Ever since I've worked with PCs the lack of a proper internal amp and speaker setup has been frustrating. Routinely people have to tolerate two small, loose, mediocre and messy speakers, one heavier due to the built in amp, sometimes daisy-chained, sometimes not. Some of them are now powered by USB which is kinda better as yet another power brick isn't required but it's also quite confusing to average users who do not realize USB can output an small amount of power and isn't just a data standard. In many cases these speakers cannot be placed ideally as they have built-in token controls that need to be kept in reach. That's nothing compared to the poor sound quality and often bad build quality that results in this units often ending up in landfill after merely a few years if lucky.
So let's fix this problem.
But how?
HiFiBerry seems very close. Perhaps it's a solution already but I've looked many times and can't quite figure it out.
Go to any second hand store and you'll likely find perfectly good pairs of speakers from otherwise broken or superceded mid-range shelf HiFi systems. Grab a pair of these and we have the sound source (PC) and the output (decent-sized speakers). But what about in between? Here is where already-superceded Raspberry Pi 1 units, together with a HiFiBerry unit could possibly solve the problem but none of the current options seem to suit this use case.
What seems to be needed is one board with a 3.5 MM, Toslink or maybe RCA input, then the AMP+ output.
I guess the one question is what would the Raspberry Pi's role be if it's not the the audio source? Kinda seems redundant other than whatever it's role is in supporting the HiFiBerrys.
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts.
Date
Votes
3 comments
-
HiFiBerry team What you are looking for seems to be more a standard analogue amplifier. In your use case the Raspberry Pi and the digital audio part are not used, therefore I don't think the HiFiBerry Amp is really the best product here.
Best regards
Daniel
P.S. I move this to the Amp subforum -
raspd Yeah I think you're right Daniel. I got excited because it's just great to see HiFiBerry style products out there. Modular, inexpensive and simple to use and apply to a variety of scenarios. Superb :)
Are you aware of any products that might suit the purpose I outlined? I'm imagining perhaps an internal PC card maybe powered by the system bus, a spare PSU rail, etc.
Sorry for the delay in replying. I must have forgot to tick Notify of follow-ups.
Keep up the great work :) -
automation Hi,
I don't know any internal PC card that does this, but I would recommend a standard external amplifier, if space is not a constraint. You can get older used amplifiers really cheap today. I bought myself a huge Yamaha DSP-A2 from the 1990s for less than $200. The price in the 1990s was more than $3000. Older stereo amplifiers will be even cheaper.
Just have a look on eBay or similar portals.
Best regards
Daniel
Please sign in to leave a comment.