Thank you very much for hosting.
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It was so much fun to share the findings with other people āliveā . Also in the end round it was more a question of ātasteā then quality. In this set up no device was a āno-goā, so also the entry level DACās are reproducing music on a really solid good quality. Thanks for this nice evening.
Cheers
Christian
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Hello friends of good sounding sound 
Leoās simple guide to room correction [FusionDsp : the complete Dsp center for Volumio3! - #1009 by orchardaudio] has inspired me to invite you to a new soundcheck. I am very curious what my guests will say about the differences and whether a room correction is worthwhile.
I got the miniDSP microphone UMIK-1 and can already start measuring profiles.
For the soundcheck I take the PecanPi+ DAC and switch between activated DSP on and off. As a second player I can take the Volumio Primo.
Date would be the 10th of August at 8pm.
Feel free to come to this unique event. As always, the event is free.
PM for registration is required.
Cheers
judydudi
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Hello! I like the idea!
What I can say is that the difference between with/without FusionDsp activated will be evident. Iām not saying obviously better because it will be dependent on measurements and filters applied. But following the method from Orchadaudio should work fine though.
The same type of test done with convolution filters would be nice too!
Let me know if you need information!
Have a nice day
Edit: if you use different speakers, you have to make different measurements and filters adapted for each model
In FusionDsp you can use preset to easily switch between settings
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Hello balbuze
thanks for your input and especially that DSP is even possible with your plugin! At first I thought this will be just a small soundcheck - with all the options it will be full-length now for sure.
Of course, I realize that each pair of speakers and each constellation needs its own profile.
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Yesterday was our soundcheck summer special. Due to the vacations we found ourselves in a small but fine round.
The topic was āroom correctionā. Leo from Orchardaudio has published on Youtube a great video for Volumio to implement the room correction (DSP). FusionDsp : the complete Dsp center for Volumio3! - #1009 by orchardaudio
We now listened to the music while I sometimes activate and sometimes deactivate the DSP. A blind study was not possible this way, but we didnāt find it necessary either. With effects, the DB level was always slightly lower as described in Leoās video. Therefore, I also slightly changed the volume when switching.
The effects were not as big as you know it from EQ presets (āpopā, ārockā, āclassicā, e.g.). We were able to understand the corrections and operation of the EQ filters.
For example, when the midrange was slightly reduced, a vocal was more integrated into the music than it was before.
With classical music in the bass range, the EQ made the low tones muddy. We couldnāt really place the instruments at all. However, not all of us were able to perceive the low tones so accurately.
I noticed that the room sound was thinner with EQ, without it it was clearly more filled out.
One of us said that the music sounded slightly better with EQ.
One of us said that depending on the music genre, it might make sense to turn on the EQ.
One listener said that the EQ would take away the liveliness of the music. The range in the low frequencies would be particularly affected. EQ would not come into her house, she said
So it is not clear that DSP improves the sound impression. For some it may be good, for others it doesnāt work at all.
Maybe you need to delve deeper into the matter to benefit more from it.
Thanks for coming. Thanks leo for the explanation video.
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What did the room plot look like before EQ was applied? Did it need a lot of correction?
These are the curves before room correction!
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this is the announcement for the next soundcheck on September 28, 2023!
The focus is the comparison of the currently available I2S DAC boards. At the same time I will bring a board with and the same board without room correction into the race.
The market for these boards seems to be getting thinner. I have tried to find the best solutions. I was concerned with availability, sound and also the availability of housing solutions for simple DIY construction. You can still build a complete, good sounding volumio music streamer for about 60ā¬.
Maybe we will see each other on 28.09.2023 8pm in Hamburg.
As always, the event is free of charge. Registration requested by PM.
| device | priceĀ³ | DAC | RCA/XLR | SQĀ² | Country | Web |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PecanPi+ | 499/-/880 | AKM AK4499EXEQ | +/+ | *****(*) | US | https://orchardaudio.com |
| PecanPi | 349/-/650 | PCM1794A Dual | +/+ | ***** | US | https://orchardaudio.com |
| evo sabre | 249/419/599 | ES9038Q2M Dual | +/+ | ***** | FR | Audiophonics - Hi-Fi Audio, Electronic and DIY Products - Audiophonics |
| Primo | -/-/799Ā¹ | ES9028 | +/+ | **** | IT | Volumio - The Music Player |
| Allo Boss2 | -/119/245 | CS43198 | +/- | **** | IN | https://allo.com |
| audiophonics I-Sabre | 99/-/219 | ES9038Q2M | +/- | **** | FR | Audiophonics - Hi-Fi Audio, Electronic and DIY Products - Audiophonics |
| Dacberry Pro+ | 99/139/- | PCM5242 | +/+ | **** | ES | https://www.osaelectronics.com |
| AroioDacā“ | 69/-/- | PCM5122 | +/- | **** | DE | https://www.abacus-electronics.de/ |
| Nanomesher one | -/79/- | PCM5122 | +/- | *** | HG | https://nanomesher.com |
| iQAudio Dac Pro | 25/-/- | PCM5242 | +/+ | *** | UK | https://www.iqaudio.com |
| Sabreberry | 25/-/- | ESS9023p | +/- | *** | DE | https://en.muc89.com |
| AroioDac with room correction | ||||||
| Ā¹includes lifetime MyVolumio premium options | ||||||
| Ā²my personal impression | ||||||
| Ā³Board/Board&Case/Player(w pi) | ||||||
| ā“avaible on request |
2 Likes
So your room looks pretty darn good to begin with.
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I found three nice cases for my participating devices.
For all others, housings are available from the manufacturer.
The black Hifiberry Zero Case for the Sabreberry.
stapelbares Acryl GehƤuse fĆ¼r... kaufen bei BerryBase for the AUDIOPHONICS DAC I-Sabre ES9038Q2M with Kali.
Home - Fischerelektronik, Product: RSP 1 H for the AroioDac plus Isolator board.
Hey you guys,
I have postponed the date by two weeks, so to October 12, 2023.
I keep you up to dateā¦
sorry, this time it is jinxed with the appointment. I had to move the date again. The event will now take place on October 19, 2023.
Thank you for understanding.
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Hi,
I might be interested in the soundcheck event. Can you tell me where itās going to be?
Many greetings,
Jan
OK, we did our soundcheck yesterday
unlike announced, we heard 8 currently available devices:
innomaker DAC pro, Sabreberry, Audiophonics Evo sabre and I-Sabre ES9038Q2M, AroioDac, Dacberry Pro+ and both pecanPi.
We played them in a multiroom configuration. With current volumio images and adjusted volume level.
So we could select the music during the event. This made sense as we could select songs we thought we knew quite well. Also, there was no offset when playing the pieces which was otherwise irritating.
After the first few songs (streaming and local files) we could tell that everything sounded very good and almost the same. Nevertheless, there were small, subtle differences.
We started to sort out the weakest devices. These were Dacberry pro+ and I-Sabre ES9038Q2M. As said, all devices played really well. Sometimes it was a tone in a womanās voice that stood out differently, sometimes it was a bit of recessed bass. Then we took Sabreberry , Evo Sabre and Innomaker out of the comparison (in this order). Remaining were then, as so often the PecanPi devices and the AroioDac. The AroioDac I had used this time was with an isolator board from Osaelectronics.
The top 3 played so flawlessly for us that we named all three devices as our favorites.
In the conversation in between the question came up if and how much it makes a difference to use another Raspberry. It was noticeable that all three top devices were equipped with a Raspberry Pi 3B. Also the cases from Orchardaudio are designed for the 3B(+) variant and I also heard from the manufacturer of the Aroio Dac that he prefers to use the 3B!
In this respect we still have many questions for further soundchecks!
Stay tuned!
Cable chaos
2 Likes
Clever way to play via multiroom!
Well done Jens!
2 Likes
I was hoping you would report a clear preference for the PecanPi+ over the PecanPi, but that is not the case?
I have two RaspberryPi based streamers, one PecanPi and one Pi2AES feeding an old Wadia 12 DAC. I tend to listen to the Pi2AES more often.
Neil, thank you for your interest in our soundcheck.
At the last two Soundcheck events, the PecanPi+ was clearly the favorite of some listeners. Also better than the PecanPi. This time the PecanPiās was again on top, but no listener had highlighted the PecanPi+. Thatās how it is. Also, the taste of each listener is always a little different. Perhaps the Multiroom setting also made the differences smaller during the testā¦
Glad you are happy with the PI2AES.
PS: If youāre located in the NY area, you can hear the differences for yourself at this demo event:
https://orchardaudio.com/listen/
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People,
Iāve got another new DAC Hat and Iām really curious to see how it performs. A friend introduced me to the R2R DAC devices. They are supposed to play particularly naturally and organically. I have now received an R2R from Malaysia. Perhaps we can elicit these traits from this R2R representative.
Iām now planning a new soundcheck for the end of March, beginning of April - this time in a living room atmosphere. 
DAC from https://audiophilediyer.com
The PecanPi+ DAC that uses the AK4499EX which is an R2R chip.