Music Server And Streaming Help

Will this render the Cambridge CXR merely as a pass-through to the speakers not utilising any of its own abilities? I'll be using the USB DAC instead? I was also going through some costs on this and realised that Synology DS215j (recommended here) 2x6TB WDRed and say a Cambridge DAC would cost close to a lakh. Considering I already have almost 10TB of external HDD.

Yes CA will act as a passthrough and all audio processing will be done through USB DAC. No need for WD Red, Green does the job pretty decently.
You can go with single bay NAS with a 5TB HDD. Synology DS-115J will come for 13,000/- with 2 YEARS CARRY IN warrenty. Synology DS-214SE Two Bay NAS Diskless will be for 20K.

A 5 TB Toshiba HDD will just come for 13400 with 2 year warrenty. Toshiba 5 TB Internal Hard Disc Sata Drive HDD 3 5" 7200 RPM 2 YR Warranty | eBay

A single bay with toshiba HDD will cost a decent 26K which is very good if you ask me for one shop stop solution for a storage, server and a streamer.

For DAC I think people gurus can suggest a very decent DAC for under 10K. ODAC come to my mind.

This sounds good considering I have around 9.5 TB of movies and 500GB of music.

Dont mix music and movies if you ask me. Rasp Pi is pretty cheap if you do decide to go with this solution, would recommend to go for 2 rasp Pi. One Rasp Pi B+ for Music with MoOd and one Rasp Pi-2 with kodi for movies.

OR if you can spend more then nothing can beat an NUC (on windows) with kodi, plex, AssetUPnP running all in one machine. (to spice it a bit you can also run LMS on it ... :) )
 
Is this installation and in my case description of this(Raspberry Pi), available somewhere in a more coherent easy to understand way? Its so spread out that a noob like me looses the logical flow and understanding. The only thing I understood vaguely is that its pretty much like WDTV Live Hub with a bit more independence. I could be totally wrong.

Merry christmas and thanx for all your help!

What was there that you could not comprehend from that thread. Be specific. I can try to shed some light over it, whatever info I have. Also I can tell you that there is nothing common between Rasp Pi and WDTV expect for the fact that Rasp Pi can also be used as a media player much like WD TV
 
1. Get a 2bay cheapest Synology nas ::: Add 2x4TB HDD to it. Synology natively supports USB Audio out and also can act a very decent DLNA/UPnP server. Get a USB DAC (Your choice as to how audiophile grade it should be) and connect it to. Your AVR should be set to pass through (or DIRECT mode). This setup will act as your storage, music server and streamer all in one.

4. Another option is RaspberryPi ::: Get a RaspPi, get HiFiBerry DAC, install MoOde on it, plug in a 1TB HDD (or to your Home LAN if you have a basic NAS running) connect it to your AVR and start streaming music.

I would go with points 1 and 4. Don't even bother with a PC, the Raspberry Pi outshines it as a streamer/media player/transport. I have the exact same setup, just not a Synology NAS. The Raspberry Pi also works very well with an external HDD connected to it, but in this case you will also need to configure the Pi as a DLNA/media server.

Of note, the Pi runs headless, meaning without a monitor or TV, and so you will need an Android smartphone or tablet to actually control the Raspberry Pi.

PS: It's not just about the cost or the savings, the Pi actually makes for an audiophile media player. My speakers have completely disappeared with the addition of the Pi.
 
Dont mix music and movies if you ask me. Rasp Pi is pretty cheap if you do decide to go with this solution, would recommend to go for 2 rasp Pi. One Rasp Pi B+ for Music with MoOd and one Rasp Pi-2 with kodi for movies.

Since you are the expert I will go with what you guys say. As my need is to listen and watch the best possible way. Is there any well compiled guide that can instruct what I would require and how to go about constructing this combination Rasp Pi B+ for Music with MoOd? Oh it breaks my heart that I would not be using the two DACs inside the CXR200...lol!

OR if you can spend more then nothing can beat an NUC (on windows) with kodi, plex, AssetUPnP running all in one machine. (to spice it a bit you can also run LMS on it ... :) )

I am not averse to this either as this will be in place od the Oppo BD I was going to purchase. But can you suggest which NUC? And is Kodi something like madVR? And whats LMS? I am completely a novice here, so I might find inserting ram and stuff a bit much.

What was there that you could not comprehend from that thread. Be specific. I can try to shed some light over it, whatever info I have. Also I can tell you that there is nothing common between Rasp Pi and WDTV expect for the fact that Rasp Pi can also be used as a media player much like WD TV

I do not understand where to begin and how to implement this.

I would go with points 1 and 4. Don't even bother with a PC, the Raspberry Pi outshines it as a streamer/media player/transport. I have the exact same setup, just not a Synology NAS. The Raspberry Pi also works very well with an external HDD connected to it, but in this case you will also need to configure the Pi as a DLNA/media server.

Are you suggesting that I employ Synology NAS along with Rasp Pi? As storage? It might not be a bad idea to consolidate all my movies into one space, given some of the 2TB HDDs are 5 years old. Do suggest.

Of note, the Pi runs headless, meaning without a monitor or TV, and so you will need an Android smartphone or tablet to actually control the Raspberry Pi.

I have an iPhone so whats the solution here? And will I need to use putty? The last time I used Linux was on a seedbox millions of years ago. It is not an OS I am familiar with at all or comfortable.
 
Since you are the expert I will go with what you guys say. As my need is to listen and watch the best possible way. Is there any well compiled guide that can instruct what I would require and how to go about constructing this combination Rasp Pi B+ for Music with MoOd? Oh it breaks my heart that I would not be using the two DACs inside the CXR200...lol!

There are many guides floating around, read thisarticle will give you quite a bit of insight ...
Review: Raspberry Pi 2 as Music Streamer | Part-Time Audiophile | By Scot Hull

However installing MoOd is no big deal. Download the image file from moOd site, (moodeaudio.org) write it on MicroSD Card, insert the card in Rpi and boot it. More info here .... http://moodeaudio.org/docs/tcmods-readme.txt

I am not averse to this either as this will be in place od the Oppo BD I was going to purchase. But can you suggest which NUC? And is Kodi something like madVR? And whats LMS? I am completely a novice here, so I might find inserting ram and stuff a bit much.

I am surprised you dont know Kodi (formaly known as XBMC) its THE Best Movie JukeBox, player available at present. Please go through the below thread for more info on Kodi.(XBMC)
http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/18571-sam9s-htpc-project-powered-xbmc.html

Which NUC will depend on what all you wanna run on it. If its only Kodi and AssetUPnP then the below model will suffice ...

Intel NUC DN2820FYKH Celeron N2820 2 4GHz DC 2GB DDR3 500 GB HDD Wifi BT Hdmi | eBay

Are you suggesting that I employ Synology NAS along with Rasp Pi? As storage? It might not be a bad idea to consolidate all my movies into one space, given some of the 2TB HDDs are 5 years old. Do suggest.

If you purchase Synology then there would not be much of a need to go with Rasp Pi solution, you can just get a decent USB DAC and connect to USB port of NAS and you are good to go.

I have an iPhone so whats the solution here? And will I need to use putty? The last time I used Linux was on a seedbox millions of years ago. It is not an OS I am familiar with at all or comfortable.

Yes that should not be a problem, iOS also must have an app to controll MoOd. Will let you know the best if at all you go with rasp Pi solution.
 
There are many guides floating around, read thisarticle will give you quite a bit of insight ...
Review: Raspberry Pi 2 as Music Streamer | Part-Time Audiophile | By Scot Hull

I did manage to see some guides on youtube and the fundamental seems simple. There's just a little difference in the setup shown in the link you put up. More for music and something I am looking for. Good thing is it can be done on a Mac OS. Do you think this kit is fine Amazon.in: Buy Raspberry Pi 2 Model B 1GB -The Complete Kit Online at Low Prices in India | Raspberry Pi Reviews & Ratings

However installing MoOd is no big deal. Download the image file from moOd site, (moodeaudio.org) write it on MicroSD Card, insert the card in Rpi and boot it. More info here .... http://moodeaudio.org/docs/tcmods-readme.txt

Already done.

I am surprised you dont know Kodi (formaly known as XBMC) its THE Best Movie JukeBox, player available at present. Please go through the below thread for more info on Kodi.(XBMC)
http://www.hifivision.com/home-theater-pc-htpc-media-pc/18571-sam9s-htpc-project-powered-xbmc.html

Heard of XBMC, but not familiar at all. Have been using MPC-HC with madVR and Reclock for many years now. Is Kodi better than madVR? Can madVR, and hence NVidia graphics be installed on NUC?

Which NUC will depend on what all you wanna run on it. If its only Kodi and AssetUPnP then the below model will suffice ...

Intel NUC DN2820FYKH Celeron N2820 2 4GHz DC 2GB DDR3 500 GB HDD Wifi BT Hdmi | eBay

Since I heard of NUC for the first time here, from you I have no idea what else I can use it for. Maybe you have suggestions how I can make this a good video centre.

If you purchase Synology then there would not be much of a need to go with Rasp Pi solution, you can just get a decent USB DAC and connect to USB port of NAS and you are good to go.

Maybe, if I buy a NUC without HDD and connect the Synology NAS to the NUC. Is that even feasible or possible? The only reason I was leaning towards NAS was that it would give me an opportunity to access any film I want on the same platform and HDD. Also some of the HDD are very old and might die soon. If you don't recommend that, I am fine with that and will go along.

Can somebody please suggest a good DAC for this system I am embarking upon?

Thank you.
 
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A NAS always yields better results than attached hdd via USB or sata. I am not talking about SSDs here.

If I am not mistaken, your crx200 uses CS42528 which by far is not the best in the world.

If you want better sq, get a dedicated dac (USB or coax). While selecting a dac, it is always recommended to go by a standard tried and tested design.

Lets cut to the chase. Any pc or raspberry should be connected to the dedicated dac via USB or digital coax (in case of coax you might need USB to coax converter as well).

For this time being, feed the dac's line out to avr's analog in. Put avr in pure direct mode. This will bypass any post processing of the signal. I think you'll be set for some time until you want to upgrade to a stereo amplifier. :)

Keep the iPhone for remote control apps (like mpdroid or foobar etc). And obviously take some nice photos of your setup with it and share with us.

There are numerous nice sounding dacs out there. It all depends how much you are willing to spend for it.
 
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A NAS always yields better results than attached hdd via USB or sata. I am not talking about SSDs here.

Did you say this in the context of the Raspberry Pi I am looking at for music streaming or in the context of NUC for my film collection? To be honest I don't even know how a NAS will connect to my AVR. This is a completely unchartered territory for me. So anything you say to me will have to be explained a little more than you would usually care.

If I am not mistaken, your crx200 uses CS42528 which by far is not the best in the world.

Well there are two DACs. The one that you mentioned for centre and surround and the Texas Instruments PCM 1795 for the Front L/R channels. Guess I am still using PCM 1795 since its a 2-speaker setup. I am not surprised it is not the best in the world, as I did not pay the best money either. But to my ears they are lovely... so far.

If you want better sq, get a dedicated dac (USB or coax). While selecting a dac, it is always recommended to go by a standard tried and tested design.

Why don't you suggest a few and I'll see if I can afford it. But yes let it be proportionate to the gear I own. Focals 726V and CXR200.


(in case of coax you might need USB to coax converter as well).

Can you point me towards one.

For this time being, feed the dac's line out to avr's analog in. Put avr in pure direct mode. This will bypass any post processing of the signal.

Will do, but for my understanding, the CXR will still be powering the amp, only the DAC services would have been commissioned to the USB connected standalone DAC?

I think you'll be set for some time until you want to upgrade to a stereo amplifier. :)

No i won't be anytime soon. I find CXR200 a bit special actually. I heard it with Focals along with a Marantz stereo amp as well as Roksun Candy. If not better it performed as well. So its staying. Untill I decide to delink music from movies completely.

Keep the iPhone for remote control apps (like mpdroid or foobar etc). And obviously take some nice photos of your setup with it and share with us.

Will surely do. Thank you for your suggestions and advice. I truly appreciate it.
 
Did you say this in the context of the Raspberry Pi I am looking at for music streaming or in the context of NUC for my film collection? To be honest I don't even know how a NAS will connect to my AVR. This is a completely unchartered territory for me. So anything you say to me will have to be explained a little more than you would usually care.



Well there are two DACs. The one that you mentioned for centre and surround and the Texas Instruments PCM 1795 for the Front L/R channels. Guess I am still using PCM 1795 since its a 2-speaker setup. I am not surprised it is not the best in the world, as I did not pay the best money either. But to my ears they are lovely... so far.



Why don't you suggest a few and I'll see if I can afford it. But yes let it be proportionate to the gear I own. Focals 726V and CXR200.




Can you point me towards one.



Will do, but for my understanding, the CXR will still be powering the amp, only the DAC services would have been commissioned to the USB connected standalone DAC?



No i won't be anytime soon. I find CXR200 a bit special actually. I heard it with Focals along with a Marantz stereo amp as well as Roksun Candy. If not better it performed as well. So its staying. Untill I decide to delink music from movies completely.



Will surely do. Thank you for your suggestions and advice. I truly appreciate it.

Let me explain the scenarios. Please note that my explanation is my honest opinion only. To be honest with you, i did not get a chance to listen to various dacs. Most of my knowledge depends on internet reviews.

A nice and budget USB to coax could be m2tech hiface two or evo.

A nice and budget dac could be schiit bifrost/gungnir (multibit). My own dac (which is on its way) is also grabbed some audiophile attention. It's Peachtree DAC-iT. Apart from this, Audio-GD makes some nice DACs as well.
These are having very high value for money.

Nas is better (in case of music) both in case of raspberry or nuc.

I have no doubt that you $2000 AVR must be having a nice amplifier. And I feel you should not change it anytime soon. Atleast if I were you. I would not be changing it either.

Hope I made some sense.
 
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A nice and budget dac could be schiit bifrost/gungnir (multibit). My own dac (which is on its way) is also grabbed some audiophile attention. It's Peachtree DAC-iT. Apart from this, Audio-GD makes some nice DACs as well. These are having very high value for money.

So went to the Schitt site. Bifrost (multibit) is for $600 + shipping $52 and then of course after that it'll be be around 36% customs if I am not wrong. While Peachtree DAC-iTx straight from Amazon US is all paid $377. But more importantly I know someone who has it, so I'll be able to hear it if she allows. Audio-GD looked like a site I'd never see my money again... So amongst the choices, I think I'll try and hear Peachtree DAC-iT X. Though must admit Schitt looks beautiful.

Nas is better (in case of music) both in case of raspberry or nuc.

Maybe I need to frame my questions better to get a good view of what NAS is. So if I buy Synology with 2 trays and two 6TB HDDs, put all my stuff on to those HDDS (movies and music) and then connect Synology to the AVR through HDMI, I'll get better result than Raspberry or NUC is what you are suggesting?
 
@terrible

CA is known to make very good audio systems and DACs. CXR200 is their top of the line AVR. I would presume that their experience in DAC technology would have bled into the AVR.

If it can directly play out of the USB input from HDD, then stick to it. It may be a bit cumbersome to shift the HDD back and forth. You already have very good tech at your reach. Why complicate matters and compromise.

Cheers,
Raghu
 
@terrible

CA is known to make very good audio systems and DACs. CXR200 is their top of the line AVR. I would presume that their experience in DAC technology would have bled into the AVR.

If it can directly play out of the USB input from HDD, then stick to it. It may be a bit cumbersome to shift the HDD back and forth. You already have very good tech at your reach. Why complicate matters and compromise.

Cheers,
Raghu

I actually heard this AVR when I did not know of Cambridge. And totally loved the sound of it and as I was looking for a more musical AVR anyway, this just brushed aside Denon and Marantz. NAD is the only one that was as good. But feature to feature a lot more expensive.

Now back to the thread subject, while Cambridge Connect on my iPhone reads the music on the HDD inserted through the USB port, it fails to read the movie files. So I cannot play movies through the USB. So, my question, does NAS get connected to AVR thru HDMI directly so that the AVR is using its faculties to process music and movie files. And at best maybe I can connect asus Chromebox to set up video thru madVR and Reclock.

The only thing that makes me suspect this setup is that WDTV probably also works similarly and it is not processing music or movie files well. Also there is an opinion here that music source and movie source should be separated. So its all a little confusing for a newbie.
 
So went to the Schitt site. Bifrost (multibit) is for $600 + shipping $52 and then of course after that it'll be be around 36% customs if I am not wrong. While Peachtree DAC-iTx straight from Amazon US is all paid $377. But more importantly I know someone who has it, so I'll be able to hear it if she allows. Audio-GD looked like a site I'd never see my money again... So amongst the choices, I think I'll try and hear Peachtree DAC-iT X. Though must admit Schitt looks beautiful.



Maybe I need to frame my questions better to get a good view of what NAS is. So if I buy Synology with 2 trays and two 6TB HDDs, put all my stuff on to those HDDS (movies and music) and then connect Synology to the AVR through HDMI, I'll get better result than Raspberry or NUC is what you are suggesting?
I never bought anything from audio-gd site but audiophiles from all around the world buys from their site and they are quite happy with it. Good news is - one of them is already here in HFV. Fm srisaikat has (or had) it. You can reach out to him for a quick review.

Mike moffat (from schiit) is considered as the father of dac. So anything out of his stable should be having very high value for money. Just for a quick overview- schiit YGGDRASIL is priced at around $2300 and it is often compared with dacs worth $15000 or more. No kidding.

As I bought the dac-it (not dac-itx version), I will always praise it. :)

Both dac-it and itx having same ess9023 chip. Sometimes it's even compared against benchmark dac (around $1800). Both it and itx arrived to market at $449 (I guess). Peachtree reduced the price of dac-itx but they still sell the older dac-it at the initial price only. I couldn't explain it to myself. :)

NAS is network attached storage. So essentially no media should be played from it directly. Consider nas as Google drive - which serves as data (music+movies) store over local network. Now you might need some mechanism or system which should be able to pull data from network storage (or nas). Essentially most pc or SBC like raspberry pi should be able to read data from nas.
If you go to a USB dac way, the situation is already explained. For HDMI out, you already have the solution.
 
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If you can simply connect the external HDDs to the Cambridge Audio and you are satisfied with the quality then nothing like it. Just put aside everything and enjoy the music and movies.

However if you are decided on an upgrade path, before you do anything else buy a Raspberry Pi (Rs. 2600), a microSD card (Rs. 350), and a power adapter (Rs. 500 or you can use any mobile charger), spend a day learning how to write the OS to the card, set things up, install moOde Audio Player, and wirelessly stream music to your AVR. You will need to plug in your external HDD (containing the music rips) to the Raspberry Pi.

It is important you don't use any cable to connect the Raspberry Pi to the Cambridge Audio receiver. You don't want to be using the internal DAC of the Pi. So use wireless streaming, its available in moOde. You can use the excellent BubbleUPnP with any Android device that you have, or find something similar for iOS.

Just let the music play and see how much of an improvement is there over the previous source/transport. Everyone of us has seen immediate gains, though they may be subtle, and take time to process and observe. If it works, excellent gains for Rs. 3000-3500, and if it does not, then you have not lost much, and you can go back to using the Raspberry Pi for video streaming or even live streaming of TV channels.

Next goal will be ramping things up...

I have tried all "connections" from HDMI, USB, Coaxial, Toslink, wireless, and even ethernet. I have a friend for whom ethernet works really well, while in my case the ROI has been excellent with Toslink.

Everything has its own advantages as well as disadvantages, find what works for you and do the best with it. However, ensure that you spend the most on the equipment and not the fixes. I have seen folks spending more on USB cleaners and linear power supplies, even to the tune of over $1500, while a DAC in that price range would do so much better than the sum of all parts. Don't fall into that trap, where you will need a "fixer", and then a "fixer" to fix the "fixer".

If wireless via the Pi is working well then let it be. Enjoy the music and work on the DACs later on. For now let the improvement be in the areas of source and transport.

Some of the best improvements I have heard have come from going wireless (and in part from isolation). I have heard setups where the source was completely eliminated from the rest of the chain, either with the use of a NAS or a music streamer. In every instance, the gains were immediately apparent and also quite huge with some of the equipment. For this part of the improvement process, we will be focusing on the external HDD connected to the Raspberry Pi. The goal is to set up a proper NAS, a DLNA server, or a media streamer, or a little bit of everything. The easiest path here is to go with something like Synology. The advantage is to add multiple devices later on and stream to different rooms of the house from a common centralized NAS.

Of note, the NAS will also let you stream content (wirelessly) to your Cambridge Audio AVR. In fact, you can dispense with the Raspberry Pi at this point. However, IMHO you should continue using the Raspberry Pi, with a Linux distro like moOde because it makes a huge difference in sound quality.

Instead of a NAS, you can also go for a media streamer (some of the expensive toys you were referring to earlier), but ensure they are wireless capable, run preferably on an SSD, and have a large amount of storage. Obviously, such streamers are easier to set up than a combo of a NAS + Raspberry Pi, however some of them are also exorbitantly priced. I believe you will be better served in the long run by learning to tinker and set things up yourself, and it is also very easy to update/upgrade parts of the chain instead of a single expensive unit at a later time (you run out of space, it is much easier to add HDDs to the NAS, or throw in a more powerful Raspberry Pi, etc.). I saw a 12 TB media server for nearly $18,000, and all it did was play CD quality content, no DSD or upscaling. Hard to replace or upgrade and that's the kind of problems you will run into with media servers and streamers.

After the source and the transport, next path of upgrade should be the AVR and/or DAC. A couple of points you should note, when buying an AVR you are not paying for the DAC, but the amp in the AVR. In fact most of the DACs are a single chip solution and they are available in all devices from $20 soundcards to most mid hi-fi equipment. In other words, a 50W $100 AVR most likely will have the same DAC as a $500 AVR to even a 200W $1000 AVR. The price difference is only because of the amp and not the DAC.

Even more interestingly, if you are sending audio from the same file, or even lossless music then all DACs should sound exactly the same. Any changes will be because of the processing involved in converting digital into analog. When a DAC starts changing the output it means only one thing, the sound engineering is using EQ settings that are coloring the sound. This is not a bad thing, some people like the sound signature of certain companies, but not everybody does.

So in theory, you are actually paying for sound coloration that you like, or you can pick up a $60 to $150 DAC from the likes of Schiit or SMSL and simply be done with it. Needless to say, you will find the most varied opinions in this area as well as the most passionate people who will swear by their choice of sound coloration. You can continue to use the AVR with the addition of a DAC, or you can also look at adding an amplifier for music. I use both, an integrated amp for the main rig, and an Onkyo AVR for the bedroom.

Just to sum it all up:
1. Don't buy anything just yet.
2. Start small with something like the Raspberry Pi.
3. Work on improving the source/transport.
4. Finally, focus on a DAC and/or an amp.
 
If you can simply connect the external HDDs to the Cambridge Audio and you are satisfied with the quality then nothing like it. Just put aside everything and enjoy the music and movies.

I am absolutely satisfied with the music quality. Though I would have preferred it on an interface like WDTV or somesuch where its laid out well but now I know that such a move will only lead to poor playback of music. Similar concerns of WDTV messing with video files also worries me. So maybe I will use Windows 10 on Bootcamp + HDD connected to the CXR thru an HDMI cable, and that can take care of the videos. The good thing is I'll be able to use reclock and madVR combination. But one thing for sure, I am uncomfortable with, is the idea of this very good amp being merely a pass-thru especially when there is evidence that it treats music pretty well. So hundred percent on board with your suggestion.

It is important you don't use any cable to connect the Raspberry Pi to the Cambridge Audio receiver. You don't want to be using the internal DAC of the Pi. So use wireless streaming, its available in moOde. You can use the excellent BubbleUPnP with any Android device that you have, or find something similar for iOS.

I have gone through many tutorials on Raspberry Pi and even one that specifically deals with it as a music streamer courtesy sam9s. You have here provided a way where I do not need to buy a USB DAC and importantly, use the DAC of the amp itself. I will experiment with this now, considering it can be wireless and minus an external DAC. I think what you want me to do is place the Raspberry Pi on the same network as the CXR and then access it thru Cambridge Connect App?

Next goal will be ramping things up...

I have tried all "connections" from HDMI, USB, Coaxial, Toslink, wireless, and even ethernet. I have a friend for whom ethernet works really well, while in my case the ROI has been excellent with Toslink.

A little confused what connection are you talking about here? Short of it; everything (TV, TataSky & WDTV Live Hub) is connected with HDMI. Though I do have a spare Toslink I can try out if you point to the nature of connection.

Some of the best improvements I have heard have come from going wireless (and in part from isolation). I have heard setups where the source was completely eliminated from the rest of the chain, either with the use of a NAS or a music streamer. In every instance, the gains were immediately apparent and also quite huge with some of the equipment. For this part of the improvement process, we will be focusing on the external HDD connected to the Raspberry Pi. The goal is to set up a proper NAS, a DLNA server, or a media streamer, or a little bit of everything. The easiest path here is to go with something like Synology. The advantage is to add multiple devices later on and stream to different rooms of the house from a common centralized NAS.

Of note, the NAS will also let you stream content (wirelessly) to your Cambridge Audio AVR. In fact, you can dispense with the Raspberry Pi at this point. However, IMHO you should continue using the Raspberry Pi, with a Linux distro like moOde because it makes a huge difference in sound quality.

The thing that excites me about NAS is that it'll help me create a single point storage for all media instead of the scattered HDDs I have. But as you said and what I have read, I get a sense that Raspberry Pi with Moode will deliver better sound quality. Do you think connecting Synology NAS to Raspberry Pi + Mo0de through HDMI(?) and then throwing content wirelessly is even a thought that is feasible? I think this would have the best of all worlds where the AVR is being used to capacity, all files are stored in one place and can be picked up anywhere in the network and I can use the best source to throw music (Raspberry Pi+Mo0de) and video (Windows 10+MPC-HC+madVR+reclock).

I believe you will be better served in the long run by learning to tinker and set things up yourself.
Totally agree.

Even more interestingly, if you are sending audio from the same file, or even lossless music then all DACs should sound exactly the same. Any changes will be because of the processing involved in converting digital into analog. When a DAC starts changing the output it means only one thing, the sound engineering is using EQ settings that are coloring the sound. This is not a bad thing, some people like the sound signature of certain companies, but not everybody does.

This is an education for me. So glad forums like this exist with members like you guys. Its saves old people like me, some hard earned money that I could spend later when I am not earning...lol!

You can continue to use the AVR with the addition of a DAC, or you can also look at adding an amplifier for music. I use both, an integrated amp for the main rig, and an Onkyo AVR for the bedroom.

The idea is at some point to separate music and movies. Currently 1380 sqft house in Mumbai does not allow such indulgences.
 
I am absolutely satisfied with the music quality. Though I would have preferred it on an interface like WDTV or somesuch where its laid out well but now I know that such a move will only lead to poor playback of music. Similar concerns of WDTV messing with video files also worries me. So maybe I will use Windows 10 on Bootcamp + HDD connected to the CXR thru an HDMI cable, and that can take care of the videos. The good thing is I'll be able to use reclock and madVR combination. But one thing for sure, I am uncomfortable with, is the idea of this very good amp being merely a pass-thru especially when there is evidence that it treats music pretty well. So hundred percent on board with your suggestion.

Raspberry Pi with moOde Audio Player will give you an interface to sort and select albums/tracks for playback, but it is limited in terms of interface.

I have gone through many tutorials on Raspberry Pi and even one that specifically deals with it as a music streamer courtesy sam9s. You have here provided a way where I do not need to buy a USB DAC and importantly, use the DAC of the amp itself. I will experiment with this now, considering it can be wireless and minus an external DAC. I think what you want me to do is place the Raspberry Pi on the same network as the CXR and then access it thru Cambridge Connect App?

Yes, plug in the ethernet, and the Pi will self configure itself on the same network. I'm not sure if the Cambridge app will work here... any app that acts as a renderer to a DLNA/UPnP server will work, so I'm guessing it will work. Do turn on the DLNA server in moOde settings. You can also use a Wi-Fi dongle for portability, but I have not tried it myself.

A little confused what connection are you talking about here? Short of it; everything (TV, TataSky & WDTV Live Hub) is connected with HDMI. Though I do have a spare Toslink I can try out if you point to the nature of connection.

I am talking of using the digital input on the CXR200 for audio. You are right now using HDMI, experiment with other digital inputs like Toslink and Coaxial and see what gives the best output in terms of sound quality. For me, I have always had the best results with digital, firstly Toslink and secondly Coaxial. I have had the worst results with USB, and I have not tried HDMI because I have not had any DAC with HDMI inputs. To my knowledge, HDMI is limited to AVRs and not used in stereo receivers, at least the audio industry has not adopted it.

The Pi does not have digital output so you will need something like Digi+ or Chromecast Audio, but all the reviews I have read online suggest the optical option works better than USB. Anyways, you can do this at a later time, for now start with the Pi and the moOde Audio Player.

The thing that excites me about NAS is that it'll help me create a single point storage for all media instead of the scattered HDDs I have. But as you said and what I have read, I get a sense that Raspberry Pi with Moode will deliver better sound quality. Do you think connecting Synology NAS to Raspberry Pi + Mo0de through HDMI(?) and then throwing content wirelessly is even a thought that is feasible? I think this would have the best of all worlds where the AVR is being used to capacity, all files are stored in one place and can be picked up anywhere in the network and I can use the best source to throw music (Raspberry Pi+Mo0de) and video (Windows 10+MPC-HC+madVR+reclock).

Yes to the Raspberry Pi plus moOde Audio Player. I highly recommend it.

The way I use it is NAS > Raspberry Pi > Chromecast Audio > DAC/AVR. You can connect the Raspberry Pi to the NAS multiple ways, USB (what I'm using), HDMI, wireless, etc.

The idea is at some point to separate music and movies. Currently 1380 sqft house in Mumbai does not allow such indulgences.

This is easily done with the addition of a Raspberry Pi, though not to the extent of having separate rooms to listen to music and a home theater for the movies.

PS: My discussion with regards to the Raspberry Pi is limited to audio playback, I don't use it for video or even the likes of Kodi or OpenELEC. However, with the Pi you can have one serious audiophile grade player, so try various distros and connections and see what works best for you.
 
Yes, plug in the ethernet, and the Pi will self configure itself on the same network. I'm not sure if the Cambridge app will work here... any app that acts as a renderer to a DLNA/UPnP server will work, so I'm guessing it will work. Do turn on the DLNA server in moOde settings. You can also use a Wi-Fi dongle for portability, but I have not tried it myself.

So I have a question on this one. If I need to configure Raspberry Pi wireless, will I be doing it with Chromecast Audio or some ordinary USB Wif-Fi Network Adapter?

The Pi does not have digital output so you will need something like Digi+ or Chromecast Audio, but all the reviews I have read online suggest the optical option works better than USB. Anyways, you can do this at a later time, for now start with the Pi and the moOde Audio Player.

Raspberry Pi does have an HDMI outlet. So far I don't see any loss playing on HDMI at all. Though this may not be a fair assessment as I have not heard this system on optical connection at all. So for me I guess the connection will work External HDD=>Raspberry Pi=>thru Chromecast Audio =>CXR200. Here, as per your suggestion, I will not use wired connection between Rasberry Pi and CXR as this will deploy RasPi DAC.

However, with the Pi you can have one serious audiophile grade player, so try various distros and connections and see what works best for you.

By connections I know you mean HDMI, optical, etc. But what are distros? Softwares like Mo0de player?

Also just getting confirmation on the Raspberry Pi. Would this be the one to buy: Amazon.in: Buy Raspberry Pi 2 - MODB - 1GB - Quad core Online at Low Prices in India | Raspberry Pi Reviews & Ratings

Hope this original Sony Xperia Z1 Charger will adequately power up the Rasp Pi (I have this lying somewhere) CHILLZ Compatible Sony Xperia EP880 1500mA high Speed Mobile Charger Datacable: Amazon.in: Electronics

And the last one, will I have to copy just Mo0de img file into the microSD card or also the Noob?
 
So I have a question on this one. If I need to configure Raspberry Pi wireless, will I be doing it with Chromecast Audio or some ordinary USB Wif-Fi Network Adapter?

You will need either a ethernet cable or a Wi-Fi dongle connected to the Pi to control/configure it. Or you can plug in the HDMI into a TV to change any settings. Obviously this is not possible as an audio player, you cannot unplug and plug into the TV every time you want to change a song, so you use the Raspberry Pi headless i.e. you type in a local address on any browser and connect to it as a device on your network.

The Chromecast Audio is like a Bluetooth device that you stream/send audio to. You can send any audio track playing on your mobile to a Bluetooth speaker by selecting the device, Chromecast works in a similar way, but using the Chromecast app from the Google Play Store. It's very easy to use, and you can find lots of tutorials on YouTube.

Raspberry Pi does have an HDMI outlet. So far I don't see any loss playing on HDMI at all. Though this may not be a fair assessment as I have not heard this system on optical connection at all. So for me I guess the connection will work External HDD=>Raspberry Pi=>thru Chromecast Audio =>CXR200. Here, as per your suggestion, I will not use wired connection between Rasberry Pi and CXR as this will deploy RasPi DAC.

I meant don't use an analog connection i.e. 3.5 mm cable. HDMI is digital, so you can use it.

By connections I know you mean HDMI, optical, etc. But what are distros? Softwares like Mo0de player?

A Linux distribution is called a distro, moOde and many others like Volumio and RuneAudio.


The Pi is correct, buy it. Don't buy the complete kit though.

You can add the case and other components later on.

For now you need the Pi, a class 10 16 GB MicroSD card (to run the moOde OS), and a 5V 2.1A power adapter. Any mobile charger with these specs will do, but do check as most of them are only 1A.

And the last one, will I have to copy just Mo0de img file into the microSD card or also the Noob?

Only copy the moOde. Insert SD card into the card slot on the laptop or PC, and use Win32 Disk Imager to copy the moOde Audio Player image to the SD card.

PS: I'm a Linux noob and it took me all of 1 day to figure it out. It's easy, very easy.
 
Well if I can use an HDMI cable between Rasberry Pi and CXR, I am quite sorted. Don't need a Chromecast Audio. Just a suitable app for iOS.

Thank you. Think its time to make some buys. Will keep you posted on progress.
 
Well if I can use an HDMI cable between Rasberry Pi and CXR, I am quite sorted. Don't need a Chromecast Audio. Just a suitable app for iOS.

Thank you. Think its time to make some buys. Will keep you posted on progress.
I am just curious to know what are you planning to buy and what would be your future setup?

A quick note: if you can, do not connect any cable to your nas apart from the power chord and lan cable. I was never a big fan of wireless when quality audio is concerned. I prefer gigabit lan always.

If my yamaha AVR's app can stream from network drives (using dlna), I think your ca AVR should also be able to stream using dlna.
 
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