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Wolfson and MPD  working

superpat

Hi,

 

I installed MPD onto the provided Wolfson Audio distribution, running it headless,  console via ssh.

 

I copied the provided demo flac files to the mpd music directory.

 

I ran alsamixer and wound up the digital i/p's and outputs.

 

controlling  MPD with the GMPC client on my LInux desktop

 

96Kbps flacs are playing  superbly, output  lineout  and into my desktop audio amp and speakers,

 

Next I will set mpd to get music from my NAS using nfs, which will be interesting, as this tends load the Pi system and  cause problems with the Pi and usb dacs!

 

cheers

 

 

P

Parents

  • Hi,

     

    I'm excited to see that someone actually has the wolfson audio card and got it working with MPD! I'm currently using a USB dac and the pops and clicks are driving me nuts.

    So far have you noticed any audio glitches? What's your opinion of the p5 head sprung connector? Does it make a solid contact? I was considering the hifiberry, but the soldering kind of turned me off. I wonder if the sound quality will be comparable.

     

    Thank you!

  • in reply to Former Member

    @saltrock

     

    Hi,

     

    Answer to your questions:-

     

    So far have you noticed any audio glitches?

     

    No, but I am using the sdcard as the MPD music directory, if you read my post above, I am going to try it with a nsf mount directory form my NAS.  At 192kbps data rate that should really test the PI's USB driven ethernet port.

     

    What's your opinion of the p5 head sprung connector? Does it make a solid contact?

     

    I was a bit worried about the P5 connector,  you have to assemble it CAREFULLY, as ther is a 20pin I/O connector to align at the same time.  Once you have it in place and secured, you can check that it is in good contact by turning the PI upside down and looking at the P5 holes. You should see the tip of the spring connectors in each hole.   I don't know how durable it will be if you put it on and took it off every day though.  Once in place it works well.

     

    I was considering the hifiberry, but the soldering kind of turned me off.   ANS:_ I think you can get the Hifiberry completely soldered at extra cost!

     

    I wonder if the sound quality will be comparable.  ANS:- The DAC is the same 5102, however I think the Wolfson has better power filtering. 9 and of course it does inputs AND it has a a low power loudspeaker driver and stereo microphones on the card!

     

    Too many toys to play with and not enough hours in the day.

     

    cheers

     

    Patrrick

Reply
  • in reply to Former Member

    @saltrock

     

    Hi,

     

    Answer to your questions:-

     

    So far have you noticed any audio glitches?

     

    No, but I am using the sdcard as the MPD music directory, if you read my post above, I am going to try it with a nsf mount directory form my NAS.  At 192kbps data rate that should really test the PI's USB driven ethernet port.

     

    What's your opinion of the p5 head sprung connector? Does it make a solid contact?

     

    I was a bit worried about the P5 connector,  you have to assemble it CAREFULLY, as ther is a 20pin I/O connector to align at the same time.  Once you have it in place and secured, you can check that it is in good contact by turning the PI upside down and looking at the P5 holes. You should see the tip of the spring connectors in each hole.   I don't know how durable it will be if you put it on and took it off every day though.  Once in place it works well.

     

    I was considering the hifiberry, but the soldering kind of turned me off.   ANS:_ I think you can get the Hifiberry completely soldered at extra cost!

     

    I wonder if the sound quality will be comparable.  ANS:- The DAC is the same 5102, however I think the Wolfson has better power filtering. 9 and of course it does inputs AND it has a a low power loudspeaker driver and stereo microphones on the card!

     

    Too many toys to play with and not enough hours in the day.

     

    cheers

     

    Patrrick

Children
  • in reply to superpat

    Superpat,

     

    Thank you for the reply!

     

    I currently attach my pi to an NFS share also. Sometimes I hear glitches, sometimes I don't. It's funny because i don't necessarily hear more clicks with a 24 bit 96khz file even though it takes more bandwidth to transfer. That's all I listen for lately. I just tried putting an album on the sd card just to hear if maybe the usb wasn't the only factor. I swore I heard a click.

     

    I did read that you can order the hifiberry with connectors pre soldered, BUT you still have to solder the p5 header to the pi itself. I'd much rather solder the rca connectors to the hifiberry than try to solder those micro pin holes that are like 1mm apart from each other on the pi.

     

    I read the hifberry uses a burr brown dac, but I only see that the wolfson uses a wm5102 audio hub codec. What is an audio hub codec?

     

    That 2 watt amp would be cool. I should find a pair of Klipschorn to hear how it will sound!

     

    Do you happen to know if an IR module can be used on the expansion header?

  • in reply to superpat

     

    I wonder if the sound quality will be comparable.  ANS:- The DAC is the same 5102

    Just to be clear, the devices are not the same. The PCM5102 is not the same as WM5102, they are different parts (with different functionality) from two separate manufacturers.

  • in reply to shabaz

    Hi Shabaz,

     

    Explain this then:-

     

    http://www.datasheetarchive.com/PCM5102-datasheet.html

     

     

    Texas Instruments Cross Reference Results

     

    Texas Instruments Part   Industry Part                  Manufacturer               Type                                          Comment                 Description
    PCM5102 BuyWM8521 BuyWolfson MicroelectronicsLoad support is 1000 ohms vs. Cirrus 5000 ohms. PCM5102 supports up to 10 end products in parallel112dB Stereo DAC with 2VRMS output and Integrated Audio PLL

    I always thought there was some wheeling and dealing between Burr Brown and Texas and Wolfson over the DAC design!

     

    regards

     

    Patrick

  • in reply to superpat

    Two part numbers are on the one website, agreed (and just to avoid confusion - neither of these part numbers have anything to do with the

    Wolfson audio card!), but they are not similar parts. For any part (Wolfson audio or not) it can be confirmed by looking at the manufacturer data sheets.