Rational Lounge Integration of LMS and TV Audio

[Labarum]

@Labarum

Here is a link to a list of Raspberry pi products

https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/

Thanks. No stock anywhere. (Well the evil empire has a few 4Gb at £100!)

I'll wait!

[cliveb]

Well I have already said I hardly use the Windows Desktop anymore, but it is using more electricity than a Pi would use to run LMS better.

Yes, I understand the desire to move away from your old Windows PC. My comment was in reference to you suggesting that you might run LMS on your wife's laptop. That would be asking for trouble if she uses it as a general purpose machine. Get a RPi (if you can find one in stock anywhere) and stick piCorePlayer on it.

And you got rid of the big ATCs - buckets of tears.

Indeed it was torture to let them go, but we moved house and they simply didn't fit. When I crammed them into the lounge and tried them out, they sounded thick and congested.
The Meridian M6s that replaced them are surprisingly listenable. Nowhere near as capable, of course, but they do sound pretty damn good.

[Labarum]

That would be asking for trouble if she uses it as a general purpose machine. Get a RPi (if you can find one in stock anywhere) and stick piCorePlayer on it.

Understood - yet for a long time I ran LMS on my own Windows laptop without problems.

Indeed it was torture to let them go, but we moved house and they simply didn't fit

Here are my MB Quart 980s to which I am very attached. One man can lift one, but only with great difficulty!

In front of the TV is my SB3 and below my other Beresford DAC and a Quad 520f.

The Nicosia house was burgled. They took the TV and the SB3 (goodness knows what they thought it was) and left the two expensive items - the DAC and the newly refurbished professional Quad amp. I brought the 520 back to UK and now use a less expensive 405-2. The Boom in the conservatory they left! Go figure!

[Labarum]

rPi4 procured 2nd hand on this list. I am a very lucky boy.

Tale told here

https://forums.slimdevices.com/showt...=1#post1043201

And following - read through to post #20

Thank you again kidstypike

I can now retire the old PC and proceed at my leisure.

[Labarum]

Having turned my old PC off in favour of a Raspberry Pi to run LMS I am wondering if I am hearing a cleaner sound, not that I thought there was any mush there before.

I am now using LMS with Castbridge on rPi to a Google Chromecast Audio dongle, and using an optical link into a Beresford 7510 DAC driving a pair of Sennheiser HD25 headphones.

Is that possible or probable? The Windows PC could have been injecting some digital noise into the stream. I am, though, suspicious even of my own subjective impressions when they are unsupported by measurements, which I cannot make.

But what is the general view?

[cliveb]

Having turned my old PC off in favour of a Raspberry Pi to run LMS I am wondering if I am hearing a cleaner sound, not that I thought there was any mush there before.

I am now using LMS with Castbridge on rPi to a Google Chromecast Audio dongle, and using an optical link into a Beresford 7510 DAC driving a pair of Sennheiser HD25 headphones.

Is that possible or probable? The Windows PC could have been injecting some digital noise into the stream. I am, though, suspicious even of my own subjective impressions when they are unsupported by measurements, which I cannot make.

But what is the general view?

The general view is that you're imagining it.

LMS streams the data over TCP/IP.
The receiving player controls how the data is decoded and clocked.
Nothing can affect the timing before then, including any noise on the data lines - if you're wondering about noise affecting jitter.

UNLESS...
Noise (either electrical and/or radiated EMI) manages to affect the analogue stages of whatever eventually turns the digital data into audio.
Which in your case would be the Beresford DAC. I guess there is a vanishingly small possibility that its analogue stages might get affected by power line noise and/or EMI, and the Pi4 would have different noise characteristics to the Windows PC.

But the difference you hear is overwhelmingly more likely to be due to your expectations and/or state of mind. You've just installed a new toy that you're pleased with - you are bound to be in a happy place and as a result things sound nice.

[Labarum]

The general view is that you're imagining it.

That I will accept. I had accepted that position even as I wrote!

[slartibartfast]

That I will accept. I had accepted that position even as I wrote!

I suppose the Pi will be quieter than the PC being fanless

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk

[Labarum]

But tell me about the headphone socket on the Pi4, please. I plugged in a pair of cheap, sensitive headphones - nothing. I turned the software volume control right up and could hear the music - but it was not loud even at max volume. Is that 3.5mm jack socket more of a line out?

I switched to generic USB output and plugged in an old Fiilo D5 USB DAC a friend gave me. The headphones went louder, but not much. Now I know that D5 can deafen me with the same headphones when plugged into a laptop. What gives?

I notice there are many pre-configured USB outputs in the setup page, and an option to mess with ALSA directly. What's all that about, and is there documentation?

[slartibartfast]

But tell me about the headphone socket on the Pi4, please. I plugged in a pair of cheap, sensitive headphones - nothing. I turned the software volume control right up and could hear the music - but it was not loud even at max volume. Is that 3.5mm jack socket more of a line out?

I switched to generic USB output and plugged in an old Fiilo D5 USB DAC a friend gave me. The headphones went louder, but not much. Now I know that D5 can deafen me with the same headphones when plugged into a laptop. What gives?

I notice there are many pre-configured USB outputs in the setup page, and an option to mess with ALSA directly. What's all that about, and is there documentation?

Is there a setting in piCorePlayer settings to enable/disable the headphone socket?

Sent from my Pixel 3a using Tapatalk