Squeezebox replacement?

Thanks Evan… any good sites that give you a step by step approach. I probably need “Pi players for Dummies.”. The different variations can be a touch confusing? I’ve starting sniffing around on the HiFiberry page. Is that one pretty reliable? looks like a handy player for my bedroom system

What do you need when you say SB replacement - an endpoint only or an endpoint with DAC? I’m assuming you’re planning on using them with Roon?

An inexpensive portable Roon capable player that could take place of a Sonos connect…would be capable of hi-res to 24/192. I could buy a Sonicorbiter, but one of these pi devices might work out better. Just have no experience with them. I’m not squeezebox guy either but have used squeezebox in other players I have. The squeezebox mode is not an issue as long as Roon RAAT works with it.

Cheapest is probably RPi’s with HIFIBERRY DAC+ added and loaded with Raspian OS https://www.hifiberry.com/build/download/ or DietPi. I’d opt for DietPi as the OS. It includes RoonBridge in its installation options and it’s a very light OS, perfect for our Roon Bridge needs.

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Super. I’ll study up. Thank you.

Remember to add a case when purchasing. The black metal one that Hifiberry do is more asthetically pleasing to me. If you do go Hifiberry the Dac+ bundle is what you want. Choose the Dac+ standard RCA version.

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@rrwwss52, No offense taken :wink: Good luck. You will love putting this little endpoint together. They outperform allot of “things” out there! :wink:
PM Me if you need help.

@evand, Awesome recommendation! +1 DietPi :smiley:

@Tony_Reimann +1.

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Ordered one. Should have it in a couple of weeks.

Dac + Pro, Raspberry Pi 3B, Black metal case, and power supply.

Thanks to everyone for the help pointing me in the right direction…:grinning:

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Too bad this post was not up about two weeks ago. I had two Squeezebox Duet units and the controller I put on eBay and sold for $100 for everything, which was all working fine and all reset to factory. I even threw in a couple of AudioQuest USB cables with the sale. Why did I bail on the Squeezebox units? They just took up too much space, between the power adapter, the unit itself, an outboard DAC to take advantage of advances in DAC technology from when the Squeezebox was first introduced) and other factors. I made life simpler, just buying a two channel network receiver that had AirPlay and so Roon would see it over my wired or wireless network as an endpoint. Sure, AirPlay is limited to 44.1 but that is OK with me, as I find most of my music sounds just fine in that configuration. If for some reason I want higher quality I can always use JRiver instead which also sees my network device via Ethernet and not AirPlay.

The Dac + Pro, Raspberry Pi 3B, Black metal case, and power supply sounds very interesting to me. (Why not the cheaper acrylic case?) I assume you just plug that into powered speakers or an amplifier. Will that group with Squeezeboxes? I also assume you use the Roon image file on the SD card as the OS… correct?

@Ronald_Lyster, Aluminum decapitates heat better… At least that would be the reason I would get it… Oh and it looks better :stuck_out_tongue:
If you use roon than no it wont group with squeezeboxes.

You can install any Linux OS and install Roon Bridge and off you go with roon. Quite simple! :slight_smile:

it will if you configure it with Squeezelite instead of Roon Bridge.

That is correct.

How would you make this product Roon ready? Would you need to purchase the Android software version?

I am sorry but I am not understanding your question… What do you mean roon ready?
The Raspberry Pi becomes a roon bridge.

@evand
@Tony_Reimann
@Fernando_Fuentes

Received the DAC Pro + bundle yesterday from HiFiBerry. Assembled the hardware, and after fumbling with the firmware install for a few hours I got it up and running. Pretty sweet sounding little device. Hooked it up into my Anthem MRX720 AVR. Makes for a nice Roon endpoint.

Thank you all for the guidance and assistance.

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@rrwwss52, Sweet! Nice setup! I am glad you like it and you got it up and running. :smiley:

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Now sit back and enjoy the music :slight_smile:

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I recently replaced my Squezeboxes with Pi’s w/HiFi Berry DACs and after a few weeks, I decided to hook the Squeezeboxes back up with an A/B switch and I use Roon when I’m sitting at my desktop, but use the Squeezeboxes when I’m in the backyard by the pool or in the jacuzzi (like now :))

My experience is that the Roon smartphone/tablet apps have a hard time re-connecting to the core when I’m in the backyard. The Squeezebox apps work much better in this regard. I also find volume control easier/quicker with the Squeezebox apps.

So, I think I’ll continue using both Roon and LMS until Roon’s mobile apps catch up withSqueezeboxes for my use cases…

Are this android phones/tablets?