Looks to be hotting up in this mid price area reportedly around £1000 ish.
The Denafrips Arce is on pre sale now from Vinshine audio.
It is as close to be a dedicated ROON and HQplayer streamer as it gets.
Love it since I went down this path myself 
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It will be interesting to see how this improves on the Zen Stream which also has both supported Roon and HQPlayer and is £399 or so and also doesn’t have a DAC. Also not forgetting a Raspberry Pi with either Rooopie or RooExtend (and other packages).
I seem to remember there is no USB output on the ARCE but has other interfaces.
I imagine it will pair nicely with the Ares II and up so it will be good to hear what people who have one of their products and tries it thinks.
Could be an interesting future option for many here so be good to get some feedback when people get them.
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I find the ARCE a bit disappointing. No native Tidal/ Quboz support and their explanation of “sound quality first” makes no sense. Many, if not all, much more expensive streamers on the market prioritize SQ and have native Tidal/ Quboz support.
No USB output which hamstrings HQPlayer upsampling. DLNA is restricted to 16/44.
It’s pretty much a Roon only device.
Love they paid attention to the power supply. But difficult to justify the $1000 price with so many unnecessary limitations. ARCE would be a competitive offering if released 5 years ago.
Was initially feeling buyers remorse when I saw this announcement, as I just picked up an Eversolo DMP-A6.
But the announcement is weird, in that it seems premature. “It doesn’t yet do these things, but hopefully it will with a firmware update”
I love my denafrips pontus II DAC, and I’m sure they would play well together, someday.
The Eversolo sounds lovely into the Pontus right now. So, I think I’m good.
IDK, it looks pretty cool to me. I’m currently using Raspberry Pi’s but this is a tempting option. However, providing for multiple zones starts to add up especially when the Pi’s do a perfectly adequate job at a 10th the price.
Arrived 
After a short troubleshooting regarding external/internal clock the device is playing perfectly over I2S on my Denafrips Pontus II 12th. Beatuful combination. Warmer/brighter/more musical - and it look gorgeous! Went from Raspberry Pi 4 on an Ropieee config on Roon. The Denafrips Arce is a keeper!
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nice. Any idea on the pending Roon Readiness? (At least the vinshine website still says pending)
Hi, it now supports USB output. Seems that the best connection will be via I2S, which I plan on getting in good time. For now, I am using the USB port and it sounds great.
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I was torn between the Arce, the Eversolo and the Volumio Rivo. I too have the Pontus II DAC which I absolutely love having in my kit and on the assumption of synergy in the Arce/Pontus pairing and with faith in Vinshine’s ability to do what it takes to make Arce fully functional in the sense expected of streamers, I purchased it. It sounds fabulous compared to my Zen Stream. The Zen is good but the Arce takes things to another level.
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Wow that is interesting to hear! Did you also try both via NAA?
is it roon ready yet?
It works great with Roon as an Roon Endpoint. Easy to setup.
Has anyone tested it against the Holo Audio Red?
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How exactly are we pronouncing “ARCE”?
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like RC Cola
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I continue to be intrigued by this one, even though it’s still working on Roon-ready certification…
Anyone using one of these with HQPlayer NAA?
I’m assuming it would work like it does with a Raspberry Pi streamer running RoPieee. That has HQPlayer NAA also, but you need a computer running HQPlayer to integrate with the streamer. (I run HQP on a mac, and that sees the streamer as one of the output choices.)
Anyone know if it works in this same way?
Or is HQPlayer somehow built into the Arce streamer?
Like the iFi Zen Stream it seems to have an NAA client built-in. It also has Roon Bridge at this point while they await Roon Ready certification.
yep, shoulda mentioned that in my post.
Wonder if it’ll work the same as with the Rasp Pi, or on its own, without the mac to run HQP.
I got a used one on its way in, so we shall see! (will be interesting to compare with my Eversolo DMP-A6)
Nice 
It is only an NAA client so it obviates the need for a Pi, so it should be directly connected to your DAC and it will appear in your HQPlayer as an output.
This is exactly how I use my Zen Stream.
I’m hoping it’s a great addition to your setup