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It was a few years ago that I documented my experience trying to build a good mid-range stereo system so I could listen to my high definition and CD music collection. In a later installment I described the building of my Dynaco ST-120 tube amplifier.
Technology has changed a lot since then. With Alexa, Chromecast, low cost NAS storage, Sonos and other streaming devices and applications, I thought it was time to revamp as well as simplify my music player.
My Integra DTM-40.4 stereo receiver worked well for many years and was able to stream music with my NAS drive through DNLA. But the menu to select the music sources was clunky, and the Integra was a physically large device that generated a lot of heat. I was not using the built-in amplifier since I had the St-120 — just the tuner and preamp. What I wanted to do was to replace my existing Integra DTM-40.4 stereo receiver with a music player that was small and wireless. One that I could access remotely, and play all music formats from any source.
I started looking at existing devices like the Sonos Connect, Amazon Echo Link, and Google Chromecast. But those devices all had limitations. They didn’t play music beyond CD quality or were too expensive for what I needed.
Then I happened to run across a couple of low-cost options that were based on the Raspberry Pi (RPi) computer platform. I had been playing with RPi computers for some home automation projects, so I was already a little familiar with how they worked.
I looked at 4 popular free software options that would turn an RPi into a streaming music player: Rasplex, Volumio, RuneAudio, and Moode. These are all meant to be “headless” music players, meaning they are all controlled from a browser or phone app.
I took a serious look at Rasplex because I had already started using the Plex Server to access and play my music using Alexa. I found the Plex interface to be easy to use for music and video. Rasplex is a free RPi software package that turns an Rpi into a Plex Client. It sounded ideal, but there were a few problems that I couldn’t live with. First it doesn’t really pass-through high definition music formats like FLAC. Second, since I was already using my Alexa as a Plex client, I would need to manually switch between clients whenever I wanted to us the RPi. And third, the software seemed to be lacking support. It hadn’t been updated since March of 2017.
I next looked at RuneAudio and Moode. They seemed capable of doing most of what I wanted, but their online descriptions and documentation seemed to be lacking. It wasn’t clear to me whether they could play high definition music formats or whether they would work with the newer Raspberry Pi 3+.
Volumio on the other hand had good documentation, they’re capabilities are clearly spelled out on the home page, and it gets great reviews. Volumio plays all music formats and seems to be serious when it comes to support and software updates. It works with any browser, has phone apps, and works on all music sources and computer platforms including the RPi 3+. It supports Airplay, UPNP/DNLA, and directly interfaces with Spotify. Based on the above choices it was a fairly easy decision to go with Volumio.
One of the best things about using the RPI is the cost. The price for a new RPi 3+ is around $35. In addition to the RPi, I needed a DAC to convert my digital music to analog so I could feed it into my ST-120 amp. I purchase the HifiBerry DAC+ Pro for $49 on Amazon. It plugs right onto the RPi and they offer a metal or plastic case for the combination RPi and DAC. I purchased the metal case for $32. You will also need a 16GB MicroSD card to install the software on the RPi, and a 5v power supply.
Instructions for loading Volumio on the Rpi can be found in the Volumio Quick Start Guide and here. With those two sources I found the process to be fairly easy.
I then connected Volumio to my wireless network and NAS device. I selected the music directories on my NAS and Volumio immediately stated indexing them. The Volumio software on the RPi is free, but I decided to splurge and purchase the $1.99 app for my iPhone. That’s apparently how they support their development.
After putting the RPi and DAC in the case, I connected the stereo outputs to my ST-120, opened the app, and selected some music to play. The Volumio interface works well, it passes through high definition formats and sounds incredible. It’s every bit as good as my Integra DTM-40.4, but much smaller, cooler, cheaper, and easier to control.
I did upgrade with an iFi Audio Low Noise Power Supply for the Rpi/DAC combo. It uses noise cancellation (like headphones) and gives the system a super quiet noise floor of 1uV. I would highly recommend this upgrade.
So, if you’re looking to upgrade your system, or start from scratch, I would really consider this approach. Music doesn’t get much better than this.