*PLEASE READ CAREFULLY* Be a decent human being: kindly keep your sexist/racist thoughts and conspiracy theories to yourself. External links are also a no-no. Comments that advance the conversation are most welcome.
I like that you spent so much time on the whole Raspberry Pi ecosystem. Attainable quality audio for the hobbyist. I hope you keep following this line.
I just recently discovered your channel and I really want to say thank you. You keep a very open mind about a wide variety of ways to listen to music. I really like how you explained how one man's budget can greatly limit what his max audio options are. Knowing you take that into account reassures this viewer that you are going to bring all the best options to us and let us decided. Thank you again.
Damn, I just really love your videos they feel like they were produced by a channel 5 times your size with 20 times the budget. I love the editing style.
Thanks for the update. I just updated my Volumio. At this time all I have is a drive connected with Flac files of CD. Since I just lost the job at hospital I will hold off on tidal or anything else for time being. Thanks for starting me on this journey.
Waiting for spotify Hifi, what that will bring, i hope far more than 7%, cd quality will do! Thanks for a again a nice video John. Also for bringing Poligon Window into my room! 👌
I don't think you got the difference between Hi-Fi and the 24Bit MQA... Spotify should be able to have over 95% of their library in simple Hi-Fi, as the competition does...
Thx John for the update on Volumio. I have two Pi based dacs did a update on both and had Tidal connect working within a hour. I’m pleased with the results much better way to stream Tidal on these devices.
John, thank you for your videos about the raspberry pi. I was looking at the bluenode and other streamers, but got the raspberry pi and installed volumio on it. Works great, sounds great... Love it!
Thank you! I purchased a Rsdpberry Pi 4 and a Boss DAC hat, got it up and running and now enjoy using Volumio with my audio system. Really appreciate your exposition of the journey, it’s an exciting time to be part of the audiophile universe now!
@@justonemmett8604 The Boss DAC connects to my Raspberry PI 4 and converts the PI's digital audio to analog output that feeds into my speaker amplifier. The hat term means that the board plugs into the Pi 4 40 pin on board connector for a compact unit. There are USB DAC uniits that John Darko has reviewed so a DAC HAT is not needed for quality convert digital audio conversion from a PI 4.
Excellent. I love a good fiddle with kit too. Glad to see that not everyone is promoting just the mega priced solutions. Not that I wouldn't go for some of those if I had the cash, of course.
Love this Raspberry Pi stuff! I've been considering a move to Tidal, but I think I'm going to hold off until Spotify go lossless. Just comfortable with the Spotify app!
Thanks for this kind of videos. After last vid of the rpi4, I bought one last week. Now I'm running it with moode straight with USB into my cxa80. And using bubble upnp for qobuz and tidal streaming. The sound of my system changed and opend up so much in a good way instead of chrome cast that I'm used to use. It's like I have a whole new hifi system.
Great video, and I love how you geek on this stuff. It's not as elegant but I have been streaming Tidal to my Pi using LMS. Just another alternative. 👍
@@Patricia-kk8tr Similar, but what I have is a plugin for LMS, so it uses the LMS/Squeeze interface. Advantage - it integrates seamlessly with my own library of music files on a share. Disadvantage - a bit fussy to set up, and not as elegant looking a UI. You're correct - both stream audio bits straight from Tidal to the device, not through my phone. The phone app is just a controller. Turn the phone off and the music keeps playing.
I have been using Volumio for a couple of years. I am currently running on a pi-zero W with a pimoroni dac shim. I have a hard drive on my network that has a couple of gig's of music I have collected. The FLAC's of live performances sound awesome. My system is only about $250 in total with speakers and amp, pi, etc. It is a little slow to get started (the pi zero is pretty wimpy) but it is something I can take in my pocket and connect anywhere I have wifi or cellular and stream all of my music or pretty much any service that volumio supports. The community on volumio has been great to help me with gotchas over time. I could put a much nicer DAC on it for $100 but for my needs, it is perfectly adequate. Thanks for the great content and for spreading the word that great-sounding audio doesn't have to be expensive.
Using it with my pi4 and get full MQA 384khz on my Topping D90 MQA on usb. Got some pops and klicks, but i changed buffering setting and it got mutch better. Using it with Ifi usb purifier 3 to, sounds just great. Better than my intel Nuc computer i was using before.
Get the Raspbery Pi 4b and usb audio works flawlessly, I use it to output audio on my Cambridge Audio CXA61 via USB async. Issue with RPi3 was that the usb and Lan were sharing the same bus
Just recently got my first pair of head phones, the Philps X2HRs I think, really an eyeopener, kinda fell down a rabbit hole and found this channel and I'm loving all the information I'm learning
I like how you're honest. I am just starting to get into HIFI home audio and a DIY'er. I am never satisfied with my equipment lol I feel I can always get better
I was able to get my Raspberry Pi set up with Volumio, configured, and using Tidal Connect in less than an hour. I already had a Raspberry Pi laying around and a subscription to Tidal so the $35 a year for Volumio wasn't a big deal. In fact, after spending some time using Volumio I think it is a screaming deal. For the money, this is hard to beat, especially when you compare the price to plug and play network streamers on the market. So stoked on this!
I got my Allo usbridge signature and connect it to Volumio and Tidal Master, and from the usb on front i add USB IR and use also remote control, just perfect machine and thanks to Volumio, btw John i have it about a month ago but yes it is something new
Don’t underestimate the power of honest efforts to share the good news! This review started me on four month quest for a Pi Streamer for Tidal connect. It took four months, the purchase of an AV receiver and an IFI DAC (after a HELM BOLT), help from a tech at Volumio, and faith the end result would be there and be worthwhile. Mission accomplished!!!! Streaming as it should be for $300 less. Thanks again and keep em coming. Two requests. Please review some Magnat speakers (503) and a Kinky Studio amp!
OMG ! Unbelievable ! Thank you so much John. I have just tried it in my Raspberry Pi-4 (w 4gb ram), together with my Denafrips Ares II playing music @384Khz (better SQ in my system) or @768Khz either in its amazing web interface of Volumio or via Roon. My standard system is Aries G2.1 together with Sirius G2.1. Honestly ... I don't know which system Pi4-Volumio or my Auralics is better! There is definitely a potential here. And I mean that comparison of Volumio (together with a Linear Power supply) with expensive high end streamers !
Hello John - I followed your recommendation from months ago, (Pi-squeeze video) and bought a HiFi Berry Raspberry Pi with a Digi+ HAT - loaded it with the piCorePlayer OS, and using LMS on my PC or, on my android phone, using the Orange Squeeze app, I stream Tidal to my Schiit Modi DAC to my Bottlehead Crack tube headphone amp, or my stereo setup, Cambridge CXA60 amp and B&W 685 s2 speakers. Works perfect! I think I'll stick with this setup, no need to pay for Volumio.
My Spotify (and connect) running on volumio and pi, just started streaming 16 44.1 this week (according to volumio app). Everything I've played thus far. Last week just 320kbps. I have a "premium" account and I'm in the US. The advantage is I'm not a my Volumio subscriber. Thanks for your great videos.
For me Tidal connect is far more important than MQA. Both are amazing bits of software, one lets me find and listen to music with ease and other makes me go looking for MQA versions of albums.
I’ve a BOSS i2S DAC, RASP hat in the post, this video has sort of answered all my question, quite excited now. It’s probably not the best DAC out there but a good starting point. Presently use Apple Music so will have to switch to Tidal I think.
I think the hi-res stuff is relevant for newer albums that get released but I get the point overall that its a small part of the library. Keep up the great stuff, John and team! I love the point on streaming convenience though! I've mostly moved to using Spotify Connect as the default option to enjoy music, first and foremost, on my KEF LSX. If only the chips inside had the ability to run Tidal Connect as well.
Having just built a prototype 'radiogram' (ask your parents what they look like....), Volumio brings it all together and Tidal saves the need for attached storage of flac files.
Hello John love your videos. I'm rasPI enthusiast too :) About Tidal, I decided to move to Dezeer after all this MQA controversy. Valid video for who still on Tidal, we have limited Tidal player, specially on Linux :/
Deezer is the best option right now. Their HiFi option is the cheapest among all that offer CD quality, and their songs database is one of the best too.
In your video you said installing the tidal connect is impossible in Volumio but actually tidal connect is included already with the Paid Membership in Volumio , all you hv to do is to pay for the membership thingy and upgrade it, tidal connect is there working perfectly.
Neubauten... Eisbär.. you certainly make an effort to go full Leberwurst :) I just started Tidal mainly to give Ek the finger he deserves but as you mentioned, the beauty of it all is that my amp speaks Spotify natively, while for Tidal or others I have to go through Heos, and that just isn't nice, at all. So hooray hifi quality, but now I have several new maintenance vectors with a range of responsible parties (or sometimes there won't even be a party assuming responsibility, RasPi foundation won't care if that external hat doesn't work or if the 3rd party OS can't do this thing or that thing): a Pi, a modified OS (updates? ITsec?), additional hardware (USB DAC I might just plug into a 50EUR tablet off local ads and keep near my hifi spot), a _subscription_ to a service that provides the data path to the hifi system, an annual subscription --- I think it's easier and more reliable to put a USB sound card with digital outputs of any band on a pi, add an SSD with all my CDs ripped to in CD quality and have a web interface on top.
Well I took the bait and bought a rasberry pi 3 B and digi hat. Loaded Volumio and stream Tidal Connect. I’m not tech savvy, but I got to work. It sounds so good that my dear wife commented on how good it sounds. That is a first. For reference, I was using an iFi Zen Blu, which sounded good, but not nearly this good. The rest of the system is: Schiit Bifrost Mutibit DAC, Naim Nait integrated amp driving Focal Aria 906 speakers.
This is a great solution for getting Tidal Connect up and running. Just completed my setup last night with the dragonfly cobalt and it was fairly simple. One issue regarding MQA on this setup. I notice that the Dragonfly led only lights up blue instead of purple on MQA songs and then green on everything else. Seems a bit odd... But Tidal Connect is the big win here with MQA being an added bonus.
Hey John, I managed to get my RPI-4 via Dietpi connected to Tidal connect with my Iphone. I used Diepi with Allo Boss, then I loaded Google Home on my iphone. After a bit of config in Google home I went back to Tidal Connect opened a screen to pick the endpoint, then pick Airplay & Blue tooth. My screen has a choice for Dietpi. Guess what it works and the best part of this is you can run the volume up and down with the hard buttons on my phone.
This. Gone are the days where I don't care about artists getting their fair share. I don't buy CDs anymore so Tidal is the next best thing in terms of convenience and fairness.
with the Raspberry Pi 3B plus you can send the signal directly via the USB port to, for example, the Denon pma-600ne.with volumio you can perfectly stream music such as Nas server, spotify and perhaps also TIDAL payment. the Dac of the Denon is exceptionally great. sounds even better than the hifiberry hat, HiFiBerry DAC RCA+ Pro this is equivalent to the Bluesound node 2i
I think it's amazing that people can differentiate between 2 good DACS. While telling apart a laptop or android built in DAC from say a Chord Mojo or a Fiio K3 is easy, comparing top tier DACS is no easy feat.
Same setup with the audioquest cobalt dac playing what you said, Max Richter sleep in MQA and the light doesn't turn purple to signify mqa, stays blue.
Excellent topic to do a video about a raspberry pi streamer! This inspired me to build a Pi zero Audio-Streamer which runs volumio and plays the TIDAL Master files. And using the Connect function works nicely. For the size and functionality it is absolutely brilliant. The only technical question that comes up, How does the Connect function work?! I thought you just tell the Streamer to play as an end point, but for me it seems to be an Airplay&Bluetooth Connection. How is the Connect functionality solved in more high-end products like the Bluesound powernode?! Because e.g. when I am sitting on the couch and listen to music via TIDAL Connect I want to watch a RU-vid video (latest darko audio news) and then the sound plays via the Pi zero. Would that be the same on the Bluesound Ecosystem?! Thanks a lot in advance for any experience shared in the comments. Keep on rockin’
Hey John, I noticed you had an Audioquest Jitterbug plugged in. Would you be willing to do a video about it? Interested to hear your thoughts. Thanks, J.
I'll second that. I use Roon at my main place, Nuc (rock) - USBridge (Volumio) - Gustard X16, but don't fancy paying for a second Roon license for my weekend place. Tidal Connect would keep me happy and if would be nice to be able to use a better supported and more modern SBC like the Pi4 whilst keeping a clean USB out.
Hi, John. I write about tidal, volumio and the denafrips ares 2 you mentioned you're reviewing. I know you're not focused on hi-res streaming or hi-res music in general - and I get where you are coming from. However, please note that there's an easy and ostensibly free option in that volumio allows you to up sample files. I've been using the ares 2 with volumio running on an Allo USBridge Signature for about a year now. I A/B tested all the options, and I now upsample tidal in volumio to 384khz and then in the ares 2 I oversample the upsampled files. This might sound like a lot of trouble. But I do it because to my ears this produces the best sound quality with LS50s paired with a REL T7i sub and driven by a Rogue Sphinx V2 amp. Please note this "hack" doesn't work with tidal connect. You have to use the clunky (but improving) volumio app. Lastly, a big thank you to you and your colleagues for creating such great content for music-first audiophiles. I'm a big fan of your website and your RU-vid channel! Thanks again, and best of wishes, Veli
Great video and also very nice hardware integration. I'm just a bit disappointed that volumio charges for the TIDAL connect implementation. Using HiFiBerryOS, I managed to implement TIDAL connect without having to subscribe to a subscription model. This might be a solution for those among us with less of a monthly budget to spend on consumerism.
That's actually pretty good news because the Pi2AES uses the the Hifiberry Digi+ Pro Driver , so you could actually use your own outboard DAC. Worth a try at least.
First, thanks for these videos John, it put me on a nice journey into HiFi, and furthermore, your music suggestions make me break out of a sometimes habitual circle of songs that I play too often, and now I'm crossing boundaries to complete other genres. Love it! For me, Tidal Connect is a game changer, I loathe most apps built by speaker manufacturers etc. I want to get the Tidal experience, from my laptop/tablet/phone, including all kinds of music suggestions, playlist editing etc. For now I have in one of my rooms a set of Kef LSX's, and I'm definitely going to connect my Pi to it, so I can ditch the dated streaming app by Kef, and, more importantly, just keep enjoying updates to the Tidal app if they happen. Also; the absence of a Tidal Connect like feature for Qobuz made me cancel their service. Also cancelled my Tidal account almost, but then TC came along and the world's a better place for it. As a concept; ' Connect' is the way to go for the future, imho.
That's so weird. I just within the last two weeks used Volumio and have a Tidal Connect setup. Worked like a charm. Though you do have to fork over a few bucks to Volumio.
Iphone / RPI with Dietpi OS / and Tidal Connect! This config works via the Iphone via Airplay choice. No need for other 3rd party Software. The only problem is I can't see the same choices in Tidal connect on my PC as I don't have airplay on the pc. Iphone works fine so its kinda ok Maybe Airplay for Windows 11 will do the trick.
I managed to setup perfectly with Tidal. It's interesting over Bluetooth all my music much more articulated with airy, fresh high and mid range with Pi over a noname usb cable I lose all the above but get punchy low frequencies. Arcam Irdac mk1, Arcam Bluetooth receiver, Arcam A19 & Dali Ikon 6 mk2 😃
It works on Volumio as well. They have done the official implementation last week. And you can choose between Tidal connect and Spotify connect. Plus Version 3x is coming soon.
I'm afraid, MQA is exactly the reason I will be cancelling my Tidal subscription soon. It's NOT lossless, NOT high-res (as in high quality) and a marketting scam. I can't cite my references here on youtube and the web because I dont have a photographic memory and didn't save bookmarks, but a quick google search will find the channel on youtube that did some VERY good testing and shows this as fact. He even uploaded camouflaged test files, published them and they were transcoded to MQA. TLDR: It's BS.
I'd have gone for a digi HAT instead of a DAC HAT so you can then still use an external DAC, although obviously via COAX or TOS. Removes the need for the volumio reliance....he says as a Roon user. 😅
Compare Qobuz and Tidal MQA and decide for yourself. To me there is no contest, MQA is a gimmick and the honest streaming Qobuz offers is superior in terms of sound quality.
Google: Tidal worse than flac reddit Should be the reddit link titled: Testing MQA: Is it worse than FLAC? The test was done by another youtuber. User:goldensound Very interesting read. However, do try it for yourself. This might not even matter to you.
John, anyway to setup a Rasberry Pi that will work with Amazon HD Music (I have seen your Spotify and Tidal videos, all excellent by the way) . . .thanks . . .You can call it Piazon or AmaPi . . .
Been waiting for Tidal connect support on my Innuos Zen for sometime. Looks like their new software update and app will only have full integration with Qobuz at launch, but they're looking to roll out full support for Tidal at a later date. Guess I'll have to hang on a bit longer!
You're totally right that tidal connect is the single biggest move they could make to be more attractive. I for one are looking at reviving my account with them. The other big move all the streaming services could do is to be transparent about how artist get paid from them. The uncertainty here is a turn-off/worrying.
HifiBerryOS now does (un-officially) Tidal Connect too! HifiBerryOS has Docker enabled by default. Thanks to Matt to create the Docker that does the splendid job. Look for 'Tidal Connect - HiFiBerry'.
I'm gonna start building my touch screen Raspberry Pi music player/streamer in a few weeks using the Raspberry Pi 4, official touchscreen, smartipi case, HiFi berry digi2 pro, and Volumio. This would use internal memory for my music collection of Redbook flac rips, mp3's, HiRes Flacs, and iTunes ALAC files, and Spotify for streaming. This would also be connected to my own DAC(Modi Multibit for now), and then to powered speakers. I'm excited to start the project. I liked Tidal when I tries the free trial a couple years ago but I'm sorry, I just can't support MQA or anything that uses it.
I agree with John, hi res and especially MQA are overrated? MQA is a royalty scam as several industry commentators and some hardware manufacturers have stated. It is very easy to upsample and bit stuff a 44.1 16 bit original and say it is high res? I have tinkered with varying results myself. Until there is genuine accreditation that a recording was made and mastered end to end in hi res these discussions will persist. Calling something hi res simply because it has been remastered from 16 to 24 bit is irrelevant, the difference 96db or 144db dynamic range makes is nullified by the loudness wars.
Ironic that this video is sponsored by Roon. I’ve just let my Roon subscription expire because they can’t be bothered to support trackpad gestures on the iPad and I’m looking for another route to integrate Tidal on my Pi running Volumio. Looks like a MyVolumio subscription will also save me £70 a year compared to Roon so thanks for making this video.
Agree John, I just want to throw tidal onto my Mac from my phone where it plays through dragonfly to my Geneva xxl. Would love to know when that remote tidal connect is coming. Volume control is also interesting for me.
Nice video, but I don't know.. makes me appreciate even more how convenient, cheap and good sounding are my Chromecast Audio connected through spdif to an external DAC.. too bad they where discontinued and sad to see they have not been replaced by another device in a close price point
Hey John, great video. Did you notice audio quality differences between RPi3b+ and the RPi4b? The 4b sounds so much worse to me - would be glad to hear about your experience. Cheers, love your videos.
