I heard that the the amazing Bacch products from Theoretica Applied Physics should be able to act as Roon endpoints. I can’t find any information about this on the theoretica website. Has anyone any news or read about this?
Looking at the BACCH-SP MODELS features there is no network connection listed, so they can’t been Roon Ready devices (i.e. supporting RAAT). However, they have a USB audio input so it highly likely Roon will be able to stream to them via that port.
If the models have been submitted to Roon for testing then they may in time be listed a Roon Tested, but they are not listed on the Roon Labs Partners page at present.
Thanks for your reply, but all Bacch models do have a network connection - just have a look at the back panel picture of one of the models https://www.theoretica.us/img/adio-back.jpg
In addition, since you control the Bacch-products via an iPad interface, a network interface of some sort is mandatory.
Hi @ChristianK,
Thanks for link, yes I see the LAN port on the back panel, odd it’s not listed on the feature page.
I guess that improves the odds of them being able to support RAAT somewhat.
I’ve not been able to find any reference to that affect mind.
Have you tried contacting them directly?
I have tried to contact them, but no reply yet.
Got an answer from Theoretica, so now this is sorted out:
The BACCH-SP contains a dedicated CPU running a Unix-based OS and it comes pre-configured with both a Roon Core and a RoonBridge. Depending on the user’s preference, we can switch one or the other so that the appropriate application is launched automatically by the BACCH-SP when it boots.
So I guess if you only have the bridge enabled in the BACCH-SP, it would be similar to an endpoint, but I’m not really sure what the differences are between an endpoint and a bridge?
Cool, thanks for the update.
This is how I think of [Network] Bridge vs. [audio] endpoint:
- Network Bridge = Network to USB (or SPDIF) adaptor that you can connect a 3rd party DAC to
- Audio Endpoint = Network with integrated DAC
I’ll tag @Mike as it sounds like BACCH-SP should be listed on Roon’s partners page.
I know this is an old thread, but in case anyone’s interested in BACCH, I’m trying out the BACCH4Mac Intro. 2 week trial, $980 if I keep it.
My early impressions:
Even with this intro edition, the effects on soundstage/imaging can be rather remarkable. It seems to have more benefits for some tracks than others. On one of the first tracks we played, a Wycliffe Gordon rendition of “Down by the Riverside”, the trombone sounded like it was about 2 meters to the left of my left speaker (outside the LR walls, out on my front porch).
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Hi @Tom_K , I am also interested in Bacch. Would you mind sharing your impressions please? I listen to a lot of jazz and classical music, so generally speaking acoustic, well recorded and often with few mics. Beside the spatial representation I would also like to know whether Bacch is impacting the accuracy of tones and micro details which are so important for acoustic music…thanks in advance !
Hi @Bped.
I’ve been using only the BACCH4Mac Intro edition, which does not provide head-tracking and other advanced features. Even with the Intro edition, the effects IMO are quite good (but more pronounced on some recordings than others). Recently I tried Apple’s new Spatial Audio capability in Apple Music, using fairly good non-Apple headphones (but with no head tracking). I find the BACCH effects superior (and can enjoy them with Roon OR Apple Music). Well-recorded jazz albums can sound especially good, as long it’s more than a single vocalist playing a piano (Diana Krall and such) in which case you may not notice much effect at all. The main effect is to widen the apparent soundstage beyond the width of the speakers, and perhaps add some depth and height as well as subtle reverb effects. Theoretica claims it does all this without impacting frequency response accuracy, and I’m inclined to believe them (although I’ve never done careful A/B testing.)
To add everything required for a head-tracking capability would cost another several thousand US dollars. From what I’ve read, the main benefit would be improved imaging (for better holographic/3D effects.)
The software user interface is klunky and may be a little daunting to some users. Be sure to take screen shots showing every setting, once you have it all up and running. The customer service may be the best I’ve ever experienced for any product.
In some forums, participants may dismiss this product as a gimmick. In my opinion it is a serious product that many audiophiles could appreciate if they tried it. It’s like moving up to better speakers in a room with better acoustics. One limitation though is that the sweet-spot will be rather narrow, so it is more for serious listening by one or two people, not for a dance party or for casual background music while you fix dinner. It may work best with relatively focused speakers (like Sanders or Janszen models).
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Hi @Tom_K thanks for you me feedback and glad to hear that you are enjoying it. It looks very interesting to me and I will give it a try at some point. I listen more on headphones at the moment so I don’t know whether it is the right product but I also plan to move and upgrade my speakers in the near future… we’ll see…
The BAACH4Mac Intro does not support spatial audio for headphones.
For that capability, I believe you’d need to move up to at least to the B4M Audiophile+ version,
which is much more expensive than the Intro.
If I usually listened through headphones and wanted spatial audio, I’d probably look first at Apple Music since it now supports spatial audio. However, only a relatively small number of recordings are available in Dolby Atmos. Also, to get the full effect, you may need a product such as the AirPods Max with head-tracking support. But with BAACH4Mac, the only necessary tie-in to the Apple ecosystem is a Mac Mini or other Apple computer to run the DSP software. And it isn’t limited to Dolby Atmos recordings.
Still, right now we’re in “early adopter” territory for spatial audio (unless we’re talking about full-blown surround sound systems primarily for movies).
Useful, thanks! I’d rather stick to Qobuz and explore what Bacch can offer. TBC…
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I’ve got feedback from Bacch team.
“There is a good chance we’ll work on Roon support at some point in the future, once we have all use cases and bugs fixed on Windows and mac! …”
Maybe Roonlab can support this plugin.