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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 0:30:17 GMT
Dave tipped me off about the very impressive looking (based on measurements) PecanPi DAC/Streamer a few weeks ago. Its by a company called Orchard Audio based in the USA. Owner, Leo has just joined AoS so obviously I messaged him to see if he had any demo units he'd let me try. In return I offered a thorough write-up of my experience with it. He let me know today that he will try and get one out to me next week. I'm really interested to see where this leads and how it compares to the ALLO Boss I am currently using. I may even see if I can get a comparison with the Chord Dave. That might be a push but I can only ask! Link to the website here: orchardaudio.com/pecanpi |
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 25, 2019 13:39:37 GMT
That's actually a very good spec board for a pi dac, better than 99% of the cobbled together Sh#t on the market.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 14:03:46 GMT
It should be at $220. To bolt onto a £30 Pi that seems a bit mullet-like, especially when you need to do some DIY to assemble it
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Post by pauld on Mar 25, 2019 15:04:53 GMT
Don't forget to get a decent power cable and fuse for it.
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Post by savvypaul on Mar 25, 2019 15:27:22 GMT
Don't forget to get a decent power cable and fuse for it. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 19:56:25 GMT
It should be at $220. To bolt onto a £30 Pi that seems a bit mullet-like, especially when you need to do some DIY to assemble it Well, I agree to a degree. The thing to remember is that these devices are putting noses out of joint in the digital world. They are simply making a mockery of the perceived High End and if this CAN hit the heights it's been touted to be able to get to, £250 for a pi and pecan pi DAC may be a monstrous bargain. Only a test drive can indicate this. Hence my request. |
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 25, 2019 20:16:32 GMT
A mullet Pi system, nah £220 and one board isn't mullet. This is a mullet.  About £500 worth and that's not including £100 on batteries or the £300 for the Lundalhs for the transformer output stage. I better come up with a bloody good case for this... |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 20:21:17 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 20:26:03 GMT
It should be at $220. To bolt onto a £30 Pi that seems a bit mullet-like, especially when you need to do some DIY to assemble it Well, I agree to a degree. The thing to remember is that these devices are putting noses out of joint in the digital world. They are simply making a mockery of the perceived High End and if this CAN hit the heights it's been touted to be able to get to, £250 for a pi and pecan pi DAC may be a monstrous bargain. Only a test drive can indicate this. Hence my request. There is no real reason for digital to be that hard. As long as the feed into the DAC is clean and accurate (and that was solved by the first CD players), the DAC chip has a well defined job to do and most have a reference design that ensures it does it. All the fluff around jitter this, and fancy cables that etc etc is crap once you get someone to actually MEASURE what is going on. The number of tests that prove you can't tell there is an ADC+DAC in the chain show that. The job of the Pi is to receive some data and pass it on, unmolested, to a DAC - if it can do full HD video (which it can) then audio is a trivial exercise in comparison. As usual, cheap and noisy power supplies are probably the biggest issue with much of this stuff - and at some point we need an analogue signal, which involves a clean power supply. I keep debating whether to get a PI+DAC in my system, but the Chromecast is so easy, I'd rather leave it alone and play some more tunes.... |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 25, 2019 21:19:19 GMT
A mullet Pi system, nah £220 and one board isn't mullet. This is a mullet. About £500 worth and that's not including £100 on batteries or the £300 for the Lundalhs for the transformer output stage. I better come up with a bloody good case for this... I felt adding the Isolator board to the Pi was pushing my understanding, I wouldn't even know where to start with that lot! |
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 26, 2019 0:23:41 GMT
So, the big board is a multi-rail LiFePo battery supply that offers up to 5 rails, smart charging and voltage selection via the small display window and controller. The board with two clocks on is the FiFoPi which is a fifo buffer and DOP/DSD capable reclocker/masterclock board. Then there's both dac board the single option and the dual mono option. The narrow board is the remote control display board, the one in the bag next to that is the Lundahl output stage and the one top right is the balanced output stage, this one has rca's fitted but there's space for xlrs on the far right edge.
It's just plug and play- once you've read the 50 pages of instructions, lol...
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2019 8:35:20 GMT
So, the big board is a multi-rail LiFePo battery supply that offers up to 5 rails, smart charging and voltage selection via the small display window and controller. The board with two clocks on is the FiFoPi which is a fifo buffer and DOP/DSD capable reclocker/masterclock board. Then there's both dac board the single option and the dual mono option. The narrow board is the remote control display board, the one in the bag next to that is the Lundahl output stage and the one top right is the balanced output stage, this one has rca's fitted but there's space for xlrs on the far right edge. It's just plug and play- once you've read the 50 pages of instructions, lol... Lol, jeez, I'll wait untill youve built yours and reported your findings. Most likely above my level of understanding but if it's worth it, I might give it a go |
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Post by macca on Mar 26, 2019 12:23:41 GMT
Well, I agree to a degree. The thing to remember is that these devices are putting noses out of joint in the digital world. They are simply making a mockery of the perceived High End and if this CAN hit the heights it's been touted to be able to get to, £250 for a pi and pecan pi DAC may be a monstrous bargain. Only a test drive can indicate this. Hence my request. . All the fluff around jitter this, and fancy cables that etc etc is crap once you get someone to actually MEASURE what is going on. .... No, no need for this measuring lark anymore, there are people out there now who can tell you exactly what is happening in a digital circuit just by listening to it! With 100% confidence!
Throw away your precision analysers and oscilloscopes, they are now just worthless trash.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2019 12:31:54 GMT
So that's what i am doing wrong.... aha!
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Post by macca on Mar 26, 2019 12:50:02 GMT
I was surprised too. But apparently it's because I've no experience. Who'd have thought it?
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Post by Deleted on Mar 26, 2019 13:44:40 GMT
Hahaha, quality Macca.
There are lots of divisive subjects in hifi and digital is possibly one of the most difficult to understand in terms of "How" and "Why" certain aspects matter. That's certainly how it is from my perspective. I have no idea what anything does and am generally just pleased to have fell onto a genuine piece of too class Digital replay equipment.
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Post by macca on Mar 26, 2019 14:24:21 GMT
It really isn't that difficult if you start with first principles, a basic understanding and then work forwards.
If you start with what some chancer on the internet said about what you think you heard then try to work backwards you'll get into all sorts of contradictions and blind alleys and end up wasting a lot of money.
Digital is a big cash cow for the foo industry nowadays because of this.
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Post by sq225917 on Mar 26, 2019 19:07:33 GMT
Digital is the new foo frontier. 10k servers in fancy boxes claiming femtosecond this and that. It's all pretty much bollocks.
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Aug 16, 2019 10:25:51 GMT
Dave tipped me off about the very impressive looking (based on measurements) PecanPi DAC/Streamer a few weeks ago. Its by a company called Orchard Audio based in the USA. Owner, Leo has just joined AoS so obviously I messaged him to see if he had any demo units he'd let me try. In return I offered a thorough write-up of my experience with it. He let me know today that he will try and get one out to me next week. I'm really interested to see where this leads and how it compares to the ALLO Boss I am currently using. I may even see if I can get a comparison with the Chord Dave. That might be a push but I can only ask! Link to the website here: orchardaudio.com/pecanpiThanks for the mention. There is currently an ongoing promotion to get 15% off your order. After you write a review I will refund 15% of purchase price excluding shipping. This offer cannot be combined with any other discounts/promotions. Also feel free to ask any questions about the product. |
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Aug 27, 2019 20:34:33 GMT
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Aug 31, 2019 20:23:01 GMT
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Sept 30, 2019 20:27:40 GMT
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Post by orchardaudio on Oct 19, 2019 1:28:32 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 7:28:12 GMT
I’ve nothing bad to say about Pi based streamers sound wise but on the user side trying to get Tidal to work though possible was just clunky and tedious.
Perhaps these new Pi based streamers have improved on this but for casual listening the Google Chromecast into a decent DAC is plenty good enough and is a doddle.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 9:06:32 GMT
I’ve nothing bad to say about Pi based streamers sound wise but on the user side trying to get Tidal to work though possible was just clunky and tedious. Perhaps these new Pi based streamers have improved on this but for casual listening the Google Chromecast into a decent DAC is plenty good enough and is a doddle. The all in one pican is pretty easy, as is the PCB alone. I use Jriver and control it via that which makes the whole experience slicker. Once you get over the initial minefield of setting up, it's all very slick indeed. Sound is great too |
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Nov 10, 2019 12:19:42 GMT
I’ve nothing bad to say about Pi based streamers sound wise but on the user side trying to get Tidal to work though possible was just clunky and tedious. Perhaps these new Pi based streamers have improved on this but for casual listening the Google Chromecast into a decent DAC is plenty good enough and is a doddle. The all in one pican is pretty easy, as is the PCB alone. I use Jriver and control it via that which makes the whole experience slicker. Once you get over the initial minefield of setting up, it's all very slick indeed. Sound is great too My understanding is if the Pi is running Volumio it is pretty easy with BubbleUPnP. I will be making a video on how to get both Qobuz and Tidal to work. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 10, 2019 12:25:32 GMT
The all in one pican is pretty easy, as is the PCB alone. I use Jriver and control it via that which makes the whole experience slicker. Once you get over the initial minefield of setting up, it's all very slick indeed. Sound is great too My understanding is if the Pi is running Volumio it is pretty easy with BubbleUPnP. I will be making a video on how to get both Qobuz and Tidal to work. Yes, I've somehow streamed tidal using bubble but remember how lol |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2019 6:05:27 GMT
My understanding is if the Pi is running Volumio it is pretty easy with BubbleUPnP. I will be making a video on how to get both Qobuz and Tidal to work. Yes, I've somehow streamed tidal using bubble but remember how lol Yes it's relaively easy to set up but you can't or couldn't when I used one just open up Tidal and go, you had to add to a favourites list first or form playlists to actually play tracks and ultimately it proved to clunky to use especially for my other half who hated it and ultimately as it's her that uses it the most, it didn't stay long. Chromecast on the other hand is a doddle, open streaming app any streaming app (apart from maybe Apple Music but then why would you?) select track, LP or radio staion and cast and once your casting you just carry on streaming. |
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Post by Deleted on Nov 12, 2019 6:13:38 GMT
I have never used a Pecan Pi and so cannot comment on it at all and as I said sonically with the right add on the Pi can produce great sounding music. I used a Pi with Digi Pro into a Chord 2Qute and it saw off a Naim ND5XS and an ND5XS into a Chord 2Qute which betterd the bare ND5XS. I remember the first time I played a CD rip via a USB stick directly into the Pi connected to to the 2Qute and was really quite
shocked at how good it sounded.
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orchardaudio
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Post by orchardaudio on Nov 21, 2019 21:39:35 GMT
I love getting emails like this from my customers...  |
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