Linux Music Servers

[Noskipallwd]

Thanks for the reply John. I considered a vbox appliance, but I got the atom based mini for free. So all I need is a HD and memory. I have a touch and have been using squeezepad as my remote (Ipad app), much nicer than the supplied remote. I downloaded the Vortexbox ISO and as soon as my HD shows up I'm going to give it a whirl.

Cheers,
Shawn

[Natural Sound]

This thread caught my attention because of the recent release (and complete sellout) of the Raspberry Pi computer module.  This is basically a credit-card size fan-less computer designed to run scaled-down Linux distros and serve as a cheap (25 or 35 dollars) way to get kids learning about computers.

At 700Mz it can't do a whole lot at once but it can do quite a bit if dedicated to task.  This seems like a great experimenter's platform and as soon as I can get my hands on one (or two or three), I'm going to start experimenting.

Has anyone else considered this route for a Linux music server?

I got a Rasberry Pi a few months ago. I have it set up as a media player on the flatscreen in my bedroom. It was so much fun I bought two more. I knew that I wanted to integrate one of the "pi's" into my audio system. Since I already had Doc's old ALIX computer set up with Voyage MPD, feeding my VA Labs DAC and sounding sweet. I decided to leave well enough alone on the client end. So then I started poking around to see about using the credit card size computer along with one of my Terrabyte USB drives as a NAS server. After loading Debian Linux on the SD card I was up and running in no time. As some have eluded to, this little dude is only a 700 MHz. computer. It's not going to break any benchmarking records. But while serving up FLAC files to the ALIX the CPU usage never goes above 20 percent or so.And in between songs it rests around 2 to 3 percent. So the processing power is more than sufficient for sending my FLAC collection over the network. The cool part is that it only consumes 3 watts at the mains. This was verified on my "Kill A Watt" plug in meter.

I have heard of people installing MPD on the pi. Most of the set ups involved computer speakers so they weren't going for anything high end like us bottleheads require. But who knows, maybe it's a jewel waiting to be discovered. I may experiment some more after the holidays when I have time.

Bottom line: This $35 computer has a lot of potential.

[Wormwood]

I have almost no idea about the tech speak but Oh My does it read like a dreamy little rig.

Photos?


Cheers,

Stephen

[Natural Sound]

I have almost no idea about the tech speak but Oh My does it read like a dreamy little rig.

Photos?


Cheers,

Stephen

I'll see if I can take some pictures this weekend.

I've been listening for a few hours a day since I set up the new file server. Not a single issue. I'm a happy camper!

[arri]

Had to chime in here as I've been running a Squeezebox server for just about ten years now, most of it on an Ubuntu server that also hosts a MythTV that does DVR duty for the house. Overall, despite Logitech having purchased the company, the server is pretty nice. The hardware is just fine for the music that I want instant access to from any room, and I love the ability to stream Pandora and synchronize any combination of client hardware.

Worth a look.

arri

[Jim R.]

Arri,

Only problem is that the squeezeboxes have now been officially discontinued by Logitech, as will the support for logitech media server.  Probably a bad decision on their part, but what can you do?

-- Jim

[Jim R.]

Hey Tom,

Just curious if you've tried the Raspberry Pie with MPD serving a stream to a usb dac?

-- Jim

[Jim R.]

Tom,

I decided to order an alix 2d2 board, enclosure and CF card (actually two of each) as I want to use these in my bedroom headphone system and our living room system.

I traded a guy a dac I had for a DSpeaker anti-mode DSP/dac/preamp/headphone amp for the media room system, which I need to use one mac mini down there (for video as well as tunes).  Then I can use the alix boxes with my iFi and micromega dacs -- which are both 24/192.

Anyway, the dsp thing is way out of character for me, but that room is going to be really difficult so the DSP may be at least part of the answer -- the fact that I can plug all sources I have into it, use it as a preamp (which means building the steromour as a power amp) and it is remote controlled and has a headphone out could make it the perfect solution.

So, no need for any updates on the raspberry pie -- unless you want to. :-)

-- Jim

[Natural Sound]

Hey Tom,

Just curious if you've tried the Raspberry Pie with MPD serving a stream to a usb dac?

-- Jim

No, not yet. But it looks like someone already compiled an image to do just that. http://www.raspyfi.com/raspyfi-quick-start-guide/

[Jim R.]

Hi Tom,

Very interesting -- after parusing that site a bit I just had to go and order a raspberrypie starter kit. I think that with a couple tricks I may be able to build a very small, self-contained music player with dac, storage drive and wireless control interface based on the revision B board, and not use usb for both the storage drive and dac interface... we'll see, but the gears are spinning ;_).

-- Jim

[BNAL]

You guys are killing me. I'm just trying to learn how to use Voyager MPD and now your moving on to other configurations. I'll never be able to keep up.

[Natural Sound]

You guys are killing me. I'm just trying to learn how to use Voyager MPD and now your moving on to other configurations. I'll never be able to keep up.

Voyage MPD is tried, true and very stable. The Raspberry Pi stuff is still new and will probably have bugs. You should probably stick with Voyage MPD for now.

PS: You have a PM.

[Jim R.]

So, raspberry pie aside, I'm also very much planning on building an alix or two.  In fact, I've been doing a little thinking on how to get the alix to work as a more or less state of the art usb dac server, because all my dacs are, and are likely to be, usb preferred, or usb-only inputs.  It looks like it may be possible to use one of the PCI express headers on the alix board with a pci express to pci-mini adaptor and then connect one of the SOTM usb ports to that, add a couple of good linear regulated supplies, and feed the alix with a NAS over ethernet, and have something very special.  I've found a couple of the necessary bridges, but no idea what the pricing on them is, and the SOTM card is not cheap at $360, but even still, this could end up being somewhat, if not a lot, less expensive than the mac mini based solution, would be totally silent, use hardly any power, and has the potential for truly state of the art streaming to any usb dac.

The SOTM card also has a switch for turning off the 5v coming out of the usb port, so you can experiment with this and if your dac does not need the 5v supply, and will work without it having it present on the incoming usb connection, you also just took the quality up another notch or so, maybe more.  Of course this won't fit in the standard alix enclosures, but that's a minor inconvenience.

So, that's the thought for the day -- no idea if this will really work or not, and how much hacking and tweaking will be involved, but to me it seems like a verry worthwhile experiment, especially if it can outperform the mac mini based approach -- which I certainly can't complain about at this point.  But with the alix, it's dead silent, has no video or keyboard interface, lots and lots of typical linux os processes can be shutdown, the kernel stripped to the bare essentials, MPD installed and your favorite smartphone, tablet, and even other devices can be used for remote control.

Anybody esle on board for this experiment?

-- Jim

[earwaxxer]

Hey Guys - I have been using Squeezbox server (Linux) with the Transporter for quite some time. Built my system around it. I was very happy with the sound and I liked using eternet (could run long cables, cable quality was unimportant etc.) I did find that hard wired ethernet sounded better than wireless with the Transporter. I loved the flexability of Squeezebox server etc, etc. and so on.

In terms of sound quality, IMO and experience, USB has at this point in time superseded the ethernet protocol. I have even compared the digital outputs from the Transporter to USB converted to SPDIF output both going to the Gungnir. For the USB I was using JRiver as the software. This has been a recent revelation for me, although I have expected it. I have been reading about many diehard Squeezbox fans switching to USB (ex. John Darko).

With that said, it would be a fun project to build a dedicated music server around Linux and a laptop. I really love the almost infinite ways that digital can be used to create great sounding music. It seems that the bleeding edge of digital audiophiledome is shifting to those areas, such as dedicated servers/players SSD drives, software etc. USB is maturing very quickly. - Cheers!

[Jim R.]

Eric,

There's much more to it than the communication protocol used, and what you're moving across it.  Standard 10/100 mbs ethernet is barely tested with 24/192 files, even with protocol overhead included.  But we'll see what happens.

On the pci-mini to pci-express, I ordered one from a Canadian company, Amfeltec.com, today.  They were the only ones who offered several power options, so I ordered the SKU: 037-03, which is powered by an external 12 volt supply.  So it looks like I'll build a linear regulated supply with three regulators -- 12v for the alix board, another 12v for the mini-pci to pci express adaptor, and a 6v supply for the SOTM card -- if I'm remembering correctly what it requires.

Other expansion ideas could include using the second mini-pci slot (on the alix 2D2 board) for either a firewire 800 adaptor, or perhaps an esata interface..  Then one could have storage all local and use the ethernet for transferring files only.  Then for a stand-alone server (no NAS or network connection) you could plug in a small usb wireless adaptor for remote control.

If I do any of this it will be later on after I get the basic Alix working with the SOTM usb card.  My gut feeling is that this will be a rather remarkable usb server.

-- Jim