my system

(Latest update: Nov-29-2025)

Below I am outlining the setup of my main audio system. As usual it's a work-in-progress system.

I hope that this article puts the projects, articles and recommendations you'll find over here into a certain context, something that makes sense to you.

Disclaimer:

I do not have any commercial or business relationships with any of the manufacturers and related products that are shown on this page and blog.

Speakers

PIO Sound Falcon -- Hybrid Electrostatic speakers 



IMO great sounding and very nice looking speakers.
(unfortunately out of production and business)

>> slightly modified

Amplifier

Purifi Eval 1 and modified Ghent Audio Case (DIY)

IMO a very neutral amp. It delivers plenty of rock solid power from bottom to top. 

Almost "boringly" good.  The amp plays everything you throw at him. And it's load independent.

The best amp I ever had.

I run the amp at 0dB pre-stage gain setting, which is usually more than sufficient.

The input pre-gain stage will be "bypassed"  and that improves the already excellent 

SINAD performance by another 4dB according to ASR. (here's are the ASR measurements and ranking)

Preamplifier

None 

straight DAC >> amp connection

The Purifi amp allows to configure different gain levels. That's pretty useful for a good DAC-amp integration.

All-In-One audio streaming solution

All-In-One means: audio (streaming) server, client and storage on a single machine   

Hardware 

• RPi5
• 4GB RAM
• GeeekPi passive (top/bottom) cooling
• Pimorini NVME.M2 HAT
• Sabrent 2230 M.2 NVME 2TB
• IanCanada Shield Pi Pro (rail filter and buffer)
• Allo Shanti (for RPi and NVME) plus 1200uF OSCON buffer.
• iFi iDefender (DAC)
• iFi iPurifier (DAC)
• Ghent Audio USB (JSSG360) Silver-plated Star Quad
• Gbit ethernet (LinkUp CAT8)
• and more

NOTE: 

As you can find on several of my blog articles, I avoid wireless networking and network storage.

Now with the RPi5 in place I also avoid SD cards and USB SSDs as storage media. EEProm

was also worse than my SSD NVME HAT solution.

Software

• custom (pi-gen)  Raspberry PI OS 64 - Trixie
• custom 64-bit rt-kernel (based on 6.12.x RPI foundation kernel)
• custom 64-bit userspace
• custom Lyrion audio server (LMS) (based on latest github LMS)
• custom squeezelite (my own fork offered on github )
• advanced tuning measures ( some are described  on the blog some you'll find in tuning kit - sKit )

Note: 

I consider this latest standalone all-in-one audio streaming solution the best and to me best sounding solution. Much less administrative workload makes this one-box setup very convenient to work with.

Some of you might wonder why I am not using piCorePlayer, or any other audio streaming OS.

The reason is simple. 

I can and I am building and customizing my entire RPI SW setup (OS, rt-kernel, LMS, squeezelite)  from scratch all by myself. That'll give me maximum flexibility and freedom to do and tweak whatever I like. And not to forget: My own SW setup simply gives me best results. Better than any other Linux audio streaming solution for the RPI hardware out there. 

Digital to Analog Converter

Gustard A18

Oh. Gee. A commercial DAC. Yep. I was able to a snatch a used one. An offering I couldn't resist. I know the DAC is a bit dated by now. 

Here's the ASR review

Measurements looked really nice. Beside that it also sounds nice. Gustards are known for powerful and natural sound. The A18 comes with a native balanced architecture and also combines the two DACs on the excellent AKM 4499 chip. It comes with Accusilicon clocks asf. Here's a nice review.

However. I wasn't happy with the stock DAC after the first hours - to be honest - I was rather disappointed in the beginning. The Gustard wasn't even a match for my "tuned" $100 Khadas ToneBoard 1 setup. Hmmh.  What were these reviews talking about!?!? I switched back to my Allo Katana HAT DAC a real nice one.

Of course I didn't gave up on that fellow.

All of us with a bit of experience know that there's usually more to gain with any setup. You simply shouldn't give up too early.  I did run the DAC in its stock config - first.

For commercial off-the-shelf products, I figured,  there's a rather generic tweakers list that never disappoints - if getting applied properly.

My List of Tweaks:  

• mains cable swap - high quality silver cable
• USB cable swap - Ghent Audio USB(JSSG360) Silver-plated Star Quad 
• fuse - DIY silver fuse (bypass is best - but please don't do it - you might smoke your device! )
• on DAC filters - sharp filter setting
• USB filter - iFi iPurifer
• USB power and ground isolator - iFi iDefender fed by Allo Shanti

One word about that IMO excellent special USB link setup: 

Through the iDefender the iPurifier gets properly powered from a spare Shanti rail.

At the same time any groundloop impact gets limited.

The iPurifier is attached right to the DAC. The regenerated stream runs perfectly with perfect impedance into the DAC. And there's no need for another cable.

This setup addresses ground issues, the power is taken care of, the data stream gets reclocked,  regenerated and some 30dB filtering gets applied. Nice.

The power supply related tweaks (fuse and mains cable) are pretty generic and work on most other DACs as well. Mains cables can make and usually make a hell of a difference! Do not not leave that area untouched!

Control and User interface

Lyrion "Material Skin" plugin - runs as WebApp (booked marked) on Android, iOS and PC

There's no need for more.

Networking

router:
AVM Fritzbox 4060

switch:

D-Link DGS-11008V2 - ( 8 port switch)

isolator:

DeLOCK 62619

cabling:

KabelDirekt CAT8

Note: 

The switch and the isolator sit right in front of the RPI connected via 1m cables

Tweaks:

quality power supplies

stargrounding - ground wire attached (soldered) to the metal output jack frame of each device

Power

Allo Shanti 5V (out of production)

It's IMO a great and affordable linear 2x5V PS. Though You'd better call it a linear charged non-regulated supercap supply! Because it comes with a huge supercap buffer right on it's DC outputs. 

As much as I like the device and it's outstanding performance, there are plenty of so-and-so's that come with it:

• it is really bulky and the shape of its case is odd - it doesn't fit anywhere
• both DC rails can't be switched on and off separately
• the huge supercap output buffer discharges over the load, which
• can take quite a time on low loads
• in my case I am suffering nasty turn off thumps
• there are rather big venting holes on top of the case - dust will settle and things might drop into the device

I use the Shanti for

• RPi5  (3A output)
• iFi iDefender (1A output)

modifications and tweaks:

• DC cable replaced and shortened
• DC plugs/jacks removed
• mains cable replacement
• fuse replacement
• introducing DC-rail ""relays"" which -
• solves my Shanti supercap discharge issue
• solves my Shanti turn-on/off thump issues
• allows separate control and timing of rails to start devices in proper order
• allow (Wifi) remote power control using ESP8266

Power strip

DIY mains power strip (star - cabling) 

mains-filtering

• Thel mains filter and 
• iFi AC iPurifier

high quality (DIY) internal cabling and connectors

Grounding

Proper grounding of audio equipment is a key factor for keeping all kind of noise and distortions
under control. Many people simply do not realize that the entire chain needs proper grounding in place.
Make sure you figure out how to introduce proper grounding to avoid nasty and dirty ground loops.

The Allo audio devices such as the Shanti or Nirvana are offering a great star-grounding point.

Audio cables and wiring

(DIY) solid-core silver cables and wire
connectors - none - most of the gear is hardwired

Wrap up

That's it!?!?  Yep at least for now.  Of course I'm not saying it can't get better over here. It always will... 

All these continuous developments keep us all and our hobbies going. I do follow the developments

out there closely.  One day I might feel tempted to go for a potentially more advanced solution.

There are numerous solutions out there.

Great times.

Enjoy. I do - very much so!