Listening Hardware

[jkelly30]

Hi,

I am new to the Rpi etc, and am planning to use my newly acquired Rpi + HifiBerry running RuneUI beta 0.3 (when released) to create a headless Hifi system. I have an old Bush Valve radio that I love the looks of (old valve radio), and my plan is to remove the internals, maintain the external look of the radio and to fit some high end speakers along with the RPi etc...
That being said I am undecided as to which speakers to use.. I have a set of Harman Kardon Soundsticks II which I love the sound of but will probably not be able to fit the Sub in my "radio" box.. the next option I am looking at is getting some Creative Labs Gigaworks T40 II's which seem to get a good write up on performance...

My questions really is what is everyone else using to listen to the magical sounds emanating from their RuneUI projects??

Thanks & Regards

[ACX]

Hi jkelly30, I can tell you what I'm using in my home. I own two different setups:

1) Living room setup
RuneAudio player (BeagleBone Black) > M2Tech hiFace Two > ultramodded Zero DAC > Korsun KS99 integrated amplifier > Tannoy Sensys DC2 loudspeakers

2) Office setup
RuneAudio player (Raspberry Pi) > Schiit Modi USB DAC > DIY TA2024 based amplifier > Indiana Line HC 206 loudspeakers

[ACX]

I forgot to say that I'm listening from I2S output in these days, using HifiBerry DAC and in my office setup, with good results with both boards.

[tux]

My setup is the following:

Speakers: Monitor Audio Bronze B2
Speaker cable: Bandridge Superflex OFC 2x2.50
Aplifier: Ιndeed TA2021S with external pdu from the same manufacturer
Interconnect cable: Van Den Hool D-102 MKII
Dac and PDU: HifiMeDIY Sabre USB DAC2 + External PSU PSM3+ + cheap usb cable
Player: Raspberry Pi + Modmypi PDU + Sandisk Class 10 Sdcard /Runeaudio
NAS: Archlinux/Openbox (Manjaro) desktop pc running Samba server

I have it on a small room where i spend 8-10 hours per day working and it's a killer combination for my needs. My only problem is that i still can't get rid of occasional pops and clicks when hearing my 16/44.1 Flac collection. I really hope that beta 3 will be the solution!

[ACX]

[Orion]

MAIN SETUP
Speakers: Aurum Cantus Moon River (OEM version of RedRose Classic Speakers)
Speaker cable: DIY by Orion
Pre-Amplifier: YBA-3 / Xindax XA3200 MkII (heavily modded by Orion )
Power-Amplifier: YBA "L'amplificateur" (pre-release of YBA-2 power amplifier)
Interconnect cable: YBA DIAMOND Interconnect (line) + VanDenHul The Second (pre)
DAC: AKM4396 + BursonAudio OPA
Player (CD): YBA CD1 + SuperPowerSupply (1 unit)
Player (CD2): Marantz CD85 (TDA1541AS1 @NOS MOD)
Player (liquid): BBB + CMedia 6631A / Runeaudio
Turntable: RegaP3 + RB300 + Gotham Incognito Silver Rewire Mod + GarrotBrothers P77 + Graham Slee Gram Amp 2 SE
NAS: Synology DiskStation 214

STUDIO SETUP
Speakers: Kef Coda7 SE
Speaker cable: VanDenHull The Skyline
Amplifier: CREEK Audio CAS4040s3
Interconnect cable: DIY by Orion
DAC: AKM4399+XMOS
Player(CD): Marantz CD40 (TDA1541)
Player(liquid): Raspberry Pi + iPad PSU / Runeaudio
NAS: Synology DiskStation 214

[skrodahl]

I'm a firm believer that good sound shouldn't have to cost a fortune, and RuneAudio has been a great catalyst to reaching that goal.

So, my setup (with approx prices in US$) has blown the mind of "proper" audiophiles who wouldn't even look at a cable costing less than my complete system. NAS excluded, btw, as I'm a CS engineer that is as stubborn about my IT equipment as they are about their audio gear. The speakers "disappear", and I get lost in the music when listening to my audio system.

Player: Raspberry Pi Rev B ($35)
DAC: NuForce uDac 2 ($99 on sale)
Amp: Topping TP-20 Mark 2 ($70)
Loudspeakers: Dali Zensor 3 (~$600)
Cables: No-name cables, with good connectors (~$30)

All in all, a grand total of below $850. When the HifiBerry is supported, that sum goes below $800. This is in a country with 25% VAT no less.

It totally rocks, in a 20+ sqm room. More than sufficient to make my neighbors complain, at a total of around 2x13 watts of super-clean amplification power.

I am thinking about getting a Little Dot Mk III/IV preamp, just to experience cheap but good tube sound. I'll give an update if that happens.

[dopus]

Speakers: Vienna Acoustics Haydn Symphony Edition
Subwoofer: SVS SB-1000
Speaker cable: Van den Hul
Amplifier: Xindak xa6950(09) 2x130W dual Mono with tubes in pre
Interconnect cable: Monster somthing (what i had laying around when I bought the ampl)
DAC: QNKTC v1.2 (based on open source design and software)
Streamer: Rpi with RuneAudio distro and 2T of storage through windows share from my PC)
RuneAudio GUI: Samsung galaxy tab 2

DAC 2:
Xindak 6950 have a buildt in dac type Burr Brown PCM2702:
This dac chip is supported by android. So I use this dac to stream WIMP HIFI (cd quality uncompressed musick streaming...like spotify only better audio quality), from my smartphone

[skrodahl]

[bigme]

Rune Audio > Raspberry Pi Rev B 256 MB > Behringer U-Control UCA222 usb DAC > Monoprice RCA cables > Harman Kardon 730 Twin > White Lightning DIY speaker cables > Polk Audio RTA 12C

Since Rune allows you to select how to send the audio signal I also connected the following:

Rune Audio > Raspberry Pi Rev B 256 MB > Amazon Basics HDMI cable > Denon 400E AVR > White Lightning DIY speaker cables > Polk Audio Monitor 5JR+ and an Infinity IL100S Sub

The vintage system clobbers the HT gear!