Looking for some thoughts on how this would work, if it’s even doable and whether or not it makes sense or is there value in the idea.
Currently have my music files on spinning disks in a Rock server located in my utility room. Streamer and DAC are located with the rest of my system. All hard wired.
As a result of general audiophile gear addiction I’m considering purchasing an Aurender ACS10, used, with two thoughts in mind: A “better” quality streamer source for my DAC and I like the idea of having the media files located right there at the streamer, not traversing the network. I would move the music files from the Rock machine to the Aurender. Having a CD ripper is a bonus, though not a big consideration.
Thats all well and good if I wanted to use the Aurender software, but I like Roon and prefer to stay with it. And the ACS10 is a model that is now Roon ready.
So how does this work? I select the queue from my Roon control point, Rock pulls the media file from the Aurender to process and sends it back to the Aurender to pass to the DAC? That seems awkward and weird but that’s the only way I see it working. Im probably overlooking something…
Roon will stream the music from storage to the server. It will process to pcm or dsd. Then send it to the endpoint. Imho, always have the music files local to the roon server.
You can choose where to place the music files. On the Roon server or on the Aurender, or… on both. I tried it on my N20, and it works. I don’t hear a difference, but it makes sense that you put the music on the Roon Server, right? That’s how I use it now.
You’re probably gonna hate me for this, but don’t get me wrong and take it personal.
Although there’s enough scientific and technical proof that the phrase „everything matters“ is an antiquated audiophile mantra from the all-analog days, you’ll still find plenty advocates, manufacturers in need for revenue and audiophiles to justify their compulsive endeavors.
If you’re in this hobby for the music, you can rest assured of not missing out on audio quality by accepting the fact that up until the DAC, your music is just digital data packets.
If it’s for haptics, ergonomics or sheer bling factor and bragging rights, just go for it.
Thanks for the reasoned replies folks. As I suspected, there is next to zero value in purchasing a streamer with built in storage in my situation unless I was planning on moving away from Roon and onto the Aurender in-house platform.