Lusayalumino Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 Since my Klipsch R-51PM powered speakers have a built-in DAC and a 100% digital amp, I wanted to keep the signal digital throughout the entire pipeline -- so I figured I'd use the USB output on the Raspberry Pi 4. What I'm trying to ascertain is whether there would be a quality improvement if I used a HAT with Toslink Audio instead of the USB output on the Pi? (my Klipsch have both USB Audio Input and Toslink) FYI: I'm not networked -- just playing music from a USB Thumb Drive using Moode on the RPi 7" screen. I appreciate any wisdom! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tsengf Posted August 6, 2020 Share Posted August 6, 2020 (edited) Raspberry Pi 3 apparently has a bottleneck with their USB bus as multiple components shared it. If I remember correctly, ethernet is one of the components. Some folks have reported audio glitches when driving speakers from USB. I did not experience this issue on my rpi3 which was networked via wifi. However, on Raspberry Pi 4, I am experiencing a new issue that I did not experience on rpi3 with the R-41PM. There appears to be some quirk with the speakers that causes the linux sound system to think the speaker is "busy". More details here. http://tsengf.blogspot.com/2020/07/raspberry-pi-4-4gb-and-usb-audio.html I don't have an answer to your question re: USB vs optical. I suspect that digital is digital regardless of what transport mechanism. rpi4 has resolved the bus sharing issue. Edited August 7, 2020 by tsengf Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CECAA850 Posted August 11, 2020 Share Posted August 11, 2020 I always use optical if there's a choice between the 2. You have to get into higher class DACS (in my experience) for usb to perform as good as optical. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.