7 ms·

A Retro, Not Steampunk, Media Center

80 points by gedrap 13y ago

snissn 13y ago
this is sick
kaoD 13y ago
I wonder how is the streamed audio being output to the speakers. As far as I know, non-HDMI Raspberry PI's audio capabilities just suck.
- jws 13y ago
  USB sound card
  - ekianjo 13y ago
    USB sound cards are not always of very good quality. They do transform the signal in various ways. I mean, if you are serious about audio, you should not even be using a Pi in the first place.
    - buro9 13y ago
      Did you look at the speakers it has? Basically computer speakers from a cinema type setup. This is very clearly a project about aesthetics and solving a problem that the individual had (integration of various audio systems - turntable + spotify), rather than one about quality of sound. From an aesthetic perspective this is one hell of a well done job. Everything about it looks good. It won't sound incredible given the speakers used, so it is not necessary for the USB sound card and Pi to also provide a sublime and low-noise signal. In fact one could argue that given the aesthetics, it not sounding perfect fits the design aesthetic of the project.
      - ekianjo 13y ago
        Sure, I have no issue with that. I just wanted to clarify that USB sound cards are sometimes very much sub-par in terms of audio quality and one should be very careful about their choice there.
        grimman 13y ago
        I've been looking for a good USB soundcard. Is there anything in particular you would recommend?
        ekianjo 13y ago
        What is your purpose? And your budget?
        dhucerbin 13y ago
        If you want only to listen, USB DAC is good option. Buy sabre based diy[1]. It's simple and uses great components - best reciver and best in its budget class dac. [1] http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=107 http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product...
    - cdcarter 13y ago
      > not always Exactly. Some of them are pretty good.
alphakappa 13y ago
This is all around awesome. Every bit of it, right down to the power strip[1] seems to be well-chosen to fit the aesthetic. Truly, a great mix of engineering and artistic skills. 1. http://audio.toddkumpf.com/power-strip# http://audio.toddkumpf.com/power-strip#
- arethuza 13y ago
  Probably the best combination of personal engineering and artistic skills is the work (hobby?) of Tatjana J. van Vark: http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/projects.html http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/projects.html Some of her stuff is absolutely stunningly beautiful and wonderfully esoteric e.g. "Mechanical Fourier Analysis and Synthesis": http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/harmonium/harmonium.html http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/harmonium/harmonium.html
state_machine 13y ago
Anyone have suggestions for a good, cheap-ish, USB DAC? I use my rpi for Airplay but the onboard DAC is not the best.
- deleted 13y ago
  [deleted]
- alexhawdon 13y ago
  Check out http://www.raspyfi.com/ http://www.raspyfi.com/. Their aim is to turn the RPi in to a respectable HiFi source so the DAC is a big part of this.
- BostonEnginerd 13y ago
  I've had good luck using one similar to this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSE-AUDIO-X5-MINI-HIFI-USB-DAC-PCM2704-SOUND-CARD-BOARD-Silver-/130907884661?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item1e7ab7cc75 http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSE-AUDIO-X5-MINI-HIFI-USB-DAC-PCM2... It's no frills, but the noise floor seems pretty low and it eliminates any popping sounds.
gr3yh47 13y ago
anyone know what the 2 tracks in the video are?
- metl_lord 13y ago
  Yellow Bird and Vibe Vendetta off of Pretty Light's A Color Map of the Sun.
  - wmeredith 13y ago
    The band is Pretty Lights, not Pretty Light's, for anyone else trying to look them up.
Fuzzwah 13y ago
Site appears to be suffering under the load. Here's links to google cache for a few of the pages: concept: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:el5m9JG8ewwJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/concept/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:el5m9JG... process: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9ItuTOZ_QhAJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/process04/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9ItuTOZ... gallery: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TekvDujLqEwJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/gallery2/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TekvDuj... blog: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ir6N8bKiULQJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/blog/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ir6N8bK...

80 points by gedrap 13y ago

this is sick

kaoD 13y ago

I wonder how is the streamed audio being output to the speakers. As far as I know, non-HDMI Raspberry PI's audio capabilities just suck.

jws 13y ago
USB sound card
- ekianjo 13y ago
  USB sound cards are not always of very good quality. They do transform the signal in various ways. I mean, if you are serious about audio, you should not even be using a Pi in the first place.
  - buro9 13y ago
    Did you look at the speakers it has? Basically computer speakers from a cinema type setup. This is very clearly a project about aesthetics and solving a problem that the individual had (integration of various audio systems - turntable + spotify), rather than one about quality of sound. From an aesthetic perspective this is one hell of a well done job. Everything about it looks good. It won't sound incredible given the speakers used, so it is not necessary for the USB sound card and Pi to also provide a sublime and low-noise signal. In fact one could argue that given the aesthetics, it not sounding perfect fits the design aesthetic of the project.
    - ekianjo 13y ago
      Sure, I have no issue with that. I just wanted to clarify that USB sound cards are sometimes very much sub-par in terms of audio quality and one should be very careful about their choice there.
      - grimman 13y ago
        I've been looking for a good USB soundcard. Is there anything in particular you would recommend?
        ekianjo 13y ago
        What is your purpose? And your budget?
        dhucerbin 13y ago
        If you want only to listen, USB DAC is good option. Buy sabre based diy[1]. It's simple and uses great components - best reciver and best in its budget class dac. [1] http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=107 http://hifimediy.com/index.php?route=product/product&product...
  - cdcarter 13y ago
    > not always Exactly. Some of them are pretty good.

alphakappa 13y ago

This is all around awesome. Every bit of it, right down to the power strip[1] seems to be well-chosen to fit the aesthetic. Truly, a great mix of engineering and artistic skills. 1. http://audio.toddkumpf.com/power-strip# http://audio.toddkumpf.com/power-strip#

arethuza 13y ago
Probably the best combination of personal engineering and artistic skills is the work (hobby?) of Tatjana J. van Vark: http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/projects.html http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/projects.html Some of her stuff is absolutely stunningly beautiful and wonderfully esoteric e.g. "Mechanical Fourier Analysis and Synthesis": http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/harmonium/harmonium.html http://www.tatjavanvark.nl/harmonium/harmonium.html

state_machine 13y ago

Anyone have suggestions for a good, cheap-ish, USB DAC? I use my rpi for Airplay but the onboard DAC is not the best.

deleted 13y ago
[deleted]
alexhawdon 13y ago
Check out http://www.raspyfi.com/ http://www.raspyfi.com/. Their aim is to turn the RPi in to a respectable HiFi source so the DAC is a big part of this.
BostonEnginerd 13y ago
I've had good luck using one similar to this: http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSE-AUDIO-X5-MINI-HIFI-USB-DAC-PCM2704-SOUND-CARD-BOARD-Silver-/130907884661?pt=US_Home_Audio_Amplifiers_Preamps&hash=item1e7ab7cc75 http://www.ebay.com/itm/MUSE-AUDIO-X5-MINI-HIFI-USB-DAC-PCM2... It's no frills, but the noise floor seems pretty low and it eliminates any popping sounds.

gr3yh47 13y ago

anyone know what the 2 tracks in the video are?

metl_lord 13y ago
Yellow Bird and Vibe Vendetta off of Pretty Light's A Color Map of the Sun.
- wmeredith 13y ago
  The band is Pretty Lights, not Pretty Light's, for anyone else trying to look them up.

Fuzzwah 13y ago

Site appears to be suffering under the load. Here's links to google cache for a few of the pages: concept: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:el5m9JG8ewwJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/concept/+&cd=4&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:el5m9JG... process: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9ItuTOZ_QhAJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/process04/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:9ItuTOZ... gallery: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TekvDujLqEwJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/gallery2/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:TekvDuj... blog: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ir6N8bKiULQJ:audio.toddkumpf.com/blog/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:ir6N8bK...