seanm
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Post by seanm on Feb 28, 2019 8:06:12 GMT
OK, I have manually upgraded the Spotify connect plugin as detailed in the github link above. Mine now shows 0.8.5. I will either edit this reply or add a new one, after more extensive testing to confirm or deny the fix Cheers Sean Words of warning.... - I am experiencing some issues related to the connection between the spotify client on a windows PC and the spotify connect process on the Pi dropping... This maybe unrelated, due to a few networking issues at home, and requires further investigation
- There appears to be changes in the area of spotify default volume.... and it some cases it defaults to zero which then causes me to misinterpret it as nothing working at all!!!!
On the plus side, the "next track / stuck on current track" bug does seem to be fixed
I will investigate more and report back
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
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Post by seanm on Feb 27, 2019 15:29:08 GMT
OK, I have manually upgraded the Spotify connect plugin as detailed in the github link above. Mine now shows 0.8.5.
The install went as per the instructions... basically delete old plugin via the WebUI, install new one via SSH as per the instructions, tweek new plugin via WebUI
After 10 mins of testing, I can confirm that it works at least as well as before and has indeed *probably* fixed the next track / stuck on the current track bug.
I will either edit this reply or add a new one, after more extensive testing to confirm or deny the fix
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Feb 23, 2019 8:26:37 GMT
FYI I upgraded to v2.555 in situ a few days ago without issue.... HOWEVER, I do not have any modifications beyond plain vanilla apart from using the spotify plugins and having a SMB share to my "pseudo-NAS" mounted.
It all seems to work as before... However, I have not used it a great deal
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
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Post by seanm on Feb 8, 2019 11:04:03 GMT
I think this is an interesting development, I have seen many great things with the Pi... Not only the obvious HiFi link, (which was far from obvious to me when the thing launched), but also the inroads it has made into education and also the competition it has sparked with other small inexpensive single board computers.... I love the rapid prototyping opportunities that PI's, Arduino, open source SW and 3D printing offer. This BBC series, (sadly not currently available) demonstrates this well www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09g5hwf Think of it as "bake off" for geeky engineering for worthy causes... people! This stuff is slowly making inroads into education and schools which is great.... I do still have one small issue... So a pupil or group of pupils engineer something amazing at school. Pupils and school put something on their CVs and websites, maybe it makes the local paper..... but schools and pupils and all too often simply measured by plain vanilla traditional qualification success.... AFAIK there are few if any actual qualifications in these areas. If schools are encouraged to offer STEM (Science Technology Engineering & Maths) education, there needs to be a curriculum framework and qualifications to reflect success in these areas. Cheers Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Jan 30, 2019 8:24:19 GMT
Martin,
Thank you for the review, I am really enjoying following this project. As I said before, changing your DAC, and in particular the proposed change to I2S as a connection came as a shock. I have now warmed to the idea and feel that you are testing the envelope for all of us.
My nomadic life, means that a box of this size is out of the question for the moment. As you know, for compactness, I am using DAC HATs and Amps. I still feel that your results are relevant to me... The Allo Katana DAC is based upon a similar ess sabre 9038 DAC, (Not the Pro version though) and all your research in the area of power supplies and clocks is also beneficial to me.
Keep up the good work... Thanks!
Cheers Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Jan 28, 2019 19:01:39 GMT
Chris,
Thank you for reminding me about that series.... I have it here somewhere... I will fish out the clip for use in class tomorrow....
I cannot access your link to the clip due to being outside of the UK... I could use a VPN here, but not in school
Cheers Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Jan 28, 2019 18:36:45 GMT
Slinger,
This is actually one of my favourite bits of Science (I actually teach Physics).... I like many things about it... Primarily the way that the teaching of inorganic chemistry can be hung off of the table, by following trends up and down groups and across the table. I also like the fact that gaps were left for elements which had not been discovered.... I believe that is it important to teach that science is work in progress.
Funnily enough, I had to do a Y10 IGCSE chemistry cover lesson on Friday... while there was book work left, at the point they are in their learning it seemed to appropriate to give them each a scrap piece of paper and just ask "what can the periodic table tell give us?" It then turned into 50mins of interesting discussions... I rather enjoyed myself... students seemed to as well.... open ended questions tend to frighten them, but I think they were pleased and surprised by what they didn't realise that they knew.
Cheers Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Jan 14, 2019 16:48:40 GMT
Yes, people love standards, that's why we need so many of them....
So is the thinking here, that you cannot get the I2S signals from the existing Pi/DigiOne to the your new DAC without soldering?
Moreover, do you think that the Kali will reduce jitter etc even further?
I am really looking forward to hearing about your experiments and subsequent results, as you know, my current nomadic life limits my options to try stuff
You are really keeping me on my toes, as you know, partly for portability reasons, so far my approach has been DAC HAT based, I just about get used to your SEG solution and you move the goalposts! Exciting stuff!
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Jan 11, 2019 17:33:10 GMT
There is now a video blog review of this here :
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 24, 2018 14:45:31 GMT
Simon,
I agree.... ditto a comparison with the "Primo", the new Volumio all in one streamer....
Obviously, in the fullness of time, I suspect both will be further pimped to improve things
Cheers Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 24, 2018 12:16:50 GMT
Allo's Katana DAC has been off of the market for a few months while they re-worked the board to v1.2.... It is back.... I might have missed it last time around, but the 3rd board, the analogue output stage is now available in 2 flavours : Quoting from their website Katana gives you the choice between 2 stages: "Pure THD+N": At -112.9 Thd+n 1Khz A weighted, this stage will satisfy those that want no distortion in music. Board sounds very good. "Sound quality" stage: 100.5 Thd+n a weighted 1Khz, this board has been optimized for sound quality. While sacrificing some thd+n numbers we found the subjective experience to be, in a word, closer to analog sound. The difference between the output stages depend on your system and your personal preference. We really like both. www.allo.com/sparky/katana.htmlI do not own one, I have not heard one but as always I find the developments from Allo very interesting Cheers Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 23, 2018 10:22:26 GMT
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 16, 2018 8:12:27 GMT
Martin,
I have been watching your excellent work in the area of Pi/SEG/Spotify with great interest. While, I trust your testing approach and ears... Such successes from a lossy streaming service have been sticking in my throat from a theoretical/technical point of view... I am pleased that the lossless hi-res testing gets at least a "wow".
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 10, 2018 14:21:22 GMT
Martin,
I would love to... should be back for Christmas (to see my ancestor), but time is always tight... However, I do drive past you each way
Cheers Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 10, 2018 10:16:01 GMT
I have used an original version of the Allo Boss DAC since March 2017. At the time it looked to be the most promising "Normal" HAT DAC for the Pi. I initially used it in the UK in a "reasonable" budget system. I had no complaints about the sound which was an improvement from previous HiFiBerry DACs. In particular, I have not bass related complaints. I notice that the Boss board got reworked to v1.2, this has a few improvements and allows external power source more easily via a USB C connector.
My Boss is now in Northern Cyprus and since I am travelling light, it has an Allo class D amp granddaughter card on top. So all in all it is fair to say that many aspects of my setups were a limiting factor long before the DAC.
Fastforward 18 months and we now have some promising exotic/esoteric DACs on the market. For example, the Allo Katana, (although this is current not for sale).
If I was looking now... if price was not an issue I would use the Katana as my baseline and compare products against that. If funds were more limited, I would do the same with the Boss as the baseline. In both cases, if the pursuit of sound quality is important, I would look to spend additional funds on better power supplies or batteries etc.
This then brings me to external DACs... In terms of sound quality, several people on here are raving about using a Pi SP/DIFF transport such as the Allo DigiOne coupled with an external DAC such as one from Beresford etc.
At the time, this was not really what I wanted... I was looking for small/cheap/reasonable solutions which would drop into my existing systems. Once I settle in one place, I will revisit this decision.
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 3, 2018 12:15:07 GMT
Thanks.... back home in blighty, I have a pair of P500s bi-amped in a bedroom system.
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Nov 3, 2018 9:42:13 GMT
Hi Puffin,
Thank you for your post. Which CA amps did you modify?
Cheers
Sean
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seanm
Rank: Trio
Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Oct 14, 2018 8:46:01 GMT
Well done on the fire tablet... I suspect that you are finding the same as me... once you have Alexa, you kind of want/need one in each room 2-3 years ago, I picked up a 7" fire on black friday for £35... I only really used it for watching video, music and kindle while travelling. While my phone can do these things, I'm cautious not to flatten the phone battery when travelling. For the last year, in Northern Cyprus it acted as "a telly" in bed. This summer, I picked up the 8" HD fire for £50 on prime day. The 7" has been passed on to a friend as their first tablet. I have also added a gooseneck arm and bean bag tray thing to make bedtime viewing more comfortable. The latter seems the most practical. It seems that Amazon are releasing a charging dock for the 8" and 10" fires which turns them into something close to an "Amazon echo show" (The expensive one with the screen) www.amazon.com/All-New-Charging-Compatible-Generation-Tablet/dp/B07BNXZDJ3?th=1Cheers Sean
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Oct 13, 2018 11:18:25 GMT
Does anybody know how the streaming services create their digital catalogues? I assume it is not an intern out the back with a stack of CDs and a PC!
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seanm
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Posts: 162
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Post by seanm on Oct 13, 2018 5:16:48 GMT
Slinger,
I am about 2 months ahead of you in terms of exploring the "just for fun" route... Bought cheap on prime day. Actually, I bought another for my mum back in Plymouth so that I can call her from cyprus easily. I also bought a rechargeable speaker which the dot fits into so it looks like the bigger model. One aim was to increase my exposure to new music, radio and podcasts, particularly while doing other things such as showering etc. This is working well. I have taken out a year long subscription to Amazon music. I am not in a position to comment on quality since it currently only going through this speaker.
I have a techie background, but had largely ignored voice recognition. I was also of the view that it brought nothing uniquely new to the party. However, I rather like it... it surprises you.... For example... the shopping list feature is really useful... you tend to notice that stuff is running out while cooking or in the shower.... no easy access to a pen... just shout at Alexa... list ends up on your phone. I find voice navigation of a hierarchical music collection really useful when I am doing something else like cooking. It is not perfect.... live vs acoustic vs original versions is currently an issue.
I have previously explored home automation in the UK (Tado and SMAPEE)... I will not be doing it here via Alexa at the moment due to travelling very light. However, there is the ability to hook up Alexa to volumio.... shout at Alexa, music comes out on Pi... obviously this requires coding etc. I plan to explore this during the winter.
I have only scratched the surface of what can be done... but I think it has real promise... ultimately, it might not be Alexa, but I think the concept has legs and is gaining traction. I am using Android Auto and "OK google" to play music in the car via my phone and bluetooth doo-hickey.
Happy to compare notes and share ideas
Cheers
Sean
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