newbie questions for multiroom build

baz-r

hi everyone i have a few questions if rune can be the answer for me i had a little bit of a look but i cant fine any obvious answers sorry if i missed any answers

i already own 1x pi3, 2x pi zero W, a pHAT BEAT (possible portable or mini player for kitchen) pi based equipment (no pi or linux expert)

have 2 running av amps both with built in DACs more than good enough for what i need and have hdmi, optical and coax digi in plus std analog

also currently have 50-60gb collection of mp3 music plus Tidal account but could switch to another provider possibly

android phone or tablet as controller

I'm looking to replace my squeeze box system and had a dabble with chrome-cast audios but its not a very functional system. i like a good quality sound but no audiophile just like a good sound on a budget.

my conseopt is
pi3 as main player in living room on best amp and mp3 server over hdmi (memory stick or drive with mp3s)
1x pi zero w in the bedroom as player to amp over hdmi
1x pi zero w with pHAT BEAT as a player

my questions are

1. can rune audio run on a pi zero w ok for playback?
2. can rune handle in sync multi device plaback?
3. do i need to worry about SD card Read/write or can rune run in the ram?
4. what is the max audio rate over hdmi? do i need to run a dac if both my amps have them

that's all i can think of at the moment but would love to hear your input and if you can answer any of my questions

hondagx35

Hi baz-r,

1. can rune audio run on a pi zero w ok for playback?

Yes, please search the forum.
#3711

2. can rune handle in sync multi device plaback?

No, we are working on a solution.
It can be done with Snapcast.

3. do i need to worry about SD card Read/write or can rune run in the ram?

We tried to minimize writing to the SD as much as possible (RAMdisc).

4. what is the max audio rate over hdmi? do i need to run a dac if both my amps have them

HDMI is specified for max 24bit 192kHz

Wikipedia

For digital audio, if an HDMI device has audio, it is required to implement the baseline format: stereo (uncompressed) PCM. Other formats are optional, with HDMI allowing up to 8 channels of uncompressed audio at sample sizes of 16-bit, 20-bit and 24-bit, with sample rates of 32 kHz, 44.1 kHz, 48 kHz, 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz, 176.4 kHz and 192 kHz. HDMI also carries any IEC 61937-compliant compressed audio stream, such as Dolby Digital and DTS, and up to 8 channels of one-bit DSD audio (used on Super Audio CDs) at rates up to four times that of Super Audio CD. With version 1.3, HDMI allows lossless compressed audio streams Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio

Taken from the latest kernel source

#define HDMI_RATES	(SNDRV_PCM_RATE_32000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_44100 |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_RATE_48000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_88200 |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_RATE_96000 | SNDRV_PCM_RATE_176400 |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_RATE_192000)

#define SPDIF_FORMATS	(SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_3LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_3BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_BE)

/*
 * This list is only for formats allowed on the I2S bus. So there is
 * some formats listed that are not supported by HDMI interface. For
 * instance allowing the 32-bit formats enables 24-precision with CPU
 * DAIs that do not support 24-bit formats. If the extra formats cause
 * problems, we should add the video side driver an option to disable
 * them.
 */
#define I2S_FORMATS	(SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S16_BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S20_3BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_3LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_3BE |\
			 SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S24_BE |\
                         SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S32_LE | SNDRV_PCM_FMTBIT_S32_BE)

Frank

gavorn

Thanks, I'll try the code.