# Mele + DAC + MPD => the perfect bit-perfect setup

> Use a Mele A2000 as a low-power bit-perfect audio player: MPD without resampling, NAS over NFS/CIFS, USB DAC (Micromega MyDac) — full config.

- URL: https://guillaumeplayground.net/mele-dac-mpd-the-perfect-bit-perfect/
- Author: Guillaume (https://guillaumeplayground.net/about/)
- Published: 2013-01-27
- Updated: 2013-04-14
- Section: Computing & hacking
- Topics: allwinner a10, debian, ubuntu, bit perfect, dac, mpd
- Source: Guillaume playground

Mele is just a great little platform for so many usage.  
Since 2 weeks, i’m using one of mine as a bit perfect audio player:

-   ultra low power consumption – always ready to play
-   usb2 or spdif
-   sata if you don’t have nas

I’m using a [Micromega MyDac](http://micromegahifi.com/index.php/en) in usb2 (299 Euros, the best sounding sub-1KEuro DAC).  
The setup is quite simple:  
(NAS) -> (NFS or CIFS) -> (MELE/MPD) -> (DAC)

The mele is hosting mpd without resampling (because resampling is evil).  
Choose ubuntu or debian headless and update the [kernel](https://guillaumeplayground.net/mele-armhf-3-0-57-kernel-update/).

I have create a share on my nas and mounted it in /nas (replace XXX with samba ShareName, login, password)  
`    # /etc/fstab   //192.168.1.1/XXX /nas cifs username=XXX,password=XXX,_netdev 0 0    `  
You can use nfs also or simply mount your sata disk with your music files in one directory.

Install:  
`    apt-get install mpd alsa-utils    `

Check you device (this is the output with GFX version – hdmi is creating 2 cards).  
`    # aplay -l   **** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****   card 0: sun4icodec [sun4i-CODEC], device 0: M1 PCM [sun4i PCM]   Subdevices: 1/1   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0   card 1: sun4isndhdmi [sun4i-sndhdmi], device 0: SUN4I-HDMIAUDIO sndhdmi-0 []   Subdevices: 1/1   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0   card 2: MYDAC [MICROMEGA MYDAC], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]   Subdevices: 1/1   Subdevice #0: subdevice #0    `

MPD.CONF:  
`    ## Things on the nas   # keep my DB on the nas to index it with a mpd running on my nas, i have 2To   music_directory "/nas/mp3"   playlist_directory "/nas/mpd/playlists"   db_file "/nas/mpd/tag_cache"   log_file "/nas/mpd/mpd.log"   pid_file "/var/run/mpd/pid"   state_file "/var/lib/mpd/state"   sticker_file "/nas/mpd/sticker.sql"   user "root"   group "root"   bind_to_address "any"   save_absolute_paths_in_playlists "yes"   metadata_to_use "artist,album,title,track,name,genre,date,disc"   follow_inside_symlinks "yes"   zeroconf_enabled "no"   zeroconf_name "Music"   input {   plugin "curl"   }   audio_output {   type "alsa"   # Tune the device here. My dac is card 2. Will be '0' with headless.   device "hw:2,0"   name "MYDAC"   # For hardware mixer:   mixer_control "MICROMEGA Clock Selector"   auto_resample "no"   auto_channels "no"   auto_format "no"   use_mmap "yes"   }   connection_timeout "60"   max_connections "100"   max_playlist_length "16384"   max_command_list_size "2048"   max_output_buffer_size "8192"   filesystem_charset "UTF-8"   id3v1_encoding "UTF-8"    `

ASOUND.CONF  
`    # /etc/asound.conf   # Put the card name listed with 'aplay -l'   pcm.!default { type hw card MYDAC }   ctl.!default { type hw card MYDAC }    `

It’s done. Restart alsa-utils and mpd. Refresh your file DB.  
`    # service alsa-utils restart   # service mpd restart   # mpc update    `  
You can now access your mele mpd with any mpd client, your choice. I’m using this:  
– MPDRemote from my Nokia N9  
– MPDroid from any android  
– [Sonata](http://sonata.berlios.de/) from any linux  
– [Client175](http://code.google.com/p/client175/) from any browser

For the Micromega MyDac, i can check the status directly here:  
`    # cat /proc/asound/MYDAC/pcm0p/sub0/hw_params   access: MMAP_INTERLEAVED   format: S32_LE   subformat: STD   channels: 2   rate: 96000 (96000/1)   period_size: 12000   buffer_size: 48000    `

Yes!  
Bit perfect studio master 96KHz 32bit from Lynn Record with a Mele at 0.3 of load, the Micromega MyDac (up to 192kHz) and an audio grade usb2 cable.

The best sub-$500 sound server package you could ever ear.

My final [Setup](https://guillaumeplayground.net/audiophile-a10-bit-perfect-player/) !