Hey Roonies!

[W9TR]

Understand. I like that Roon works with all my Sonos products. I haven’t read the ASR review on the SOTM as yet. I’ll bet it’s all about the power supply.

This RPi thing has been an interesting experiment.

Hint: did I mention it’s all about the power supply?

More to follow.

[John Jordan]

Tom-

Your discussion of all this reads like a diary from an adventure to a far off exotic land. It certainly reinforces the true value of a little elbow grease and a curious mind. Long live the tinker mentality. As an old fashion shop teacher, I salute you!

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by W9TR

Understand. I like that Roon works with all my Sonos products. I haven’t read the ASR review on the SOTM as yet. I’ll bet it’s all about the power supply.

This RPi thing has been an interesting experiment.

Hint: did I mention it’s all about the power supply?

More to follow.

Yes, for these type of components, ASR tends to focus on power supply noise. But the SoTM tear down showed a quality made, custom execution, unlike competitors components which are an RPi or similar with some extra filter caps.

Interested to hear more from your experiments -

[W9TR]

Thank you John. There is a new lingo associated with all this. It’s quite convoluted and a bit crazy. But after awhile it all makes sense and you just have to roll up your sleeves and dig in. The online guidance is pretty good.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

Yes, for these type of components, ASR tends to focus on power supply noise. But the SoTM tear down showed a quality made, custom execution, unlike competitors components which are an RPi or similar with some extra filter caps.



Interested to hear more from your experiments -

I read the review of the SoTM device and it looks to be well manufactured. At $450 it is a bargain - IF and ONLY IF you power it with a mains isolated linear power supply.

I believe the magic in any streamer is to do three things well:

1. Provide bit perfect output to your DAC.
2. Provide noise isolation from the network interface and the power line itself.
3. For S/PDIF and AES/EBU serial interfaces, provide a very low phase noise stable clock.

Pretty much every device does #1 well.

Most devices when powered by the likes of the iFi, MeanWell or generic mains powered switchers FAIL to do #2. If the mains powered switcher powering your renderer has a two prong power cord it is a FAIL.

#3 is very expensive to do well, and is irrelevant for USB connections, where the clock in the DAC is the only thing that matters.

Parts on order to build a multiple output linear power supply for the RPi and separate USB power feed.

[clpetersen]

Originally Posted by W9TR

I read the review of the SoTM device and it looks to be well manufactured. At $450 it is a bargain - IF and ONLY IF you power it with a mains isolated linear power supply.

I believe the magic in any streamer is to do three things well:

1. Provide bit perfect output to your DAC.
2. Provide noise isolation from the network interface and the power line itself.
3. For S/PDIF and AES/EBU serial interfaces, provide a very low phase noise stable clock.

....
...
Parts on order to build a multiple output linear power supply for the RPi and separate USB power feed.

Agreed. Is the power supply your own design? can it be shared?

[crwilli]

Lurking Tom.

For me, only 1 & 2 are important as I have no connection between my ROON core and my Bricasti DAC as it uses a Network Card as input. The last leg to the DAC is ethernet from the Router to a fiber break (Gigafoil) to high quality 0.65m Ethernet cable.

I really like the Bricasti implementation.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by clpetersen

Agreed. Is the power supply your own design? can it be shared?

Yes, and Yes. still very much a work in progress.

[W9TR]

Originally Posted by crwilli

Lurking Tom.

For me, only 1 & 2 are important as I have no connection between my ROON core and my Bricasti DAC as it uses a Network Card as input. The last leg to the DAC is ethernet from the Router to a fiber break (Gigafoil) to high quality 0.65m Ethernet cable.

I really like the Bricasti implementation.

I will be installing a fiber connection to my endpoint. Just have to decide which one.

[W9TR]

I finished my investigation into RPi noise and created a quiet power supply mod for the RPi.
Here is a link to the results. It's very technical and will take some time to load.
I recommend using a tablet or PC to be able to properly view all the graphs.
I tried it on my iPhone and I had to refresh it once before it fully loaded.

https://1drv.ms/w/s!Am4mUJvVR_bzgcUp...2VbDw?e=hhMC6Y

If there is enough interest I'll turn it into a series of forum posts.

Tom