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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 14, 2018 14:17:35 GMT
If the skill to put a Pi together isn't computer based then there is something else out of the norm and I don't have it. Might be laziness Mike, although I was confident of doing whatever needed to be done I really didn't want the hassle. There was no hassle. Zilch. Zero. Nada. Nowt! The most complicated and time-consuming thing I had to do was get that horrible brown adhesive-paper covering off of the 6 bits of acrylic that made up the case, and then putting the case together without bits falling off. Anything I needed to know was found pretty quickly on Google...except the easy way to separate that bloody paper from acrylic. Watching Martin, my official carer, sorting out the Pi and recently the DigiOne extra I noticed a a handful of things he just did - and I don't know. I paid attention and I might be able to do it a second time. The logic required isn't in my head |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 14, 2018 14:57:21 GMT
You could probably find a step-by-step explanation to follow somewhere on the web, Mike. The trick is to find one BEFORE you need it, walk yourself through it, ask any questions you may have, and then, and only then, buy your Pi. Alternatively, bung Martin a tenner throw yourself on his mercy and beg him to build it for you.  You'd miss so much of what is genuinely fun doing it that way though, not to mention the sense of achievement. |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 14, 2018 15:15:42 GMT
For anyone interested, I've now mounted my NAS drive as well as the external USB 3 drive, mostly just to see if I could.  One tip, for anyone considering doing this in Rune, you MUST end the address of a NAS mount remote directory with a " /" or it will not be recognised.  |
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Post by MikeMusic on Apr 14, 2018 15:33:15 GMT
You could probably find a step-by-step explanation to follow somewhere on the web, Mike. The trick is to find one BEFORE you need it, walk yourself through it, ask any questions you may have, and then, and only then, buy your Pi. Alternatively, bung Martin a tenner throw yourself on his mercy and beg him to build it for you. You'd miss so much of what is genuinely fun doing it that way though, not to mention the sense of achievement. Looked and found some info. Not all I needed though. There is no fun in this sort of thing for me. If I manage to do anything like this the first and overwhelming reaction is amazement. I go looking to see what might now go wrong. Even the 'technology' of grippy turny connectors things on RCA leads tees me off. The hero in Lego the movie has me 100% when he says "Where are my instructions ?"  |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 18, 2018 14:50:17 GMT
Here's the little I've learned so far by playing music on my new system. #1 - Both the Bushmaster Mk1 DAC and the SMSL Sanskrit 6 sound good with the Pi, but also slightly different. I haven't decided yet which I actually prefer or even if I do prefer one over the other. #2 - Playing files from my USB 3 drive and my Network mounted NAS drive produces slightly different sonic results. I haven't decided yet which I actually prefer or even if I do prefer one over the other. #3 - The Primare i21/CD21 combination sounds so good to me that I haven't even bothered trying the CD player through an outboard DAC. #4 - Listening to the system is far more pleasurable than trying to dissect it, whichever combination of drive, DAC, or player I'm using. #5 - Everyone should try to hear how good a Pi sounds, and then buy one, obviously. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 18, 2018 14:58:06 GMT
Everyone should try to hear how good a Pi sounds, and then buy one, obviously. Agreed with that! If the Bushmaster and Sandskrit sound similar, there is more to come should you go the Caiman SEG route (or another reclocking DAC). I have been amazed that reclocking both ends (at the DigiOne outbound and the SEG inbound) gives even better sound quality. For me, S/PDIF output sounds quite a lot better than USB. |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 18, 2018 15:18:18 GMT
I'd love a SEG, but after going 50% over budget when I bought the CD player it might be a while yet before I can seriously consider one, sadly, especially now Stan appears to be producing some add-on goodies outside of the basic model. It's a real pain in the arse when a product is so universally liked that you never see a second-hand one for sale. |
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Post by Slinger on Apr 24, 2018 18:08:13 GMT
So, for the sake of completeness, here's where I've ended up. I've got the Pi being powered from one of these, which is also feeding power to the amp and the Bushmaster Mk1 DAC (and the CD player)...  The output from the Pi is via a Kuman PIFI Digi DAC+, which is a HiFiBerry Digi+ clone. I'm running Rune software and I've literally just finished hacking it about a bit so that it upsamples to 24/96. The last was more of an experiment to see if I could get it working. I could. I am a happy bunny, and I've probably listened to more music over the last three weeks than I had for the previous 3 months. I needed something to 'inspire' me, and this little project has done just that. I've even bought a Pure Evoke Flow Digital Radio to listen to in bed. The next 'project' is to hook that up to a spare SMSL amp and bung a couple of speakers on the wall. Not this week though. Add to this my rather nice new/old Primare CD player, to match the Primare amp downstairs, and my excellent NVA system upstairs and I'm pretty much tripping over excuses to play music...metaphorically speaking, I hope. I must admit that now I'm messing about with hi-fi again I'd quite like to swap the ES11s and the MA Silver 2s around to see how each of them reacts to the different systems ( M.A.s are currently on the NVA system and the ES 11s are matched with the Primare) but that sounds too much like hard work. Maybe next year. |
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Post by MartinT on Apr 24, 2018 18:40:21 GMT
How do you find upsampling, Paul?
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Post by Slinger on Apr 24, 2018 18:50:32 GMT
How do you find upsampling, Paul? Difficult to say at the moment, Martin. I only managed half an album and then it was time to make dinner. Now I'm watching two football matches, simultaneously, so I probably won't be playing anything else today. There were no negatives during my little listen, but I'm not sure if there were any positives either. |
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Post by Slinger on May 13, 2018 19:51:59 GMT
I've just won an SMSL M8 DAC on eBay for £110.00 + £10.00. That was the starting price, and nobody else bid on it.
Apparently, it has seven "filter modes" and "different styles can be combined to adjust the sound." So, that's me tied up for the next couple of weeks, buggering about with "modes" and Gawd knows what else. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's the latest M8A version, but for the price, I'll live with that.
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Post by Slinger on May 14, 2018 13:19:13 GMT
I've just won an SMSL M8 DAC on eBay for £110.00 + £10.00. That was the starting price, and nobody else bid on it. Apparently, it has seven "filter modes" and "different styles can be combined to adjust the sound." So, that's me tied up for the next couple of weeks, buggering about with "modes" and Gawd knows what else. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like it's the latest M8A version, but for the price, I'll live with that. Wow, it's already in the post, complete with tracking number, so hopefully, I'll be receiving it around Wednesday or Thursday. I still can't believe that there were no other bids on it. |
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td160
Rank: Starter
Posts: 4 
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Post by td160 on May 14, 2018 13:30:19 GMT
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Post by Slinger on May 14, 2018 22:40:23 GMT
I looked at that myself before I decided on the Pi solution. It looks to be a quite impressive piece of kit. |
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Post by MartinT on May 14, 2018 22:55:34 GMT
"Rich functions and enjoying musics", indeed!
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Post by Slinger on May 16, 2018 14:34:44 GMT
The SMSL M8 has arrived, and I've fed it some of Pink Floyd's "Pulse" a few of Bach's Cello Suites, the Adagietto from Mahler's 5th, some Pet Shop Boys, and am currently listening to Andrea Bauer's "Cello Songs for Silence"
My first impressions are of harshness from the top end. As the M8 came boxed and looks brand new, to my eyes at least, I'm hoping that it just needs a bit of "running in." I've also put a brand new lead between the Pi and the amp today so maybe that's adding to it, but the more I listen to it the more the top end grates on me. Everything else is fine, and an improvement over the Bushmaster - there's definitely more detail, for instance. It's only been running for an hour-ish though, so I shall persevere.
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Post by MartinT on May 16, 2018 14:45:09 GMT
Give it time. Is the PSU the usual SMPS wall-wart?
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Post by Slinger on May 16, 2018 15:12:08 GMT
Give it time. Is the PSU the usual SMPS wall-wart? It's a mini brick, (briquette? ) Martin. To give you an idea of the actual size, the M8 is 12cm wide.  |
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Post by julesd68 on May 16, 2018 15:14:27 GMT
Fingers crossed M8! It's SMSL, it has to be good, surely?? |
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Post by Slinger on May 16, 2018 15:29:20 GMT
Fingers crossed M8! It's SMSL, it has to be good, surely?? I should think so, Jules. I believe Jerry likes his. I'm feeding it the Mahler 150th anniversary set (16 CDs ripped to FLAC) at the moment and I'll leave something playing overnight, then go back to it tomorrow, probably. I've also got the option of buggering about with Rune's upsampling to see if that makes a difference. I also need to find out how the CD player sounds through it at some stage in the proceedings. It's very early days yet. |
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You'd miss so much of what is genuinely fun doing it that way though, not to mention the sense of achievement. 
