Debian 9 Stretch

A DIY digital music streamer with exceptional performance

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tokenbrit
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Sopper wrote: 2019-01-07 22:09 Adding Sid works the same as experimental though, so doable
Already done..able! :) Some 'interesting' warnings to do with libc6something needing a later version of the kernel, and advising to disable the screensaver because of an incompatibility, to avoid being locked out. Not worried as this is all part of the learning process & I plan to re-image anyway, but I did disable the screensaver just in case... ;)
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Paaf »

All hell broke loose after I installed MPD 0.21.4 from Debian SID. Some examples: 1) Apt-get was broken for several hours on various insignificant details such as Syntax Error in rlwrap. I was fumbling around and then it worked again. 2) Having the log file in /var/log/mpd/ didn't work, because each reboot removed the whole directory which caused MPD to die upon reboot. 3) Debian actually installed 0.21.4 into /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin so some confusion about that, again. And so on and on, for more hours than I want to think about.

Now finally, I've managed to get it running again! Yey! Unfortunately, not sure about tunefulness...

I can now switch between 0.20.23 and 0.21.4 and I think 0.20.23 is better!

Maybe 0.21.3 is better than 0.21.4? I haven't found it with apt-get. What do you think Sopper?
Sopper
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Sopper »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-08 23:53 All hell broke loose after I installed MPD 0.21.4 from Debian SID. Some examples: 1) Apt-get was broken for several hours on various insignificant details such as Syntax Error in rlwrap. I was fumbling around and then it worked again. 2) Having the log file in /var/log/mpd/ didn't work, because each reboot removed the whole directory which caused MPD to die upon reboot. 3) Debian actually installed 0.21.4 into /usr/bin instead of /usr/local/bin so some confusion about that, again. And so on and on, for more hours than I want to think about.

Now finally, I've managed to get it running again! Yey! Unfortunately, not sure about tunefulness...

I can now switch between 0.20.23 and 0.21.4 and I think 0.20.23 is better!

Maybe 0.21.3 is better than 0.21.4? I haven't found it with apt-get. What do you think Sopper?
Did you upgrade from 0.21.3 or 0.20.23?
I had no issues upgrading from 0.21.3 to 0.21.4 from sid, but i have to admit that i hardly run Stretch anymore.
I updated almost everything to experimental and sid backports and run Liquorix realtime kernel 4.20.

I don't hear any difference in sound between 0.21.3 and 0.21.4 (the update was also minor)
It's been a while since i listened to 0.20.23, so can't remember how it performed.
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tokenbrit
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-08 23:53 All hell broke loose after I installed MPD 0.21.4 from Debian SID...

.. I think 0.20.23 is better!
All hell didn't break loose here but, given the libc6, kernel version & screensaver warning, and your post, I decided to purge mpd 0.21.4 (from sid) and install 0.20.23-1 from buster. It installs without the same incompatibility warnings associated with 0.21.4 on a standard install of stretch...
I am not ready to delve into updated, real-time kernels just yet - just want to get mpd working to begin with then think about upgrading from there if/as I feel brave.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Paaf »

@Sopper, I upgraded to mpd 0.21.4 from the mpd 0.20.23 that I built myself.

@tokenbrit, Did you install 0.20.23 but it's still not playing music?

I have a vague feeling that apt-installed 0.20.23 now doesn't sound exactly as good as the home-built 0.20.23 before I started installing 0.21.4. Either the home-built one is better, or, more likely, the many changes forced upon my HAKAI to install 0.21.4 affected tune negatively.
Last edited by Paaf on 2019-01-09 17:28, edited 1 time in total.
tokenbrit
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-09 16:59 @tokenbrit, Did you install 0.20.23 but it's still not playing music?
All good. Initially I missed a mute control, but music is now playing nicely from NAS to "UpMpd" (& mpd) to Gigaport, via headphones plugged into the HD+, controlled by BubbleDS. Bubble found the new renderer without issue. Similarly, alsamixer (& pavucontrol) found GIGAPort HD+ without any problems.

Standard resolution alac files playing happily :)

HAKAI ;)
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Paaf »

Awesome, congratulations! How does it compare to other streamers you may have?

I haven't tried an alac, but I can play flac with 16/24 bits, 44/96/192 kHz. Perhaps it chops the audio into 16/44 before it reaches the DAC.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-09 17:33 Awesome, congratulations! How does it compare to other streamers you may have?

I haven't tried an alac, but I can play flac with 16/24 bits, 44/96/192 kHz. Perhaps it chops the audio into 16/44 before it reaches the DAC.
Unfortunately I can't compare against my other streamer as I have not listened to it via headphones... the HAKAI does sound good through the cans though :)
Once I take notes of the build steps, and do a bit more break-in & shake-down with other formats & resolutions, I will rebuild the system as headless and then integrate into the system for a better evaluation & comparison.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Paaf »

Almost always I can get into the HAKAI via SSH from a laptop or PC. Is that what you mean by headless? If it's really messed up, I disconnect it and carry it over to my computer to hook it into the screen and keyboard etc.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Sopper »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-09 19:30 Almost always I can get into the HAKAI via SSH from a laptop or PC. Is that what you mean by headless? If it's really messed up, I disconnect it and carry it over to my computer to hook it into the screen and keyboard etc.
Headless means without graphic environment; just a black screen and command line, like ssh.
It also means running without software for desktop environment.
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tokenbrit
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-09 19:30 Almost always I can get into the HAKAI via SSH from a laptop or PC. Is that what you mean by headless?
Yes - no desktop environment. I'm currently using LXDE as it's easier than command line during the learning phase, and gives me a browser for lookup of instructions/commands, etc. but, ultimately, I'll reinstall Debian without a desktop environment; just with SSH for remote access, with the HAKAI in my system rather than on my computer desk.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

mpd & dac are ok with mp3 & wma as well as 44.1/16 flac, as expected, but don't seem entirely happy with 24-bit studio master... need to find some wav files to test those as well as other higher bit-rate files
Sopper
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Sopper »

tokenbrit wrote: 2019-01-09 20:22 mpd & dac are ok with mp3 & wma as well as 44.1/16 flac, as expected, but don't seem entirely happy with 24-bit studio master... need to find some wav files to test those as well as other higher bit-rate files
MPD should downsample those automatically, since the ESI gigaport HD+ only supports 16/44 under Linux.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

It does but I'm hearing some artifacts - clicks - that would sound like a dirty LP if they weren't digital recordings... Not sure whether they're interference, interruptions, or something else.
Should I have something explicit in my mpd.conf such as format "44100:16:2" in the audio_output section?
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Sopper »

tokenbrit wrote: 2019-01-09 21:31 It does but I'm hearing some artifacts - clicks - that would sound like a dirty LP if they weren't digital recordings... Not sure whether they're interference, interruptions, or something else.
Should I have something explicit in my mpd.conf such as format "44100:16:2" in the audio_output section?
No, that won’t help; that’s an unwanted forced option.
I had clicks someday too, and got rid of it after sudo apt-get upgrade
Some lib needed upgrading...
Not sure if it will work for you though
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tokenbrit
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Sopper wrote: 2019-01-09 21:42
tokenbrit wrote: 2019-01-09 21:31 It does but I'm hearing some artifacts - clicks - that would sound like a dirty LP if they weren't digital recordings... Not sure whether they're interference, interruptions, or something else.
Should I have something explicit in my mpd.conf such as format "44100:16:2" in the audio_output section?
No, that won’t help; that’s an unwanted forced option.
I had clicks someday too, and got rid of it after sudo apt-get upgrade
Some lib needed upgrading...
Not sure if it will work for you though
Thanks Sopper - good to know I am not hearing things.
After getting mpd 0.20.23 from buster I did go back & edit out all the unnecessary repositories from sources.list; ran autoremove; clean; update; upgrade to make sure I had only what I needed, but I had done various installs & purges of mpd 0.21.24 + suggested packages, and upplay, that may have left certain libraries updated from the base versions associated with Debian stretch. I probably need to re-image to start from scratch and see if the intermittent clicks are still there... I'll do that after listening to the different usb ports, Can you change ports on the fly, or do you have to reboot each time?

Question for those with 3160 m'boards: do both of your LAN ports work, or just the one use during the os install? Reason for asking is that I wanted to reconnect dac & usb dongle for the mouse, and change LAN ports as part of cable dressing, but only the LAN port used for the original install of Debian is configured. I guess I can go into the conf file to enable the 2nd port - just wondered what others have experienced or done?
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Sopper »

Only the lan during installing is enabled.
You can check which:

Code: Select all

cat /etc/network/interfaces
This is also the file where you can change to static IP.

Regarding MPD: going back to older version always is tricky with traces and upgraded libs, indeed.
Better go fresh install to get things working properly.

You can change USB port on the fly, but you have to check which device number is given.

Code: Select all

aplay -l
And change mpd.conf accordingly

Be aware that usb is powered, so there is risk when unplugging and plugging usb cables when devices are powered. ESD - electro static discharge
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Sopper wrote: 2019-01-09 22:23 You can change USB port on the fly, but you have to check which device number is given.
...
And change mpd.conf accordingly
device "hw:0,0" is commented out as optional in my (default) mpd.conf

I shutdown the system & restarted it after moving usb ports - mpd seemed to rediscover the dac on the different port, but that maybe because I ran alsamixer, and I had to restart BubbleDS...

Thanks, as always, for the guidelines. Wouldn't be easy to compare usb ports if I have to reboot each time so will try it on the fly and be cautious regarding ESD.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

.wav files worked fine. 2 of the usb ports sounded better than the other 2. Not much between the better two, but one - the one I started with - has been so enjoyable that I'm still sat here listening despite the uncomfortable headphones :)

Getting closer to rebuilding the box ;)

Has anyone found any musical differences between the LAN ports? I'm currently using the one that's above the preferred usb port... I was thinking I'd use the other one when re-imaging, to separate them, unless anyone's experience suggests otherwise.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

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tokenbrit wrote: 2019-01-10 00:18 Has anyone found any musical differences between the LAN ports?
Not so easy to do: I enabled both ports, but switching & getting a different IP address* appears to confuse the control point (& upmpd?). A restart helped, each time, but I still had to clear the app cache & data for BubbleDS, so not a quick comparison... Thing is, I reckon I can hear a difference - went back & forth a couple of times to make sure.

Those of you with a dual LAN m'board should try it - I'd be interested to find out if you hear a difference too, or if I'm imagining it.


* I should have configured a static IP address for each port in /etc/network/interfaces - probably would have helped BubbleDS, at least.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by Paaf »

I only tried the LAN port that was enabled by default.
My best USB is the lowest one of the two directly under that port. Same for you guys?
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

Paaf wrote: 2019-01-10 17:53 I only tried the LAN port that was enabled by default.
My best USB is the lowest one of the two directly under that port. Same for you guys?
I think the "default" is just which one you used when installing Debian... I found the USB2 ports to be better than the USB3s. I had used the LAN port above the USB2s for my install, and prefer the top USB2 port, but prefer the LAN port above the USB3 ports.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by fatjulio »

fatjulio wrote: 2019-01-03 08:41 I've just tried playing some WAV files, and they aren't playing. They worked in Volumio with the updated MPD and upmpdcli. I'm using MPD 0.21.3 and upmpdcli 1.3.8
Just did a comparison with MPD 0.20.21, which is what I have on my Volumio disk. It doesn't sound as good as 0.21.3, but it plays the WAV files. After switching back to 0.21.3, still sounds better, but no WAV playback.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by fatjulio »

Just tried 0.21.4, still no WAV playback. I might have been imagining it, but it might not have sounded as good as 0.21.3? I've gone back to 0.21.3 anyway.
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Re: Debian 9 Stretch

Post by tokenbrit »

fatjulio, have you tried using different control points? I know it sounds like an odd question because wav plays on the volumio version - it's just that I am currently experiencing different behaviour between Kazoo & BubbleDS. Thought it might be worth eliminating the control point from suspicion, by trying another app, if you haven't done so already.
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