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Post by julesd68 on Nov 9, 2018 15:32:09 GMT
Not thought much about the Pi power side of things I must admit - do you have any suggestions? The world is your lobster in terms of Pi power supplies. Have you any linear 5V power supplies? Almost any linear will be an improvement over a basic switcher. Whilst the digione has a lot of power treatment onboard it does benefit from clean power - you can go extreme as Martin did and power the digione separately but for now that would be overkill - just a simple linear ps to power both Pi and digione would help. There are lots of way to do this but if you have something already it would get 50% to 70% there vs a really good PS. Thanks - I don't have any spare psu's - once I’ve got a grasp of the ‘baseline’ performance of the system I will certainly look at power supplies for pi and DAC …
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 9, 2018 15:35:57 GMT
The Topping D30 has arrived so cold it feels like it has been stored in the Artic! It's a cute little unit and literally fits in the palm of your hand. Finished nicely in brushed aluminium. It comes with a power cord, USB cable and basic instructions.
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Post by MikeMusic on Nov 10, 2018 10:54:26 GMT
My back first went in my late 20s. Caused by my wrecked left knee limping, pain and other
Twas good news long term as it made me search for answers.
The knee was described as useless by the in house Physio at Rank Xerox HQ. Not so good for my back then.
I'm allergic to pain so I continued. Tried Yoga which helped, healing which also helped. Chiro, Osteo, Alexander Technique All good but the biggest saviour was cycling. Knee strengthened by the surrounding muscles and now almost perfect. Back pretty good most of the time.
Recent discovery of a synovial cyst on my spine has led me to working the muscles around that. There may be light at the end of that tunnel...... Proactive is the way - as much as you can be with whatever is going on at that time
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 10, 2018 13:49:38 GMT
Just returned from my physio Mike. As suspected, back has gone into spasm, so a week of ibuprofen needed. He managed to unlock my back with a couple of 'corrections'. Immediately feels looser. Nearly feel asleep during acupuncture at base of spine! Going back to see him next Saturday and have a massage booked in for tomorrow where they will work on soft tissues around the spine. Can't wait.
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 10, 2018 14:03:44 GMT
I have bought what were described as marble chopping boards / worktop savers to stand my new speakers on. Now don't confuse these with what you might buy at Asda! They are very big at 46 x 36 x 2.5cm, much thicker than standard sizes too. The colour is a wonderful 'Champagne Beige' and as I hope you can see here has a fabulous texture to it. They come with rubber feet attached. Ridiculously cheap at £34 each delivered. If you were to put spikes or something on these and a little badge or something to brand them, for this size you would be paying over 100 quid ... I absolutely love them!
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Post by MartinT on Nov 10, 2018 14:05:36 GMT
Don't use spikes, Jules. Something absorbent like inverted RDC Cones that would penetrate the carpet but give some degree of decoupling.
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Post by MikeMusic on Nov 10, 2018 14:55:10 GMT
Just returned from my physio Mike. As suspected, back has gone into spasm, so a week of ibuprofen needed. He managed to unlock my back with a couple of 'corrections'. Immediately feels looser. Nearly feel asleep during acupuncture at base of spine! Going back to see him next Saturday and have a massage booked in for tomorrow where they will work on soft tissues around the spine. Can't wait. I tried so much. Just remembered one of my ideas was lying on the floor with my legs up the wall. This and other moves caused some nice clonks in the back Must keep warm. Very relaxing. After much searching the problem in my bum comes from L5 in my spine. Since working on and around that there have been improvements. Today seems to be a step up Fingers crossed
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 11, 2018 17:21:42 GMT
A question about linear PSUs for y'all.
What does the size of the toroidal transformer play in the sound quality equation?
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Post by MartinT on Nov 11, 2018 19:47:09 GMT
Generally, an oversized transformer is a good thing. However, winding quality will determine whether it mechanically hums and an electrostatic screen is helpful.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 11, 2018 20:37:25 GMT
What the last bloke said. Rule of thumb = the bigger the better, but quality can come into play too.
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Post by jandl100 on Nov 11, 2018 20:41:11 GMT
But I keep telling the missus that size doesn't matter.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 11, 2018 21:13:52 GMT
But I keep telling the missus that size doesn't matter. It's OK, Jerry. As long as yours isn't toroidal you should be alright.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 11, 2018 21:33:37 GMT
But I keep telling the missus that size doesn't matter. Don't let it worry you. We can't all be that big
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Post by julesd68 on Nov 13, 2018 14:01:22 GMT
We have music!! With the excellent help of John, my first pi system is up and running as of this morning. So here's what we've done so far. Once Volumio was configured, the first music trial via spotify premium was a bit underwhelming to say the least, kind of mp3 quality. This was using the pi psu that was supplied. John then produced a battery which he hooked up and we immediately noticed a *huge* improvement to the sound. Just much cleaner, more rez etc Now I could start smiling - I was quite amazed how much difference the battery made. This test was using my valve pre and my existing Tannoy speakers so we could get a clear base point. So next thing to do was to swap out the preamp and put in John's Slagle volume control. Again, a significant improvement! The sound was certainly more focused, cleaner and transparent. So the valve pre that works so well for analogue will not be making a come-back for this particular system. We have a big, wide and open sound from the Tannoys without any significant harshness (unless a bad recording) which is very listenable but it will be fascinating to see how much more of an 'open window' I can get once my back allows me to get the Sonus Fabers into place. I would ideally like a bit more separation of instruments in the soundstage. So far I am very pleased with the Topping DAC but there are of course improvements to be made. It strikes me as plenty dynamic and essentially neutral - it is certainly showing up the qualities of different recordings on spoti. No shortage of bass at all as I'm listening to Saint Saens organ concerto writing this. Here's what I would like to gradually do next as I know there is more to come from this set-up. Of course I would welcome your thoughts on any of this. 1. Get my own passive. A remote is essential due to the different levels on spotify etc 2. Get my own battery supply for the pi 3. Linear psu for the DAC 4. Some more noise treatment like ifi AC purifier and iSilencer for the pi USB port The one thing that I have not been able to do is to get Qobuz working with Volumio. Using the desktop interface I can select the external beta output for Volumio but once I try playing a track, nothing, and I see a long error message popping up on Volumio saying something about not being able to decode. I would love to get this up and running so I can do a direct comparison with spoti sound quality - any thoughts chaps?
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Post by Stratmangler on Nov 13, 2018 14:12:43 GMT
The one thing that I have not been able to do is to get Qobuz working with Volumio. Ahem!!! piCoreplayer running LMS.
LMS works with Qobuz without problems - I trialled the 16/44.1 FLAC service recently, and it worked like a dream via LMS and my Squeezebox players.
LMS has plugins for just about all of the content providers, and they all work fantastically well.
piCorePlayer can perform server (LMS) and player (Squeezelite) duties simultaneously.
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Post by MartinT on Nov 13, 2018 14:21:53 GMT
Qobuz works with MyVolumio (the subscription version). Are you sure you have the right Volumio build, Jules? I had no problems with it when I was trialling it.
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Post by Slinger on Nov 13, 2018 14:22:36 GMT
Just to be certain, Jules. Are you trying to set up Qobuz via plain old Volumio, or via the MyVolumio interface?
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Post by Slinger on Nov 13, 2018 14:23:30 GMT
SNAP! I win, Martin!
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Post by MartinT on Nov 13, 2018 14:24:16 GMT
SNAP! I win, Martin! In your special world, Paul?
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Post by John on Nov 13, 2018 14:26:27 GMT
It was really nice to get the pi set up and playing for Jules. We both felt from the SMPS the sound was quite harsh and just not musical. Changing to using a motorbike battery and 12v to 5v converter made a big difference. A lot more open and cleaner. I was surprised how much difference the slagle made. Another level of detail and dynamics. My own suggestions 1) Good clean 15 v PSU for the DAC 2) IFI USB silencer to help clean the pi board 3) Black ravioli pads for the pi X 1 for the DAC X 2 4g router with Melcord ethernet cable speak to Martin about how to do this Not ever used Quobez so not able to help
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