Before I buy a CuBox to try Volumio, is there anything custom in Volumio’s MPD that will prevent me from defining multiple audio outputs?
I need to send audio to two separate zones (2 different rooms with very different EQ requirements in each), so I plan to run some convolution (Brutefir, etc) within the CuBox, for custom DRC per zone (room).
Below is my more lengthy post put on SolidRun’s forum:
I’m looking at buying an i4Pro, but before I do, I need to know if it can be configured to send 2-channel PCM out both the HDMI and SPDIF ports simultaneously.
I’m looking at grabbing a CuBox to use for Volumio, but I have a special requirement that I cannot find anyone discussing. This is a system I’m building for my parents – while they don’t need high-end DACs or anything like that, I would like to do some basic DRC via brutefir, folve, etc.
The special requirement is that we need to be able to play the same music to two zones of their Denon AVR simultaneously, but I want to apply different speaker correction to each of the two zones. So from the Denon receiver’s point of view, the two sources will be different.
Why? Because room 1 (Main Zone) has wall-mounted speakers, and the dining room (Zone 2) has in-wall speakers, and I’m not sure the Denon will give me the EQ control I need to really adjust it to taste. So I’ll use Linux and Brutefir (or similar) to apply filters.
The Denon 2808CI supports 2-channel pcm (spdif only – not hdmi) sources into Zone 2, and, of course, 2-channel pcm over hdmi into the Main Zone, and simultaneously it should be able to do this… I hope.
But from the CuBox-i / Volumio side, I need to know if there’s a way to assign playback to two separate devices at the same time? For example, does the software allow me to assign both hdmi and spdif outputs simultaneously? Or will I need to manually edit the MPD and Alsa configs to make this happen? I suppose I could create a new device under .asoundrc, which then feeds both hdmi and spdif output, as long as Volumio can be convinced to use that new device.
I’m just hoping the CuBox-i4Pro has the horsepower to run 4 channels of Brutefir.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Josh