Interesting what you have found there.
I also have a Chord Qute EX Dac, I run that plugged in to a Daphile box (Fanless J1900 System), I've had LOTS of USB based DACs, from home built to off the shelf and just fell in love with the Qute EX so I have just left it on the main HiFI.
The rest of the house I have Pi's running PiCorePlayer... One of those Pi's has a JustBoom Amp Zero with Q2020i's, this is the bedroom Player, it sounds incredible for what that set up cost.
Now, I've run a Squeezebox system over 10 years. I've had The SB3, the Duet, Booms and the SB Touch. And then moved to a USB Dac for the main player on the Touch, then Vortexbox and now Daphile.
Everything has always sounded great.
I was thinking the other day, surely I'm missing out. I'm still set in my ways using this old "Squeezebox SBS" Legacy ecosystem.
And thought i'd investigate Volumio, Moode, Rune etc.
But nothing seemed to work the way the Squeezebox Ecosystem does, I use SqueezeCtrl on my android devices and again it just works, I can send music from the living room to the bedroom when I go to bed and love the way the multiroom setup works.
So maybe I don't need to try messing around with this other Distributions after reading what you put above.
It’s like comparing apples and cheese - you say the PCP+ Digione is better than the SBT and that’s the only one you tested that’s i2s - the others are USB attached.
Perhaps if you tested all three apps with the Allo Digione, direct to your amp and bypassing the Chord, they would have all surpassed the SBT?
And I’m confused - why have a DAC at all, if you are connecting via the USB feed to the Chord?
Your Chord DAC could pay for ten Pi and I2S DAC’s, and the SBT is about 2.5x the cost of a Pi and the Allo unit, just to put things in perspective.
You have compared hobbyist kit at a net cost of less than £100, with over £1200 worth of gear and you prefer your £1200 setup.
I suspect if I’d spent £1200 on a DAC and streaming box I would prefer it over something I knocked up on the bench for £100
I too have a bunch of devices in different rooms and can’t understand the comment that ‘nothing seemed to work the way the Squeezebox Ecosystem does’. I open the web page, press play. Doesn’t get much more simple than that.
Plus, all of the various Pi and DAC’s can be repurposed, upgraded, fiddled with, tuned, without being beholden to a manufacturer that may have gone on to a different range of equipment.
The name of the site may give it away - it’s DIY audio, after all
Congratulations on the Chord - nice bit of kit for the money.
I too have a bunch of devices in different rooms and can’t understand the comment that ‘nothing seemed to work the way the Squeezebox Ecosystem does’. I open the web page, press play. Doesn’t get much more simple than that.
Plus, all of the various Pi and DAC’s can be repurposed, upgraded, fiddled with, tuned, without being beholden to a manufacturer that may have gone on to a different range of equipment.
The name of the site may give it away - it’s DIY audio, after all
I like using an app, I don't want to open a webpage.
Is there an app for these distros? Is there a Send to a different room option and can I sync multiple players as well across zones?
I could not find the answers to this, maybe you can help me
Moode, (I’m not sure about the others) runs Squeezelite, so you can use the squeeze app you like with its multi-room functions the same as a squeeze box. Effectively turn a Pi into a Squeezebox. GitHub - ralph-irving/squeezelite: Lightweight headless squeezebox client emulator
As to an app vs a web page, it’s not really that much different - if you save the Volumio/Moode/PCP web page to the main screen on your phone or tablet using android or iOS ‘save to desktop’, it behaves like an app.
I don’t have a preference to whether the data I am seeing is compiled as an app or pushed/pulled from a web server, it’s more about the functionality.
I predominately use Apple hardware for my portable and PCs and on the Mac and MacBook, can sync multi room. I did hear some noise about being able to do it on the newer iPad/iPhone, too, but haven’t tried.
Yes, you can send to a different room - you don’t have to even be in the house
Just tried the iPad Pro - no you can’t natively multiroom from the portable devices - although that probably just needs someone to code something for MPD to do that.
As to an app vs a web page, it’s not really that much different - if you save the Volumio/Moode/PCP web page to the main screen on your phone or tablet using android or iOS ‘save to desktop’, it behaves like an app.
I don’t have a preference to whether the data I am seeing is compiled as an app or pushed/pulled from a web server, it’s more about the functionality.
I predominately use Apple hardware for my portable and PCs and on the Mac and MacBook, can sync multi room. I did hear some noise about being able to do it on the newer iPad/iPhone, too, but haven’t tried.
Yes, you can send to a different room - you don’t have to even be in the house
Just tried the iPad Pro - no you can’t natively multiroom from the portable devices - although that probably just needs someone to code something for MPD to do that.
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Thank you for your reply, I have 2 Spare Pi 3's and a few Zero's kicking around that I will mess around with over the next few weeks, Im going to order a ES9038 board to play around with so looking at all the audio distros for the Pi, so will run some of these up. Which OS do you use personally? (There are some older Pi Model B's and a Pi 2 here but rather mess with the others)
Yes I run Home Assistant here and have the webpage saved as an icon on the android device, works quite well to be fair.
There are other cool things about the app, you can download music from my server straight to the phone or any other device that runs it. Also it mutes all my players when the phone rings.
I did not know these had Squeezelite integration too, that's quite helpful.
I bought a few Noritake Itron Graphic VFD's from a Ham rally last week, so plan on using them to build a player/dac.
There’s a lot of info on slim forums - like this: Real Squeezeboxes vs alternatives like Squeezelite?
I use Moode, mostly, and since moving countries a few months ago haven’t set up multiroom. And I’ve never been a squeeze user.
I run a central NAS server as a music source and control the unit I want to hear directly via it’s interface.
If I was going the squeeze route, I would add the squeeze server to the NAS, as my computers are up and down quite a bit.
I use Moode, mostly, and since moving countries a few months ago haven’t set up multiroom. And I’ve never been a squeeze user.
I run a central NAS server as a music source and control the unit I want to hear directly via it’s interface.
If I was going the squeeze route, I would add the squeeze server to the NAS, as my computers are up and down quite a bit.
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Ralph is a member of the piCorePlayer team and squeezelite is probably the most vital component of pCP.
piCorePlayer's web interface is really only intended for the initial setup of a headless player (RPi). Control of the payers is done via 1) access to the server's web interface (LMS), 2) one of the many apps available for smart devices, 3) a local screen/monitor/touch screen using jivelite or 4) IR remote control.
There is a very basic web control in pCP but I only included it because I use it for "my" convenience while developing pCP. I won't recommend it as a useful day to day tool.
I don’t have a preference to whether the data I am seeing is compiled as an app or pushed/pulled from a web server, it’s more about the functionality.
I predominately use Apple hardware for my portable and PCs and on the Mac and MacBook, can sync multi room. I did hear some noise about being able to do it on the newer iPad/iPhone, too, but haven’t tried.
Yes, you can send to a different room - you don’t have to even be in the house
Just tried the iPad Pro - no you can’t natively multiroom from the portable devices - although that probably just needs someone to code something for MPD to do that.
I use iPeng on my iDevices to control my pCPs or Squeezeboxes. iPeng can also be player. Luckily, Logitech pretty much open sourced their software so you don't need to rely on Logitech's (unavailable) hardware.
I think we are lucky to have so many great (mostly free) options!
regards
It's a great bit of software, really nicely done.
My first "alternative" Squeezebox I made out of hacking some Pogoplugs, quite some time ago, found the UART and put some serial ports on them all, then installed Linux and the Squeezelite, it worked fairly well but took time to install and configure everything.
Then the Pi came out and it was a bit of a let down audio wise, USB dacs didn't at first play nicely and I carried on with my Pogoplugs.
Then PiCorePlayer came out and changed everything for me. Not used anything else since.
I've had HD44780 & I2C screens running on it, IR remotes, all sorts of things. It's incredibly stable and love the way it runs from ram.
As a newbie to this world, I'm both overwhelmed and thrilled there are so many choices.
I've managed to try all of the major ones so far including Volumio, Rune, PCP, Moode, OSMC, Max2play. I couldn't actually get max2play to function through my digi board, but was able to kind of test the rest of them.
My speakers aren't complete so I don't have listening impressions yet, but I have a stack of mSD cards waiting for that to happen. I was running into a significant sound quality issue using the airplay via Moode, but I'm sure I'm just screwing something up.
I find the LMS interface, and even the uPnP/DLNA/just network drive access interfaces to be extremely poor, so I'm looking more what the controlling interface. I don't mind a web based interface, and of the ones I've tested, Volumio looked the nicest, but I need something very simple that my wife can quickly and easily play the music/radio/spotify/etc she wants to without having to work at it.
So far I've seen Ipeng for squeeze and Regelian for mpd. To be honest, I still haven't really figured out what I need to do with MPD (Do I need MPD to run on my Windows music storage machine, if so how, because mpd.exe only runs for half a second and then closes for me).
I'm also curious on how important the rpi power supply really is to this when I'm using a digital out to my minidsp.
I've managed to try all of the major ones so far including Volumio, Rune, PCP, Moode, OSMC, Max2play. I couldn't actually get max2play to function through my digi board, but was able to kind of test the rest of them.
My speakers aren't complete so I don't have listening impressions yet, but I have a stack of mSD cards waiting for that to happen. I was running into a significant sound quality issue using the airplay via Moode, but I'm sure I'm just screwing something up.
I find the LMS interface, and even the uPnP/DLNA/just network drive access interfaces to be extremely poor, so I'm looking more what the controlling interface. I don't mind a web based interface, and of the ones I've tested, Volumio looked the nicest, but I need something very simple that my wife can quickly and easily play the music/radio/spotify/etc she wants to without having to work at it.
So far I've seen Ipeng for squeeze and Regelian for mpd. To be honest, I still haven't really figured out what I need to do with MPD (Do I need MPD to run on my Windows music storage machine, if so how, because mpd.exe only runs for half a second and then closes for me).
I'm also curious on how important the rpi power supply really is to this when I'm using a digital out to my minidsp.
Hello,
I need to set-up a headless music server on Rpi. It will have to drive a USB DAC and potentially in the future a I2S DAC. Music should be stored on an external USB disk attached to the Rpi (as I have no NAS).
Would you have some advice about how to choose between Volumio, Rune, Moode, Picoreplayer and so on ?
Previously, I was running bare MPD on a ARMBIAN distribution on an OrangePi PC. The OrangePI PC died, and I decided to move to real RPi for better community support. Hence more options.
Best regards,
JMF
I need to set-up a headless music server on Rpi. It will have to drive a USB DAC and potentially in the future a I2S DAC. Music should be stored on an external USB disk attached to the Rpi (as I have no NAS).
Would you have some advice about how to choose between Volumio, Rune, Moode, Picoreplayer and so on ?
Previously, I was running bare MPD on a ARMBIAN distribution on an OrangePi PC. The OrangePI PC died, and I decided to move to real RPi for better community support. Hence more options.
Best regards,
JMF
I have become quite partial to PiCorePlayer because it runs in memory and doesn't risk SD card corruption when improperly shut down due to user error or power loss. Also, the performance is terrific.
Just my two cents.
Thanks for the feedback. This SD corruption is a good point as those embedded devices are more expected forgotten and switched off without clean shutdown.
Do you see other differentiating features between pCP/LMS and MPD based solutions (except the GUI look and feel) ?
Is there a recommended cliend on Android devices ?
JMF
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Not to mention power outages. We have a lot of trees and overhead power lines in my area. Last winter was really bad - we lost power three times, then the fourth it went out for a week.
I can't speak intelligently about the underlying software other than to say some clients just sound different than others. I'm quite happy with the performance of PCP.
For an Android client, I'm using Squeezer with LMS running on my Qnap NAS and rendering to a HiFiBerry DAC+ Pro XLR.
Hi guys,
I would like to point out that piCorePlayer running solely as a "player" runs in RAM and is very unlikely to corrupt the SD card, but once you load LMS on it, you should consider it a server application and take due caution to shutdown in the proper manner.
LMS is a database application which reads and writes to a database, so depending on what's happening at the time of the power failure will determine the outcome.
Having said that, I can not remember ever corrupting my pCP/LMS SD card over the many years I've been using it and we get a couple of power outages during the year.
regards
I would like to point out that piCorePlayer running solely as a "player" runs in RAM and is very unlikely to corrupt the SD card, but once you load LMS on it, you should consider it a server application and take due caution to shutdown in the proper manner.
LMS is a database application which reads and writes to a database, so depending on what's happening at the time of the power failure will determine the outcome.
Having said that, I can not remember ever corrupting my pCP/LMS SD card over the many years I've been using it and we get a couple of power outages during the year.
regards
I found the webbrowser interfaces to all be pretty mediocre, so while I tried volumio, rune, and moode, I thought they were all unnacceptable to live with from an interface standpoint. Especially with a large library.
The fact that pcp and Ipeng can directly integrate streaming platforms was a huge win, plus the interface is top notch. I have it now running on 3 separate rasp-pis. I occasionally have to reset them, and one can't seem to handle streaming from tidal (it gets choppy, but not when just playing flac from my local server) but in general i've been very happy with pi core player.
The fact that pcp and Ipeng can directly integrate streaming platforms was a huge win, plus the interface is top notch. I have it now running on 3 separate rasp-pis. I occasionally have to reset them, and one can't seem to handle streaming from tidal (it gets choppy, but not when just playing flac from my local server) but in general i've been very happy with pi core player.