Raspbery Pi and IQAudIO boards

Not tried HQP NAA but Roon works very well with shareport-sync.

We’re working towards the best playback solution for the Pi / IQ boards and Roon.

Gordon@IQaudio.com

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HI Gordon and welcome !

I thought I’d make a new thread for people to discuss Raspberry Pi and the IQ boards generally.

I see from the IQAudio website that you supply 24 bit 192 Khz DAC and DAC/Amp boards for the Pi (as well as the Pi and cases), which will provide an inexpensive solution for hi-res home networking with Roon.

I understand that RoonSpeakers will have a Raspberry Pi release but your comment that you are working towards the best playback solution is interesting. Are you able to tell us anything about your plans for RAAT ?

I’m using a iqaudio + dac in one of my pi’s for Roon using picoreplayer running squeezlite. Sounds fantastic. Even converted dsd to PCM sounds wonderful.

I’m preferring this to hqplayer at the moment because I tend to mess around too much with that constantly after the best settings and never appreciating the music.

The iqaudio dac just sounds fab right from the get go and I can put my feet up and just enjoy the music. They have to be the hifi bargain of the century for what Gordon knocks them out at.

I will add that Gordon’s support is first rate.

I too have a pi with an iqaudio+dac, that I happily use as a stand alone system. Jriver and music on a USB drive, with output to separate amp etc.
Ive also got another pair with Gordon’s pi amp to play with after the holidays are over and hope to use it with roon, HQPlayer and NAA, prior to the release of a suitable roon end point.
Probably try following the advice here, modifying one of Gordon’s standard distros with the addition of the appropriate NAA, unless @Gordon_Garrity has any better advice to offer?

I’ve got the iqaudio dac/amp as well and its fantastic.

Amazing how much power it produces.

I’d defo recommend the 19v power supply for it.

To our customers, thank you for your custom and a Happy New Year.

Andrew, we design and manufacture audio accessory boards for the Raspberry Pi and supply such to end users, hifi manufacturers (Abacus Electronics and others), and system developers (custom install market etc.) Worldwide.

My background is embedded systems, sprinkled with CE audio whilst at SimpleAudio.

I have been following RoonLabs since their original tweets and met with them at the High End show in Munich last year and obviously have access to SDK etc. 2015 has been a very busy year for us and it’s only recently that we have been able to progress on this. It’s awesome.

More information next week but safe to say that I may be looking for early access beta testers.

Best regards,

Gordon

Well a month on and I now have a fully working Pi2 with the IQAudio +DAC working happily as an NAA being fed from HQPlayer on a linux box, being controlled by a headless Roon on a MacMini, itself being controlled by either an ipad or a macbook pro.

All I did was download Jussi/Miska’s NAA image for the PI and add the dtoverlay for the iqaudio dac to the config, fired up the PI and it worked first time.

Just need to wait for Roon speakers to try a comparison, but so far amazing for a £80 endpoint.

Paul, I have a RoonReady Release Candidate SD card image of the Raspberry Pi / IQAudio combination if you are interested. Let me know and I’ll send you the URL.

Gordon

Yes @Gordon_Garrity I’d be more than willing to try out a RoonReady Release Candidate SD card image as I’ve been waiting to compare it with HQPlayer’s NAA to see what I like best best. I’ve been using it with a set of headphones though rather than a full amp and speaker set up, if that makes any difference to you.
Thanks for the offer.
Paul

Hi Gordon,

Would there be any chance of me also trying the release candidate SD image as well please as I have a iQAudio Pi-Dac+ ?

Many Thanks

Wayne

Hi Gordon,
I too should like to give this a try.
Will you have this available as a download on your site?
Best regards,
Dennis

Got hold of the RC image from Gordon and copied it on to a spare sd card. Needlessly to say, it just works. As soon I powered up the PI, Roon found it and it appeared as a zone in audio setup. All I had to was give it name and enable it. It is labeled it as uncertified, which of course it is at the moment. Roon’s volume control works. Currently listening to my first playlist via headphones at the moment and am impressed. Ok it doesn’t have the bells and whistles like HQP, but it does make a pretty good job of DSD to PCM conversions too.

One thing I have noticed is that there is a minor clicking when I stop a track and the next one starts, also happens between tracks when the previous one completes.

More serious listening is now needed to decide which is best. At the moment I think I’m leaning towards Roon speakers as there is more complexity with a HQP/NAA and you can’t easily set up multiple zones with HQP like you can with Roon. Time will tell.

Trouble is, to compare it with a NAA means stopping everything faffing around with sd cards etc etc, unless someone with more linux knowledge than me can put the NAA on to card as well and share how to do it?

Paul

Hi Paul,

Fortunately I can answer that one without claiming any Linux knowledge (whew). Jussi has released a number of images of version 1.3 NAA for small devices, including the Pi and Pi2. Just download the relevant zip file here, unzip the image file, write it to a micro-SD and boot from it.

Be interested in hearing your thoughts comparing the two. Please feel free to open a new thread about it.

Andybob.
I think you might have misunderstood me. I already have done what you suggest and downloaded a Jussi image and put it on a different sd card. That’s how I got started on this. What I probably meant to say was does anyone know how to put both the NAA and Roon speakers software on the same sd card, so that you just have to changes sources? A bit like these roon ready devices that are coming out from sonore and exasound etc that can do both.

Paul

Sorry, I did misunderstand you. I haven’t heard of someone doing that yet. I don’t think that project could be started until Roon 1.2 is out.

My finger is hovering above the CheckOut button.
One PiDAC+ to feed my amp, and one for my Headphone.
Tempting… very tempting.

Oh well… clicked and bought.
Fun times ahead!

You won’t regret it @EricG. Superb dac and amazing value for money.

That’s what I read here, so that was the final push I needed.
Haven’t seen or heard it anywhere, so I put my faith in you guys. :wink:

Gordon’s (Pi-Dac Designer) sd image works great or alternativley I also use PiCorePlayer which simulates a squeezebox. Both have been rock solid with Roon.