Best hardware for Fedora/ARM Audio "Server"?

[Derek Atkins]

Hey All,

I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network and
connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something like
Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different zones in my
house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)

My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
into the amp to power the zone speakers.

So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for the
money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that works
"well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears to
be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they may
be worth the additional cost.

So here I am asking the experts....

Thanks,

-derek
-- 
       Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
       Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
       URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
       warlord(a)MIT.EDU                        PGP key available

[Dennis Gilmore]

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Hash: SHA1

On Wed, 14 May 2014 15:44:39 -0400
Derek Atkins <warlord(a)MIT.EDU&gt; wrote:

>  Hey All,
>  
>  I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
>  of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network
>  and connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something
>  like Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different
>  zones in my house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)
>  
>  My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
>  TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
>  into the amp to power the zone speakers.
>  
>  So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for
>  the money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that
>  works "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
>  Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears
>  to be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
>  including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
>  significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they
>  may be worth the additional cost.
>  
not sure many people have done audio on arm. i have tested on the
trimslice and it worked. if you are using amps that have optical inputs
the wanboard and cubox-i both have optical outputs.

Dennis
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[Robert Moskowitz]

On 05/14/2014 09:51 AM, Dennis Gilmore wrote:
>  -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
>  Hash: SHA1
>
>  On Wed, 14 May 2014 15:44:39 -0400
>  Derek Atkins <warlord(a)MIT.EDU&gt; wrote:
>
> > Hey All,
> >
> > I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
> > of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network
> > and connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something
> > like Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different
> > zones in my house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)
> >
> > My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
> > TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
> > into the amp to power the zone speakers.
> >
> > So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for
> > the money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that
> > works "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
> > Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears
> > to be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
> > including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
> > significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they
> > may be worth the additional cost.
>  not sure many people have done audio on arm. i have tested on the
>  trimslice and it worked. if you are using amps that have optical inputs
>  the wanboard and cubox-i both have optical outputs. 
Oh, if you really want HiFi, go to: 
http://docs.cubieboard.org/expander_boards, scroll down to CubieNOS from 
G2labs.   Not cheap, but probably as high end as you will find for audio.

[Andrew Gillis]

Shairport works great on ARM as do most other audio players. Install the
minimal image as you won't need or want all the desktop stuff. The Pi is
under powered and has a bad interrupt structure for audio. I would say go
with the Wandboard.

-Andrew


On Wed, May 14, 2014 at 3:44 PM, Derek Atkins <warlord(a)mit.edu&gt; wrote:

>  Hey All,
>
>  I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
>  of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network and
>  connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something like
>  Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different zones in my
>  house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)
>
>  My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
>  TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
>  into the amp to power the zone speakers.
>
>  So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for the
>  money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that works
>  "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
>  Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears to
>  be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
>  including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
>  significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they may
>  be worth the additional cost.
>
>  So here I am asking the experts....
>
>  Thanks,
>
>  -derek
>  --
>         Derek Atkins, SB '93 MIT EE, SM '95 MIT Media Laboratory
>         Member, MIT Student Information Processing Board  (SIPB)
>         URL: http://web.mit.edu/warlord/    PP-ASEL-IA     N1NWH
>         warlord(a)MIT.EDU                        PGP key available
>  _______________________________________________
>  arm mailing list
>  arm(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/arm 



-- 
Andrew Gillis
Lead Developer VortexBox
vortexbox.org

[Peter Robinson]

>  I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually
> several
>  of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network and
>  connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something like
>  Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different zones in my
>  house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)
>
>  My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
>  TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
>  into the amp to power the zone speakers.
>
>  So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for the
>  money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that works
>  "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
>  Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears to
>  be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
>  including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
>  significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they may
>  be worth the additional cost.
>
>  So here I am asking the experts.... 
Something i.MX6 based is my opinion. The cubox-i would be the best
(low end one is $55 with case) but it doesn't have analog audio.
There's the Utilite (basically the replacement to the Trimslice), the
Wandboard and a number of other options.

Peter

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 05/14/2014 09:44 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
>  Hey All,
>
>  I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
>  of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network and
>  connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something like
>  Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different zones in my
>  house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :) 
Hey, Derek!

Look at:  http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=cubieboard

For people that have built cases for Cubieboard2 and particularly:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:151160

I am thinking this for a NAS etc box.

If you go with the Cubietruck, the Ewell case posted on cubieboard.org 
not only supports the 2.5 drive, but also a battery if you want!

>  My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
>  TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
>  into the amp to power the zone speakers. 
See: http://docs.cubieboard.org/products/start for specs.  The 
Cubieboard2 has analog audio and also HDMI (but I don't know if audio is 
included).

>  So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware
> platform for the
>  money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that works
>  "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
>  Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears to
>  be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
>  including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
>  significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they may
>  be worth the additional cost. 
RPi is a v5 and needs remixes.  I have been told many times to go with a 
V7 board.

>  So here I am asking the experts.... 
I am not an expert, but have been asking them here for some time.  I 
will actually buy a Cubie2 next week to get started.

THough I would REALLY like to have a 4 port ethernet board for it so I 
can do router/firewall as well...

[Robert Moskowitz]

On 05/14/2014 10:52 AM, Robert Moskowitz wrote:
>  On 05/14/2014 09:44 AM, Derek Atkins wrote:
> > Hey All,
> >
> > I'm looking to build a Fedora-ARM-based Audio server (actually several
> > of them).  The idea is that I would plug the ARM box into my network and
> > connect it to an amp to drive speakers, and then run something like
> > Shairport on the device in order to send audio to different zones in my
> > house.  Why Fedora?  Well, I like it!  :)
>
>  Hey, Derek!
>
>  Look at:  http://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=cubieboard
>
>  For people that have built cases for Cubieboard2 and particularly:
>
>  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:151160
>
>  I am thinking this for a NAS etc box.
>
>  If you go with the Cubietruck, the Ewell case posted on cubieboard.org 
>  not only supports the 2.5 drive, but also a battery if you want!
>
> >
> > My current plan (goal?) is to use the onboard analog audio output, not
> > TOSlink or a USB DAC device.  I would plug the audio output directly
> > into the amp to power the zone speakers.
>
>  See: http://docs.cubieboard.org/products/start for specs.  The 
>  Cubieboard2 has analog audio and also HDMI (but I don't know if audio 
>  is included).
>
> > So here's my question for you: What's the best hardware platform for the
> > money to solve this?  (I.e., what's the cheapest solution that works
> > "well"?)  In my little bit of research I've boiled it down to a
> > Raspberry Pi, Wandboard, or Trimslice.  Of course the RaspPi appears to
> > be by far the least expensive of the three ($60 for a full system
> > including case, power, and SD Card), but if the other options are
> > significantly better in terms of performance and audio quality, they may
> > be worth the additional cost.
>
>  RPi is a v5 and needs remixes.  I have been told many times to go with 
>  a V7 board. 
Also the RPi ethernet is on USB, I have read, and I have read comments 
about performance.  Cubieboard2 has a real 10/100Mb ethernet and 
cubietruck has a 10/100/1000Mb ethernet.

> > So here I am asking the experts....
>
>  I am not an expert, but have been asking them here for some time. I 
>  will actually buy a Cubie2 next week to get started.
>
>  THough I would REALLY like to have a 4 port ethernet board for it so I 
>  can do router/firewall as well...
>
>
>  _______________________________________________
>  arm mailing list
>  arm(a)lists.fedoraproject.org
>  https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/arm