Hi!
I'm a newbie when it comes to Raspberry Pi's so I'm asking for a bit of advice from you before making my first purchase.
My aim would be to use Raspberry Pi (with HiFiBerry) for streaming music via Tidal Connect. I'd like to keep the data in digital format the whole way as my monitors work the best with digital AES/EBU input, and I already have a good way of converting a coaxial S/PDIF output into AES/EBU for my monitors. Also, the Raspberry Pi should have the ability to receive audio in digital format (pref. coax S/PDIF in), and output it unaltered in digital format (pref. coax S/PDIF out).
My requirements would be the following:
- Input: Optimally have a coax S/PDIF input for receiving data from my pre-amp (Toslink is possible too, but I'd have to put RPi before the pre-amp)
- Output: Optimally have a coax S/PDIF output, which is later converted into AES/EBU for the monitors (again Toslink could work too, but then RPI would be after my TV, and before the pre-amp)
- Switching / mixing between inputs: Ability to either (1) switch between the digital S/PDIF input and Tidal Connect stream in Raspberry Pi, or (2) just play the two sources simultaneously all the time (and stop the other one manually)
My idea was to go with RPi + Digi+ I/O due to the S/PDIF coax input and outputs, but I can see that you are often recommending DAC+ DSP (which lacks those coax I/Os). I was also thinking that I'd start with the VolumioOS as it's a bit more plug-and-play than installing that Tidal Connect docker that some people use (although I'd like to try that as well at some point).
Again to summarize, the whole setup would be either:
(1) Multiple digital & analog sources --> Pre-amp --> S/PDIF coax in -RPi- S/PDIF coax out --> S/PDIF coax / AES EBU converter --> Monitors OR
(2) TV --> Toslink in -RPi- Toslink out --> Pre-amp --> S/PDIF coax / AES EBU converter --> Monitors
Finally to my questions:
- What setup would you recommend for me, and is it possible to achieve what I described with either Digi+ I/O or DAC+ DSP?
- What I have to take into consideration when configuring the recommended setup (e.g. setting a custom DSP profile, choice of OS etc.)?
Thanks!
