That is one of the advantages of living in the land of the Pi.
Here in my country they are not on stock, almost no cases and other parts available and very expensive.
On topic; i have a RoPieee RPi4 connected to my Hegel and it is a flawless solution.
Will do. I must admit it does look like itâs well built and plug and play.
1 Like
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
25
Im sticking with my Chromecast pucks for $50 a pop, buggered if I would hear the difference between 24/96 and 24/192 on the systems they connect toâŚlol.
Yes I am a dinosaurâŚ
I put both the Chromecast audio and the Pi running Ropieee as a good call.
I have both and use the Chromecast audio with my Matrix Audio Mini I-Pro 3 for casting non Roon music and Ropieee feeding a Dac amp and they both work great.
Technically the Primare is going to be better option, but it is a lot more expensive.
But the beauty of this market at the moment is that there are so many good options available at all price points to choose from
3 Likes
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
27
I like and use the Chromecast units because they are just about idiot proof and require zero set up skills at all.
And zero maintenance down the road.
No offense to the old " ball and chain" but I donât want/need calls asking why anything has stopped working
And I needed analog RCA outputs which these have rather than just digital or USB.
Kevin you are correct there, zero setup and zero maintenance and if you have an optical cable itâs more than good enough for most setups. Thatâs why I bought a couple of spares when they stopped selling them.
Not as flexible as some solutions but such a good starting point for many, and an endpoint for a lot (yes poor pun I know)
Itâs a bit disappointing that they never licensed this for other companies to make similar simple solutions
What about a Logitech Squeezebox Touch? It is supportet by roon and has analog and digital outputs and a touchscreen too. It will be sold around 100⏠at eBay.
Iâm a big Raspberry Pi Cobbler fan. I have several about the house in audio roles. The allo.com DigiOne Signature and USBridge Signature are the best of the lot available today. DigiOne Signature supports SPDIF over Coax or TOSlink. Both are Roon Ready. Darko.Audio has reviewed both.
The WiiM Mini is also inexpensive. Darko.Audio has reviewed it. It is not a Roon RAAT device but does support Airplay 2 and may be configured as a Roon endpoint. It is self-contained and nicely packaged. RAAT is in the works.
Allo DigiOne or USBridge would be a one and done choice. Both rival the best packaged streamers out there. John Darko usually puts a paper weight on his so they will stay put. They arenât the prettiest but may stay in the shadows.
If using Allo Digi One SPDIF, be sure to use 75 ohm RCA plug coax video patch cable. You can order these from BlueJeans Cables or use Mogami RCA audio/video patch cables. The important bit is that connectors and cables are 75 ohm to avoid reflections at the cable ends. Some audio cables but not all work well also.
If using USBridge, use a good quality USB-A to USB-B USB 2.0 cable rather than the one in the box with your printer. You donât need to buy an âaudiophile cableâ. Cables Matter or Monoprice cables are OK. Theyâll have short ones (1 meter).
The Allo USBridge Signature and DigiOne Signature are available preassembled with software flashed if youâre not a tinkerer. Darko.Audio has reviewed both of these devices and they are top shelf in his opinion. Definitely a top value. The USBridge has a nice metal case. The DigiOne has an acrylic case.
The USBridge supports USB only unless you add the DigiOne isolation card and SPDIF/TOSlink card. The case has cutouts for the connectors needed by these cards.
If you home-brew, use DietPi or RoPieee software distributions as they have the Allo drivers. HiFiBerryOS has only HiFiBerry drivers and must be avoided for this reason. I prefer RoPieee to Diet Pi as it seems more polished. Both will update the Roon parts automatically.
I recommend using Raspberry Pi 4 Power Supplies for the DigiOne and USBridge. They are robust and quiet. Both DigiOne and USBridge have extensive internal power cleanup making âaudiophile power suppliesâ unnecessary. USBridge needs one. DigiOne needs 2. Do not use random phone chargers, even nice Anker chargers as they will be noisier.