*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* Be a decent human being: kindly keep your sexist/racist thoughts and conspiracy theories to yourself. External links are also a no-no. Comments that advance the conversation are most welcome.
I like that you spent so much time on the whole Raspberry Pi ecosystem. Attainable quality audio for the hobbyist. I hope you keep following this line.
I just recently discovered your channel and I really want to say thank you. You keep a very open mind about a wide variety of ways to listen to music. I really like how you explained how one man's budget can greatly limit what his max audio options are. Knowing you take that into account reassures this viewer that you are going to bring all the best options to us and let us decided. Thank you again.
Damn, I just really love your videos they feel like they were produced by a channel 5 times your size with 20 times the budget. I love the editing style.
Thanks for the update. I just updated my Volumio. At this time all I have is a drive connected with Flac files of CD. Since I just lost the job at hospital I will hold off on tidal or anything else for time being. Thanks for starting me on this journey.
John, thank you for your videos about the raspberry pi. I was looking at the bluenode and other streamers, but got the raspberry pi and installed volumio on it. Works great, sounds great... Love it!
Thx John for the update on Volumio. I have two Pi based dacs did a update on both and had Tidal connect working within a hour. I’m pleased with the results much better way to stream Tidal on these devices.
Thank you! I purchased a Rsdpberry Pi 4 and a Boss DAC hat, got it up and running and now enjoy using Volumio with my audio system. Really appreciate your exposition of the journey, it’s an exciting time to be part of the audiophile universe now!
@@justonemmett8604 The Boss DAC connects to my Raspberry PI 4 and converts the PI's digital audio to analog output that feeds into my speaker amplifier. The hat term means that the board plugs into the Pi 4 40 pin on board connector for a compact unit. There are USB DAC uniits that John Darko has reviewed so a DAC HAT is not needed for quality convert digital audio conversion from a PI 4.
Waiting for spotify Hifi, what that will bring, i hope far more than 7%, cd quality will do! Thanks for a again a nice video John. Also for bringing Poligon Window into my room! 👌
I don't think you got the difference between Hi-Fi and the 24Bit MQA... Spotify should be able to have over 95% of their library in simple Hi-Fi, as the competition does...
Love this Raspberry Pi stuff! I've been considering a move to Tidal, but I think I'm going to hold off until Spotify go lossless. Just comfortable with the Spotify app!
Excellent. I love a good fiddle with kit too. Glad to see that not everyone is promoting just the mega priced solutions. Not that I wouldn't go for some of those if I had the cash, of course.
Thanks for this kind of videos. After last vid of the rpi4, I bought one last week. Now I'm running it with moode straight with USB into my cxa80. And using bubble upnp for qobuz and tidal streaming. The sound of my system changed and opend up so much in a good way instead of chrome cast that I'm used to use. It's like I have a whole new hifi system.
Hey John, I noticed you had an Audioquest Jitterbug plugged in. Would you be willing to do a video about it? Interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks, J.
I'll second that. I use Roon at my main place, Nuc (rock) - USBridge (Volumio) - Gustard X16, but don't fancy paying for a second Roon license for my weekend place. Tidal Connect would keep me happy and if would be nice to be able to use a better supported and more modern SBC like the Pi4 whilst keeping a clean USB out.
Great video, and I love how you geek on this stuff. It's not as elegant but I have been streaming Tidal to my Pi using LMS. Just another alternative. 👍
@@Patricia-kk8tr Similar, but what I have is a plugin for LMS, so it uses the LMS/Squeeze interface. Advantage - it integrates seamlessly with my own library of music files on a share. Disadvantage - a bit fussy to set up, and not as elegant looking a UI. You're correct - both stream audio bits straight from Tidal to the device, not through my phone. The phone app is just a controller. Turn the phone off and the music keeps playing.
I have been using Volumio for a couple of years. I am currently running on a pi-zero W with a pimoroni dac shim. I have a hard drive on my network that has a couple of gig's of music I have collected. The FLAC's of live performances sound awesome. My system is only about $250 in total with speakers and amp, pi, etc. It is a little slow to get started (the pi zero is pretty wimpy) but it is something I can take in my pocket and connect anywhere I have wifi or cellular and stream all of my music or pretty much any service that volumio supports. The community on volumio has been great to help me with gotchas over time. I could put a much nicer DAC on it for $100 but for my needs, it is perfectly adequate. Thanks for the great content and for spreading the word that great-sounding audio doesn't have to be expensive.
Using it with my pi4 and get full MQA 384khz on my Topping D90 MQA on usb. Got some pops and klicks, but i changed buffering setting and it got mutch better. Using it with Ifi usb purifier 3 to, sounds just great. Better than my intel Nuc computer i was using before.
Get the Raspbery Pi 4b and usb audio works flawlessly, I use it to output audio on my Cambridge Audio CXA61 via USB async. Issue with RPi3 was that the usb and Lan were sharing the same bus
I like how you're honest. I am just starting to get into HIFI home audio and a DIY'er. I am never satisfied with my equipment lol I feel I can always get better
Just recently got my first pair of head phones, the Philps X2HRs I think, really an eyeopener, kinda fell down a rabbit hole and found this channel and I'm loving all the information I'm learning
I was able to get my Raspberry Pi set up with Volumio, configured, and using Tidal Connect in less than an hour. I already had a Raspberry Pi laying around and a subscription to Tidal so the $35 a year for Volumio wasn't a big deal. In fact, after spending some time using Volumio I think it is a screaming deal. For the money, this is hard to beat, especially when you compare the price to plug and play network streamers on the market. So stoked on this!
OMG ! Unbelievable ! Thank you so much John. I have just tried it in my Raspberry Pi-4 (w 4gb ram), together with my Denafrips Ares II playing music @384Khz (better SQ in my system) or @768Khz either in its amazing web interface of Volumio or via Roon. My standard system is Aries G2.1 together with Sirius G2.1. Honestly ... I don't know which system Pi4-Volumio or my Auralics is better! There is definitely a potential here. And I mean that comparison of Volumio (together with a Linear Power supply) with expensive high end streamers !
Don’t underestimate the power of honest efforts to share the good news! This review started me on four month quest for a Pi Streamer for Tidal connect. It took four months, the purchase of an AV receiver and an IFI DAC (after a HELM BOLT), help from a tech at Volumio, and faith the end result would be there and be worthwhile. Mission accomplished!!!! Streaming as it should be for $300 less. Thanks again and keep em coming. Two requests. Please review some Magnat speakers (503) and a Kinky Studio amp!
Compare Qobuz and Tidal MQA and decide for yourself. To me there is no contest, MQA is a gimmick and the honest streaming Qobuz offers is superior in terms of sound quality.
Google: Tidal worse than flac reddit Should be the reddit link titled: Testing MQA: Is it worse than FLAC? The test was done by another youtuber. User:goldensound Very interesting read. However, do try it for yourself. This might not even matter to you.
John, anyway to setup a Rasberry Pi that will work with Amazon HD Music (I have seen your Spotify and Tidal videos, all excellent by the way) . . .thanks . . .You can call it Piazon or AmaPi . . .
For me Tidal connect is far more important than MQA. Both are amazing bits of software, one lets me find and listen to music with ease and other makes me go looking for MQA versions of albums.
I don't get it. How did you stream Tidal before Tidal Connect? I have Tidal App on MacBook and Android and they both stream to my Chromecast Audio without Tidal Connect. I also have Spotify, UA-cam Music, Amazon Music, and Primephonic (CD quality with some HiRez). All of them stream to Chromecast Audio. I know Chromecast is not the best audio quality, but it works for everything I have, putting it through a Fostex DAC.
Yes it's the next best solution and I use it outside my Innuos Zen streamer in order to use The Tidal app and other programs such as SoundCloud and Mixcloud. Chromecast quality is pretty impressive as well.
Excellent topic to do a video about a raspberry pi streamer! This inspired me to build a Pi zero Audio-Streamer which runs volumio and plays the TIDAL Master files. And using the Connect function works nicely. For the size and functionality it is absolutely brilliant. The only technical question that comes up, How does the Connect function work?! I thought you just tell the Streamer to play as an end point, but for me it seems to be an Airplay&Bluetooth Connection. How is the Connect functionality solved in more high-end products like the Bluesound powernode?! Because e.g. when I am sitting on the couch and listen to music via TIDAL Connect I want to watch a UA-cam video (latest darko audio news) and then the sound plays via the Pi zero. Would that be the same on the Bluesound Ecosystem?! Thanks a lot in advance for any experience shared in the comments. Keep on rockin’
Hello John - I followed your recommendation from months ago, (Pi-squeeze video) and bought a HiFi Berry Raspberry Pi with a Digi+ HAT - loaded it with the piCorePlayer OS, and using LMS on my PC or, on my android phone, using the Orange Squeeze app, I stream Tidal to my Schiit Modi DAC to my Bottlehead Crack tube headphone amp, or my stereo setup, Cambridge CXA60 amp and B&W 685 s2 speakers. Works perfect! I think I'll stick with this setup, no need to pay for Volumio.
My Spotify (and connect) running on volumio and pi, just started streaming 16 44.1 this week (according to volumio app). Everything I've played thus far. Last week just 320kbps. I have a "premium" account and I'm in the US. The advantage is I'm not a my Volumio subscriber. Thanks for your great videos.
I think the hi-res stuff is relevant for newer albums that get released but I get the point overall that its a small part of the library. Keep up the great stuff, John and team! I love the point on streaming convenience though! I've mostly moved to using Spotify Connect as the default option to enjoy music, first and foremost, on my KEF LSX. If only the chips inside had the ability to run Tidal Connect as well.
I got my Allo usbridge signature and connect it to Volumio and Tidal Master, and from the usb on front i add USB IR and use also remote control, just perfect machine and thanks to Volumio, btw John i have it about a month ago but yes it is something new
I have a Pi 3+ plus an allo digi one hat going into a tube Dac. I have subscribed to Tidal hi Res, and going to to try Volumio subscription for a year with Tidal connect. Let you know if I can play the HI res files.
Hi, John. I write about tidal, volumio and the denafrips ares 2 you mentioned you're reviewing. I know you're not focused on hi-res streaming or hi-res music in general - and I get where you are coming from. However, please note that there's an easy and ostensibly free option in that volumio allows you to up sample files. I've been using the ares 2 with volumio running on an Allo USBridge Signature for about a year now. I A/B tested all the options, and I now upsample tidal in volumio to 384khz and then in the ares 2 I oversample the upsampled files. This might sound like a lot of trouble. But I do it because to my ears this produces the best sound quality with LS50s paired with a REL T7i sub and driven by a Rogue Sphinx V2 amp. Please note this "hack" doesn't work with tidal connect. You have to use the clunky (but improving) volumio app. Lastly, a big thank you to you and your colleagues for creating such great content for music-first audiophiles. I'm a big fan of your website and your UA-cam channel! Thanks again, and best of wishes, Veli
Having just built a prototype 'radiogram' (ask your parents what they look like....), Volumio brings it all together and Tidal saves the need for attached storage of flac files.
Same setup with the audioquest cobalt dac playing what you said, Max Richter sleep in MQA and the light doesn't turn purple to signify mqa, stays blue.
In your video you said installing the tidal connect is impossible in Volumio but actually tidal connect is included already with the Paid Membership in Volumio , all you hv to do is to pay for the membership thingy and upgrade it, tidal connect is there working perfectly.
Hi, and greetings from Norway. I am courious about the Pi and the hats, and I am wondering, have you tried installing Linn Kinski desktop on a Pi? Can it be done? Best regards, and Thank you for good videos😊
Neubauten... Eisbär.. you certainly make an effort to go full Leberwurst :) I just started Tidal mainly to give Ek the finger he deserves but as you mentioned, the beauty of it all is that my amp speaks Spotify natively, while for Tidal or others I have to go through Heos, and that just isn't nice, at all. So hooray hifi quality, but now I have several new maintenance vectors with a range of responsible parties (or sometimes there won't even be a party assuming responsibility, RasPi foundation won't care if that external hat doesn't work or if the 3rd party OS can't do this thing or that thing): a Pi, a modified OS (updates? ITsec?), additional hardware (USB DAC I might just plug into a 50EUR tablet off local ads and keep near my hifi spot), a _subscription_ to a service that provides the data path to the hifi system, an annual subscription --- I think it's easier and more reliable to put a USB sound card with digital outputs of any band on a pi, add an SSD with all my CDs ripped to in CD quality and have a web interface on top.
Hey John, I managed to get my RPI-4 via Dietpi connected to Tidal connect with my Iphone. I used Diepi with Allo Boss, then I loaded Google Home on my iphone. After a bit of config in Google home I went back to Tidal Connect opened a screen to pick the endpoint, then pick Airplay & Blue tooth. My screen has a choice for Dietpi. Guess what it works and the best part of this is you can run the volume up and down with the hard buttons on my phone.
Hey John, great video. Just getting into audio on the Pi and wanted to check out the heatsink case link. It doesn't seem to go to the right target though. What case are you using in this video?
I’ve a BOSS i2S DAC, RASP hat in the post, this video has sort of answered all my question, quite excited now. It’s probably not the best DAC out there but a good starting point. Presently use Apple Music so will have to switch to Tidal I think.
Too bad that the feature is locked behind a subscription plan... I had found it a while ago but skipped it cuz of that. Since you havent really covered it yet, what are your thoughts on the latest MQA/Tidal drama? MQA seems to add noise to music even when you select HiFi on Tidal.
Goldensound did quite an interesting MQA evaluation UA-cam video where he had a test piece put up in MQA and compared the master with the MQA version. On the back of it I've taken out a subscription to Qobuz in parallel with my Tidal subscription to get to know the platform a little better. Personally I'd prefer to stream FLAC if there are artefacts being introduced by a codec that really doesn't offer me any benefits.
This is a great solution for getting Tidal Connect up and running. Just completed my setup last night with the dragonfly cobalt and it was fairly simple. One issue regarding MQA on this setup. I notice that the Dragonfly led only lights up blue instead of purple on MQA songs and then green on everything else. Seems a bit odd... But Tidal Connect is the big win here with MQA being an added bonus.
I got on board the Pi-train thanks to one of your videos a while back. Currently working on a nice wood and glass housing with a built in display to put the Pi front and center in my setup. I have a question about volumio though - what do you think of the CD ripping feature of volumio with a standard USB CD drive, in terms of the potential quality you can get out of it? Interested in your thoughts on the topic.
I finally decided to jump in :) It is excellent for the price. I was about the buy the innuos mini but this one with an external dac do the trick for me. Specially with Tidal connect and Qobuz available. I wonder if you have tried the cd player add on ? I'm waiting for my cd drive to come to try it and rip my collection. I tried the pie 4 with an linear power supply, a good one with an oversized toroidal transformer and regulated : wow !
Hey John, great video. Did you notice audio quality differences between RPi3b+ and the RPi4b? The 4b sounds so much worse to me - would be glad to hear about your experience. Cheers, love your videos.
Id like to hear about the possibility of streamers/dac for Qobuz-Audirvana combo. I’m new to this hi-res game, but my weapons of choice are indeed Qobuz and Audirvana... in this lovely channel I don’t hear too much about the mentioned combo. Any plan for covering and/or dig in it. Love your channel. Thank you.
I'm one of those who also use Qobuz and Audirvana. Audirvana has a smartphone app for remote control so you can use that if you are away from your PC. Alternatively my streamer integrated amp, the Yamaha WXA-50 can stream and playback Qobuz directly through their MusicCast app.
Just either connect your Dac direct to your Audirvana pc, or grab a RPI4 and a hat if you wish or use USB direct... and use UPnP streaming. Simply install ropieee on the RPI4s Sd card. Then use Audirvana’s UPnP streaming output to the RPI4. Very easy.
That's so weird. I just within the last two weeks used Volumio and have a Tidal Connect setup. Worked like a charm. Though you do have to fork over a few bucks to Volumio.
I hope you will follow up this eventually (if you find out) why you didn't get this to work on ropi. Wrong combo of package versions present on pi, or do berryos and volumio do some proprietary shenanigans that are not publicly available?
with the Raspberry Pi 3B plus you can send the signal directly via the USB port to, for example, the Denon pma-600ne.with volumio you can perfectly stream music such as Nas server, spotify and perhaps also TIDAL payment. the Dac of the Denon is exceptionally great. sounds even better than the hifiberry hat, HiFiBerry DAC RCA+ Pro this is equivalent to the Bluesound node 2i
Hey John! What do you think about the Yamaha MusicCast WXAD-10? It is almost that what you were trying to do in the first place (streamer with dac and analog outputs) and it is low priced. Unfortunately there are no digital outputs to connect a different dac.
Congrats on getting that to work! I know how good that feels. As for Tidal Connect, maybe I am missing something. I have a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ropieee to which I can stream as a Roon endpoint. What does Tidal Connect support on a Raspberry Pi potentially do for me that I don't already have with Roon? And I would much rather be using Roon than any of the streaming services' apps. I am curious, what have I missed? What is the value proposition for Tidal Connect or Any Service Connect over Roon? One other point, I recently migrated from Tidal to Qobuz and was quite surprised to see how many albums Qobuz has now in hi-rez format. Many more than Tidal, at least for my library. Qobuz has been pretty busy so I would bet those 5-7% figures need to be updated. Thanks for your great reviews! Always fun to listen.
Great review John, so a question I have is I have the HiFiberry Hat on my Ri4 using Ropieee if I change OS to Volunio will Tidal Connect work? Cheers Barry
Well I took the bait and bought a rasberry pi 3 B and digi hat. Loaded Volumio and stream Tidal Connect. I’m not tech savvy, but I got to work. It sounds so good that my dear wife commented on how good it sounds. That is a first. For reference, I was using an iFi Zen Blu, which sounded good, but not nearly this good. The rest of the system is: Schiit Bifrost Mutibit DAC, Naim Nait integrated amp driving Focal Aria 906 speakers.
It'd be interesting to see what a Pi-streamer could bring to the table in comparison to a laptop when it comes to headphone DACs like the RME ADI etc. I like the idea of improving my source but I'm not sure it is worth the trade-off in convenience factor. If anyone has any experience with this kind of setup feel free to share your thoughts.
I think it's amazing that people can differentiate between 2 good DACS. While telling apart a laptop or android built in DAC from say a Chord Mojo or a Fiio K3 is easy, comparing top tier DACS is no easy feat.
Nice video. I'm searching for a similar solution to stream the music directly to my amp. But the music was a bit loud and also in my opinion a bit too much.
Okay John, s'been 3 weeks. I own an Ares II. Before I buy a Pi4, Oyaide USB ab cable and download Volumio, may we please have a video of your experiences with same?
Hello John love your videos. I'm rasPI enthusiast too :) About Tidal, I decided to move to Dezeer after all this MQA controversy. Valid video for who still on Tidal, we have limited Tidal player, specially on Linux :/
Deezer is the best option right now. Their HiFi option is the cheapest among all that offer CD quality, and their songs database is one of the best too.
That's actually pretty good news because the Pi2AES uses the the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro Driver , so you could actually use your own outboard DAC. Worth a try at least.
Hi John I m feeling a bit lost in the casting protocols : dlna/upnp, chromecast, tidal & and spotify connect. Wich one is lossy wich one is not , gapless enable or not... Do you thing a "back to basics" would be interresting for these points ? Best Regards Michel
*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* Be a decent human being: kindly keep your sexist/racist thoughts and conspiracy theories to yourself. External links are also a no-no. Comments that advance the conversation are most welcome.
I like that you spent so much time on the whole Raspberry Pi ecosystem. Attainable quality audio for the hobbyist. I hope you keep following this line.
I just recently discovered your channel and I really want to say thank you. You keep a very open mind about a wide variety of ways to listen to music. I really like how you explained how one man's budget can greatly limit what his max audio options are. Knowing you take that into account reassures this viewer that you are going to bring all the best options to us and let us decided. Thank you again.
Damn, I just really love your videos they feel like they were produced by a channel 5 times your size with 20 times the budget. I love the editing style.
Thanks for the update. I just updated my Volumio. At this time all I have is a drive connected with Flac files of CD. Since I just lost the job at hospital I will hold off on tidal or anything else for time being. Thanks for starting me on this journey.
Thanks John. Becoming an audiophile since the beginning of COVID-19 helped me. Bravo to your high quality videos.
John, thank you for your videos about the raspberry pi. I was looking at the bluenode and other streamers, but got the raspberry pi and installed volumio on it. Works great, sounds great... Love it!
Thx John for the update on Volumio. I have two Pi based dacs did a update on both and had Tidal connect working within a hour. I’m pleased with the results much better way to stream Tidal on these devices.
Thank you! I purchased a Rsdpberry Pi 4 and a Boss DAC hat, got it up and running and now enjoy using Volumio with my audio system. Really appreciate your exposition of the journey, it’s an exciting time to be part of the audiophile universe now!
If I already have a usb dac, do I need a dac hat? Thanks
@@justonemmett8604 The Boss DAC connects to my Raspberry PI 4 and converts the PI's digital audio to analog output that feeds into my speaker amplifier. The hat term means that the board plugs into the Pi 4 40 pin on board connector for a compact unit. There are USB DAC uniits that John Darko has reviewed so a DAC HAT is not needed for quality convert digital audio conversion from a PI 4.
You are a pleasure to watch. Complicated material put very simply. Thank you.😀
I’m holding out for Qobuz Connect.
Waiting for spotify Hifi, what that will bring, i hope far more than 7%, cd quality will do! Thanks for a again a nice video John. Also for bringing Poligon Window into my room! 👌
I don't think you got the difference between Hi-Fi and the 24Bit MQA...
Spotify should be able to have over 95% of their library in simple Hi-Fi, as the competition does...
Love this Raspberry Pi stuff! I've been considering a move to Tidal, but I think I'm going to hold off until Spotify go lossless. Just comfortable with the Spotify app!
Excellent. I love a good fiddle with kit too. Glad to see that not everyone is promoting just the mega priced solutions. Not that I wouldn't go for some of those if I had the cash, of course.
Omg tidal connect finally afforfable ,thanks for bring it to me, I will start the project!
I wasn't aware of HifiBerry OS. Minimal and effective. That's all I was looking for my Raspberry Pi. Thank you for sharing.
I hope they extend tidal connect even further like spotify connect. Great video John👌🏼👌🏼
Superb. Many thanks for this, its been a long time coming.
Great job John. This is why I love your content. Always trying ways to enjoy music.
Hurray!!!!! Been waiting for this breakthrough. Major thanks
Very useful. Like the unintentional pun at then end: 'hats off....'
Thanks for this kind of videos. After last vid of the rpi4, I bought one last week. Now I'm running it with moode straight with USB into my cxa80. And using bubble upnp for qobuz and tidal streaming. The sound of my system changed and opend up so much in a good way instead of chrome cast that I'm used to use. It's like I have a whole new hifi system.
Hey John, I noticed you had an Audioquest Jitterbug plugged in. Would you be willing to do a video about it? Interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks, J.
I'll second that. I use Roon at my main place, Nuc (rock) - USBridge (Volumio) - Gustard X16, but don't fancy paying for a second Roon license for my weekend place. Tidal Connect would keep me happy and if would be nice to be able to use a better supported and more modern SBC like the Pi4 whilst keeping a clean USB out.
Great video, and I love how you geek on this stuff. It's not as elegant but I have been streaming Tidal to my Pi using LMS. Just another alternative. 👍
How does it differ from the Tidal connect? They both stream directly to the Pi I think, unlike a Bluetooth or Airplay connection.
@@Patricia-kk8tr Similar, but what I have is a plugin for LMS, so it uses the LMS/Squeeze interface. Advantage - it integrates seamlessly with my own library of music files on a share. Disadvantage - a bit fussy to set up, and not as elegant looking a UI. You're correct - both stream audio bits straight from Tidal to the device, not through my phone. The phone app is just a controller. Turn the phone off and the music keeps playing.
Brave initiative, John. Am enjoying both Tidal Connect and Qobuz by means of my Bluesound Node 2i.
I have been using Volumio for a couple of years. I am currently running on a pi-zero W with a pimoroni dac shim. I have a hard drive on my network that has a couple of gig's of music I have collected. The FLAC's of live performances sound awesome. My system is only about $250 in total with speakers and amp, pi, etc. It is a little slow to get started (the pi zero is pretty wimpy) but it is something I can take in my pocket and connect anywhere I have wifi or cellular and stream all of my music or pretty much any service that volumio supports. The community on volumio has been great to help me with gotchas over time. I could put a much nicer DAC on it for $100 but for my needs, it is perfectly adequate. Thanks for the great content and for spreading the word that great-sounding audio doesn't have to be expensive.
Using it with my pi4 and get full MQA 384khz on my Topping D90 MQA on usb.
Got some pops and klicks, but i changed buffering setting and it got mutch better.
Using it with Ifi usb purifier 3 to, sounds just great.
Better than my intel Nuc computer i was using before.
Im on roon using ropieee. All thanks to you John. Im not sure i could ever leave roon. Feel like a customer for life
Cambridge CXN V2 had a firmware update this week, and I notice Tidal Connect there now
Yup, the update even covers my few years old Stream Magic 6(v2)! Thanks Cambridge Audio! 🙏🏻
@@gwingrider07 there is nothing on the Stream Magic page mentioning Stream 6. Do you get the same update as current models?
John if you haven't already you must check out Richter's album Voices, especially the tracks chorale PT. 1-4
Get the Raspbery Pi 4b and usb audio works flawlessly, I use it to output audio on my Cambridge Audio CXA61 via USB async. Issue with RPi3 was that the usb and Lan were sharing the same bus
I like how you're honest. I am just starting to get into HIFI home audio and a DIY'er. I am never satisfied with my equipment lol I feel I can always get better
Just recently got my first pair of head phones, the Philps X2HRs I think, really an eyeopener, kinda fell down a rabbit hole and found this channel and I'm loving all the information I'm learning
I’ve had mine for a while and I love them, paired em with an Ifi Zen Dac
The intro music is starting to hollow out it's own space. Great
I was able to get my Raspberry Pi set up with Volumio, configured, and using Tidal Connect in less than an hour. I already had a Raspberry Pi laying around and a subscription to Tidal so the $35 a year for Volumio wasn't a big deal. In fact, after spending some time using Volumio I think it is a screaming deal. For the money, this is hard to beat, especially when you compare the price to plug and play network streamers on the market. So stoked on this!
awsome video, loved that it saved us some time. Although Volumio is yet another cut, its getting better all the time.
OMG ! Unbelievable ! Thank you so much John. I have just tried it in my Raspberry Pi-4 (w 4gb ram), together with my Denafrips Ares II playing music @384Khz (better SQ in my system) or @768Khz either in its amazing web interface of Volumio or via Roon. My standard system is Aries G2.1 together with Sirius G2.1. Honestly ... I don't know which system Pi4-Volumio or my Auralics is better! There is definitely a potential here. And I mean that comparison of Volumio (together with a Linear Power supply) with expensive high end streamers !
Don’t underestimate the power of honest efforts to share the good news! This review started me on four month quest for a Pi Streamer for Tidal connect. It took four months, the purchase of an AV receiver and an IFI DAC (after a HELM BOLT), help from a tech at Volumio, and faith the end result would be there and be worthwhile. Mission accomplished!!!! Streaming as it should be for $300 less. Thanks again and keep em coming. Two requests. Please review some Magnat speakers (503) and a Kinky Studio amp!
What do you think of MQA, I've read and listened to a lot of complains about it, as if it's all marketing fuff that actually makes sound worse.
Compare Qobuz and Tidal MQA and decide for yourself. To me there is no contest, MQA is a gimmick and the honest streaming Qobuz offers is superior in terms of sound quality.
Google: Tidal worse than flac reddit
Should be the reddit link titled: Testing MQA: Is it worse than FLAC?
The test was done by another youtuber.
User:goldensound
Very interesting read.
However, do try it for yourself. This might not even matter to you.
Great video John.
Thanks for your great content! - How good is the DAC compared to a Google Chromecast Audio? Br. LFK
Great timing! Abandoning my noisy MacBook for a RP with digione signature this week. Tidal connect on Volumio is exciting.
John, anyway to setup a Rasberry Pi that will work with Amazon HD Music (I have seen your Spotify and Tidal videos, all excellent by the way) . . .thanks . . .You can call it Piazon or AmaPi . . .
For me Tidal connect is far more important than MQA. Both are amazing bits of software, one lets me find and listen to music with ease and other makes me go looking for MQA versions of albums.
John, Volumio has some buffering settings that I adjusted and the Tidal delays/drops went away for me on my PI based Audiophonics streamer/dac.
Which ones did you adjust ?
I don't get it. How did you stream Tidal before Tidal Connect? I have Tidal App on MacBook and Android and they both stream to my Chromecast Audio without Tidal Connect. I also have Spotify, UA-cam Music, Amazon Music, and Primephonic (CD quality with some HiRez). All of them stream to Chromecast Audio. I know Chromecast is not the best audio quality, but it works for everything I have, putting it through a Fostex DAC.
Yes it's the next best solution and I use it outside my Innuos Zen streamer in order to use The Tidal app and other programs such as SoundCloud and Mixcloud. Chromecast quality is pretty impressive as well.
I dont think chromecast is gapless.
Excellent topic to do a video about a raspberry pi streamer! This inspired me to build a Pi zero Audio-Streamer which runs volumio and plays the TIDAL Master files. And using the Connect function works nicely. For the size and functionality it is absolutely brilliant. The only technical question that comes up, How does the Connect function work?! I thought you just tell the Streamer to play as an end point, but for me it seems to be an Airplay&Bluetooth Connection. How is the Connect functionality solved in more high-end products like the Bluesound powernode?! Because e.g. when I am sitting on the couch and listen to music via TIDAL Connect I want to watch a UA-cam video (latest darko audio news) and then the sound plays via the Pi zero. Would that be the same on the Bluesound Ecosystem?! Thanks a lot in advance for any experience shared in the comments. Keep on rockin’
Hi John. Who's the artist that makes the pictures you have in the walls? Thanks
Hello John - I followed your recommendation from months ago, (Pi-squeeze video) and bought a HiFi Berry Raspberry Pi with a Digi+ HAT - loaded it with the piCorePlayer OS, and using LMS on my PC or, on my android phone, using the Orange Squeeze app, I stream Tidal to my Schiit Modi DAC to my Bottlehead Crack tube headphone amp, or my stereo setup, Cambridge CXA60 amp and B&W 685 s2 speakers. Works perfect! I think I'll stick with this setup, no need to pay for Volumio.
"So if my internet connection has a wobble. Which it often does, because I am in Germany". As a former resident of Germany, I felt that.
My Spotify (and connect) running on volumio and pi, just started streaming 16 44.1 this week (according to volumio app). Everything I've played thus far. Last week just 320kbps. I have a "premium" account and I'm in the US. The advantage is I'm not a my Volumio subscriber.
Thanks for your great videos.
I think the hi-res stuff is relevant for newer albums that get released but I get the point overall that its a small part of the library. Keep up the great stuff, John and team! I love the point on streaming convenience though! I've mostly moved to using Spotify Connect as the default option to enjoy music, first and foremost, on my KEF LSX. If only the chips inside had the ability to run Tidal Connect as well.
I got my Allo usbridge signature and connect it to Volumio and Tidal Master, and from the usb on front i add USB IR and use also remote control, just perfect machine and thanks to Volumio, btw John i have it about a month ago but yes it is something new
I have a Pi 3+ plus an allo digi one hat going into a tube Dac. I have subscribed to Tidal hi Res, and going to to try Volumio subscription for a year with Tidal connect. Let you know if I can play the HI res files.
Hi, John. I write about tidal, volumio and the denafrips ares 2 you mentioned you're reviewing. I know you're not focused on hi-res streaming or hi-res music in general - and I get where you are coming from. However, please note that there's an easy and ostensibly free option in that volumio allows you to up sample files. I've been using the ares 2 with volumio running on an Allo USBridge Signature for about a year now. I A/B tested all the options, and I now upsample tidal in volumio to 384khz and then in the ares 2 I oversample the upsampled files. This might sound like a lot of trouble. But I do it because to my ears this produces the best sound quality with LS50s paired with a REL T7i sub and driven by a Rogue Sphinx V2 amp. Please note this "hack" doesn't work with tidal connect. You have to use the clunky (but improving) volumio app.
Lastly, a big thank you to you and your colleagues for creating such great content for music-first audiophiles. I'm a big fan of your website and your UA-cam channel!
Thanks again, and best of wishes,
Veli
Having just built a prototype 'radiogram' (ask your parents what they look like....), Volumio brings it all together and Tidal saves the need for attached storage of flac files.
Same setup with the audioquest cobalt dac playing what you said, Max Richter sleep in MQA and the light doesn't turn purple to signify mqa, stays blue.
Great info.
Thank you as always👍
In your video you said installing the tidal connect is impossible in Volumio but actually tidal connect is included already with the Paid Membership in Volumio , all you hv to do is to pay for the membership thingy and upgrade it, tidal connect is there working perfectly.
Love your videos.
I'm afraid Volumio Tidal Connect is very buggy, not connecting, spotty playback.
Hi, and greetings from Norway. I am courious about the Pi and the hats, and I am wondering, have you tried installing Linn Kinski desktop on a Pi? Can it be done? Best regards, and Thank you for good videos😊
Neubauten... Eisbär.. you certainly make an effort to go full Leberwurst :) I just started Tidal mainly to give Ek the finger he deserves but as you mentioned, the beauty of it all is that my amp speaks Spotify natively, while for Tidal or others I have to go through Heos, and that just isn't nice, at all. So hooray hifi quality, but now I have several new maintenance vectors with a range of responsible parties (or sometimes there won't even be a party assuming responsibility, RasPi foundation won't care if that external hat doesn't work or if the 3rd party OS can't do this thing or that thing): a Pi, a modified OS (updates? ITsec?), additional hardware (USB DAC I might just plug into a 50EUR tablet off local ads and keep near my hifi spot), a _subscription_ to a service that provides the data path to the hifi system, an annual subscription --- I think it's easier and more reliable to put a USB sound card with digital outputs of any band on a pi, add an SSD with all my CDs ripped to in CD quality and have a web interface on top.
Can you share the make/model of that Pi case? I like the look of that one.
Sounds great, its a pitty that amazon music hd isnt integrated yet. But its worth a try with tidal then ;)
Hey John, I managed to get my RPI-4 via Dietpi connected to Tidal connect with my Iphone. I used Diepi with Allo Boss, then I loaded Google Home on my iphone. After a bit of config in Google home I went back to Tidal Connect opened a screen to pick the endpoint, then pick Airplay & Blue tooth. My screen has a choice for Dietpi. Guess what it works and the best part of this is you can run the volume up and down with the hard buttons on my phone.
The latest version of Volumio has Tidal connect, and you don’t have to do anything to set it up. And it works with USB DAC’s and HAT’s.
Hey John, great video. Just getting into audio on the Pi and wanted to check out the heatsink case link. It doesn't seem to go to the right target though. What case are you using in this video?
John..have you ever listened to your sound system w your speakers facing you from behind at a 45 degree angle; similar to how you record your blogs?
I’ve a BOSS i2S DAC, RASP hat in the post, this video has sort of answered all my question, quite excited now. It’s probably not the best DAC out there but a good starting point. Presently use Apple Music so will have to switch to Tidal I think.
Too bad that the feature is locked behind a subscription plan... I had found it a while ago but skipped it cuz of that.
Since you havent really covered it yet, what are your thoughts on the latest MQA/Tidal drama? MQA seems to add noise to music even when you select HiFi on Tidal.
Goldensound did quite an interesting MQA evaluation UA-cam video where he had a test piece put up in MQA and compared the master with the MQA version. On the back of it I've taken out a subscription to Qobuz in parallel with my Tidal subscription to get to know the platform a little better. Personally I'd prefer to stream FLAC if there are artefacts being introduced by a codec that really doesn't offer me any benefits.
Hey John. Thank you for the great videos. What is your opinion on Amazon Music HD?
This is a great solution for getting Tidal Connect up and running. Just completed my setup last night with the dragonfly cobalt and it was fairly simple. One issue regarding MQA on this setup. I notice that the Dragonfly led only lights up blue instead of purple on MQA songs and then green on everything else. Seems a bit odd... But Tidal Connect is the big win here with MQA being an added bonus.
I got on board the Pi-train thanks to one of your videos a while back. Currently working on a nice wood and glass housing with a built in display to put the Pi front and center in my setup.
I have a question about volumio though - what do you think of the CD ripping feature of volumio with a standard USB CD drive, in terms of the potential quality you can get out of it? Interested in your thoughts on the topic.
Did John buy those Wilson's? Also, I've noticed the PS Audio monos...are those his reference amp/speaker combo?
I finally decided to jump in :) It is excellent for the price. I was about the buy the innuos mini but this one with an external dac do the trick for me. Specially with Tidal connect and Qobuz available.
I wonder if you have tried the cd player add on ? I'm waiting for my cd drive to come to try it and rip my collection.
I tried the pie 4 with an linear power supply, a good one with an oversized toroidal transformer and regulated : wow !
Volumio going the subscribe route ? I know it's probably not very expensive now, but I am not too optimistic about that...
Hey John, great video. Did you notice audio quality differences between RPi3b+ and the RPi4b? The 4b sounds so much worse to me - would be glad to hear about your experience. Cheers, love your videos.
what IS the best dac hat you recommend?
Does this support Dolby ATMOS? Oh - and you're the only other Grauzone fan I know.
Thanks so much. I've had my eye on an Allo Usbridge, but lack of Tidal Connect support kept me from pulling the trigger. This is great news!
There are Tidal Connect running streamers, why didn't you use those yet?
Id like to hear about the possibility of streamers/dac for Qobuz-Audirvana combo. I’m new to this hi-res game, but my weapons of choice are indeed Qobuz and Audirvana... in this lovely channel I don’t hear too much about the mentioned combo. Any plan for covering and/or dig in it. Love your channel. Thank you.
I'm one of those who also use Qobuz and Audirvana. Audirvana has a smartphone app for remote control so you can use that if you are away from your PC. Alternatively my streamer integrated amp, the Yamaha WXA-50 can stream and playback Qobuz directly through their MusicCast app.
Just either connect your Dac direct to your Audirvana pc, or grab a RPI4 and a hat if you wish or use USB direct... and use UPnP streaming.
Simply install ropieee on the RPI4s Sd card. Then use Audirvana’s UPnP streaming output to the RPI4. Very easy.
That's so weird. I just within the last two weeks used Volumio and have a Tidal Connect setup. Worked like a charm. Though you do have to fork over a few bucks to Volumio.
I hope you will follow up this eventually (if you find out) why you didn't get this to work on ropi. Wrong combo of package versions present on pi, or do berryos and volumio do some proprietary shenanigans that are not publicly available?
with the Raspberry Pi 3B plus you can send the signal directly via the USB port to, for example, the Denon pma-600ne.with volumio you can perfectly stream music such as Nas server, spotify and perhaps also TIDAL payment. the Dac of the Denon is exceptionally great. sounds even better than the hifiberry hat, HiFiBerry DAC RCA+ Pro this is equivalent to the Bluesound node 2i
Hey John! What do you think about the Yamaha MusicCast WXAD-10? It is almost that what you were trying to do in the first place (streamer with dac and analog outputs) and it is low priced. Unfortunately there are no digital outputs to connect a different dac.
I’m still waiting for Qobuz Qonnect. 😁
Congrats on getting that to work! I know how good that feels. As for Tidal Connect, maybe I am missing something. I have a Raspberry Pi 4 running Ropieee to which I can stream as a Roon endpoint. What does Tidal Connect support on a Raspberry Pi potentially do for me that I don't already have with Roon? And I would much rather be using Roon than any of the streaming services' apps. I am curious, what have I missed? What is the value proposition for Tidal Connect or Any Service Connect over Roon? One other point, I recently migrated from Tidal to Qobuz and was quite surprised to see how many albums Qobuz has now in hi-rez format. Many more than Tidal, at least for my library. Qobuz has been pretty busy so I would bet those 5-7% figures need to be updated. Thanks for your great reviews! Always fun to listen.
Great review John, so a question I have is I have the HiFiberry Hat on my Ri4 using Ropieee if I change OS to Volunio will Tidal Connect work? Cheers Barry
Well I took the bait and bought a rasberry pi 3 B and digi hat. Loaded Volumio and stream Tidal Connect. I’m not tech savvy, but I got to work. It sounds so good that my dear wife commented on how good it sounds. That is a first. For reference, I was using an iFi Zen Blu, which sounded good, but not nearly this good. The rest of the system is: Schiit Bifrost Mutibit DAC, Naim Nait integrated amp driving Focal Aria 906 speakers.
It'd be interesting to see what a Pi-streamer could bring to the table in comparison to a laptop when it comes to headphone DACs like the RME ADI etc. I like the idea of improving my source but I'm not sure it is worth the trade-off in convenience factor. If anyone has any experience with this kind of setup feel free to share your thoughts.
I think it's amazing that people can differentiate between 2 good DACS.
While telling apart a laptop or android built in DAC from say a Chord Mojo or a Fiio K3 is easy, comparing top tier DACS is no easy feat.
Nice video. I'm searching for a similar solution to stream the music directly to my amp.
But the music was a bit loud and also in my opinion a bit too much.
Okay John, s'been 3 weeks. I own an Ares II. Before I buy a Pi4, Oyaide USB ab cable and download Volumio, may we please have a video of your experiences with same?
Hello John, I hope you are having a great day. Now that LG is gone, what do you think about the Sony Xperia 1 mark III phone???
Jana's keyboard looks cool..
Hello John love your videos. I'm rasPI enthusiast too :)
About Tidal, I decided to move to Dezeer after all this MQA controversy. Valid video for who still on Tidal, we have limited Tidal player, specially on Linux :/
Also moved to deezer from tidal. Way better library for my taste.
After watching GoldenSound's video on his thoughts about MQA and the staff behind the format, I kinda want to stay away from Tidal for now...
Deezer is the best option right now. Their HiFi option is the cheapest among all that offer CD quality, and their songs database is one of the best too.
That's actually pretty good news because the Pi2AES uses the the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro Driver , so you could actually use your own outboard DAC. Worth a try at least.
would this work with the Digi2 Pro?
Hi John
I m feeling a bit lost in the casting protocols : dlna/upnp, chromecast, tidal & and spotify connect.
Wich one is lossy wich one is not , gapless enable or not...
Do you thing a "back to basics" would be interresting for these points ?
Best Regards
Michel
I am using VitOS on my Pi4. Just lovely 😊
But works for use as a Roon Endpoint only?
@@AWEG-qu8bz Yes, for Roon only.