Please remember that the Roon Community has members that run the gambit from DIYers to cost no object audiophiles. And while I agree that the microRendu with a linear power supply is not as cheap as a DIY raspberry Pi endpoint, it is one of the least expensive plug and play RAAT endpoints with USB output that is able to stream DSD and high resolution FLAC plus the vendors are there to offer support should one need it. The only thing missing is Wi-Fi. I stand by my recommendation.
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It’s not one of the least expensive plug and play RAAT endpoints by a long shot.
“Support” is a subjective term. I’ve read some of the historical threads on here and have no desire to engage legal counsel to defend my viewpoint, so I’ll say no more on this subject…
RPi also offers Wi-Fi.
And I think you are blinded (hmmm, what’s the audio version of “blinded”?) by the price tags and your own prejudices. There’s no way to resolve this dilemma except by looking at objective third-party evidence. Otherwise, we can yammer at each other all day.
I agree If he is willing to go outside his Budget yes,
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@Graeme_Finlayson @Speed_Racer @SukieInTheGraveyard @Bill_Janssen
Gentlemen please understand that this Roon Community is a relatively “new” audio forum and unless we behave ourselves when it comes to pointless infighting we run the risk of having all discussions being so heavily moderated that they become useless.
I strongly suggest that the objective DBT crowd ask that the moderators set up a little corner of this community where these types of discussions can take place without fear of flame wars erupting.
Thankfully other the occasional threads about audiophile network switches and uber expensive CAT 
cable I haven’t seen too many threads on wires and cables since these threads are sure fire flame wars waiting to happen.
Also be aware that since Roon’s target audience is mostly audiophiles, the subjective audiophiles far out number the objective Roon users. In the interest of transparency I consider myself to be in the objective group with some audiophile foolishness thrown in for fun and giggles.
I think the Moderators here are fairly pragmatic and well balanced - open discussion is encouraged, even if it occasionally gets heated. In the main, as long as it’s civil, they don’t intervene. Personal insults are not tolerated, and neither should they be.
Like they have over at CA/AS? Put the sensible objectivists in their own playpit where they can’t hurt anyone’s feelings?
Roon’s target audience is its subscribers. Where’s your evidence to support the assertion that subjective audiophiles are in the majority?
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The fact that when I stream an AAC file from Tidal (I refuse to give MQA any of my money) the Roon signal path indicates “Low Quality” when it very clearly should say “Lossy”. I don’t find a well made, high bit rate AAC to be low quality, in fact I find it to be of a very reasonable and very listenable quality. To me this “low quality” label smacks of a strong audiophile bias.
Exactly! 
By the way that’s one forum I avoid since all that nonsense just makes my blood boil.
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To be fair to Roon, being bit-perfect is one of it’s selling points, so it’s not entirely surprising that lossy formats are labelled as lower quality. Although you are right, “lossy” is probably a more accurate and objective description.
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I’m glad that you agree however I should have stated that although I don’t find listening to AAC files to be low quality my judgement in this matter cannot be trusted due to all the blood pouring out of ears
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Your concerns are noble, Ralph, and do you credit.
However, this is really a discussion of epistemology, and that seems (to me) appropriate everywhere. Evidence-based reasoning and the so-called “scientific” method has taken us so far, I’m loath to give up on it.
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Oh brother…
Lossy IS lower quality than the lossless so lossless AAC is “low quality” by comparison. Just like in photography where a jpeg file is low quality compared to the RAW file.
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My ears say otherwise and I trust my ears.
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You’re clearly not a photographer. You can’t view a RAW file, only a JPG after editing and conversion of the RAW file. RAW file vs JPG out of camera is a different matter entirely - the RAW file has the full 12 or 14 bit image data which allows for shadow/highlight recovery before converting to JPG whereas the JPG is a ‘baked’ 8 bit file where ‘clipped’ shadow and highlight detail are lost forever. The RAW file still has to be edited and converted to JPG before it can be viewed outside of a RAW editor.
Full disclosure - my RS3617xs hosted Roon Core was originally a photo file server to deal with hundreds of thousands of RAW files from 3 Nikon D800s when I was a paid 'tog.
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Unless we’re talking about JPEG2000, of course.
Talk about spinning off-topic…
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Well good morning everyone 
As the OP, I hope this little ‘domestic’ is now behind us, and we can return to the original topic. 
I have decided on a RPi 4 with a DAC2 HD. However, the two retailers that have been kindly suggested, have limited stocks of what I need. One hasn’t got the RPi power supply, the other hasn’t got the metal black case to house the two modules. Would prefer to get it all from the same retailer for various reasons.
Apart from Amazon, The Pi Hut and HiFiBerry, is there another retailer?
Thanks guys
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Just before Christmas I built a Roon Endpoint using RPi 4 and HiFiBerry DAC2 HD board.
I used the HighPi Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Case.
It works a treat in my headphone system.
I bought all the parts from The Pi Hut.
Good luck
Dave
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In case you haven’t seen this thread -
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So Darko and Hans both looking at Roon endpoints at different ends of the market, and both were quite interesting in their own ways.
Though I think the Polyvection looks very interesting for people who do not want to play with a raspberry pi or feel it’s too much work (plenty of people in these forums).
Could open up a new market for people who do not want to go down the Sonos or Airpod route or who have old Amps.
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