Hello, I’m considering purchasing Roon, but I want to know if I can have Roon CONVERT pcm files played through my Tidal HiFi account to DSD through its settings and have those converted files play through my Bluesound Node 2 - outputed to my external PS Audio Gain Cell DAC which can accept DSD files. I hope this makes sense. Any help would be appreciated.
Doug
Roon can upsample PCM to DSD no problem. I do not think however that the Node 2 will pass DSD – and even if it does, reading the specs your DAC does not accept DSD over S/PDIF:
For DSD 64/128 to play (via DoP), you would need to feed your DAC via USB. You would need a USB endpoint/bridge for that. Allo USBridge, Sonore microRendu/ultraRendu, SoTM SMS200 are all good choices.
Thank you. Would any of the options you mentioned work if the Bluesound Node 2 fed one of those via coax or S/PDIF?
I checked and the Bluesound Node 2’s USB does not output sound through its USB port. I can however pass through MQA files through its digital out ports to my PS Audio DAC.
I may just need to give this up here and enjoy the quality pcm files. Or, I can get the DSD files played through Roon connected to my PS Audio DAC from my laptop via USB?
AFAIK (and I may have misunderstood) the only support for DSD on the Node is from the Bluesound Windows app via USB i.e. not via RAAT, and as @RBM says I don’t think it can pass through.
This. You will be very hard pressed to hear any difference in sound having Roon upsample to DSD vs the PS Audio doing it internally. Just send it the original PCM.
I appreciate that, but I have heard many testimonies of people who hear a significant difference when pure dsd is streamed to a capable dac receiving this sort of signal. I’d like to try it out. I can already hear a difference when I play dsd files through my computer directly to my PS Audio NuWave DSD DAC, and I’d love to hear the results of PCM being converted to DSD. That being said, it would be fantastically convenient if the Bluesound Node 2 did this and was able to pass it through via coax or S/PDIF.
IMO, if you have the conversion done with a capable processor on Roon core, it will reduce the processing demand on your DAC processor. This can have a positive result, but not necessarily. It’s the kind of thing you have to test system by system.
This is a very good point…I’m curious if it would have a positive effect through my Bluesound. It would probably be inaudible there I imagine since the Bluesound would be the limiting factor there - not Roon. Unless I try Roon through my PC of course. Trial and error…