I still use v2.323 Volumio player - tweaked 
,
on RPi 3 Model B Rev1.2,
with Generic I2S DAc -TDA1541,
headless, no soft-mixer, external WiFi
bcos otherwise …I can’t get so real & good quality sound
anybody has sort of similar fillings\setup ??
How did you verify the real quality of your equipment?
Remember that Volumio is a “bit perfect player”, the quality does not depends on the hardware or Operating System, if you connect to recente USB DAC!
My entire audio setup is audiophile-grade, I have many different sources wheel known as being “reference sound sources”, have got few amplifiers A-Class top quality devices, I do often go to classical music concerts, opera, I do have friends which are musicians …and a couple friends running audiophile showrooms or a small audiophile manufacturing business
I’m software engineer witch strong electronics background (my initial college),
more then 10 years I have spent a lot of time …soldering and listening of what I’m building 
.
What makes you think that quality doesn’t depend on HW ?,
do you think that conversions of formats, signals …transmission doesn’t affects sound (reality&quality)?
I can assure you - every single thing matters!, guys here …they know what are they doing (I can tell by changelog )
…from the perspective of the quality that I am building here
The devil is in the details
no doubt about that, I can tell from look&view (pictures) -how does it sound (what’s missing, blurred or so…),
because I did tried many setup’s, parts, wires…
I can’t share my pics of builds - I promised to guy which helped me alot and shared knowledge\tips (20y+ experienced).
This forum is not the place to clarify who we technically are. However, you can observe in my posts my high-end audio PC/streamer. In fact, I’ll share the link with you:
My level of knowledge goes well beyond simple electronic components. What I create or experiment with is backed by measurements that I personally carry out. If you’re unfamiliar with the meaning of a ‘bit-perfect’ player, you wouldn’t have so many questions.
Volumio is a bit-perfect software, whether you run it on an RPI3, RPI4, or a Windows PC. Whether you use Daphile, MoOde Audio, Roon Rock, or Picoreplayer, extracting the audio stream from a USB port using an Amazon Basic printer cable or a $500 USB DAC cable, the DATA stream coming from the USB port is exactly the same!
The USB port provides an asynchronous stream while the clock is internal to the DAC. With the same DAC, you’ll notice zero differences regardless of the hardware/software bit-perfect solution you use!
If you’d like, you can pose your question on the Audio Science Review Forum, frequented by manufacturers, software designers, audio driver specialists (such as ASIO driver designers), researchers, and many audiophiles. They will all confirm, with measurements in hand, exactly what I’ve just stated.
Changing your DAC, amplifier, or speakers will alter your sound (though rarely by changing cables), but changing the bit-perfect source won’t affect the result.
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I though similar way ~13 years ago,
before I started to work on it …and listen.
The problem with current audio is - ppl measure and calculate instead of listening.
Anyway - my intention wasn’t to start an empiric debate, if you can’t hear the difference
between clocks, cables, software - your setup isn’t “open” enough. Sound starts at storage (flash drive)
rather then re-clocking, re-generating …purifying or so - better to don’t screw anything from start to end
&best regards, Sev.
how it could be ?,everything is made from components
that’s where everything starts, without knowing them - you can’t assemble what you want.
It’s a bit like cooking or painting - they have own characteristics, some type are appropriate only in certain
places …in other not 
.
…long journey
If what you claim were true, considering that USB ports exclusively transmit data packets and not a digital audio signal (as in the case of the S/PDIF protocol, where the clock is also conveyed alongside the data), it would imply that every time you copy any file to an external USB drive, you would end up with a different copy of the file. However, checking the CRC or checksum would reveal that the file transmitted via USB is indeed identical. Therefore, regardless of whether you use a Mac, a Windows PC, or a Raspberry Pi, the file copy will always be accurate, assuming the same DAC. If you’re using a bit-perfect player like Volumio, the audio file won’t be altered and will be transmitted as originally intended. Additionally, modern DACs typically include cleaning and filtering treatments for the USB port. Reclocking is unnecessary because the clock is inherent to the DAC. Instead of investing in the PC, focus on upgrading the DAC. As for whether using a high-quality audio power supply is beneficial, the answer is consistently yes, for a variety of reasons (such as eliminating acoustic noise and improving reliability). It might be worthwhile for you to undergo a double-blind test to verify that your ears cannot compete with the sensitivity of audio measurement equipment, especially considering that at your age, you likely can’t perceive frequencies above 14 kHz!
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As long as everything is in the digital domain, there are a lot of companies trying to sell snake oil.
This doesn’t mean that there are some improvements to make to get rid of noise.
Until the signal reaches the DAC, it’s handled as a digital data package. Most recent DAC’s work asynchronous and have an internal clock.
Only with a rotten cable and/or DAC you can hear (actually even this is a wrong statement, as you can’t hear the digital bits) lost of quality, for example reparative resend of data. Strange time shifts etc.
The analog stage is a complete different ballgame, there things matter.
As I always say: “Bit perfect music is like a unicorn riding a rainbow through a field of perfectly synchronized dancing hamsters.”
We all know it’s there but no-one has ever heard it, as we need to convert the signal to analog to hear it. Some will now claim that with a certain cable they hear more clear higher frequencies or things they never heard before, is it or has the cable a higher L so the higher frequencies are amplified?
All where it comes down to is a personal preferences on what sound you prefer most.
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Most responses in this thread are defensive rather than helpful, and frankly disappointing. User gumof is experiencing a legitimate issue here. Here is my advice:
- You state that you have no soft mixer selected. Try choosing “None” if you have chosen a hardware mixer. Shouldn’t really matter but worth trying.
- Be sure that Volume Normalization is Off.
- Be sure that Audio Resampling is Off.
If you have done all of these and your sound quality still seems poor, then try selecting a different I2S DAC, and then switch back to the correct one. I have experienced issues in the past just like you have and resetting the configured DAC seemed to fix the problem for me. Thanks, and good luck.
Also fully power down your RPi after changing DAC config, then power back up, in order to physically reset the hardware.
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Yep - they aren’t open minded . I don’t need to be convinced to they believes…
that’s right - no mixer (no soft, no hw)
everything is off, no re-sampling (pure-purity)
I have to micro-sd cards(same type), same settings one upgraded version,
so I’m powering down and quickly changing them…
2.323 with Default CPU governor to performance …maybe smth more (can’t remember now)
-sound much more realistic …human voice\vocals …mostly noticeable!
Everything is heavily modified - RPi, power mains - I’m looking for ones that hear the change 
Does audio resampling make a difference?
huge!, re-sample to natively supported by DAC freq\depth
…and give it a try, if you can’t notice difference - that’s setup problem(most of cases)
It mainly depends on how your DAC has been built. The big improvement you might here, is that with resampling, you move filters to a higher frequency. If you have a DAC that filters at 21/22 kHz it might improve.
Also keep in mind that you should only upsample by facor 2, nothing else.
So 44.1 => 88.2 => 176.4
Upsamping from 44.1 to for example 48 will introduce 60% of non existing bits.
If re-sampling is required is it the best to set Target Bit Depth and Target Bit Depth to “Native” or to “32 bit”?
Remark:
In my case (Allo Piano 2.1 / Allo Kali) resampling is mandatory for files with 24 bit due to that Allo’s driver does not support the current kernel. And as re-sampling cannot be switched on or off depending on the format I would like to set it so that it fits best to my input files (which are mostly 24 and 44.1).
Second remark:
Considering that I couldn’t hear any difference between Allo’s Boss (without resampling) and Allo’s Piano (with 32 bit resampling) with the best will in the world, I assume that it is almost irrelevant
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Hey gumof I am in same situation as you.
I have a set of “ultra” high end system, all designed by me from electronics, to PCBs etc, from DAC to power amps, all pure Class A. I have reached end game on all these components, even DAC but streamer.
What I have noticed is that i cannot tell a difference from DAC and behind, although I can tell the difference from USB part and on. For example amanero Italy sounds better than China.
However in various streamers I tried I don’t see much difference best sound I can get is Tidal MQA with my Rpi5 with USB (better than coax Allo signature)…
So I am not really sure that a really good streamer would make a difference. But I have used streamers upto 1k.
So my dilemma is to acquire a really expensive one or once again build my own.
An idea would be to build a really good power supply (half the secret is in power supplies), build a PCB for Rpi5 (have done it many times since all my components have Rpis for control) and various peripherals to accompany it. Even with this I am not expecting much difference but could be a mid-term project (i have two other running now)