Hi-Fi in 10 minutes: installing gtCore on the Raspberry Pi, step by step

Got a Raspberry Pi sitting in a drawer and want to turn it into a Hi-Fi source? This guide covers the whole process, from an empty SD card to the first track playing through your DAC. The indicative time is about 10 minutes of active work, on top of the time it takes to download and flash the operating system, which depends on your connection.

What you need before you start

• A Raspberry Pi, model 3 or newer. It doesn't run on a generic PC.
• A microSD card of at least 16GB (class 10 or higher recommended), or a USB SSD on Pi 4/5.
• A power supply matched to your Raspberry Pi model.
• A DAC — a HAT board on the GPIO pins, or an external USB DAC — connected to your amplifier or active speakers.
• A computer to write the operating system image onto the SD card.
• The home network that both the Raspberry Pi and the device you'll use to control it (phone, tablet, computer) sit on.

Step 1 — Prepare the SD card

Download and install Raspberry Pi Imager on your computer, select Raspberry Pi OS (64-bit Lite) as the operating system, and write it to the SD card. In the Imager's advanced settings, enable SSH and set up your WiFi connection (if you're not using an Ethernet cable) before writing the image — it saves you a later step.

Step 2 — First boot

Insert the SD card into the Raspberry Pi, connect the DAC and power it on. Wait a few minutes for the first boot: the device should appear on your network under the name you set while preparing the card.

Step 3 — Install gtCore

From a terminal (on your computer, connected via SSH to the Raspberry Pi, or directly if you have a monitor and keyboard attached), run the install command:

curl -fsSL https://www.getile.com/download/gtcore.sh | sudo bash

The script automatically downloads and configures everything needed. If you run into anything unclear during install, the site's installation guide also covers the less common cases (unusual hardware, non-standard network setups).

Step 4 — Open the panel and do the first setup

Once installation is done, open a browser on a device connected to the same network and go to gtcore.local. The panel walks you through first setup: account activation (needed to start the free 30-day trial), detecting the connected DAC, and basic library configuration.

Step 5 — Add your sources

From here you can connect your local library (from a NAS or USB drives), activate a high-resolution streaming service if you have a subscription, and browse the internet radio, podcasts and audiobooks already built in — all in the same interface, with no switching between apps.

What to do if something doesn't work

If the Raspberry Pi doesn't show up on the network, the most common cause is the WiFi setup being skipped in step 1: reflash the SD card, making sure you enabled SSH and entered the correct network credentials in the Imager's advanced settings. If the DAC isn't detected, check the physical connection and, for HAT boards, that they're properly seated on the GPIO pins before power-on.

After the 30-day trial

The trial includes every feature, including multiroom. When it ends you can move to gtCore Base ($98 one-time, no multiroom) or Pro ($148 one-time, with multiroom) — neither option comes with a recurring fee.