VOLUMIO soundcheck invitation for Hamburg, Germany

Hi, this is an invitation for people located in Hamburg, Germany.

My project is to find you, sharing comparing various volumio configuration with others.
With a questionnaire i will evaluate the experience
This might be a start for more events like this, maybe for amplifier, more DAC etc.

The event will happen in a nice room at my work on March 8. 2017, 8 pm.
Everone who is interested can sign in with PM to me. Seats are limited.
The event is total free and drinks are available.

This day i will hear these settings:

  1. Raspberry Pi 3 & Mamboberry LS
  2. Raspberry Pi 3 & Mamboberry LS & Kali Reclocker
  3. Raspberry Pi 3 & Allo Piano DAC 2.1 & Kali Reclocker
  4. Odroid C1+ with Hifi-Shield

Four http://elac.com/product/fs-78/ loudspeaker are connected to a Marantz PM6003 amplifier.
After playing 2-3 Tracks from CD i will play these Tracks as FLAC from the four configurations.

Feel free to sign in.

Jens from https://kompage.de

PS: hope this is the right board

First i have to say that i really like this project - the volumio project
Amazing to see the inspiration of people here.

So, our 1st. Soundcheck is done.

We all where beginners - in Volumio, as well in Soundchecks :wink:
We were equipped with a questionnaire, professional made by an evaluation expert.

We started to hear from the really nice equipment:
(Marantz PM6003, Marantz CD6003, 4x ELAC FS 78)

  1. Leonard Cohen – You Want it Darker – On the Level
  2. The Hilary Hahn Encores – In 27 Pieces CD1 – Bates: Ford’s Farm
  3. Anohni – Hopelessness – Execution

We thought the sound from CD must be the best.
So we just connect a mobile phone to the PM6003 (Samsung Smartphone)
And really - we could say we missed something - most of all the dynamics of high and low freq.

Then we decided to hear only Cohen for easier comparing.

We started with a Raspberry Pi3 and Mamboberry LS DAC+.
Here comes the first surprise to us. This sounds pretty good!
The sound was equal or a bit better as from CD.
We realized also than, that we have to hear like with ‘Magnifying glass ears’.

We continued with Raspberry Pi3, Mamboberry LS DAC+ and Kali Reclocker.
And really. A Sharper, and more detailed clearness Sound.

The last configuration was the Allo Piano DAC 2.1, with Kali Recklocker.
This sounds pretty same, maybe a bit more bass and more ‘technic’
Here we came arrive to a level that the difference matter much of everyones personal ‘taste’.

We will continue this journey of different DAC’s and more…

Jens

PS: We played of course FLAC. Volumio release 2.118 was used for all configuration
The review in german is here: kompage.de/news/2017/03/nachlese-soundcheck

soundcheck1_v.jpg
soundcheck1b_v.jpg

That is very very interesting .
Thank you for sharing this with us! Wish I’ve been there…

What about doing the same in the Hi End munich show?

Thank you michelangelo.
I seriously like to do this on the HIGH END in munich.
Is volumio already an exhibitor there?
I’m planning the next soundcheck on June 8. 2017.
So, you’r really welcome to join this event.

In Hamburg the hifitage.de are also a great place to introduce in volumio.
Jens

Hi
so, thank you people for the interress in this thread.

On the first soundcheck we realized, that all DAC boards where ‘on the level’.
(leonard cohen was great to hear)
That means the SQ was equal or even better than a ‘good mid range’ HIFI CD Player for us .

So we learned a lot. Next time, we will not put again the CD player or the mobile phone in the test.
This is clear to me.

And, next time i will not tell the guest which configuration i’m playing. (numbers)
That may has manipulated… like taking ‘and now the reclocker’ …
Is placebo hearing real?

Next soundcheck will be in June.
Because of 5x line input of the amplifier, i will play 2 times 5 configuration.
switching every ~15 seconds to the next.

The 2 ‘best’ of each group will play a final contest.
Right now, i plan these configuration to hear:

  1. Rpi3, mamboberry LS DAC+
  2. Rpi3, kali, mamboberry LS DAC+
  3. Rpi3, Piano
  4. Rpi3, kali, Piano 2.1
  5. Rpi3, Boss
  6. Rpi3, JustBoom DAC HAT
  7. C1+, HifiShield
  8. C2, HifiShield2
  9. ?
  10. ?

When enough time is there, i would also like to check with my guest if power adapter matters.
We could compare normal adater, ifi power, and a powerbank.
Stay tuned.

ladies and gentlemen,

so, this is the announcement for the next soundcheck in Hamburg, Germany on June 8. 8pm

I’m proud that we could compare these volumio setups at a very nice location:

Rpi3, mamboberry LS DAC+ vs.
Rpi3, kali, mamboberry LS DAC+ vs.
Rpi3, Piano vs.
Rpi3, kali, Piano 2.1 vs.
Rpi3, Boss vs.
Rpi3, JustBoom DAC HAT vs.
C1+, HifiShield vs.
C2, HifiShield2 vs.
Rpi3, Dial DAC vs.
Rpi3, IQaudIO PI-DAC+

I will play 2 times 5 configuration switching every ~15 seconds to the next as a blind test.
more here in german kompage.de/news/2017/05/2-%E2%8 … soundcheck

jens

Looking forward the test and I’m curious about the results.
Unfortunately it’s too far from me to join the soundcheck.

Alex

The boards are going into pole position…
Everyone should have a minimum of 100 running hours before.
DAC_PolePosition.jpg

Hey Jens, great selection!
Do you plan to use also a USB DAC? Is there somethig you guys want to hear that you don’t have?

Hi Michelangelo,
no. 1 for now of my wishlist is shuffle-repeat-default-after-reboot-t5156.html !
my plan for the next soundcheck in autumn are the AMP’s for direct RPI pluging.
I let you know when there is something going on in the USB DAC direction :wink: ( so much usb dac’s there…)

So you want an autostart of the first song after boot?
Will you use USB DACs this soundcheck? If yes I would like to send you something…

i already have autorun after boot of the playlist. (the autorun plugin)
what i need is to save the status of the shuffle/repeat option of the playlist.
status should be the same after reboot!

This soundcheck? you are kidding.
but one connection is still free… any idea which USB DAC i should use?

short update for you, awaiting the results.
due to technical problems just before the event i decided to move the soundcheck to june 22.
stay tuned. thank you.

Yesterday, we carried out the ultimate DAC board test. :wink:

After a brief introduction of the ‘Volumio’ project, an introduction to the DAC theme and an explanation of the difference between I2S and USB DACs, we have included the following setups in our sound competition:

Raspberry Pi & Mamboberry LS DAC +
Odroid C1 + & Hifi-Shield
Raspberry Pi & Allo Boss DAC
Raspberry Pi & Allo Kali Reclocker & Allo Piano DAC 2.1
Raspberry Pi & JustBoom DAC HAT

Raspberry Pi & Allo Kali Reclocker & Mamboberry LS DAC +
Odroid C2 & Hifi-Shield 2
Raspberry Pi & DIAL-DAC
Raspberry Pi & IQaudIO Pi-DAC +
Raspberry Pi & Allo Piano DAC

We compared the two best of each group in a final round. We also put a USB DAC,
the Ifi nano iOne with a Reclocker (iPurifier2) via X64 PC (Asrock J3710-ITX) to the final group.

At the evaluation I was not allowed to participate, because I knew, which amplifier input is connected to which setup. It should be a blind test. The comparison went now quite well, since we could switch the input directly.

From the first group, the Piano 2.1 (& Reclocker) and the Boss board were rated best. The second group was much more difficult. The IQaudio was best rated, closely followed by the piano, Mamboberry (& Reclocker) and the Hifi-Shield 2 Board. Since we chose to restrict ourselves to two, we choose the piano board.

In the final selection, the distances, the difference among each other were slight. By a majority, the Allo Piano 2.1 (& Reclocker) was voted the best setup. In second place, we saw the boss and the IQaudio board as it were. Interestingly much the USB Dac combination on the 3rd place. The USB DAC was very good overall and sounded very well balanced. Nevertheless, it could not keep up with the clearness, openness and breadth of the two foremost places.

As soundtracks, we used these FLAC tracks again:
Leonard Cohen - You Want It Darker - On the Level
The Hilary Hahn Encores - In 27 Pieces CD1 - Bates: Ford’s Farm

Volumio was used in version 2.201, except for the Odroid Setups (2.166). The level was always on hardware, 100% placed. 2 ifi iPower and several Powerbanks were available as power supply. For the Dial DAC I used the dial 2x15V power supply.
We enjoyed the soundcheck and had a lot of fun. We were only four and can not say that our selection would be representative. This time we were exclusive men aged 32 to 48 years.

Soundcheck2_Nachlese_thumb.jpg
Soundcheck2_Nachlese1.jpg
And thanks Michelangelo, for sending me the ifi nano ione and the ipurifier2 to put these in the competion! Was very interesting to see where we are with these I2S boards…!

Great job. Congratulations.

The Piano 2.1 in 2.0 mode or dual mono mode?

thanks jazz.
i was using the 2.0 mode.

It is a very interesting report. Thanks for sharing.
Too bad that I live so far, it would be nice to participate in the event…
Tnx Judydudy

Damn haven’t seen this before.
I live rather close…I use my battery powered C0 with Volumio 2.166 to feed my Chord Mojo and would have liked to compare it against the DAC shields.

Will you do something similar again?
At the moment I also have a Chord Hugo2, but I will most likely return it next week and go for a Soekris DAC1541 , so next time you doing something like this I could bring both Mojo and DAC1541.

EDIT : Hugo 2 is going nowhere. Seems I needed a while to adjust.

CHEERS

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cool dondorito!
next competition will be in september. would be great to see you.
i will announce the event here.

… and of course - we like to hear your setups… :wink:

Sounds good,

I will definitely join the next event, if time allows it.

Cheers