why Odroid over Raspberry pi

[spikey1973]

Hello guys (and girls),

maybe a simple question, but could also have a complex answer.. I didn't find a question like this on the forum allready so i thought better ask..
I wunder why do / did you guys choose a Odroid over a Raspberry pi. What are the benefits what are the downsides.

I own a rpi 2b+ and in time i will not only use this as a player but also for other gadgets and i'd prefer this to be done by two different machines.
In which case i will need to order another one. but the other one could also become a Odroid (or something else)
the main interest is to get it as much audiophile as can be so... if one of you sells these things see me as a customer and sell me one of those beautiful Odroids over one of those nasty RPI's

kind greetings

Matthieu

ps: I also own a audiophonics es 9023 dac. but i allready figured out that there are was to use this also with a Odroid so ..

[hondagx35]

Hi spikey1973,

i personally prefer the ODROID C1+.

- 1,5GHz vs. 900MHz
- faster RAM

(1GB 32bit DDR3 792MHz vs. 1GB 32bit LP-DDR2 400MHz)

- support for EMMC

emmc.jpg (97.04 KiB) Viewed 5283 times

EMMC is faster and more reliable than sd cards.

- Gigabit Ethernet

On the PI the shared databus (USB and ehternet) is the main bottleneck.

- clever solution to add a 7" touch tft


- builtin IR receiver
- on-board RTC

The only thing i miss on the ODROID is SATA.

Frank

[spikey1973]

hmm oke i agree that the spec definately out rule the raspberry pi.
but besides the shared usb ethernet data bus none of it has impact on sound quality.
and the shared dus problem is solved by using i2s for sound to the dac instead of usb.. main reason why i wanted a shield instead of usb device (many others too but)

but besides that.. has there ever been an real audio comparesment.. same shield same music same amp and speakers. just the different device.
and then.. is there a sound difference? (holding on the the i2s to shield config here.. no usb dac)

that is what interest me.

as i said simple question with maybe not such a simple answer.

kind greats.

[odroider]

The C1+ supports more flexible I2S bus interface.
It has the MCLK output and it supports up to 384Khz/32bit audio streams with the bit-perfect feature.
As far as I heard, RPi needs an extra clock source for MCLK generation and its I2S supports up to 192Khz.

[Deadmau5]

@ odroider
You are right. Especially the raspberry pi clock is not build to generate a 44.1 kHz sample rate frequency (and multiples). Not really usable for CD quality rips...

@ spikey1973
I would take the Odroid C1+ because it can handle 44.1 kHz (and multiples) and 48kHz (and multiples) not like the raspberry pi (both via i2s). I also had a raspberry pi at the beginning (with raspify) connected to a ODAC (USB Sabre9023 DAC) with a USB HDD and Ehternet connected, it was not really usable (sometimes I had clicks and pops because there is only one chip to handle LAN and USB). My friend has a Raspberry pi playing with a hifiberry - THD datas @44.1kHz are not really good...

Read following article for more informations
https://hifiduino.wordpress.com/2014/11/13/raspberry-pi-b-digital-audio/

[Surson]

Hi all,

I just wonder if using a Odroid board will improve the Rpi sound I have actually. My configuration is as follow
* Rpi2 with hifiberry Digi+ borad
* Coax cable to DAC Rega (good coaxial cable)
* Wifi connection to NAS with flac files

I notice that when I change the source (switching to my old Tuner or switching to the optical input of the DAC connected to my PC) the sound looks better, less tiresome to listen. So I guess that the problem is coming from the Rpi.

Did you already make a A to B comparison Odroid/Rpi ? Is there a way to use the hifiberry board on an Odroid device? If not, is there an equivalent board to have a coaxial output on the Odroid I2S board (except the USB->coaxial converter)?

Sorry, this is a lot of questions but I still didn't figure out why my tuner or PC sound better than my Rpi/Runeaudio installation

Thank you.

BR.