"Best" Audio Quality Hardware for running LMS - Opinions Wanted ....

[Cut-Throat]

I have been running LMS on a Raspberry PI 3 with the Allo Digione Board for quite awhile now and was wondering if there are other hardware offerings that are better sound wise than this? No need to mention Sonore, as I have tried some of their products, and the only thing that was above what I currently have is Price.

[drmatt]

Any Squeezebox player with digital output coupled with a good quality DAC will do the job nicely.


Transcoded from Matt's brain by Tapatalk

[garym]

You ask about "running LMS". This has little or nothing to do with "sound quality". You need something that can run LMS and deliver the digital stream properly to the endpoint (a hardware squeezebox player or a software version, e.g., squeezelite). The issue with something running LMS is that is is powerful enough to provide snappy browsing of your library, handle any file transcoding, run any desired plugins, etc. Running LMS on a rPi with piCorePlayer can handle this just fine.

As noted by @DrMatt, the sound quality will be a function of the DAC you attach to that player (and don't assume you need a multi-thousand dollar DAC), your speakers, room treatment, etc.

[Cut-Throat]

You ask about "running LMS". This has little or nothing to do with "sound quality". You need something that can run LMS and deliver the digital stream properly to the endpoint (a hardware squeezebox player or a software version, e.g., squeezelite).

I should have mentioned that LMS is actually running on my NAS ... And my question was; Is there anything out there that can deliver the digital stream better than a RPi that is ALSO running squeezelite?

[Apesbrain]

Is there anything out there that can deliver the digital stream better than a RPi that is ALSO running squeezelite?

When people claim they've found something "better" they often cite the Sonore products that you've already dismissed. Nice thing about the Allo DigiOne S/PDIF board you're using is that it has a true 75 ohm output. Get a DAC with 75 ohm BNC input and a proper 75 ohm cable and S/PDIF shouldn't get any better than that.

[DomieMic65]

I also own rpi3b+ with Allo DigiOne and I am also in search of the optimal computer to run LMS.
For now I use an old Mac mini but I am considering rpi4b+ too (I have already asked about the subject in another thread so I don’t want to overtake the forum with the same questions).
From my limited knowledge on to the matter though I think that the most commercial “audiophile” solutions out there even the very expensive ones (for example Melco), are based on upnp/dlna.

Considering the 3B+/DigiOne setup do you from your experience think that it is better option than usb out to the dac? (RCA SPDIF input only unfortunately).
I quite like the DigiOne but sometimes think that usb is a little bit more dynamic sounding!

[DomieMic65]

I also own rpi3b+ with Allo DigiOne and I am also in search of the optimal computer to run LMS.
For now I use an old Mac mini but I am considering rpi4b+ too (I have already asked about the subject in another thread so I don’t want to overtake the forum with the same questions).
From my limited knowledge on to the matter though I think that the most commercial “audiophile” solutions out there even the very expensive ones (for example Melco), are based on upnp/dlna.

Considering the 3B+/DigiOne setup do you from your experience think that it is better option than usb out to the dac? (RCA SPDIF input only unfortunately).
I quite like the DigiOne but sometimes think that usb is a little bit more dynamic sounding!

Well ... I must correct myself and say that SOTM products support LMS and squeezelite.
sMS200 (ultra)
I didn’t have the opportunity to audition one of them but they get good reviews!

[drmatt]

I did have the guy in my local hifi shop sneer at my Squeezebox Touch as a digital streamer.. because apparently other more established "hifi" brands are better at digital output. I begged to differ but chose not to take the conversation further. (I also never bought a dedicated CD transport.)

They are good guys on the analogue side and helpful in general but I think the digital revolution didnt reach that particular shop yet...

I can honestly say that I've never encountered a real repeatable difference in audio quality between two digital sources playing the same bits. Pretty much everything analogue, on the other hand...


Transcoded from Matt's brain by Tapatalk

[Cut-Throat]

I did have the guy in my local hifi shop sneer at my Squeezebox Touch as a digital streamer.. because apparently other more established "hifi" brands are better at digital output. I begged to differ but chose not to take the conversation further. (I also never bought a dedicated CD transport.)

They are good guys on the analogue side and helpful in general but I think the digital revolution didnt reach that particular shop yet...

I can honestly say that I've never encountered a real repeatable difference in audio quality between two digital sources playing the same bits. Pretty much everything analogue, on the other hand...

That has been my experience. But I thought I would run this by this forum...

If I posed this question on an Audiophile Forum, I would get some recommendations of $2- $4 Grand Music Players. And they would be certain that a Raspberry Pi could not deliver any music worth listening to... That is exactly why I did not post this there.

[JohnB]

Call me silly but I've been toying with trying a Metrum Ambre and replacing the Roon card with picoreplayer (Metrum are happy users to do that). The reasons: I already have a Metrum DAC so it will match (yes, silly), a variety of outputs including I2S, the Ambre seems to have had good reviews, no need to worry about various power supplies.

Drawbacks: price.