Until a while ago I used a Squeezebox Duet for streaming (turntable for anything serious). However the "receiver" part started getting flaky and eventually died. The power supply (wall wart) for the unit was not working, and when I tried a replacement the front light was flashing in a sequence I have never seen documented, which I think indicated hardware issues.
So I just today got a Raspberry Pi Zero W (the one with wifi), and I mated it to an Allo miniBoss DAC and installed piCorePlayer, and now my Squeezebox system is fully functional again and sounding better than ever! The incredibly tiny Rpi Zero is amazing, and the equally small DAC is a serious performer for the money. PiCorePlayer is really plug'n'play (once you get the wifi configured). Highly recommended.
So I just today got a Raspberry Pi Zero W (the one with wifi), and I mated it to an Allo miniBoss DAC and installed piCorePlayer, and now my Squeezebox system is fully functional again and sounding better than ever! The incredibly tiny Rpi Zero is amazing, and the equally small DAC is a serious performer for the money. PiCorePlayer is really plug'n'play (once you get the wifi configured). Highly recommended.
Computer (Nuc and laptop in different locations) each with their own dac running JRiver or Pioneer Recordbox or Serato (if i'm djing. And on my main set a cheap Hama streamer (also connected to one of the dac's trough sp/dif) for DAB+ and webradio (mostly) and a Technics SL1500 MKI turntable with an AT-VM95EN cell. My digital music database is on a Nas server hidden somewhere and accessed over lan or wifi...
I think you'd be surprised... with the absorbed early reflections but also a timed Haas kicker (the ambience speakers) I get quite an even direct sound/room sound combo that's actually quite forgiving. A completely dry room would be much more revealing of the recording quality. Though there are limits.... some things simply are bad...
To explain my motives a bit more, I'm in this game to be able to play my favorite tunes, not to get stuck with a select number of 'elite' recordings
. I love music and like to listen to what I'd call 'the soundtrack of my life'. This sometimes weird hobby has put me in contact with new tunes too, but first and foremost, I like to listen to the songs I grew up with and loved to hear.Even though it looks like I use a lot of EQ (and in a way, I do or have to with my choice of speakers), I mainly use EQ to control the speaker output, not for control of the room (beside taking control over frequencies below about 200 Hz which can be done more successfully). You can't EQ the room at the higher frequencies and expect it to still sound nice, but you can influence what the combination of speaker + room do together. Getting those two to work with each other, and on top of that, finding the right tonal balance that works across a variety of songs and it actually can work over a pretty wide variety of songs.
I find the anti cross talk stuff I use helps me find that balance too, but that stuff requires a pretty low level of early (0 to ~10/15 ms) reflections to be able to really benefit from it. I do believe the key ingredient that make it work for me is to find the best cooperation between the room + speakers. To have the tonality of the direct sound and the room sound compliment/match each other.
Music can sound so much better in a good/great hall, but the same holds true for a good or great room.
What I try to do is upgrade the room artificially (as it wasn't that great to begin with). I do it by absorbing early reflections and put a virtually created room (a better sounding one, using ambience speakers as a Haas kicker) in its place. It helps to aim for a certain SPL level by using volume leveling (like the R128 algorithm provides which is incorporated in JRiver's player).
I'll put a disclaimer on this post as I'm well aware that what I do isn't for everyone. I call it MyFi, not necessary HiFi as that term can have a different meaning for a lot of people. I just aim to please myself, to be able to enjoy the music I like.
That must suck. I listen to all sources and all music flat unless I'm using my small speakers, in which case there is a 1 - 3 db bump at 30Hz and 8-16 kHz.
Analog: Thorens TD160BC equipped with SME 3 (undamped) and Empire... MC cartidge.
Digital: written off Technics 1989 CD player, still in good shape.
Radio: Sony ST5950SD, reception is Dolby postprocessed (amazing).
Lazy: iPad 1st gen in a bookshelf player press the button moody sounds thingy.
Digital: written off Technics 1989 CD player, still in good shape.
Radio: Sony ST5950SD, reception is Dolby postprocessed (amazing).
Lazy: iPad 1st gen in a bookshelf player press the button moody sounds thingy.
A recent change to one of my setups was brought on by a power failure, which resulted in the demise of my Asus Tinkerboard.
The replacement is an $18 Dell Wyse 3030, running Volumio. It appears to work as good as the previous, but haven’t done any serious listening. It has been weeks since the failure, so comparisons would be worthless.
The replacement is an $18 Dell Wyse 3030, running Volumio. It appears to work as good as the previous, but haven’t done any serious listening. It has been weeks since the failure, so comparisons would be worthless.