Acoustic Portrait launches Pi 3 DAC - M2rPi

[aurobindosaha]

I did meet Siva today and am doing a A/B with my current setup..the dac Siva has built is really good

Waiting for it to break in..but am really impressed !

Hi Arj,

Glad to hear that.

Siva called me today evening to get a feedback. Well it's very difficult to describe the subtle changes you experience after adding a dac. I spent 3 hours today and about 5 hours yesterday listening to Qawali, Country, Hindusthani, Sufi. In every genre the fact that I am experiencing is that the music is more complete .... vegue description right? Compare it with a piece of literature that is better composed. Measuring the satisfaction and joy and quantifying experience of a good music reproduction is very difficult - there may be graphs and other stuff .... But at the end of that day it's about how you feel. All I am trying to say I am more fulfilled I told Siva the same.

Thanks
Auro

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[arj]

It is not doubt good . Comparatively, at this point the resolution is slightly less especially at the top end and slightly at the bottom end but that is with a system x times more expensive. The sound is very organic especially in the midrange and the textures in the vocals are really good. Since it takes around 30 hours for dacs to reach its peak and open in , will need to run it more .


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[Hassan Khani]

The only operational issue I see - every time I download a music, I have to take the USB drive out, copy it using a laptop and then put it back.
Thanks
Auro

The USB drive should be already mounted (that is why the Pi is able to access music from the USB drive).

Option 1: you can (S)FTP files to the mounted USB drive
Option 2: Export the mounted USB drive using NFS / SMB, then access from any other machine (To set this up you need SSH access to the Pi).

Thanks,
Hassan.

 

[Naturelover]

I suppose the M2rPi can be connected to a display monitor. Is that with the HDMI?


Could you put that in plain layman language, please

The USB drive should be already mounted (that is why the Pi is able to access music from the USB drive).

Option 1: you can (S)FTP files to the mounted USB drive
Option 2: Export the mounted USB drive using NFS / SMB, then access from any other machine (To set this up you need SSH access to the Pi).

Thanks,
Hassan.

 

[aurobindosaha]

Hi Naturelover,

As per my understanding, Hassan means the following -

1. Turn on DAC and let the pi connect to wifi

2 . Turn on your laptop or computer connect to wifi

3. From computer/laptop, we can transfer file to the storage drive attached to Pi. In this case the storage drive is the usb drive attached to Pi.

4. My laptop is having Windows operating system, while Pi is having Linux. The way Windows OS stores files is different from the way Linux stores files. Hence the file is transferred using a rule or protocol know as FTP (file transfer protocol). Normal copy paste like we do in Windows PC does not work.

5. However, there is a special software called WinSCP that can help to easily transfer the file. Using WinSCP you can easily view an user interface that shows folders and files in Windows computer/laptop and6. in Pi. You do not need to know complex linux commands in order to ftp files using WinSCP tool.

6. If you consider Pi as another computer in you home network it's about transferring file from one computer to another.

7. Note - you can also remotely login to PI from your windows laptop/computer using another tool called Putty. The way you remotely login to PI using putty tool is called SSH.

8. Also please note HDMI port of Pi has no role to play explained in step 1 to 8. However, consider that you do not have a laptop/computer that you can use to remotely log in to your Pi; in such case you can use HDMI to connect a monitor. HDMI acts as a output port for video and audio of Pi. You may also like to add your keyboard and mouse to usb input port.

Hope I did not confuse you further.

HDMI may have some additional benefits which I am not aware of.

Thanks
Auro



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[Naturelover]

Many thanks Auro.

 

[Naturelover]

I did meet Siva today and am doing a A/B with my current setup..the dac Siva has built is really good

Waiting for it to break in..but am really impressed !

Awaiting your review, arj

 

[aurobindosaha]

Another email from Acoustic Portrait .... may clarify some of our doubts -
"
Friends,

There had been lot of question regarding the application of M2rPi. The link below is application note for M2rPi.

M2rPi will come preloaded with RuneAudio. This a very flexible and powerful music player which also comes with an app for your mobile phone.

RuneAudio - Embedded Hi-Fi music player

You can also replace RuneAudio with another other player of your choice.

Thanks
Auro

 

[rikhav]

Hi
Will suggest you to try moode audio

Or picoreplayer which you can use as pure player with another pc doing duties of Logitech media server
(Try this if you want be little more adventurous otherwise sound wise moode seems to best I have heard amongst RPi audio distros)

I would like to know from AP if it's possiblewhat dac baord are they using
Is it some ready deisgn made by one of the many manufacturers of RPI hat boards or its their own design

I can understand AP won't be comfortable revealing such information and I understand completely

 

[Nikhil]

I would like to know from AP if it's possiblewhat dac baord are they using

Texas Instrument PCM5102A - it's given on their website.

 

[rikhav]

Texas Instrument PCM5102A - it's given on their website.

Hi Nikhil
That's just the dac chip. I am talking about the whole dac deisgn

 

[ajeshkumarts]

Hi Nikhil
That's just the dac chip. I am talking about the whole dac deisgn

Dac board is shown in a link
http://www.hifivision.com/dac/64704-acoustic-portrait-launches-pi-3-dac-m2rpi-2.html#post713161

It's a HAT design with separate LPS board.
Isn't hifiberry dac+ and dac+ pro also based on the same chip?

 

[rikhav]

Dac board is shown in a link
http://www.hifivision.com/dac/64704-acoustic-portrait-launches-pi-3-dac-m2rpi-2.html#post713161

It's a HAT design with separate LPS board.
Isn't hifiberry dac+ and dac+ pro also based on the same chip?

Hi ajeshkumar
Not sure what dac chips hifiberry uses for their dac boards. Have used their digi plus board

I think is dac hat baord with also the psu on the same board. The psu powers the dac as well as the rpi via the GPIO pins
This is just my wild guess as I also used to power my raspberry pi via the hat baord

There is one company called memboberry which used to make similar philosophy dac boards for raspberry pi and had a linear supply on the same board
All one had to do is just connect the right spec transformer
So concept wise its really good
One easy way to improve the performance of this dac is to install the ALLO i2s converter card.
Hydra has written about it on the raspberry pi thread
It works the same way as any USB regenerator like Uptone.
The improvements on raspberry pi should be even more better as raspberry pi has a very average clock on board which is expected for the price it sells for

 

[ajeshkumarts]

One easy way to improve the performance of this dac is to install the ALLO i2s converter card.

+1 to that. Recently listened to pi with Kali recloaker + mamboberry dac and with Ian's fifo kit with an eBay ess9018 dac recently.
Details and sound stage improved hugely compared to stock pi in both cases.imho Ian's fifo sounded better

Sorry for the ot.

A better case and a i2s recloacker would have made this dac a killer product

 

[arj]

Awaiting your review, arj

ill try to keep it concise as i have around 20 hours on this now and should eb a good time to test it out. I compared the M2RPi with a Aries mini connected to a Reimyo dac , connected via an Optical cable, but do keep in mind we are comparing a 20K system with a 2.5Lakh+ system or 1.5+ lakh at current prices!

Source for both was a NAS streaming music via Wifi

- Very transparent..almost 90% of the reimyo+Aries
- Very good micro dynamics- 90-95% ( its almost level)
- Midrange and vocals- As good as
- Bass maybe at 90% or less. the bass and control is there but details are lower
- High frequency- 80% seems slightly granular in comparison by itself it is very good
- Resolution - 80%..on camparison some cues are missing..something the Reimyo is a Monster at !

-Organic /natural sounding..slightly higher than the reimyo !! ( despite the slightly lower resolution, this was a hard pill to swallow)

I got a feeling that it needs a little more grunt when playing complex music with lots of instruments...something a tube buffer could fix ( which siva had suggested)- this is again in comparison with the above system !

I also used USB for both and preferred wifi (quick compare)

it is breeze to use with the Rune software and an SSD USB should be a great option

Overall i really loved it.:clapping: fact that it plays Hi rez only makes it better. its a Bargain at 20K and also bargain at 30K for what it does. Anyone looking for a decent streamer dac till around 1 lakh i would really recommend it...i am temped to keep this just for the Hig Rez as my current dac does not play it :lol:

 

[rikhav]

Hi Arjun
If possible try moode audio
Its sounds a little denser in the mids comparing rune
When I tried rune , for me it was clean sounding but little on the leaner side

 

[arj]

Just realized the typos above...typed via a tablet .
Rikhav, I tried the different optimizations and ended with Orion v3 . I am ok with its tonality ..not too comfortable with the whole raspberry pi os yet so left it as is. My speakers are a little bit more fuller bodied so was not troubled by any leanness, if any, in the m2r2pi


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[Nikhil]

Acoustic Portrait hosted a product launch this Sunday and the Swara M2rPi DAC was on display.
Sound was really good and left very little room to complain specially at the price level.

Grab this Network Player/DAC! Superb value for money.

 

[amitk777]

The re-clocking could be an issue, now both hifiberry and Allo sell their products claiming that PI's clock is jittery. I can't really figure out where jitter is something inherent in design or caused by fluctuating power. Anyway a nice product from AP. Saves us a lot. If anybody has it in Hyderabad I would like to hear. Last evening I heard a comparison of Marantz CD6006 with my PI and Hifiberry DAC+ and the Marantz won hands down. So I am very curious if this thing beats the CD Players.

 

[Rosenarayanappa]

Almost a year since i own this. I am happy with this but am wondering if pi clock can be bypassed or made any better. Any good hack to take this product to next level?