Using any audio source with HQPlayer - Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud [2023]

I was initially using Ifi Zen Stream but that was buggy and I had a lot of problems with it. Switched to node n130 and it’s flawless feeding NAA via usb out. It also has optical / analogue in so I can connect wiim mini via toslink if I want to use chromecast or my turntable if I want to listen to vinyl.

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Thanks for this update. Are you using Tidal Connect?

Initially it was buggy with the MQA 1st unfold - so that is reliable now?

Yes, I use Tidal Connect almost exclusively. I don’t have a huge collection of locally stored music (about 3k songs?). It works great with Hi-Res and MQA 1st unfold, though I rarely see MQA now. I guess one out of 50 tracks appears to be MQA. Didn’t have even single hickup since I switched to node.

Also nice to be able to use other services from BluOS app (Amazon Music, Radio Paradise, local radio stations etc). Sadly, Apple Music only via AirPlay.

I know a lot of people will say it’s a voodoo but upgrading power supply interface turned this already good streamer into very good one :slight_smile:

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It is a nice streamer, I had one.

But for feeding HQPlayer it is quite expensive compared to Wiim Pro for example and compared to the Wiim, Bluesound does not support bit perfect casting from Amazon Music app (WiiM is still the only one on the planet), and no Chromecast.

And you still get Airplay 2, Spotify Connect, Bluetooth, Tidal Connect

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Yes, it is more exoensive than Wiim but to feed HQPlayer with bit perfect, hi res stream from Wiim you need another device in between? I suppose this adds to the cost of Wiim.

I’ve got mine 2nd hand for the price a bit higher than I paid for my new Wiim Pro when I bought it. For my needs and my setup it’s got everything I needed and things I was always missing in roon. I can create playlists with the mix of tidal and local files in BluOS but I can also use native tidal app which lately has very good music recommendations (something I didn’t get with roon). In both cases I can use HQPlayer. Using native tidal app I can download tracks and use them on the go (not possible with roon arc).

After power supply upgrade, built in dac sounds very nice. I have it connected to the active desktop speakers in my office. When I want to listen to my resolving system in another room streamer feeds the NAA → HQPlayer and DAC in that room.

Analogue in, 12v trigger, simple headphone out, etc, etc. I think it was money well spent.

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Yes definitely need another device in between WiiM at the moment - but the USB output is coming soon. So paired with an RPi4 will make a really nice and affordable combo to feed HQPlayer.

Yes Tidal Connect has a lot of advantages over using Tidal inside Roon.

We don’t know about the future relationship between Roon and HQPlayer - so this thread becomes even more useful for HQPlayer users :slight_smile:

@dabassgoesboomboom Yeah, Chromecast is one of the reasons I’d like to use a WiiM with USB output into NAA. I’m always surprised by how many streamers don’t have Chromecast.

@Marcin_Maruszczak What NAA do you use with the Bluesound Node? This and the ‘Best NAA To Use’ thread got me thinking—if a budget streamer sends noisy USB signal INTO NAA for HQ Player, does that represent a possible sound quality issue? Does HQ Player then work with a noisy/degraded signal?

Quite a few streaming active speakers have it now. Previously it was mostly cards supplied by StreamUnlimited, part owned by Google.

I expect more manufacturers to license Wiim/LinkPlay hardware going forward, so you’ll see more Chromecast.

Big problem with Chromecast is it is still not gapless. For classical music and DJ mixes, this is annoying. This is why I never bothered to upgrade from WiiM Mini to WiiM Pro.

To WiiM Pro, iPad Mini (latest) happily plays Spotify Connect. But iPhone 15 Pro insists on using Chromecast for the same (Spotify)… Go figure… :sweat_smile:

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Did you manage to get WIFI works with your Pi4 NAA input / output?

No couldn’t get it working following those instructions.

Could you get it working ?

Me could not either.
Could not get HQPlayer found it as NAA (either input or output) even though it successfully joined my WIFI network.
I thought it is because I use the CM4 with I/O carrier board. If you can do with your standard Pi4, I might buy one standard Pi4 to use as WIFI NAA input.
A Pi4 in a nice metal case connecting to just a Surface Pro via a single USB cable will be much nicer to put on the listening table instead of running an ethernet cable from the switch! :sweat_smile:

A Pi4 in a metal case will probably struggle… with WiFi ! :smile: Unless you can get an external antenna working

I was actually thinking of trying my unused CM4 with the official Pi WiFi antenna.

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RPi4 with NAA image from Signalyst. I don’t know how noisy Node’s USB is (I wouldn’t call it a budget streamer). It is probably a lot less noisy with upgraded power board and silent power supply (nothing fancy, I just use Allo Nirvana). Anyway, it sounds great to my ears.

In my system Node is on WIFI, input NAA RPi4 is wired, Mac running HQPlayer is wired, out NAA (ropieee) on RPi4 in thick aluminium case runs on WIFI (no antenas) without problems. Now I only stream up to 768khz PCM though. Remember it struggled with DSD streams when I had another DAC.

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My CM4 are running in plastic 3D printed cases with official external CM4 Pi antenna.
It can joined my WIFI network but look like HQPlayer NAA on NAA OS or HQPE OS cannot communicate to this WIFI interface.
Installed Ropieee and run as NAA output via WIFI is ok.
Tried with PCIe WIFI card but it seems like PCIe is not supported either. Lspci retured that it is not found.

I wonder if you can run RoPieee or DietPi with NAA, and use it with RPi4 USB-C NAA input?

Or if that is special feature of NAA OS image on? @jussi_laako ?

RoPieee and DietPi make it easy to setup WiFi.

I have never used either one, so I don’t know if those are capable. At minimum, you need kernel version 6.1 or newer.

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I tried with Ropieee but the NAA input function did not work.

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Of course, because you cannot change the config.txt file to set NAA as input instead of peripheral … just use NAA OS

Of course you can do that with DietPi

And it looks like DietPi runs kernel 6.1

Will try

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