New Music Centre

[JRMPT]

So, I'm thinking of adding a new music centre to my current Audio (and vídeo) system.
Starting from the existing gear:
Sources:

• Garrard SB125 Turntable + Cambridge Audio Phono Pre Amp
• Sony CDP 590
• PlayStation 4 (Blue Ray/DVD)

Amp: Prima Luna ProLogue 2
Speakers: Visonik Revo 4
TV: Philips Cineos 9631D/10
Others: Several laptops, a NAS for data backup and both Android and iOS smartphones. DIY interconnect and speaker cables (low capacitance).


Right now the PS4 is connected with the TV by hdmi and the TV analog áudio out is connected to one of the Amp channels (one still free) and that's the only way I can play YouTube, Plex and other streaming platforms on my system.


What do I want a music centre for? Well, I have a large CD collection that I will keep listening, and some vinyl records that I sometimes also listen. But sometimes I miss a song that I would like to stream in Hi-Res Quality to my system. I also want to start building a Hi-Res music library.


What are my requirements:

• Good value for Money
• Hi-Res playing capabilities
• Easy to operate
• Able to search the web to find the music I want and play it at once (from a smartphone or laptop)
• Able to stream from Hi-Res platforms (don't know which yet)

What are my ideas right now:

• Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB?) with the oficial PSU
• HDD (I have an old 500GB Iomega box and a newer WD My Passport Ultra)
• SMSL Sanskript 10th aniversary Mk.II (109€) DAC (great specs and measurements, better than higer priced equipments and all HAT boards available)

This would revamp my system, enable me to connect the PS4 audio(Toslink) and the TV (Coaxial Digital) directly to the DAC and, above all to have a remote controled Hi-Res server and streamer connected to my Prima Luna.


What are my main doubts:

• I don't have a clue of what OS distribution should I install on the RPi
• I'd like to start this with a very precise parts and software list
• I'm more confortable with soldering and woodworking than coding

All suggestions will be welcomed!


Thank you!

 

[duncan2]

I would use a Linux OS but I am heavily biased (through personal experience ) .
As you are "not into " coding then have a look at -


Installing operating system images - Raspberry Pi Documentation


Download the ISO as per instructions.


As I usually work on high end audio amplifiers I am not the person to ask about music centres.

 

[Yatsushiro]

For the cost of a few SD cards (or a few image writes), you can quite easily test drive all of the prominent RPi operating systems, to see which closest matches your requirements:

Moode
Volumio
Archphile
CollybiaOS
PiCorePlayer/LMS
Gentooplayer
Rune

All are free (although voluntary donations can be made), but Volumio offers some subscription based options/add-ons.

All will allow you to play local or network/NAS music files, whilst most will allow you to play Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz etc, assuming you have suitable accounts.

 

[JRMPT]

I would use a Linux OS but I am heavily biased (through personal experience ) .
As you are "not into " coding then have a look at -


Installing operating system images - Raspberry Pi Documentation


Download the ISO as per instructions.


As I usually work on high end audio amplifiers I am not the person to ask about music centres.

Hi! Thanks for your reply. I'm 100% sure to use both a Raspberry Pi 4 and one of its Linux distributions.
There are already several easy enough systems to install and use.

 

[JRMPT]

For the cost of a few SD cards (or a few image writes), you can quite easily test drive all of the prominent RPi operating systems, to see which closest matches your requirements:

Moode
Volumio
Archphile
CollybiaOS
PiCorePlayer/LMS
Gentooplayer
Rune

All are free (although voluntary donations can be made), but Volumio offers some subscription based options/add-ons.

All will allow you to play local or network/NAS music files, whilst most will allow you to play Tidal, Spotify, Qobuz etc, assuming you have suitable accounts.

Thank you very much for your reply. I guess I will follow your advice and try several of those systems. I'll start with PiCorePlayer, because it was the first suggestion I have received, but I think it's not very complicated to test drive all of them.

 

[Yatsushiro]

I'll start with PiCorePlayer, because it was the first suggestion I have received

That would be a good move. I now use PCP, with up to 7 different Pi/DAC devices around the house/garden. I have used Moode, Volumio, Rune in the past but always return to PCP.

It has, arguably, the largest support and development communities of any of these systems, with ongoing plugin and UI development:

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