@David_Snyder and others,
In the spirit of tinkering and the pursuit of better sound with pi based streaming may I share that I have had surprisingly good success with a Pi Zero 2W configured as a Roon endpoint running off a modest Li-ion battery pack. I run it using the internal wi-fi to connect to the network which complements the stable battery based power supply with the galvanic isolation inherent in wi-fi. The modest CPU of the Pi Zero may also contribute by being slow and inherently less noisy. I invite you to try this approach and would love to here how it compares to the Diretta solution which has been the main focus of this thread. The best streamers I have to compare it to are an older Aurelic Ares (2015, the one with the external linear power supply) and an Okto Research Dac8 which uses an internal Pi4 in league with it’s DAC and was rated A+ by Stereophile. Frankly I can’t tell it apart from these other two sources. I did not invent this idea, I learned about it from here https://youtu.be/UV_WDhE62hk?si=Qc9w8ndNSFuPH5_w courtesy of @Chris_Barker
and there is a thread of the name “$15 Roon Endpoint” here on Roon.
While i applaud the spirit of discovery and curiosity, your testimony is not applicable in a thread focusing on the measurements of Diretta, as a transport alternative.
But please describe your setup in greater detail in the Tinkering section, perhaps? I’d love to comment, as i have a diametrically opposing view of the quality of the Pi Zero 2W as a transport!
@Bruce_Barbour, I have moved your post as it was off topic. For reference, you may reply as a linked topic from any thread.
I have a couple of pi Zero 2W’s and have tried using one of them as a “portable” Roon Bridge. I attached it to the WLAN (2.4Ghz) and powered it with a power bank.
Then a generic USB cable to whatever DAC i was using at the moment.
To me the sound quality was underwhelming, easily surpassed by a wired Pi2B or Pi3B+, even with generic switched power supplies.
The Auralic Aries (i have a couple of them as well!) was way more satisfying to me.
Give us a bit more context regarding the setup? What kind of battery powerr, what OS and what DAC etc?
That is fine. I almost did that myself, but I hoped some of the folks on the thread would be interested and respond. This will work too.
@Mikael_Ollars Interesting. My observations were in three contexts. In all three the Pi Zero 2w was powered by a 25,000 mahour cell phone power pack. Ikit to be specific. It was teamed up with a Chord Mojo (which is battery powered) and Sennheiser HD800 s for headphone listening. Then with a Topping D50s DAC also being battery powered going into a Wayne Colburn BA2018 preamp and on to a Dynakit ST-35 and then to a pair of KEF LS-50s. Most recently I hooked to my RME ADI2 dac going into a FirstWatt F5m amp and DIY Lii Audio F15 open baffle full range speakers. In each instance I could honestly say that good recordings sounded at least equal to or better than most live performances. Which is my reference.
That’s a pretty cool idea. I tried the Raspberry Pi 3A+ in a similar configuration. It sounded pretty good, even with a 5V SMPS. Might have been a bit better with the power pack solution. I probably still have it soumewhere. Of course, not in the same caregory as Diretta, but this configuration might be better than a standard RPi3 or RPi4 running RoPieee.