It have the classical input, usb-spdif-AES/EBU, and also the new i2s over hdmi promoted by psaudio. Also, some brand start to integrate this promising interface in their dac, like aune or audio-gd, who also offer a cheap input/output diy board : audio-gd.com/Pro/diy/I2Skits/I2SEN.htm
I just get this new audio-gd output board, and now i start to see if i can use it. I see that volumio support i2s output in the raspberry pi, but it’s seems a wrong choice for bitperfect playback with it’s clock limited to 19 mhz : hifiduino.wordpress.com/2014/11 … tal-audio/
Insted the cubieboard look like a good choice with a nice i2s implementation : hifiduino.wordpress.com/2014/03 … for-audio/
“Audio_PLL is the audio frequency clock derived from the 24MHz system clock. The PLL generates the 24.576 MHz and the 22.5792 MHz clocks. This means that the A20 is capable of bit-perfect playback for both the 44.1KHz and 48KHz family of sample rates.”
“The A20 processor has excellent support for bit-perfect I2S digital audio. However, only the CubieTruck board allows access to the I2S pins.”
So i see that the cubietruck is supported by volumio, but dos it support i2s out ? If yes, do you think it work if i just connect my audio-gd board to the i2s pins of cubietruck ?
Last question, cubieboard guys just release a new board, the cubieboard 4 that looks badass Do you plan to support it ?
Welcome,
sensible considerations you’ve made. Just let me tell you that R-Pi needs an external clock to deliver audio via i2s, so I don’t see a problem with it’s internal clock (which affects just the analog & HDMI, which sound indeed crappy BTW).
So, I would not exclude Rpi from my considerations.
I do agree with you that Cubietruck is more fit for an audiophile playback machine, and it has way more I\O available. The i2s driver is already included in Volumio, but you should however adjust it manually (I didn’t personally play with it, so can’t comment on the feasibility).
And for the new cubietruck, I will probably support it in the future…
I think i will give a try to the cubieboard, for now i am building a complete system base on the previous dac i spoke off, an akouo muses preamp (including a Boozhound phono preamp stage) and an hypex ncore amp. It’s almost finish and when it’s done, i will try to build that’s nice sound server i dream off, i will of course keep you inform of my effort. Cubieboard is a good choice because, as you just confirm, the i2s output is already enable, but i can also add an old sata II 500 Go hdd to stock my music, and only a few dev board offer that precious sata port.
I just have a little suggestion, i speak as a new member of this forum. I haven’t find in the forum if the cubieboard version of volumio include the i2s driver. Maybe it’s a good idea to try to centralise, with a tab or something, what fonction for which board is supported by volumio, and include it in the “project” webiste page. I think it could make the life of the interested newbie easier
Do you plan to support it ?
