Hi All,
I’ve been using Volumio for a while now, running on a Raspberry Pi Model 3B+. I am a long time user of Linux and open source software.
I can either listen to pure stereo via the RasP’s USB port to a DAC and then out to analog stereo, or upmix stereo audio via the RasPi’s HDMI output to 5.1 surround using the DTS Neo:6-Music profile in my receiver. All of my content is either in FLAC or DSF format.
Extensive details below for those interested.
It all sounds really amazing and I couldn’t be happier.
My thanks to the project team and the community for such a fine system.
Andrew
Prior to using Volumio, I would play music using my BluRay player, which is a DLNA client and server. The player would access the music files over the LAN from my NAS using NFS.
The BluRay player is connected to my receiver via HDMI. My receiver allows me to create a profile for each HDMI port specifying the speaker configuration, so this was normally set to stereo.
My only real issue with this setup was that I could only browse and play tracks from a single directory (usually one album) on the NAS at a time and there was no facility for creating playlists, favorites, etc.
All of that changed with Volumio.
My current setup is as follows. There are links to all of the equipment discussed at the end.
Volumio on a RasPi3, connected both via USB to a DAC in my Oppo UDP-205 UltraHD BluRay player*, and via HDMI directly to my receiver. The audio from the Oppo’s DAC is then connected via a dedicated analog stereo output stage to my receiver, and the RasPi HDMI out is connected to my receiver (see below) for both console video and HDMI audio out (see below).
(* The Oppo UDP-205 has a USB DAC with a dedicated analog stereo output stage with both unbalanced RCA and balanced XLR connectors. The DAC has Dual ESS ES9038PRO Sabre Pro chips.)
Volumio gets the music over the LAN from a Synology DS-212J NAS** using the NFS protocol.
(** I am in the process of building a server which will function as a new and much larger NAS and also host virtual machines for a variety of functions, including my firewall, video transcoding, etc… If there is sufficient interest, I am willing to write a detailed post in the appropriate forum on the specifics. Please PM me instead of posting replies in this thread.)
For stereo audio, I run the RCA analog outputs from the Oppo UDP-205 into a Anthem MRX-710 receiver.
The MRX-710 is connected to the speakers (see below) as follows:
Two line out for each front speaker (in a bi-amp configuration) and one line out the center speaker to an Anthem Statement P5*** amp. The line out connections are unbalanced RCA. (The Statement P5 amp also supports balanced XLR, but the MRX-710 does not.) The surrounds are driven directly via the MRX-710.
(In effect, I am using the MRX-710 as a pre-processor to the Statement P5.)
Fronts: Paradigm Prestige 95F
Center: Paradigm Prestige 55C
Surrounds: Paradigm Prestige 25S
Sub: Paradigm Prestige 1000SW
(*** The Statement P5 is essentially 5 monoblock amps in a single enclosure. Read more at the link below.)
All of the interconnects from the amplifier stages to the speakers and the line out connections from the MRX-710 to the Statement P5 were from Blue Jean Cable http://www.bluejeanscable.com/.
I do not believe in exotic high-priced interconnects. See the Audioholics channel on YouTube as to why you shouldn’t either.
Equipment discussed:
Oppo UDP-205 UltraHD BluRay Player https://www.oppodigital.com/blu-ray-udp-205/blu-ray-udp-205-Support.aspx
Anthem MRX-710 receiver https://www.anthemav.com/products-archived/type=av-receiver/model=mrx-710/page=overview
Anthem Statement P5 amplifier https://www.anthemav.com/products-current/type=amplifier/series=p-series/model=p5/page=overview
Paradigm Prestige speakers: https://www.paradigm.com/en/overview/series/prestige-series