This is probably WAY more than most folks would want. But I wanted to build a streamer for my workshop. I have a Naim Uniti Atom in my main living area and I really like the idea. Ropiee offers everything I want in an interface for my streamer, so it was just a matter of packaging.
This is a prototype to check out how I like it before I make a custom case. So I bought a $50 Chinese case from eBay. I milled out the front panel to hold the touch screen (my gimpy little mill took about 6 hours to do it. I also milled the back panel. The problem is that to get the right size front panel, I end up with quite a deep case. I may shorten it, but for now, I’m just going to install a shelf inside for drives if it ever gets used for volumio or something else.
I am using an old rPi 3 with the 7" touchscreen and Iancanada’s fifopi buffer and reclocker, and his ESS 9038 dual mono dac and transformer based analog stage. I am using his controller to allow me to have a hardware volume control from roon. The output of that streamer feeds an OEM nCore class D amp that sounds remarkably good. I also designed and etched a circuit board for the rPi power supply as well as a couple ancillary power supplies for the Iancanada boards. The amplifier can be shut off and it can be used as a line level component feeding an external amplifier.
So here’s some pictures of the case, and also the unit installed in my workshop driving a pair of Quad 2805’s
Sheldon
