of RAM. I still have an Asus Tinkerboard S, three Raspberry Pi 4s, a Topping D90mqa as my main DAC, and a Geekworm DACPi with a PCM5122 DAC, which offers excellent value for the price.
Since I started using Volumio three years ago, I was using only a Raspberry Pi 4/2GB with a Topping DAC, and I was very happy with the sound quality, music database management, and remote control capabilities via my smartphone and computer. Today, my setup has grown a bit. I now have an excellent PeppyMeter screen saver for visual enjoyment along with the sound. Recently, I booted from NVMe and stored close to 2TB of music on the same NVMe. I have had a lot of fun with Volumio since the beginning. Thank you, Volumio and friends in the community.!