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Achieving High Fidelity Sound

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BackinBlack View Drop Down
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote BackinBlack Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Nov 2021 at 8:51am
I look forward to your view on the sound from the Pi plus Digi Hat. As you no doubt have found, there are many (audio) operating systems available. I have stuck with MoOde for quite a time having tried most of the others, the MoOde forum is helpful and the developer Tim Curtis is very active there. One piece of advice, only 8 or 16 GB uSD cards are needed, bigger ones will take much longer to reformat when changing OS. It's also essential to use quality uSD cards, Sandisk Ultra class 10 have worked well for me.

Happy Listening 
Ian
Just listen, if it sounds good to you, enjoy it.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 19 Nov 2021 at 9:12pm

Finally able to upload a photo to show how much smaller the Pi 3B+ is compared to my nano-ITX PC. Keeping my expectations of sound quality low but I might find myself pleasantly surprised. I selected the 3B+ rather than the Pi 4 as it was cheaper and less powerful so should run cooler and not require heatsinking. I also wanted to avoid a mini-HDMI cable. Not sure if there would be any differences between the two in terms of electronic noise affecting the sound quality; I think I would probably be vastly overestimating my hearing ability in this regard. This is the kind of system where I can judge for myself whether powering the computer board with a low-noise linear power supply makes any difference to sound performance whatsoever. I need to keep my head away from marketing and focused on the real life result.

HATs with the Pi are hopefully plug-and-play whereas with the Windows PC, there will probably be programming of the GPIO pins involved.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote discrete badger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2021 at 1:28pm
+1 for MoOde.

It (and maybe the others also) has the fringe benefit of providing a very convenient interface to Linux's software parametric EQ, for playing with room/speaker correction. The SQ of this feature is superb, fully competitive with a pro-audio digital parametric EQ I have lying around. 

Rumour has it that the HifiBerry HATs are a nose behind Allo on the jitter front. I've not heard HifiBerry, but Allo is nigh-on indistinguishable from the streamer board in my amp which has a quite sophisticated clock - and is in an entirely different price bracket.

So I'd expect excellent SQ from PI->HifiBerry->Majestic. But, all else being equal, I'd expect superiority (how much will be an interesting question) from PC->Pink Faun->Majestic, the reason being that the Pink Faun card has been designed and implemented to a far more generous budget than the HAT, and can afford to pay far more detailed attention to a stable clock, clean power, and noise rejection. 

If the HAT were the DigiOne or even the DigiOne sig, with its dual power supplies and separate SP/DIF ground, I'd expect a more even shootout with Pink Faun.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 20 Nov 2021 at 8:38pm
I am in agreement with your thoughts on how they may compare. Before I bought the £320 PCIe card, I was considering a USBridge Signature player containing a DigiOne Signature for about £350 but I wanted the versatility of a PC. I would only invest in a dedicated player if it were networked-controlled from a PC or phone.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Nov 2021 at 8:20am
So the question is:

Does a low power audio player electrically separated from the "noisy" higher power main computer (and TV) provide improved sound quality when low noise clean power is introduced?

Is it only the S/PDIF stage power supply that matters?

Or is it all nonsense?
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote CageyH Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 21 Nov 2021 at 10:20am
Something like a Pi2AES between your PC and DAC would probably be a good move, if you can find one.
This will effectively remove any noise from the PC.
Kevin
European loan coordinator, based near Toulouse, France.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Ash Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: 22 Nov 2021 at 12:47am
I have looked at the Pi2AES in the past as well. It was discontinued back when I was looking in to it and the non-5V (24V??) power supply put me off trying to obtain one. Been looking at the USBridge Signature again tonight; its board is larger than my nano-ITX PC. I'm trying to think rationally about electronic noise on a PCB? What causes it? Is it mainly carried forward from the power supply? Is it from individual component behaviour? Poor circuit configuration? A combination I guess. Accelerating charge emits electromagnetic waves and EMI has many origins. So what change would result in the largest reduction in electronic noise? My mind still thinks the power supply will be the main factor.

I could try the DigiOne Signature. But what I really need is a 5V PC that has both PCIe and 40-pin GPIO access is order to compare the two routes with a linear PSU I know is designed properly. Unless I implement the DAK 5V 3A supply in this way, I'm just going to go round in circles succumbing to more marketing silliness.
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