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Post by MartinT on Mar 20, 2017 7:18:08 GMT
Here's the image courtesy of Bernie ( @ canetoad ) I've ordered the parts I need to supply 5V direct to the Digi+ from my battery. I'll leave the 3.3V supply alone as it's less easy to derive that from a battery and the Digi+ on-board regulator is probably fine. According to the information I have, the Digi+ will then feed the Raspberry Pi with 5V obviating the need to provide micro-USB power to it. This is supposed to avoid some Pi circuitry around power provision so I'm hoping for a step-up in sound quality from Spotify Premium. EDIT: looks like the 3.3V supply is for the Digi+ Pro anyway, so no problem there for me.
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Post by John on Mar 20, 2017 7:39:26 GMT
Should be a nice upgrade in SQ
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Post by MartinT on Mar 24, 2017 7:58:04 GMT
I've not got all the parts yet but had a quick listen in 'skeletal' build. It sounds very promising indeed and yet again suggests that 'bits are bits' is just not true for digital sources. Jitter and timing are everything. I need to drill the case for the cable exit and also want to add a super capacitor to the battery feed, I found a spare 47,000uF 5.5V Tokin supercap in my parts bag.
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2017 8:05:07 GMT
Jitter and timing is very important
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Post by MartinT on Mar 24, 2017 19:11:37 GMT
Here's the Digi+ direct power mod completed. I was going to use a miniature 2-pin screw terminal but for reasons of space and the tightness of the superb HiFiBerry case, I've made direct solder connections to the board. The Tokin supercap is stuck down to a flat area of the board. Make absolutely certain of your polarity as you will fry the Digi+ and Pi if you get it wrong (you can just see the + I wrote on the board). Shown running with a test battery. I drilled a hole in the case for the cable exit and used some heatshrink sleeving for protection. The sound over using the Pi's micro-USB for power is a quite audible tightening of the bass and better focus in the soundstage. Clearly the Digi+ benefits from direct and stable battery power and, knowing what the supercaps did for my older Caiman-II DAC, I dare say that is helping it, too. I'm judging on a Spotify 320kbps stream, haven't even tried hi-res files yet. Playing Joss Stone's Jet Lag, the impact is considerable. This is really pleasing!
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Post by John on Mar 24, 2017 19:14:03 GMT
Great result Martin
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Post by canetoad on Mar 25, 2017 0:19:15 GMT
Hi Martin,
Is the 5v feed to the Digi+ powering the Pi as well, or are you running a second feed to that?
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Post by MartinT on Mar 25, 2017 9:37:33 GMT
The Digi+ powers the Pi too, which is ideal as it bypasses the micro-USB power circuitry.
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Post by canetoad on May 5, 2017 10:57:27 GMT
I tried the same thing with mine (rpi 2b and digi+) and just feeding 5v to the digi+ it fires up but there's no power to the ethernet connection. If I reconnect to the rpi directly, everything works fine.
Any ideas?
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Post by MartinT on May 5, 2017 13:37:13 GMT
That's interesting, it works with my Wi-Fi dongle connected into a USB socket. The ethernet subsystem must required upconverted DC from the main board, then. You could try a cable ethernet USB dongle?
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Post by sondale on May 6, 2017 16:27:34 GMT
It should work as described; I did this to a RPi 2B/ Digi in March 2016 and it is still working using the Ethernet connection.
I had wondered if something might have happened when the leads were soldered but then powering from the usb socket should not work either.
Does the Pi power up? A stupid question but are the positive/negative the correct way round? I once got it wrong and the Ethernet chip certainly got hot and did not work - neither did the Pi after that!
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Post by canetoad on May 8, 2017 8:41:27 GMT
I don't know what the original problem was, but it now works and connects to the network. I had to rescan my library because that was all gone as well.
Now to do some listening. First impressions are that the soundstage is a little better.
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Post by MartinT on May 8, 2017 8:47:29 GMT
Good stuff, glad you got it running. Yes, I'd agree that the soundstage benefits the most.
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Post by ChrisB on Jun 23, 2017 22:48:14 GMT
Just a little note to anyone who might be thinking of buying a HifiBerry Digi+ board: If you intend to use an optical connection to your DAC, there's no point in stumping up the (admittedly few) extra quid for the output transformer version. It appears that the transformer is only intended for use with the coax output. I bought both of my boards with the transformer and into my Accuphase DAC, it sounds better via the coax. Others who own different DACs feel the optical output is best for them. Take your pick!
Quote from HifiBerry website:
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Post by MartinT on Jun 24, 2017 10:07:47 GMT
That's right, the transformer is designed to give electrical isolation to the co-ax connector as otherwise the earths from Pi to DAC are connected, which may or may not give problems. Optical is electrically isolated by design, so doesn't need anything else.
Mine has the transformer and I did compare the two outputs, but I prefer the sound of the Beresford optical cable.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 24, 2017 11:59:47 GMT
Mine has the transformer and I did compare the two outputs, but I prefer the sound of the Beresford optical cable. I tried the Beresford Optical cable recently and it does appear a worthwhile improvement over the coax cable I have which is also a Beresford. When I get time, I'll give the Pi build a go.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 19, 2017 8:33:35 GMT
There is a plug-in for Volumio2 called volspotconnect2.zip which makes the Pi a Spotify Connect device, in other words you can use the excellent Spotify interface to control the Pi. This is what I've always wanted, and having our Pioneer unit in the kitchen (also a Spotify Connect device) has made me appreciate how good it is. The plug-in is available here and I'm just getting to grips with what needs doing. I shall report back when I've got it working.
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Post by mikeyb on Jul 19, 2017 13:29:02 GMT
There is a plug-in for Volumio2 called volspotconnect2.zip which makes the Pi a Spotify Connect device, in other words you can use the excellent Spotify interface to control the Pi. This is what I've always wanted, and having our Pioneer unit in the kitchen (also a Spotify Connect device) has made me appreciate how good it is. The plug-in is available here and I'm just getting to grips with what needs doing. I shall report back when I've got it working. I put it into my Pi, just download the zip file and then go to Plug-In section on Volumio and install the zip file. Don't think it needs anything else as it already has the required settings preinstalled. Works great.
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Post by MartinT on Jul 19, 2017 16:29:53 GMT
Mine fails at 'downloading required package' with any of two tablets and three browsers while installing the plug-in. I guess it must be the ISP. I need to find out what files are needed or possibly take the Pi to work.
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Post by ChrisB on Jul 19, 2017 16:45:34 GMT
Trying to follow what this plug in does here.... Once installed and working properly, you fire up your Pi and bring up Volumio, select Spotify and you get the Spotify control panel to search for tracks etc?
Or do you switch on your Pi and control things entirely from Spotify?
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