Choose Smartly - Raspberry Pi 4 vs 3B+ for Audio Streaming

hi guys and welcome to my latest video and today's topic might be controversial for some but basically i'm going to talk about if you're using raspberry pi as a music streamer is there any difference between using raspberry pi 3b plus and pi 4. and if you have no idea how to use raspberry pi as a audio streamer then you should first read or watch any beginner's guides on how to do that and i also made one of these few months ago i will leave the link down below the video go watch that one first and then come back to talk about subtle details between different pi versions for the rest of us let's continue and i'm actually going to talk about two different possible situations and the first one if you're using only raspberry pi and then you're connecting it using usb port to your dac that's a usb connection and then you just need a raspberry pi nothing else the other option is if you use some sort of add-on or hat as they call them for raspberry pi's and in that case you're basically avoiding using usb outputs but instead you are sending your audio signal to these pins in form of i squared s signal and then this other board is sending the signal to your dac and just in my case i'm using allo dg1 board with which has spdif output in form of either rca or bnc connector but you might be using some motherboard like hi-fi berry or there are many manufacturers that produces these kind of audiophile hats for raspberry pi so that said let's begin with the first and the obvious difference and that's connectivity and features basically and there is not much to talk about really when we when we speak about that everything is pretty much the similar but the newer version pi 4 uses usb type c power connector while the older one pi 3b plus uses micro usb there are also some differences when it comes to hdmi connections but we are not using that when we are using these as music streamers so yeah we don't care really about it when it comes to processing power pi4 is newer it's faster one but when we use them as a music streamers we only notice that basically during the boot up sequence five four boots a little bit faster three b plus boots a little bit slower but after that everything works equally well all the formats and everything you pass through these works equally good on both of these versions but there is one quite important difference that happened with pi4 version basically what was going on with all the older pies is that usb ports and ethernet port shared the same bus it's basically like they're sharing the same road for data but with pi4 they actually introduced completely separate buses for usb ports and ethernet port meaning that data coming in and out of ethernet port will not influence data coming in and out of usb ports and this is supposedly important if we are going to use them connected to our decks via usb connection because now we don't have ethernet and usb ports clashing over data bandwidth but enough about theory let's talk about real use testing and what i did is i connected 3b plus using usb connection with my dac first i listen to it sometime and it doesn't sound bad it basically sounds very similar to any general purpose pc or laptop or things like that in my case because i don't have any fancy apple macbook or something like that if i actually compare pi 3 b plus with my working desktop pc and with my low budget acer a laptop i actually think that pi 3b plus sounds a little bit cleaner and a little bit better that might be due to its lower power consumption and dedicated operating system also but it's not bad it's not any worse than any general purpose pc but once you actually switch it and try raspberry pi 4 you immediately notice that the sound becomes neater and tidier and i especially think about base region and upper base mid bass whatever you like to call it there's just more control to it and it's more precise and more energetic and in comparison to it pi 3b plus sounds a little bit soft and bloated basically and with mid-range it's quite similar situation pi 4 sounds more energetic it sounds cleaner for example plucks of string instruments or piano notes they have more energy and they're hatched better with pi 3b plus everything is a little bit hazier and softer melting together somewhat with pi4 now everything took its form better edges are cleaner and plucks are more energetic and you add that better controlled bass line to it and you actually get a sound stage that feels more precise it feels like pi 4 is pin pinpointing things going on on stage better because they are not overlapping with each other as much as with pi 3b plus when i'm talking about highest frequency spectrum i don't really notice much difference there i cannot tell you that pi 4 brings out some sort of subtle details or something that you haven't been hearing with pi 3b plus i just don't feel like that but everything else i mentioned so far that firmer and better controlled baseline and that more energetic and crisper mid-range that outlines edges better is quite enough for me to say that pi 4 is without any doubt better for music streaming it just sounds tidier neater crisper and better than pi 3 b plus and if you plan to use them as they are with their own usb connectivity pi 4 is definitely a way to go in my opinion now let's move to the next part what happens if you actually add an external digital interface like aloe digion for example and in that case you're basically avoiding usb connectivity and at that moment you don't really care if ethernet port and usbs are sharing a bus because your audio signal your audio data is going through these on-board pins as i squared s signal to this board and then this board is filtering the signal reclocking it isolating it galvanically from the rest of the pi and sending a very clean speedif digital signal to your dac as i said in my case i'm using alo dg1 but there are different manufacturers doing similar type of boards and i believe that the conclusion made with this one will hold true with other hats also that said the situation changes when we are talking about this arrangement now pi4 doesn't have a lead anymore you can definitely definitely notice differences but in my opinion and to my ears it's more of a tonality difference than anything else so let's start with the raspberry pi 3b plus that's so clearly lost over usb connections once a good digital interface such as dg1 is connected to it sound improves immensely everything is tidier neater there is even more details in high frequencies i will not talk about much about this because there is a whole review dedicated to lodging one board i'll leave the link down below the video if you want to check it but basically it lifts the audio quality to another level and when i then take this dg1 board and i move it from pi 3b plus to pi 4 and i start listening again i notice some tonal differences for example first of all i notice a denser mid-range a denser and more forward mid-range and with it some notes sound more energetic but i also noticed that bass line sounds a little bit harder if i can it's not as relaxed it's a little bit harder and the highest spectrum it feels like it cannot convey all of the subtle details and all of the air that the pi 3b plus and dg1 can and i was switching back and forth and the impression with any song was always the same 3b plus and dg1 sounded a little bit more laid back a little bit more calm but i felt there is more sound stage depth and there is more air in the recording pi 4 and dg1 sounded a little bit more forward a little bit more energetic but with less air and with less depth and if i personally had to choose one and i actually have to because i'm using a raspberry pi and dg1 is my daily driver audio streamer i would actually go with pi 3b plus and dg1 that suits my ears and my taste better i feel that sound is a little bit more subtle a little bit more relaxed but depending on your own taste if you like things a little bit bolder in the mid range a little bit denser and more aggressive you might prefer pie 4. it also depends a lot on your system if you're having a system that's a little bit laid back in that mid-range section pi4 might suit that system better in my own i don't have any problems with that if anything cath ls 50s are mid-range forward speakers and in my system and to my ears pi 3b plus and dg1 simply sounds a little bit better with a little bit more subtlety and this is definitely not an easy choice i heard other reviewers too mentioning that they prefer 3b plus and dg1 but i also heard some different opinions on online forums and things like that where people said oh when i actually exchanged 3b plus for pi 4 i felt the sound improved so this is the only thing i can tell you i tried to explain the tonal differences between the two and you would have to choose for yourself what do you think your streamer should sound like and what do you think you would prefer personally and with that it's time to finish this video and this comparison and what i can tell you with certainty is that if you're going to use usb outputs to connect raspberry pi to your deck pi 4 is a definitive winner you have nothing to think about go for pi 4 it's like 15 or 20 bucks more expensive but it pays it simply sounds better tidier more energetic but if you immediately want to upgrade pi with some additional digital spdif or any other type of board that's going to draw the signal from the pins not from the usb ports then it's much tougher choice in my opinion in that case 3b plus is slightly better choice but some people will not agree with me so what can i say i like giving more definitive answers than this but in in this case in this situation i simply cannot so one last time for usb use by four without a doubt for use with hat in my opinion pie 3b plus a little bit better that's it thank you for watching and see you next time bye [Music] you

Channel: iiWi Reviews

Views: 16,847

Keywords: Raspberry, Pi, Streamer, streaming, Pi 4, Pi 3B+, Allo, DigiOne, audio, audiophile, hifi, stereo, digital, DAC, iiwi, iiwireviews

Id: A5tnU0Cw2mU

Length: 15min 5sec (905 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 03 2021