Advice on hardware for roon endpoint + media center

Audio Gear Talk DietPi
1

Hello everyone. This is my first post, but I have read many threads here in the forum. Great community, so thank you for sharing experiences and knowledge in such a fun way. Going to my questions, it may be more Diet pi/Hardware related, but it all started when I discovered Roon, so I decided to post it here, sorry if some are a bit off topic.
I am in the path to buy a SBC + all things needed to mount a media center or something similar, including a roon endpoint. My main desire is to have the best audio. I am completely new to this world, so there may be some stupid or non-logical questions, but here they are:

  1. If I use DietPI, can I install several services/apps and use them as I like? i.e: Install roon endpoint, Kodi, librespot, shairport, etc., and switch between them as needed?

  2. Which combination of SBC + HIFI HAT or shield do you recommend (RCA output)? This has been asked like 1000 times I think, but since I’m planning to be able to output video as well (series and movies using Kodi if possible). I have studied almost all the options I think.
    I like Odroid C2 + Hifi shield (I thought it may be better at handling video than a RBpi), but @Dan_Knight stated that in his opinion the Allo bundle is THE BEST SBC hifi choice. If I get the bundle, which comes with SPARKY, would I still be able to install the things I put above? Does it output video? (in the DietPi website there is a note in the SPARKY SBC “NB: GPU features are disabled for this board (eg: Kodi, Desktop). Ideal for server usage”, which confuses me).
    So, it comes down always to:

  • RBpi + some DAC like Hifi berry
  • Odroid + Hifi shield
  • Allo bundle (sparky + Piano DAC + Kali reclocker)

  1. Would it be useful or extend the capabilities of the system to add an eMMC on the devices that allow this?

  2. Would I be able to play MQA files? From reading a little bit I understood that some decoding may be done on the software side, but a hardware decoding is also necessary, I think none of the solutions that I may buy support this. Note that I have never listened to MQA, so it is no a big concern. I just wanted to know if I would be able to try it some day.

  3. Would I be able to play DSD files? Note that I have never listened to DSD files, so it is no a big concern. I just wanted to know if I would be able to try it some day.

I am from Argentina, extremely limited options here, so a friend will be bringing whatever I buy from the US. This may be my only chance until someone else travels again who knows when :smirk:.

Big thank you!!

2

Hi

Yes you can install as much or as little as you like :slight_smile:. I believe all of those programs will drop the ALSA stream when not in use, freeing it up again for you to use another program to play audio.

  1. Which combination of SBC + HIFI HAT or shield do you recommend (RCA output)?

We currently do not support GPU acceleration on the Sparky SBC. So Kodi is not available for installation.
Although, as for SBC + DAC HAT combo, coupled with Kali, I believe its the best on the market for audio usage.

If Kodi is critical in your setup, I’d go with the Odroid C2 + HiFi Shield 2. It supports H265 decoding and runs much smoother than RPi.

Next up is RPi, offers alot more DAC HAT options, IQaudio, Justboom, Allo etc. Kodi will run fine but lacks H265.

Another option is USB DAC.

  1. Would it be useful or extend the capabilities of the system to add an eMMC on the devices that allow this?

EMMC is worth every penny, highly recommend. It can increase the filesystem speed (transfer rates) on the system by upto 14x (140MB/s R/W Odroid C2 EMMC 128GB). You’ll notice this especially with programs like Kodi that store a database of your media files, extremely fast.

  1. Would I be able to play MQA files? From reading a little bit I understood that some decoding may be done on the software side, but a hardware decoding is also necessary, I think none of the solutions that I may buy support this. Note that I have never listened to MQA, so it is no a big concern. I just wanted to know if I would be able to try it some day.
  2. Would I be able to play DSD files? Note that I have never listened to DSD files, so it is no a big concern. I just wanted to know if I would be able to try it some day.

I’am unsure regarding MQA
DSD: If you decide on a SBC + DAC HAT option, let me know and i’ll post results of supported DSD formats on that device.