HiFiBerry's Roon Image - Standby power consumption

Hi all,

I bought dad a Pi 3 Model B and Hifiberry Digi+ (transformer version) powered by an iFI 5Vdc @ 2.5amp and paired with an iFi SPDIF Purifier (powered by his Denon 4520’s 5Vdc @ 1amp USB output) a few weeks ago - he’s loving it ! And I must admit the sound is incredible considering I spent nearly triple on a microRendu + LPS for my system.

Just wondering if anyone knows what the standby power consumption is, for HiFiBerry’s Roon Image running on a Pi? By standby I mean, when Roon music playback is paused.

A followup question is how are people turning off their Pi/Hifiberry’s ? I don’t want dad to be unplugging and replugging the microUSB cable each time and neither of us in comfortable with soldering. Is this the best solution, when used with a 2.1mm DC to microUSB adapter ? https://www.adafruit.com/products/1125

Many thanks in advance

This article has some info about Raspberry Pi power consumption. It appears that the Pi3 draws ~250mA when idle. I would just leave it on.

The little dingus you linked to will do the job, but will eventually lead to card corruption when the Pi is turned off while writing to the card. You can diminish the risk by using a distro like DietPi, which logs to RAM and does not write to the card at all when used as a RoonBridge.

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Thanks Rene!

My Pi 3 Model B and Hifiberry Digi+ (transformer version) draws 2 - 3 watts in idle. (Measured using a power consumption monitor)

Hi Cliff, that would be identical for ours then. What does it draw when streaming 24/192 music if you don’t mind me asking?

I don’t mind at all. Surprisingly, the power consumption didn’t change when streaming either std or hi res music. It stayed on 2 watts.

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Interesting, so with HifiBerry’s Roon Image / Software, there is no idle mode for the Pi it appears.

Also suggests their Roon Image is using less than 1A during use.

Thanks Cliff.

In terms of current draw, it depends upon where you are making your measurements - at USB voltage levels or at the mains voltage. I didn’t meaure VA which is usually sllighly higher than Watts, but for a 120V mains supply, you will be looking at <30mA in use. That’s really not much to worry about.

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