Raspberry Pi-based streamer (Holo Audio Red)

[MikeDC]

I just switched to a new streamer which is Pi-based. It's from Holo Audio, and called Holo Audio Red Streamer. For those unfamiliar with it, the device uses a Pi Compute Module 4 but only uses the Pi4 as core system. It differs from a standard Raspberry Pi because it does not have all peripheral components on board. It runs the latest version of Squeezelite.

Anyway, I'm experiencing "popping" sounds for the first time. They definitely occur when switching from PCM to DSD, and often when I manually switch tracks in a playlist. Since there are a lot of Raspberry Pi experts on here, I thought maybe you might have an idea of what is causing this and how to correct it. (Of course I've also reached out to Holo Audio for help.)

THANK YOU

[Man in a van]

Here is a numpty guess, so please feel free to ignore it.

I would wait for other suggestions first, actually, I would wait for Holo to resolve the problem.

If you have access to the Squeezelite string, try adding

-D 0:u32be

the value before the colon can be increased; ref the Squeezelite man page

-D [delay]

Output device supports DSD over PCM (DoP). DSD streams will be converted to DoP before output. If this option is not supplied, DSD streams will be converted to PCM and resampled, so they can be played on a PCM DAC. Delay is an optional time to wait when switching between PCM and DoP between tracks, in milliseconds.

so -D 5:u32be

If it it possible find the output paramers of the dac, do so (I would stop squeezelite and run, if installed, Alsacap).

I base this suggestion on my understanding that when switching sample rates the dac momentarily stops.

Noise can also come from poor muting of the stream when this happens.

Before you do anything make a backup of the software on the streamer.

If this is not possible, wait for Holo to respond before stepping outside of any user permissions that may invalidate any guarantee

ronnie

[MikeDC]

I think the numpty guess is probably correct, or at least, this is what it feels like. I did more testing. Definitely popping when changing resolution. With this device, I don't believe I can add any command line parameters to the Squeezelite command. I'm wondering is there a .cnf or similar file for Squeezelite?

[Man in a van]

I think the numpty guess is probably correct, or at least, this is what it feels like. I did more testing. Definitely popping when changing resolution. With this device, I don't believe I can add any command line parameters to the Squeezelite command. I'm wondering is there a .cnf or similar file for Squeezelite?

It's already configured in the squeezelite init.d file

#!/bin/sh

NAME=squeezelite
DAEMON=/usr/bin/$NAME
PIDFILE=/var/run/$NAME.pid
# Read: squeezelite -?
NME=`hostname`_`ifconfig eth0 | awk '/inet addr/{print substr($2,6)}'`
DAEMON_ARGS="-n $NME -C 10 -D u32be"

# Sanity checks
test -f $DAEMON || exit 0

start() {
printf "Starting $NAME: "
start-stop-daemon --start --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE --exec $DAEMON \
--make-pidfile --background -- $DAEMON_ARGS \
&& echo "OK" || echo "FAIL"
}

stop() {
printf "Stopping $NAME: "
start-stop-daemon --stop --quiet --pidfile $PIDFILE \
&& echo "OK" || echo "FAIL"
}

case "$1" in
start)
start
;;
stop)
stop
;;
restart)
stop
sleep 1
start
;;
*)
echo "Usage: $0 {start|stop|restart}"
exit 1
esac

there does not seem to be any delay specified.

atb

ronnie

[Paul Webster]

Is that file from a Holo device?
If not then perhaps they are doing somethig different.
Do they have a GPL site?
Is the firmware (etc) on SD card?
If yes - perhaps you can mount it and take a look inside.

[Man in a van]

Is that file from a Holo device?
If not then perhaps they are doing somethig different.
Do they have a GPL site?
Is the firmware (etc) on SD card?
If yes - perhaps you can mount it and take a look inside.

I downloaded the image from the American seller's website

https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holoaudio-red-ddc-network-streamer/

I tried to run it on a rpi4b but had no luck

That is a copy of the /etc/init.d/squeezelite file off the sd image

In the blurb Holo say that both Moode and Volumio will run on the streamer, as you know both utilse the Raspberry pi Bullseye Lite OS.

It's up to the OP to decide what to do

ronnie

Edit: it will also run RopieeeXL which might be a better bet for Squeezelit / DSD testing (I think that this runs on aarch-linux)

[MikeDC]

I'm am not pi-literate. Not sure how you even got to the init.d file. If I could get to it, I would be willing to edit it and try to generate a new image file. Hopefully I can talk to the Holo people soon.

FWIW, I reconfigured the RED to use UPNP instead of SqueezeLite and the popping continues.

[slartibartfast]

I'm am not pi-literate. Not sure how you even got to the init.d file. If I could get to it, I would be willing to edit it and try to generate a new image file. Hopefully I can talk to the Holo people soon.

FWIW, I reconfigured the RED to use UPNP instead of SqueezeLite and the popping continues.

For the price they charge they should come round to your house to fix it 🤣

[MikeDC]

I downloaded the image from the American seller's website

https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holoaudio-red-ddc-network-streamer/

I tried to run it on a rpi4b but had no luck

That is a copy of the /etc/init.d/squeezelite file off the sd image

In the blurb Holo say that both Moode and Volumio will run on the streamer, as you know both utilse the Raspberry pi Bullseye Lite OS.

It's up to the OP to decide what to do

ronnie

Edit: it will also run RopieeeXL which might be a better bet for Squeezelit / DSD testing (I think that this runs on aarch-linux)

Sorry for my ignorance, but the only thing available on the website is the image file. How did you extract this configuration file from the image file?
Thanks

[CJS]

How did you extract this configuration file from the image file?

You can open the downloaded image file Red-OS-20221210.7z with a program called 7-zip.
A free copy of 7-zip can be downloaded from https://www.7-zip.org.

Extract file 1.img from Red-OS-20221210.7z with 7-zip
Then open 1.img with 7-zip, and navigate to folder /etc/init.d
The file that Man in a van shows in post 4 is file S90squeezelite in this init.d folder.

[MikeDC]

You can open the downloaded image file Red-OS-20221210.7z with a program called 7-zip.
A free copy of 7-zip can be downloaded from https://www.7-zip.org.

Extract file 1.img from Red-OS-20221210.7z with 7-zip
Then open 1.img with 7-zip, and navigate to folder /etc/init.d
The file that Man in a van shows in post 4 is file S90squeezelite in this init.d folder.

THanks....
The only file that I can extract from Red-OS-20221210.7z is Red-OS-20221210.img

If I had the password to the Pi in the Halo Red, could I edit the init.d file on it?

[CJS]

The only file that I can extract from Red-OS-20221210.7z is Red-OS-20221210.img

My instructions were not complete, sorry for that. Here are updated instructions:

Open the downloaded file Red-OS-20221210.7z with 7-zip.and extract file Red-OS-20221210.img
Then open file Red-OS-20221210.img with 7-zip and extract file 1.img
Then open 1.img with 7-zip, and navigate to folder /etc/init.d
The file that Man in a van shows in post 4 is file S90squeezelite in this /etc/init.d folder.

If I had the password to the Pi in the Halo Red, could I edit the init.d file on it?

I suppose you could then edit file S90squeezelite in folder /etc/init.d

[Man in a van]

Sorry for my ignorance, but the only thing available on the website is the image file. How did you extract this configuration file from the image file?
Thanks

Well I keep a Linux Desktop on an old computer and I also have a Raspberry pi 4b 8gb with the raspberry pi Bullseye 64 bit Desktop installed

I popped the card reader and card into the pi and was able to acces the file system.

I would suggest that if you want to mess with the image, first make a backup. If possible use a different card.

I checked RopieeeXL and its Squeezelite is exactly the same as the Holo-Red. I would still advise this route first.

Have you had any reply from the seller or mfg ?

I will pm you a link to download a modded image I have made. I just addded a delay of a few micro-seconds



I have tested the download of the image and burnt it to a card with Balana-Etcher. That is all I can do.

You can ignore it or try it, but if you use it, you are responsible.

The image copy is supplied in good faith and that you understand I cannot accept responsibility for any error.

atb ronnie

[MikeDC]

Thanks so much for the img file! I'll give it a try. I'm doing everything from my Windows PC, so screens, etc. are a little different on my side. I definitely want to see if the delay corrects the POP. I"ve not yet heard from the developer (sales are currently very good for them, so no time for customer service). They really need to provide an interface that allows LMS users to supply command parameters to Squeezelite.

[MikeDC]

If nothing else, this has forced me to purchase a Raspberry Pi and figure out how to use it.