Hello,
On the top of an old Hifi system, I would like to add a CD player, a DAC and a Volumio streamer.
I have little experience in Hifi and never used Volumio myself so far. For that reason I am looking for some advices, in particular regarding the questions below at the end of my post.
My budget is around 100€ (could be a bit more if a significant technologicial gap is expected), and what is most important to me is maximising audio quality and fluidity (no lag in the user interface) of the system.
What I am looking forward to:
- CD: playing/ripping in FLAC
- LAN access (connected via RJ45): access of digital audio files (up to FLAC 32bit 128khz) on a NAS and control of Volumio via webapp
- Possibility to plug other audio sources via mini-jack
- Possibility to plug other storage via USB
- Later, to have the possibility to potentially add Volumio control options: IR and/or Bluetooth and/or LCD touchscreen.
What I currently have:
- a Kenwood A-91 integrated amplifier (with AVAUX inputs to plug the DAC RCA audio cables)
- a pair of Enaos Music 2 speakers - i have little info on them, only that they seem to be 200W polyphonic speakers built in France by the late 80’s.
- old audio RCA cables (not fancy-looking but working)
- old internal laptop CD/DVD player
- a Raspberry PI 2 Model B (900MHz quad-core ARM Cortex-A7 CPU, 1GB RAM, 100 Base Ethernet, 4 x USB 2.0 ports)
- a “high speed” 32go SD card
What I plan to buy:
- an I2S HAT DAC (still reading reviews as well as posts of this forum to make my choice)
- a PSU to feed the DAC + the RPi + the CD player + 1 more USB port for occasional external storage (HD or flash key)
- casing for this project + on/off switch + 1 or 2 buttons (might partly be reused parts that I have not found yet)
- maybe an external USB DVD player (not sure yet whether I will use the internal one).
Hence a few questions:
- Would a RPi 2B be powerful enough for my needs?
I used it previously with the OS Librelec and did not find it fully satisfying in terms of fluidity/speed, especially the file explorer (with a USB 2.0 HD), and video playing. However Volumio seems less demanding and I would happy to hear the testimony of someone who use(d) for a similar purpose. - Given my budget constraint, should I purchase an “hifi PSU” (I read somme user of the forum were using for instance IFI IPower PSU for their project, which I can find for about 60€), or I could be happy enough with a more simple PSU (another user of the forum indicates this one for instance)?
I am unable to perceive to what extent it would indeed make a difference.
Thank you for reading my post; I am what is more open to any suggestions