Will Moode work with my old dac?

[setfan]

Hi all. A bit of background first...I have been using an old Powermac G5 with a whopping 1gb ram and Tiger OS, purely to stream Soma FM radio through a usb to spdif converter (Halide Bridge) into my hifi dac/audio system (a Meridian 518 digital processor box and then the digital is sent from there via digital coax to my 20 year old dac).

I decided to buy a cheap Intel Celeron NUC with 4gb ram and 60gb SSD, when I found that the Powermac was unable to play either Tidal or Spotify (neither supported by Tiger OS)

However, when I hooked the Intel NUC up, I found that the audio quality sounds a bit flat compared to the sharper, cleaner and ultimately superior sound quality I get from the Powermac.

It has been suggested that a Raspberry Pi4 would be superior to the NUC, so was ready to go down that path but I have been told that the Moode software may not work with my older dac from the late 90's (a british built Deltec Precision Audio PDM2) 

I am a complete novice when it comes to computer audio and the jargon, etc. so sorry for my lack of understanding - but can anyone answer if a Raspberry Pi4 with Moode software on it will simply connect to my old dac using the USB - spdif converter path as described above?

Or does the Moode software only recognise specific (mainly more modern) dacs that are already established within it's internal settings? ie. The dac to be used must be selected from within Moode software, and if it is not listed then my old dac wont work?

[MikeyFresh]

Hi all. A bit of background first...I have been using an old Powermac G5 with a whopping 1gb ram and Tiger OS, purely to stream Soma FM radio through a usb to spdif converter (Halide Bridge) into my hifi dac/audio system (a Meridian 518 digital processor box and then the digital is sent from there via digital coax to my 20 year old dac).

I decided to buy a cheap Intel Celeron NUC with 4gb ram and 60gb SSD, when I found that the Powermac was unable to play either Tidal or Spotify (neither supported by Tiger OS)

However, when I hooked the Intel NUC up, I found that the audio quality sounds a bit flat compared to the sharper, cleaner and ultimately superior sound quality I get from the Powermac.

It has been suggested that a Raspberry Pi4 would be superior to the NUC, so was ready to go down that path but I have been told that the Moode software may not work with my older dac from the late 90's (a british built Deltec Precision Audio PDM2) 

I am a complete novice when it comes to computer audio and the jargon, etc. so sorry for my lack of understanding - but can anyone answer if a Raspberry Pi4 with Moode software on it will simply connect to my old dac using the USB - spdif converter path as described above?

Or does the Moode software only recognise specific (mainly more modern) dacs that are already established within it's internal settings? ie. The dac to be used must be selected from within Moode software, and if it is not listed then my old dac wont work?

When using a USB-SPDIF converter, Moode only "sees" the device connected via USB, in this case the Halide Design bridge. The DAC is not of any significance to Moode in that scenario, only connectivity with the Halide Bridge. Because that device is UAC1, it ought to be plug n' play, unless there is some sort of odd incompatibility with Linux, but I would highly doubt such a thing. Should be just fine, but don't under power the RPi 4.

UAC1 will limit things to 24/96.

[setfan]

That is excellent news, thanks for the info! Well I have previously had the Halide Bridge connected to my Intel NUC which had Ubuntu (Linux) OS installed on it, and the Halide Bridge was recognised and worked without issue from Ubuntu, so this confirms that the RPi4 and Moode should both work ok for me then....have I got this right?

Would you mind confirming what you mean by "dont under power the RPi4" - do you mean just to get a 4gb ram model? Or is it to do with what power supply I get with it? Any specific recommendation is welcome if there is a particular version, etc.

Cheers!!

[Tim Curtis]

Buy the official Pi-4B 5V/3A power supply.
https://www.amazon.com/Raspberry-Model-O...270&sr=8-4

[CallMeMike]

That is excellent news, thanks for the info! Well I have previously had the Halide Bridge connected to my Intel NUC which had Ubuntu (Linux) OS installed on it, and the Halide Bridge was recognised and worked without issue from Ubuntu, so this confirms that the RPi4 and Moode should both work ok for me then....have I got this right?

Would you mind confirming what you mean by "dont under power  the RPi4" - do you mean just to get a 4gb ram model? Or is it to do with what power supply I get with it? Any specific recommendation is welcome if there is a particular version, etc.

Cheers!!

Any of the three flavours of RPi4 will work fine as there's no 'heavy lifting' to handle (DSD files) judging by your current file playback pattern but if you want to be safe for future DAC upgrade you may want the higher spec RPI4s (2 or 4 GB RAM) with proper cooling solutions.

As a side idea... considering that you've already got the INTEL NUC you may also try to use another another headless music server based on LINUX designed for x86 computers (like your NUC) DAPHILE     There is also a Daphile forum: DIY Audio DAPHILE forum )

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that you'll have a superior streamer with either solution but it's good to have a choice. For clarity my daily streamer it's based on RPI + MoOde...

[setfan]

Thanks. Sounds like I may as well try loading Daphile on to my NUC and trying that first...my NUC has Ubuntu OS on it, so hopefully it is relatively easy to do, although Ubuntu is very new to me...I will search the Daphile forum for step by step instructions on how to install on Ubuntu..

[TheOldPresbyope]

Thanks. Sounds like I may as well try loading Daphile on to my NUC and trying that first...my NUC has Ubuntu OS on it, so hopefully it is relatively easy to do, although Ubuntu is very new to me...I will search the Daphile forum for step by step instructions on how to install on Ubuntu..

Like moOde, Daphile is a headless music server. It's installed from an .iso image and replaces your Ubuntu installation. Should work fine.

As for moOde, the RPi4 models are great but with your hardware an RPi3A+ should work just fine assuming you'll be using WiFi. 

I think the 3A+ hits the sweet spot for USB dac usage. It's compact and doesn't generate the heat that the RPi4s do. I find moOde to be perfectly happy running in its 512MB of RAM (right now, mine says there's 212MB of available memory after accounting for moOde and buffers).

Regards,
Kent

[setfan]

Uh oh! Guys I need your help! In between posts I forgot that I had left my first generation Celeron NUC advertised for sale! And now a buyer has appeared!

What to do ?! - I can sell it for exactly what an RPi4 will cost - my real dilemma is how will my Celeron NUC with Daphile compare to an RPi4 with Moode (or Daphile) for audio quality?

Remembering that I will only be streaming audio (and will use my cd player in hifi system for the rest)

What would you do? Sell the NUC (as its an old first gen version anyway) and get the RPi4 - or should I withdraw the NUC from sale and try Daphile option first???

Is it a pretty close call as to which will likely sound better? In that case, its not such a big drama!!

[CallMeMike]

Uh oh! Guys I need your help! In between posts I forgot that I had left my first generation Celeron NUC advertised for sale! And now a buyer has appeared!

What to do ?! - I can sell it for exactly what an RPi4 will cost - my real dilemma is how will my Celeron NUC with Daphile compare to an RPi4 with Moode (or Daphile) for audio quality?

Remembering that I will only be streaming audio (and will use my cd player in hifi system for the rest)

What would you do? Sell the NUC (as its an old first gen version anyway) and get the RPi4 - or should I withdraw the NUC from sale and try Daphile option first???

Is it a pretty close call as to which will likely sound better? In that case, its not such a big drama!!

I'd say that MoOde has an easier user experience, it seems to be more flexible (underlining 'seems') and it has a wider support... on the other hand, you've already got ALL THE HARDWARE...

By the way, @TheOldPresbyope 's is spot on the RPi 3A+ (my favourite choice at home... pumping Bruce Hornsby via HAT DAC + headphone amp + open-back headphones right now)

[DRONE7]

Uh oh! Guys I need your help! In between posts I forgot that I had left my first generation Celeron NUC advertised for sale! And now a buyer has appeared!

What to do ?! - I can sell it for exactly what an RPi4 will cost - my real dilemma is how will my Celeron NUC with Daphile compare to an RPi4 with Moode (or Daphile) for audio quality?

Remembering that I will only be streaming audio (and will use my cd player in hifi system for the rest)

What would you do? Sell the NUC (as its an old first gen version anyway) and get the RPi4 - or should I withdraw the NUC from sale and try Daphile option first???

Is it a pretty close call as to which will likely sound better? In that case, its not such a big drama!!

I use both MoOde and Daphile (and others !) as I have many 'rescued' devices from op-shops, Goodwill ,Tip-shops, Dumps, Trash recyclers (take your pick according to geographical region )
Daphile is handy for its ripping feature...and the LMS base means there are plenty of plugins add-ons and a wide selection of streams..... if you have a Logitech account.
That said... I prefer MPD for SQ and for that MoOde is the best player I have tried...and I have tried many   
MoOde also has a much more responsive forum and user base....(peripheral hardware is much more likely to have an active user thread and subsequent addition to the MoOde O/S than I have found elsewhere.)

I have an HP thinclient (dual core 4GB ram 16 GB flash) with Daphile installed and use this with an external dvd drive to rip then send the ripped files to MoOde for playback.

If you do go the Pi4 route then get yourself an ArgonOne case...they really are the best thermal solution currently and used with MoOde are totally silent as their passive cooling is more than ample.

My Pi4 is a 4GB as I use it for many other tasks.... and I agree with Mike and others that the 3 series is the sweet spot for SQ, thermals, and features.

( I have a 3B Kali/Piano 2.1 that rates as #1SQ player and a 3B with Pi touch-screen for Family use, The Pi4 for testing and a 3B+ for Libre-Elec and testing..... and several Pi2 as I really really like them for not having all the WiFi and Bluetooth gubbins...and a handful of PiB original single core boards for Radio use only... )

See this thread for how wonderful a PiB can still be..Lol..
http://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.p...0#pid18860


Bob.

http://moodeaudio.org/forum/showthread.php?tid=2227