I have an Audio Alchemy DDP-1 DAC + LPS + Audio Alchemy DMP-1 (Roon endpoint) that I am considering moving from my main audio system to my desktop computer so I can listen to Roon there. It’ll replace an internal sound card. I have a stereo system there, too, a tube amp, Spendor Monitors.
Do I need to keep the DMP-1, the Roon endpoint, to enable Roon to stream to my integrated amp? I’m thinking it is superfluous and all I need is the Roon Bridge installed to stream to my integrated amp, right?
Leave all that in your main system. You could use the desktop as Roon endpoint and add a usb dac to the computer to feed your amp or use its audio out ( won’t sound as good though), or a cheaper option is to by a small endpoint like a raspberry pi with a DAC board and runnig Ropieee ( os and Roon bridge) and feed that into your amp. You can use the desktop to control all the above options
Yes, but…
I’m planning to buy a new DAC for my main living room audio. That’ll make thr DDP-1 DAC superfluous. I’m trying to choose between a PS Audio DirectStream DAC and a Mytek Brooklyn, or maybe even thr Manhattan II. So the Audio Alchemy will be surplus. Besides, I have a really sweet sounding audio setup at my computer, an Audiomat Arpege tube amp that mates beautifully with the Spendor speakers there. They deserve a good DAC like the DMP-1. If I buy the PS Audio DAC, I could trade in the DMP-1 streamer/endpoint.
Well your choice is made then. Use that attached to the desktop. If you want control of Roon from the desktop then install the full Roon software it will ask if you want to use it as a remote or remote and core, just choose remote. Connected it to your core on the SonicTransporter and enable the DAC output from the desktop in Roon audio settings it should show up and your away. If you don’t want to control playback from the desktop then you can just install the bridge software which just runs in the background. But I would assume having control at the desktop is desired?
Yes, having control at the desktop as an option is desired. My eventual goal is to get all four of my stereo systems playing at once, but that’ll take awhile as the sound card at the desktop is down and choosing the new DAC will take me some time. But good to know I won’t need the DMP-1 anymore, so I will be free to trade it in or sell it.
Thanks for being so helpful!
Won’t you need it for the main system or are you looking at a new streamer/DAC combo for there?
I take it you have got through your initial library issues and are keeping Roon? If so good to have you onboard.
Oh I wish. I’ve had to take a little hiatus, but I’m back in the struggle to get SongKong to do what it’s supposed to do for me, that is to extract the metadata from my otherwise unreadable Naim generated WAV file. I’ve given up on the free version and I’ve decided to just buy it and give it a try. I have to buy the more expensive Melco version but iIt’s bound to work, if eventually.
Meanwhile, i’ve had some issues with SQ, a passion with me. I spent quite a lot of time listening because I want the best sound I can achieve. Roon hasn’t quite sounded as good as music run through Naim. And then I started hearing some distortion here and there. I think I have a faulty linear power supply for the Sonic Transporter. So I am looking into pricier Linesr Power Supplies. And then there is a new product coming from Uptone Audio that’s supposed to clean up Network Ethernet issues which I am yet to fully understand. I would prefer these necessary extra would,be optimized internally so I wouldn’t have to figure out what to do in areas I don’t really understand, but that’s not how digital has developed for the most part. As a result I think digital is unnecessarily complicated for naive sorts like myself. I am continually in a steep learning curve.
Not to be a Troll, and I don’t know this product, but be sure to be skeptical and vet the value of such things. Auidiophile ethernet tweaks can sometimes make claims analogous to “increase your vim and vigor with just one bottle.”
I think unlikely I will need it. The PS Audio DAC, for example, can have a Bridge added which will make it Roon ready and is fitted on its back panel. Or I’ve been informed that the UltraRendu would do the same. Either apparently will offer superior audio when compared with the DMP-1. That does leave the question: which sounds better, the Bridge or the UltraRendu, but I’m inclined to go with the Bridge regardless simply to avoid what I call “gadget and cable cluttering”. I have been dismayed by the clutter of all sorts of devices needed to clean up unwanted digital noise.
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“Needed” is of course a relative term. I’ve been impressed by how hard it is to find the effects of that digital noise, when one looks for it. But if they actually improve your SQ, go for it!
Its as complicated as you make it really. Mines very simple and works with no issues. One PC that runs Roon Core its on 24/7 and uses Roons Operating System ROCK so optimised for Roon. My music sits on a Hardrive attached to it, which itself gets backed up every night to my NAS. I have 6 zones around the house all using different hardware but the chain is simple no DSP, no purifiers, no USB, no cleaners just simple end points. Main one is my Naim Uniti Atom, 2nd room uses Bluesound Node 2 to some active speakers. bedrooms run Raspberry Pi’s that I built in to speakers to make my own wireless music systems and a solo Squeezebox Radio for the kitchen.
Bill, Thank you for this comment and the article to which you sent a link. I’ve been wondering if I am naively and needlessly worrying about “digital noise”. I will venture a guess that chasing digital noise suppressing gear is a little like venturing into receptacles, power cords, audio cables, fuses and so on.
That said, I can clearly hear that the music playing via my Naim Uniti Core vs music playing the Roon software through the Sonic Transporter is not equal. The Naim sounds better. The music chain is virtually identical as they both go through the same Ethernet switch, the same DAC, to the same tube amp and speakers, though admittedly there are a few differences. But I suspect the biggest difference lies in the power supply for the Sonic Transporter. I returned the Linear Power Supply that I added when I bought the Sonic Transporter because I thought it was faulty so I am down to the stock SMPS. I feel fairly safe in pursuing another LPS as they are all internal components of good audio equipment. Which one to buy is another story !!
As you like the Naim sound have you thought of a roon enabled Naim streamer?
That’s really interesting. How do you connect from the streamer to the DAC? Sounds to me as if the Naim is just better at producing whatever bits are being streamed over the Ethernet connection (or the sonicTransporter+Roon is worse :-)). Are you doing any DSP in one or the other? Can you characterize the “better” sound – better in what way?
Netgear Ethernet Switch, BJC Cat6a Ethernet Cable, Naim Uniti Core > BNC Coax > Audio Alchemy DAC & PS-5 LPS > Audiomat tube amp > Quad ESL-63 speakers
Same chain as above to Sonic Transporter + SMPS > (Network) > Audio Alchemy DMP-1 > iS2 > Same chain as above.
Both units have the same 1tb internal SSD with identical music.
I haven’t a clue how to apply DSP, and I really don’t believe in it, as I want the music to speak for itself and the equipment to do the same, so nothing else is added to the audio chain.
I am not good at finding the right words in characterizing audio in any detail, so my response may not be very helpful, but in this case I can hear a difference and it’s fairly clear, the Naim just sounds smoother, the ST slightly less clear, maybe a tad edgy in comparison. I’m not knocking the ST, but it shouldn’t be a surprise that Naim would sound better as it has a particular reputation for good sounding products. The Naim has an internal LPS which is one clear difference, while the ST a SMPS. I hope I’m on the right track in thinking a better LPS will equalize any differences. I will want to find something to equal the Naim somehow and maybe then I won’t hear a clear difference.
Simon, it is a bit complicated! As you have a specialized do-it-yourself system in ROCK and are able to mod your speakers to make them wireless. Way over my head…
But I do see your point that there is an absence in your system of what I called “gadgetry” above, so that is useful info.
Yes I have, but I haven’t looked into their new streamers with the attention that perhaps they deserve. The main reason is somewhat of a personal annoyance at being limited by the company’s very proprietary nature. My goal is to have all four of my music systems playing together and I can’t afford to do it with a Naim product for each endpoint.
The new streamers are roon certified, as RAAT end points they will group with all other RAAT end points. ( Won’t synch with Chromecast, Sonos but will with everything else)