I’ve got Volumio running on my old model B Pi and although a little sluggish it works very well. I’m streaming over ethernet and using a Behringer audio interface via USB for a DAC.
The only snag is that I’m getting faint clicks in the audio and a sort of “wooziness” to the sound at times when using the DAC. If I set to use the headphones output the sound is fine (although noticeably lower quality)
I’m guessing that my Pi is a bit underpowered and it’s struggling? Anyone have any suggestions that might reduce the load and help sort out the sound?
Note that playing from a USB stick or streaming from Spotify have the same problem so it doesn’t seem to be network speed related.
Old versions of Raspberry PI (<4) have a known issue on the USB bus. If you plan to use USB audio output, then I would suggest to use a PI4 (if you can find it…)
Yes I was really just trying it on the model B as a proof of concept but then I found I can’t actually get hold of a new Pi so thought I might be able to make them most of what I have.
as @volumio says it’s not the best idea to drive an USB sound device with a PI lower than version 4 which is very expensive these days…
To get a working system with your old PI1 ,try an old Volumio version, but be warned there is no support for that any longer and do not expect actual plugins will work with that.
I2S Hats do work good with old PI’s regarding crackles and similar issues.
My oldest test system is a PI2 with an HifiBerry Pro Hat - and running on v3 - slow interaction - but stable and very good sound.
Based on your images @Darmur it’s a Rev 2. I had a search around for a I2S DAC but wasn’t sure I was looking at the right thing/version. Can you point me to any that would suit?
I’ve got Volumio running on an original model B, so it can be done. The difference is that I don’t have an I2S DAC. I connect to an AV amp via the HDMI socket instead, as the amp has its own DAC built in.
The only sound issue is that some of my MP3s were encoded 15-20 years ago, and sometimes the weaknesses of that generation of encoder are revealed by some occasional shrillness. Apart from that, it’s great.
There is one problem, which is that about once a week it becomes unusable. My only theory is that the on-board music database has become corrupted or something. I just flash the SD card with Volumio again and reconfigure it, while I use my other original model B to actually listen to Volumio. Generally one of the two Pis is working, although they take 15-18 hours to scan my NAS.
So why don’t you take a back-up from a working SD. If things go wrong, you reflash the backup and your up and running in 5-30 min. (depending on the size of the SD)
I haven’t given up (largely due to the unavailability of Pi 4s!). I’ve ordered the DAC that Darmur suggested and in the meantime reconfigured things slightly. I’ve tried a different USB DAC with similar results. It’s so close to being absolutely brilliant that I really want to eradicate the remaining pops and crackles. Hopefully the new DAC will help, but I hadn’t thought of using the HDMI output so I might try that.
Do you perform an update or rescan, as update should take considerable less time.
But I have to admit, adding way less audio to my NAS as I am used to do in the past. As I am running primarily Qubuz. Saving me a lot of time with tagging and Cover seach
Well yesterday I got an email from bandcamp about a new album, so I bought the digital version and downloaded it. I tagged the files and added the album to the band’s NAS folder.
I have no interest in the Artists, Albums or Genre menu options, they are just a distraction - I’ve already got a folder on the NAS for every artist and a sub-folder for each of their albums. So I go to MusicLibrary, select the NAS box, go to its Music folder, scroll down to the band and click on that. Five folders/albums are listed, and I know there are six on the NAS now. So I go back up to the band’s folder, and in the menu option on the right side of their entry I choose Update Folder.
The spinning wheel next to Music Library appears as expected - and never goes away.
Update: I just checked, and now Volumio doesn’t respond at all. The spinning wheel stayed all day, but now there’s no response from its web server. Looks like I’ll be flashing the SD card again.
I have found the same issues w/ the 3 B+ model. The reason is that USB and Network are very close and/or use partly the same bus.
I have made good experience with ASUS Tinker Board 2GB for USB DACs. Up to now I have not found a USB DAC not working and I have used quite a few. It´s a high performence board w/ 2GB memory and a quad core 1,8 GMz CPU. The version w/out “S” is sufficient!
Unfortunately the Volumio support for HAT boards is poor for Tinker Board and needs some command line hands on.
There is also a Spdif coax connector on the board, which has to be soldered. But same issue like the B model!
@Darmur Well the DAC arrived from AliExpress and with a bit of soldering works a treat. Thanks for that I’m using the Generic I2S DAC as the driver. Is there any advantage to switching to a different driver?
One reason is that I get new music all the time, and starting again takes a long time.
