If this holds together, I think I'll finally stop worrying about my streaming source!

[Chopstick4Pi]

In 2011, I was streaming Google Play Music via BubbleUPnP to my Xbox 360 and home theater in-a-box 5.1 system as my primary in-home source of music. It was janky as hell, but it was cool enough.  Then I got a Chromecast, and life got better.  Then I built a dedicated 2.1 music-first setup with bigger speakers, and life got better.  Then I bought a real stereo amp, and a Schiit DAC and life got better!  Then I got into vinyl, and I couldn't figure out why my records sounded so much better than digital... I started experimenting with plugging various digital sources directly into my DAC, and I realized that life got better when I bypassed the TV's digital resampling.  I dusted off an old Macbook and plugged it directly into the DAC.  I got a Tidal subscription.  It sounded MUCH better!  Digital sounded as good as vinyl!  But controlling it was awful.  I had to walk across the room to do anything, and my wife would never use this setup.  I bit the bullet and bought Audirvana!  I thought I had solved all my problems!  But then things started going sideways.  Glitches, crashes, interrupted streams.... maybe it was the fault of my 2008 Macbook, but it just wasn't acceptable to start an album and be anxiously wondering if it was going to freak out or completely stop before I got to the end.  I was researching and preparing my wife for the idea that I was going to spend $550 on a Bluesound Node to play music when she was already perfectly content with the sound quality of Youtube Music over the Chromecast.  Then I saw a John Darko video that inspired me to build my own streamer on a Raspberry Pi!  I started volumio, and it seemed pretty great, except Volumio wasn't decoding Tidal's MQA at all, and I had started experimenting with Qobuz... on the Pi, Qobuz was the big winner in the sound quality department, but I had some problems with tracks skipping forward before they were finished.  After researching and wrestling with that annoyance for a few weeks, I began to despair.... then, I decided to try  Moode.  Now, after a week of heavy use, I've been streaming Qobuz without a single hitch!  It's wild that I've come all the way back around to using BubbleUPnP again, but the experience has come a long way over the past decade! 

Now my workflow starts in the Qobuz app.  I find an album/playlist, and I use Android's "Share" intent to directly push the tracks to Moode via BubbleUPnP, and it's just flawless!  The only thing that could be better is true Qobuz Connect.

So now that I'm not obsessing over my digital source, what will I fuss with now?  Well..... I just bought an SVS PB-1000 PRO to replace my Dayton Sub-1200.  The journey never ends!

Anyway... here's my intro post.  Please don't delete my account.

Edit: Guess I'll add my setup...

Pi 4B w/Moode >> USB >> Schiit Modi Multibit (v2) >> Outlaw RR2150 Retro Receiver >> Elac Uni-Fi UB5, SVS PB-1000 PRO

[the_bertrum]

Welcome. One of the great things about moOde is that there are loads of things to tweak when just listening to the music isn't enough And that's much cheaper than replacing hardware!

[Chopstick4Pi]

I have no doubt I'll be messing with EQ and DSP settings eventually. I just need to get some kind of baseline set in my mind, first! Right now, I'm still afraid I'll upset some little element that wrecks my stability.

...okay, I actually know what I'm going to try next. I have that Audirvana license just going to waste. I'm going to put the old Macbook back in the drawer, but I think I'll transfer my license to my desktop PC. I have shit speakers on that PC, but I might experiment with streaming Audirvana to Moode. People keep saying that sounds amazing. I'm just worried I'll love the way it sounds, and that it won't work if I try to use it while my son is hijacking my PC to play Roblox. If he isn't playing Roblox in the other room, he tends to be in my face, demanding attention, snacks, and generally being adorable and loud... not conducive to critical listening.