DAC for Jogglers?

[Gingermagic]

Hi all,

Now that I've got a couple of Jogglers, it seems like a waste of power and lan cables to have them acting just as frontends for my SLIMP3 and SqueezeBox.

So, I'm considering replacing the 'real' squeeze devices with the jogglers.

However, the price of some of the USB DAC's that I see mentioned seems very steep.

I am 'not' an audiophile, by any stretch of the imaginiation. I bet that my crappy speakers aren't even worthy of a high end DAC.

So, can anyone recomend, even if you're doing it through gritted teeth, a 'good enough' DAC for a budget price?

Thanks,
Damian

[Man in a van]

I have found that the Ubuntu Joggler is not so friendly with USB dacs (very picky, infact)

I did mention it on the Joggler forum but the problem has not been picked up (I believe Mr Webster also commented about the problem)

If you need to use a Joggler with USB dac then I would say use SQPO.

I have, in the past, run a passive usb2 hub to a Joggler, installed SQPOS on a usb stick,

added LMS and the equivalent of the EDO applet,

attatched a usb Hard disk with music files.

It's all a bit slower than a rpi (for scanning and stuff) but once set up, worked well.

ronnie

[d6jg]

I have found that the Ubuntu Joggler is not so friendly with USB dacs (very picky, infact)

I did mention it on the Joggler forum but the problem has not been picked up (I believe Mr Webster also commented about the problem)

If you need to use a Joggler with USB dac then I would say use SQPO.

I have, in the past, run a passive usb2 hub to a Joggler, installed SQPOS on a usb stick,

added LMS and the equivalent of the EDO applet,

attatched a usb Hard disk with music files.

It's all a bit slower than a rpi (for scanning and stuff) but once set up, worked well.

ronnie

I agree that USB DAC support is better with SqueezePlay OS on a Joggler. I’ve tried a few with one of my Jogglers flashed with SqueezePlay OS and not had a failure. That said I’m pretty sure I remember reading that a Joggler will only support 16bit either 44.1 or 48 kHz so not much point in spending a lot on a USB DAC. I can confirm that an Audioquest Dragonfly Black will work but I’d start with something off eBay around £10-15.
My preference is to use a Joggler as a Now Playing / Control Screen dedicated to a nearby Pi player with either a HAT or a high end USB DAC.

[Gingermagic]

Thanks you two.

I have tried the older SqueezePlay OS, but it doesn't seem to work for me.

Whenever I've run it, it gives me the message that I can't connect because I'm running an old version of the server (which is not correct, I'm running 8.1.0).

I haven't spent any time trying to get to the bottim of this, because the newer Ubuntu + SqueezePlay settup seems to 'just work'.

The USB DAC issue that you've mentioned is annoying though.

My initial plan was to go down the Pi + Touch screen + DAC/Hat route, but the joggler's just seemed SOO much cheaper than that option.

I guess you get what you pay for.

The SLIMP3 and Squeezeplayer are still working fine, so maybe I just need to get OK with the wasteful power consuption and cables of having them and Jogglers set up in the same room.

[Paul Webster]

Regarding SqueezePlay saying that LMS is the wrong version .... see my post on JogglerWiki about how to resolve it

[Gingermagic]

Thanks Paul, I'll take a look.

Are you all advising to use the older Squeezeplay OS?

Using an older version of anything feels odd to me, but maybe that's my issue.

If I go with SqueezeplayOS, which budget DAC's will 'just work'?

[Man in a van]

I agree that USB DAC support is better with SqueezePlay OS on a Joggler. I’ve tried a few with one of my Jogglers flashed with SqueezePlay OS and not had a failure. That said I’m pretty sure I remember reading that a Joggler will only support 16bit either 44.1 or 48 kHz so not much point in spending a lot on a USB DAC. I can confirm that an Audioquest Dragonfly Black will work .

It will play higher res.

How I used to do it, was add LMS and then install a patch for 192 kHz.

It would all just fit on the internal memory, and I mean "just".

To update LMS, I would "remove" LMS (which left the "prefs" and "favs" ) thanks Django

Then install the new version over the top

ronnie

[Man in a van]

If I go with SqueezeplayOS, which budget DAC's will 'just work'?

Info here

https://bbs.archlinux.org/viewtopic.php?id=252602


Either spend a tenner for a cheap one or gives us an idea on budget

[Paul Webster]

The benefit of the older Sqpos is that it has been around for a long time and used extensively enough for issues to have been resolved (at least to a high degree).
The underlying hardware has it changed so it works like it always used to.

If you want to use the Joggler as a more generic Unix box and install other stuff then a more recent OS almost certainly helps.

As for USB DACs ... I have only ever tried two and they both worked without me doing anything special. However, I would not recommend them unless you happen to have them already (B&W MM-1 USB speakers / Behringer USB 302 mixer).

[d6jg]

Thanks Paul, I'll take a look.

Are you all advising to use the older Squeezeplay OS?

Using an older version of anything feels odd to me, but maybe that's my issue.

If I go with SqueezeplayOS, which budget DAC's will 'just work'?

Cheapest one I have that works is very similar to this but obviously can’t guarantee as the chip may have been changed

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-...-/152957359820