DIY USB Network Media Player.

[KiranPS]

Hello Everyone,

I am posting after a long time. I wanted to announce that I am working on a Simple to use USB and Network Media player. I am a software engineer who loves audio. So in the last Two year I have been developing the software and the supporting Hardware for this.

I wanted it to be a Standalone player without the need for a smartphone ,
like a simple CD player , with the capability to play USB and NAS content over lan and Wifi.

Most streamers today are headless which means you need a smart phone just to set it up and to control it. Which I found a lot of people were not comfortable with.

I initially took a Costs No Object approach so even the power Caps are audiophile grade. Resistors are Vishay in the preamp.

I have a blog here,

Blog

Software:
I am not using Roon or VolumeIO or even MPD. I am using a customized RPI3 Raspbian based distro which we developed for Factory Automation that had read only root so could be switched off directly and a separate partition for persistence. I have a SDL based Control and UI app which talks to a gstreamer based custom player. The control app takes care of mounting the SMB , NFS volumes handles Bluetooth Dongle pairing, WIFI setup etc. Since I have a LCD and a rotary encoder the entire setup can be done using the front panel setting.
I also have included Shairport Sync for AirPort Support and uPNP. There is also an app in the Appstore for discovering the player in the LAN and controlling it from a smartphone.
https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.godbtech.rasaplayer

I am planning to open source the software when its stable. Please feel free to contact me if you want more details.

Warm Regds,
Ravi Kiran.

 

[rsponline]

This is really cool stuff Ravi... DAC hardware is also custom made here or you are using something like Allo/Hifiberry ?
Does USB also supports apple devices ?

 

[KiranPS]

This is really cool stuff Ravi... DAC hardware is also custom made here or you are using something like Allo/Hifiberry ?
Does USB also supports apple devices ?

HI,

I am using RPI3 with Allo Boss. I did make my own PCM 51xx based Slave DAC with a preamp board (turned out more expensive), but felt Allo Boss sounded better with the same pre. The pre amp takes care of loading issues and amp matching.

The software is SBC and DAC agnostic so I also have it running on Intel NUC with a USB DAC too for things like YouTube streaming on chrome.

Will soon post some operation videos.

Thanks.

 

[KiranPS]

Version with SMPS and Transformer.

RPI3 + Allo BOSS , the SMPS is for RPI and TFT Pannel. The Transformer + Linear Power for the DAC and Pre. Front Pannel LCD is driven using HDMI from RPI and a ATMEGA328 based MCU board for front Pannel Buttons and Rotary Encoder , Connected to RPI via TTL RS232 .

Less Expensive Version for a friend with Mini Boss and Class D Amp.

 

[VSTEREO]

This is amazing build. I too own Allo Boss DAC (with RPI) but the sound quality is not good when compared to CCA. I use Allo power supply adaptor for RPI and DAC; do you recommend to try another power supply to extract more from Boss DAC ?

 

[KiranPS]

I used a linear power supply with huge CAPs for the DAC and used a pre amp with Dual supply +/- 15v.

I did try a 5v supply for the pre and the sound was not as dynamic and clear as with the dual supply.

The opamp used also determined the SQ, the sound of OPA2134 is way better than NE5532/TL072.

 

[KiranPS]

DAC 5v Power supply Board

Preamp Dual power supply board.

 

[manniraj]

The build looks awesome

How did you make the front panel with the display embedded nicely on the cabinet? What display is that and where did you get the cabinet?

 

[surfatwork]

Very nice! Wonderful to see stuff like this out of India.

 

[KiranPS]

Thanks Maniraj,

The Front panel is CNC milled 10mm aluminum plate polished and anodized. The box is 1mm MS box.

The display is a Waveshare HDMI 4 inch display from Amazon connected to RPI.

Most DIY speakers look awesome but the RPI streamers and players have acrylic sheet plates and look pretty Jugad. They are also headless without a remote, so could never get my dad to use it. A lot of my friends wanted a CD player style experience to play music from USB/NAS with out the smartphone hassle.

I wanted to build a hi quality cabinet fully sourced in India. I latter found that it's not that easy . I did end up spending a lot more time and money than what I anticipated with MOQ being 10-50 for everything, junking panel plates with scratches etc . I did find some machine shops and box manufacturers in Chennai who could do this. The connectors, switches and other components I sourced from Diyaudiocart, diyaudioparts , RS , Mouser etc.

 

[Kannan]

@KiranPS excellent work sir. Is it possible to have a demo and a possible implementation in car

 

[KiranPS]

Sure Kanan Sir, I will PM you my info.

We can implement a Car based system too.

 

[Hiten]

Less Expensive Version for a friend with Mini Boss and Class D Amp.

looks nice and very well made Kiran. Congrats !

Any solution for music stored in wav format in hard drive. which one can browse in display and select tracks. with only DAC (No amplifier). How much will it cost ? kindly PM me.
Thanks and regards.

 

[KiranPS]

Yes Hiten, you can Browse and Play WAV , FLAC (upto 192Khz) files from HDD connected Locally via USB or even NAS just from the
Front panel. There is a rotary encoder like in High End Cars for browsing the Menu and front panel buttons for shortcuts.

I am not selling it right now , Its just a personal Passion project for me.
Everyone are welcome to clone it .
I just want this to be a cool opensource audio project from India.

I am planning to upload howtos and SD Card images for the player.

I would like to keep it DIY since a commercial units with this kind of audiophile grade components would cost a Lot more, and
DIY leaves the flexibility for the users to pick and choose DACs or use just SPDIF / Digital outputs.
For best SQ, I used a separate linear supplies for DAC and Preamp which might be an overkill for some, they can just use
one SMPS to power everything.

I am in talks with hardware manufacturers who can provide kits or completed units on order for people who might not
want the hassle of DIY. Will keep you posted.

 

[manniraj]

I would love to have the front panel with the display with like 6 or 8" screen display which can be connected to the Pi and I also using a very good LPSU for Pi with 5v 2A with EI core transformer. Running the latest Moode OS and control via laptop browser or mobile app. But using the front panel is just very cool and aesthetic. I would be eager to know the front panel with the exact dimensions cut out, or how about making a acrylic front panel with the dimensions cut out?

 

[KiranPS]

This is the Front Panel Dimension PDF.
FrontPannel_310_4in.pdf

I did try with Acrylic but never looked as good as Aluminium.

This is the Box Dimensions used for laser cutting Mild Steel.
Box Dimensions.pdf

 

[Hiten]

No problem and thanks Kiran.
You have done a commendable job.
regards

 

[apk]

Kiran.....fantastic work. While there have been many threads on DIY speakers and amplifiers, this aren't many on media players. Your blog is also interesting. Keep up the great work

 

[KiranPS]

Here are the Videos for the Player.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl6wDmy-QyiqZfBMfGqH4Iw

 

[tuff]

Brilliant work.