need a basic audio solution.

Joebob

Joebob

Joebob

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I need a device to hook up my speakers to my Raspberry Pi and PS4.

It just needs one optical input, one stereo input and connection for just two speakers. The more reasonably priced the better.

Anyone know of anything which will do the job?
 
A cheap stereo amp (£80~£120) won't have a digital audio input. So you'd need then to add a basic DAC (£20-£30, and it handles basic PCM audio only). By the time you've cobbled that together then you might as well have bought an AV Receiver (Pioneer VSX329 £149~£169, or Yamaha RXV377 @ £175) and got all the input connections inc HDMI covered as well as decoding everything up to HD Audio.

An AV Receiver can be configured just to run a stereo pair of speakers.
 
AVR will have the added advantage of using just HDMI for both audio and video meaning less wires and hassle.

AVR, like Lucid suggests, is the best way to go. Yamaha RXV377 would get my vote.
 
Thanks for all your replies.

lucid said:
A cheap stereo amp (£80~£120) won't have a digital audio input. So you'd need then to add a basic DAC (£20-£30, and it handles basic PCM audio only). By the time you've cobbled that together then you might as well have bought an AV Receiver (Pioneer VSX329 £149~£169, or Yamaha RXV377 @ £175) and got all the input connections inc HDMI covered as well as decoding everything up to HD Audio.

An AV Receiver can be configured just to run a stereo pair of speakers.
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I already have a Cambridge Audio amp which the Raspberry Pi is connected to and it works great. The PS3 used to have standard left/right audio out but the loss of this on the PS4 is a problem as it only seems to have HDMI or optical.

Marsman said:
You don't say whether they are passive or powered speakers.
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I have no idea! They are bose acoustimass 3 series ii which I have owned for about the last twenty years and am very reluctant to replace.

RoyMi6 said:
AVR will have the added advantage of using just HDMI for both audio and video meaning less wires and hassle.

AVR, like Lucid suggests, is the best way to go. Yamaha RXV377 would get my vote.
Click to expand...

It's overkill for my needs. I just want decent stereo sound from my PS4 and Raspberry Pi - I don't need anything more. Plus they are a bit costly, I was looking for the cheapest solution possible.
 
Marsman said:
As has already been said, just get a DAC to convert optical from the PS4 to RCA out, which you can connect to the amp. This will do the job.
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I already have one of those, exactly the same one actually, and the quality is aweful - really bad noise interference.

Can you get better quality ones? I couldn't find anything other than the one I bought when I originally looked!

If you can get better quality ones then can somebody recommend one?

chaparral said:
Maybe something like a Teac Ah01 http://audio.teac.com/product/a-h01/overview/

...
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That seems ideal, but I'm unwilling to throw another £200-£300 at it.
 
You could try the CYP AU D3, or FiiO D3. Both should be better than the Proster DAC, I would have thought. If you get the same problem, then something else is causing it.
 
I might give those a try. Does the quality of the optical lead have any bearing on noise interference?
 
No, because optical uses light pulses. It cannot transmit interference because there is no electrical connection. Unlike coaxial (also digital), which being metal wiring can transit interference. Optical cable with either work, or won't if it's damaged.

If there is any interference being picked up, it will be on other side of the DAC process, possibly between the DAC and the amp.
 
Marsman said:
No, because optical uses light pulses. It cannot transmit interference because there is no electrical connection. Unlike coaxial (also digital), which being metal wiring can transit interference. Optical cable with either work, or won't if it's damaged.

If there is any interference being picked up, it will be on other side of the DAC process, possibly between the DAC and the amp.
Click to expand...

I did think as much myself but wanted to confirm it. Thanks.
 
Old school solution.

Buy a second hand Pioneer AZ-360 amp (or one of the various models in family).

http://www.hifiengine.com/manual_library/pioneer/a-z370.shtml

It's a digital vintage amp, that has both optical and SPDIF inputs. It can only support upto 16bit 48khz but this won't matter.

The integrated DAC is higher quality than both Creative Titanium HD, and Asus Essence ST (original) I have both sound cards, and 2 of these vintage pioneer amps.

The Pioneer AZ-360 family of amps, are Japanese hand built and despite their age will produce a sound quality probably better then any sub £300 Chinese amp today. They can be found on popular auction sites anywhere from £50-100.
 
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