I’ve been looking at replacing my old, but still serviceable, Auralic Aries streaming transport with something newer. Of the higher-end units that list relevant details, many (or most? or all?) of them note a 4-core ARM CPU, 4/8GB DRAM, and some amount of eMMC storage. This all suggests a Raspberry Pi or similar small compute module is being used as the engine to drive the streamer software. Seeing as I’ve owned the original Aries for eleven years and it still works as well as ever, I’m a bit leery of investing in a new streamer that uses eMMC storage as it’s fairly short-lived, the longevity depending on how hard it’s used. Eleven years would be quite a feat for eMMC.
Can Paul or another PS Audio employee comment on the hardware being used for the internal streamer of the new DAC?
I was waiting for Paul, but I think in his videos from Axpona he explains it. its a proprietary module they have inside. I don’t think its a RPi. Probably taking queue from the Airlens and putting in module.
Hmm. I watched several of the Axpona videos, but I believe there was only a kind of passing mention of the streamer—at least, in the video of Paul introducing the PMG series. Paul said the streamer was “that little board in the back” and mentioned Barry, their “programming genius”, talked about using a QR code to connect to Wi-Fi, and alluded to Qobuz Connect. That was about the extent of what he said at the introduction other than that the streamer was remarkable, though I admit there could well be an Axpona video I didn’t see. Whether or not the DAC uses a Raspberry Pi doesn’t really answer the question of the nature of any non-volatile storage, though, or even if there is any.
It is based on a an OPi at its heart and that is married to a proprietary PCB with all the Lens reclocking gear, crystals, and galvanic isolation elements that make it do what it does.
Sigh. Thank you, Paul, for sharing information regarding the internal streamer.
I suppose the answer to my original question is moot at this point since I’ve placed a deposit on a PMG Signature 512 DAC. If I have streamer issues with the DAC in the future, I’ll just have you guys fix it.
I’m anxiously awaiting word that my new DAC is ready for shipment. I’ve loved the sound of my DS Mk1 for many years, and I’m greatly anticipating the upgrade.
My original question was mainly to determine whether or not relatively short-lived eMMC storage, common in Raspberry Pi modules, was being used by the streamer. Given the large number of Orange Pi configurations available, many of which don’t contain eMMC storage, I still don’t know the answer to that question—hence my sigh—but it’s kind of irrelevant now because I’ve ordered the DAC.
Thanks, again, Paul. I can’t wait to hear it, either!
There is a 20 gigabyte SD card we install in the streamer that takes the place of that and will last for many, many years the way it’s been setuip and the amount of storage for such small needs.