Anyone have experience with AudioByte or Rockna DACs & Streamers?
I’ve just sold an AudioByte Black Dragon after several happy years of use.
Do you mind sharing why you sold the black dragon, what replaced it and your preference?
Also how compatable with Roon?
I owned the Black Dragon for the majority of the time they have been available. It works well with Roon, there were no issues with it as a straight DAC. The issue for me was personal. Lots of boxes, the Black Dragon, an Atom powered NUC and AudioByte Hydra Z with attendant power supplies and a passive pre-amp have all been replaced with a single box, the Teac NT-505. There has been talk and occasional glimpses of the streamer and DAC that was being developed under the AudioByte name and I would have gone over to it in a heart beat. But it has been slow coming to market and I needed the space. The NT-505 has been faultless as a streaming DAC. It is Roon enabled and works well. And if Roon doesn’t work out it’s native streaming solution is Lumin powered.
|### Jeff Odum jeffodum0@gmail.com|12:31 PM (2 minutes ago)||
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Appreciate the response!
The Teac 505 has been an “elusive” creature for me meaning I have not found an opportunity to audition it. An Esoteric dealer had mentioned the 505 came “scary” close the Esoteric performance and was outstanding. It was mentioned the external clock helped.
What is your impression between the AudioByte and Teac?
Yes the number of boxes can add up…
Hi, the AudioByte is lovely DAC. Very little colouration and the i2S input is a gem especially when you use Roon to upsample to its maximum DSD rate. The Teac is also very good. In comparison though it’s headphone amp and the pre-amp are better than those in the AudioByte. And it has the Ethernet input.
My DAC evolution since 2006 has been:
Benchmark DAC1
Metrum Octave (mkI)
AudioByte Black Dragon
Teac NT-505 / CG-10M
Didn’t know you have the CG-10M. Are you using the specified 50 ohm clock cable instead of the much more common 75 ohm?
Yes, if the clock interfaces were 75 ohm I could have made my own cables (I use the proper calibrated crimping tools in my day job) but it was easier to buy them ready made as 50 ohm. The associated network switch was also made with a 50 ohm interface for that reason.
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