Roon Bridge for Raspberry Pi with USB DAC

Thanks both for the quick reply!

So, is the NOOBS SD card needed to start?
And how do you flash Roopie on the SD card … from an iMac? I hope the slot in the back accepts the same card format! I have never used it…

Follow this https://codexwilkes.com/downloads/ropieee-guide-for-beginners.pdf and write over the noobs card

Francesco, to flash the Ropieee image to the SD card, I recommend Etcher. Very easy to use. New micro SD cards come with a full sized adapter which fits in a Mac SD card slot. I have been sucessfully using a 2013 MacBook Pro. As to Ropieee, you’ll find all relevant info on the Ropieee web site.

You can assemble a Raspberry Pi 4 in about 5 minutes. First you need to download RoPieee or RoPieeeXL to your computer and burn onto a micro SD card using Etcher. The parts can be purchased from Amazon for $74.

If you live in the US, I have one for sale on eBay. Otherwise, you can order Raspberry Pi 4, micro SD card, FLIRC case, and power supply from Amazon.

I’m in Europe, but thanks for the offer!

Parts you need:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TD42S27/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B073K14CVB/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07WG4DW52/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07TYQRXTK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

1 Like

Thanks! Everything available on some web site that ships to the country where I live.

But what about something with an even smaller form factor, like Nano Pi. Would it work?

Why, this thing is small enough. There is no reason to reinvent the wheel.

1 Like

nano might work but maybe not with a dristro like ropieee thats all. you would need to be a bit more ssh hands on with something like dietpi

Just to add to all the good suggestions you already recieved, i use a flock of SBC’s to do Roon Bridge duties.
They all work very well, none of them have ever caused any glitches in the audio stream and they all sound very good. (Only miniscule differences in precieved quality)
I have NanoPi Neo, NanoPi Neo2, Asus Tinkerboard, Raspberry Pi2B, 3B and one 4B. I prefer DietPi which is available for all of these and is very easy to setup, offer extended capabilities and functions.

I even run a Roon Core with DietPi x86 (not on a SBC though) which sound splendid, listening to it right now!

I dislike the 3B and 4B due to their WLAN and Bluetooth hardware and the 4B for it’s faulty construction where heat is an issue in almost every situation. The Flirc case solves that though, but prevent the use of a HAT.

Just about any Pi will work, the 4 is better b/c the USB bus is separate for aUSB and ethernet.
If you are just using it for streaming like functions, that case will be fine.
Lots of software options, Ropieee, Volumio, Diet Pi, etc. You should look each one up and see which one seems most suitable for you.
You don’t need the NOOBS. Personally, I’d pick one of the other OS’s and write over it, or setup an SD card with the OS before you get the Pi.
Memory- for your use case it doesn’t matter.
I’d use ethernet if you can. More reliable.
If you get a Pi 4, there are approved official PS that have some noise reduction on them. I’d go with that. You can always upgrade later if you aren’t satisfied.

Unless you are knowledgeable in these matters, there is no reason to make this more complicated than it needs to be.

The micro SD card comes with an adapter to fit the SD card slot in most laptops.

1 Like

I have NanoPi Neo, NanoPi Neo2, Asus Tinkerboard, Raspberry Pi2B, 3B and one 4B. I prefer DietPi which is available for all of these and is very easy to setup, offer extended capabilities and functions.

I dislike the 3B and 4B due to their WLAN and Bluetooth hardware and the 4B for it’s faulty construction where heat is an issue in almost every situation. The Flirc case solves that though, but prevent the use of a HAT.

Interesting information, thanks. As always, and that’s the fun of it, there not a single way!

Just about any Pi will work, the 4 is better b/c the USB bus is separate for aUSB and ethernet.

This is what I read as well, but I don’t know the real-life impact of this.

{…} If you get a Pi 4, there are approved official PS that have some noise reduction on them. I’d go with that. You can always upgrade later if you aren’t satisfied.

Thanks for all the hints!

Right, but I’m not scared of setting up Linux systems, I am very familiar with them…
In any case, the “turn-key” solution you suggest is really nice! Here in Switzerland I can get everything for about 120 USD, shipping and taxes included. Not exactly cheap, but manageable.

Mmh… A NanoPi NEO2 with its heat sink and metal case would cost exactly half… That one, plus DietPi, plus Roon Bridge should do the job, and it’s really tiny.
I’ve only read that it tends to heat up a bit, as does the Raspberry Pi 4.

I run a bunch of pi’s but the flirc mounted unit inside another case is the coolest (in ac room for a few hours) now. Some of the others are in ambient temp places where that is around 30+C and in enclosed cases like the DiningRoon unit

Its a DIY DAC setup

Hans is doing one with a NanoPi here in the same thread

1 Like

Heat is a non-issue with a RPi 4 in a FLIRC case. So is size. It’s only 3.75 X 2.75 X 1.00 inches. Any smaller than that and you won’t be able to find it. RoPieee and RoPieeeXL work great in both ethernet and WIFI applications and the developer (@spockfish) is on this site everyday if you have any issues.

1 Like

So, the Raspberry Pi 4B with FLIRC case, official power supply and a 32GB SD card has arrived!
The case looks really nice and well built.
I’m downloading the OS now. I will not use RoPieee, as I would like to do something else with the RPi (I still dream of a VPN server to use Roon from remote…). I will try both DietPi and Raspbian, let’s see.

Everything installed and working, with dietpi, Roon bridge, WireGuard as vpn and a few nice things!
What is not working as I would like is Roon through vpn. From the mobile, connected in vpn (10.0.x.y), I can ping the computer where Roon core runs (192.168.x.y), but the Roon client on my iPhone cannot find the core and there is no way to specify the IP of the core itself.
But vpn is another topic and from iPhone I read that is difficult (or impossible maybe, depending on the hardware).

The bridge itself with RPi and Chord Mojo works perfectly!

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!
Francesco

1 Like