Getting Started: RPi 3 B+ vs. Tinker Box

[Matthew_Czuba]

Hi all. New, and excited, member here. I am making the transition toward an organized solution for listening to my hifi digital audio. I’ve been reading along and am very happy to finally begin chiming in.

I hope that I don’t scare too many readers away with my usual long-windedness.

In my apartment abroad, I currently have a Mission Aero speaker system. This was a cost-effective solution for fitting my room with decent sound without buying too much equipment to lug around internationally. The Mission is nice, but I’m hardly getting anything out of it streaming aptX / AirPlay, and with all of my 24 bit music, I want to get organized and start enjoying my digital collection as much as possible.

I would like to start with a networked SBC, and am looking for some advice. Right now, I don’t know whether to begin with a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ (with or without a DAC like the HifiBerry offerings) or the Tinker Box (and what DACs would go with it). I don’t even know if I need to begin with a DAC on top of the SBC, since my Mission Aero also takes USB input.

This chap was having trouble running 24-170+ audio on the Pi:

Asynchronous USB at high rates on Raspberry Pi

There seems to be a generic challenge with Roon Bridge on (Raspberry Pi) Linux systems. Roon uses ALSA, and ALSA seems to have problems with asynchronous high rate DACs (edit: see below). I have tried Rasbian on the PI B and the B+, and Ubuntu on the Odroid C2. I see many posts in forums about dropouts or even just noise at sampling rates above 48 kHz on USB. Sometimes this can be hardware (especially on the Pi B, with its shared bus), but there is a fundamental software issue which seems to be…

It seems that even the Pi has some hardware limitations. Tinker Box seems to perform better. (I’m no longer considering the ODROID, primarily because I’d like to avoid any limitations the ARM architecture. The Cubox is another option, but I’m also considering cost, and have done much less reading about this unit.)

Can I start by running the Pi (or TB) USB-direct into my Mission Aero? Will I find myself hankering for an upgrade, obsessing over jitter or worse?

I don’t know much about the Aero’s internal DAC (and can’t find much about it), but is there really a reason to run S/PDIF into a speaker system like this, which surely has an on-board DAC? Will my signal be limited by direct USB from the Pi to the Aero? People say that the on-board amplification is quite decent.

Since I’m new, I don’t want to spend too much while still in the early learning stages. But the alternative to USB-direct seems to be to begin with a HiFiBerry Digi+, which also requires pricier cables. (Or likewise, with the TB, I need to figure out which HiFiBerry alternative ‘HAT’ to install onto the Tinker Box.)

In the future, I want to be able to run this into a more extended system, so I can have playback on a main system (which I also use for phono), plus networked devices, and stream from my library while out and about on my phone/headphones (the LG V30 is noted by John Darko to provide bit-for-bit audio in a cell phone).

I’m studying abroad right now, so the larger system needs aren’t a concern, but I don’t want to spend unwisely. I’m aware that running Roon remotely can be tricky, but being able to access my music collection while away from home will be a must for me.

At any rate, it should be evident that presently, I don’t even have a system configured that can enjoy what Roon has to offer. But the reputation of the forums and its members has brought me here with the hope that discussions like this, to help me get started, will keep me around for the long run.

Thanks for reading, and see you around!

Matthew

[John_Kroeker]

Hi Matthew,
The chap here. The Raspberry Pi B+ has a limit of 48k on the USB-- by design I think. The Tinker Board works well on USB up to–I’ve heard-- 300k/32 bits. My experience is that the Tinker is stable and solid at 192k and 24 bits (I don’t have sources files faster/wider than that).

The Tinker runs hotter, but it doesn’t seem to bother it at all. It is good to power the Tinker directly in to the GPIO power pins, rather than using the tiny power connector.

I like the notion of USB dacs. It is a nice way to modularize the system. If your library is 48k or under, by all means go with the RPi, it will work fine. Go with the TInker if you want to push higher. I have used the Schiit Modi DAC (US$99) and was amazed at the difference I got at that price. The Modi plus a Raspberry makes a sweet super low cost system (+ROON).

I’ve tried the Modi instead of Aptx with otherwise low end speakers etc, and the sound difference was immediate and striking. On my best system I have ROON + Tinker + Channel Islands DAC and the results are consistently stunning.

Enjoy!
John

[Matthew_Czuba]

Thanks, John, that’s very helpful advice. I appreciate your chiming in so thoughtfully. After reading a few articles about Schiit’s recently-released Modi 3, I’m sold! Looks like a great company and a wonderful little unit, perfect for my current needs and budgeting for this project.

I’m just about ready to build this system around the Tinker Board. It’s nice that the ASUS board appears to fit well with existing RPi 3 enclosures. I was concerned about getting one with space for a fan or upgraded heatsink, but it sounds like you don’t find it necessary to provide additional cooling.

What did you purchase for the power? I’m not familiar with running power directly to GPIO pins, so I’d love a recommendation.

Lastly, are you running a headless Linux server installation of Roon on the TB? Any complaints about the native TinkerOS for this purpose?

Gratefully!

Matt

[CrystalGipsy (Resisting the flow!)]

Raspberry pi 3+ can handle up to 384 or dsd it’s just its clocking is crap and you get clicks. If you use it with a LAN connection it’s worse as USB and LAN share same bus.