Hi Guys, as I can see a lot of you know quite well Volumio on this thread, of love your input on this topic: Raspberri Pi3 Volumio settings
Like hoverdonkey I also much prefer GUIs & stability of Squeezelite and LMS.
I have run a Squeezebox touch prior, tried our Daphile on a computer setup, and had run PCP through my Pi. Now I'm trying out Moode 4.0. To my ears this has the best sound quality. Also playing with the built in parametric Eq to tame some room peaks. I'm in heaven with Moode sound. Will need to pop in the PCP software to compare, but I think Moode definitely comes out on top. I don't like the GUI in Moode so much and wish it had a alphabetical search column to get to artist quicker. Running Tidal through Moode with a UPNP server and using LUMIN app on my IPad. This seems to sound better also.
I'm using a Pi2 Design 502dac from the Raspberry pi using BNC to Rca cable to Schiit Modibit. Sounds incredible, best setup I have had and I have compared may setups.
I have run a Squeezebox touch prior, tried our Daphile on a computer setup, and had run PCP through my Pi. Now I'm trying out Moode 4.0. To my ears this has the best sound quality. Also playing with the built in parametric Eq to tame some room peaks. I'm in heaven with Moode sound. Will need to pop in the PCP software to compare, but I think Moode definitely comes out on top. I don't like the GUI in Moode so much and wish it had a alphabetical search column to get to artist quicker. Running Tidal through Moode with a UPNP server and using LUMIN app on my IPad. This seems to sound better also.
I'm using a Pi2 Design 502dac from the Raspberry pi using BNC to Rca cable to Schiit Modibit. Sounds incredible, best setup I have had and I have compared may setups.
Moode + Squeezer (or a more intuitive GUI) - especially on a smartphone and/or tablet - is the way to go. Though I'll probably give PCP a whirl.
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Oooh, THANK YOU again BilltheCat, I'd hadn't realized that Moode could be controlled by LMS. Brilliant, I have got it working with the very same LMS install that I already had set up for PCP on another Pi. As soon as I enabled Squeezelite in Moode, my LMS box had selected it by the time I loaded the webpage.
So, lovely Moode sounds* and lovely LMS GUI. I'll settle for that. *(Will confirm when I get an empty house for testing again).
Now, if only I could force Moode to run in RAM...
I know what you mean, but there might be a solution to that, also. I've had my eye on this for a while:
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UPS PIco – Uninterruptible Power Supply & I2C Control HAT – Raspberry Pi in Canada
I know what you mean, but there might be a solution to that, also. I've had my eye on this for a while:
UPS PIco – Uninterruptible Power Supply & I2C Control HAT – Raspberry Pi in Canada
Not sure it's a good solution for me - it would mean a dirty charging circuit between my nice linear power supply and DAC...
We could always go in front of the PSU...
DEOK UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply AC 110V/220V Voltage Regulator Charging Module 240v: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
DEOK UPS Uninterruptible Power Supply AC 110V/220V Voltage Regulator Charging Module 240v: Amazon.co.uk: Computers & Accessories
Have you been able to get LMS to see moOde? I just installed LMS on my NAS and for some reason I can't get it to find my Pi. I have enabled squeezelite on the 'audio config' page. How do we go about getting LMS to scan the network for squeezelite devices?
Hmmm, mine just found it, once I had ACTUALLY switched it on that is (at first I did not press "SET" in Moode after switching the 'Squeezelite renderer' toggle...
)Once you have checked that (!) a restart of LMS might be worth a try I guess, but I can't think of much else.
Try a router restart? Yes, I'm peeing in the dark with that one, but I do sometimes find that fixes things.
Hello!
First please know that I have little technical knowledge but I do have lots of hours of experience.
Second, and sorry if this is obvious to you, but I doubt that the built-in sound quality of a Pi (running any software) is as nice as a dedicated player, e.g. your Squeezebox. You'll need to add a nice DAC to the Pi, of which there are many (I have Audiophonics i2s ES9023 TCXO DAC - and it gives me beautiful sound).
With this DAC attached to the Pi, I have found the player setup can make a big difference to sound quality. There are many choices of player of software for Pi, I've tried a few and moode is the best sounding one that I've found and I am content enough that it exploits my hardware to its best potential sound.
However, I find the moode GUI too simplistic for navigating music & making playlists. I much prefer LMS for this. So now I run moode as a squeezelite renderer only (this is a simple setting in moode) and have another Pi to run LMS,* which draws FLACs from my NAS and sends them to the moode Pi. In theory this has the additional benefit of reducing workload of the moode Pi (as it does not have to manage the playlist streaming anymore), thus leaving it concentrate its resources on playback and so... in theory...improve SQ. Not sure my ears (with my system) can hear much improvement over a one-box moode setup though.
Also, I cannot resist, and I have just started playing with LMS settings to get it to decode FLACs to PCM, so the moode Pi doesn't even have to think about that. However, I am not really sure what I'm doing at the mo!
The main thing is that everything's sounding lovely.
That is my layman's answer and I hope that helps a bit. If you're lucky, my crappy answer will lure the very knowledgeable people that lurk on these forums to help you much better!
Using MoOde or Volumio only for Squeezelite playback is OK, but in that case I would advise you to try piCoreplayer instead. In that case you use your Pi (in combination with a HAT DAC or a USB DAC) just as you do with your Squeezebox Touch (except you miss the screen, but even that you can add by adding the Pi-touch screen). Advantage of piCoreplayer is that it's very small and start very quickly and you can pull the power without the need of shutting down the system. (The latter you can do also with Volumio, I don't think you can with MoOde). This is because you load the operating system in memory, so you won't damage the filesystems on disk when you poweroff by pulling the power.
BEWARE: piCoreplayer and Volumio can also act as your LMS-server. In that case you run both server and client on the Pi. This is a nice feature, but in that case you CAN'T pull the power without shutting down the system !! The LMS-server needs to use the actual filesystem on disk (or SD-card), so this must be closed before you can pull the power.
I use both a SB-touch and a Pi in combination with a USB-DAC. I physically switch the USB-cable to the SB-touch or to the Pi. The sound difference (in my setup anyway) is not very big. I find the SB-touch sounds a little "lighter", so bass is a bit leaner from what I hear. I cannot say which combination is better, just a little different.
I also tried the SB-touch in all other possible ways: analog via the RCA-connectors, S/PDIF and TOSlink. All sound mostly the same, which basically means the internal DAC of the SB-touch is not bad at all.
So following many many tests between Volumio, MoOde and finally Picoreplayer on Pi3 (with Luckit WaveIo or with Digione) Vs the Squeezebox Touch here is my very personal opinion:
- Volumio+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: ok but not amazing and SBT definitely better.
- MoOde+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: better than Volumio but SBT still better.
- PCP+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: better than MoOde but SBT still better.
- PCP+Pi3+Digione: Slightly better than SBT: Clearer sound, bass more tight
So I'm keeping this last setup in place, connected to my amp via a Chord Qute Ex DAC.
- Volumio+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: ok but not amazing and SBT definitely better.
- MoOde+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: better than Volumio but SBT still better.
- PCP+Pi3+Luckit WaveIo: better than MoOde but SBT still better.
- PCP+Pi3+Digione: Slightly better than SBT: Clearer sound, bass more tight
So I'm keeping this last setup in place, connected to my amp via a Chord Qute Ex DAC.