Thank you very much for the fast response! I‘m using Roon Nucleus as a source, but having issues with the USB connection at the highest upscaling rates (it‘s a known issue with some Daves), so I‘d need to use something different as usb (don’t have any issues with my cd transport connected over bnc to the mscaler). Will try dcs bridge as you‘ve described. It should be also a better source as Nucleus, I guess.
I’ve connected my Roon Nucleus directly to my Moon 100D DAC via USB. This USB B-Type input is limited to 16 bit/ 48 kHz. First I thought I would loose too much resolution at HiRes files, although my music sounds fine in general without any distortion. To check a limitation in resolution I’ve installed a bridge (Primare NP5) and to be honest- I didn’t hear any significant difference in sound.
But I want to upgrade my DAC because I would like to handle MQA files via TIDAL. Any suggestions for a DAC at a moderate price (max. 1k USD) with MQA decoder?
Look at the Topping range. This brand receives a lot of high praise and seems to be very good value for money.
If I would have not bought my pre-loved Mytek, Topping would have been my choice.
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Topping D90SE is a well measuring device…doesn’t mean you will like the sound but its rated very highly spec’s wise
It also have lots of inputs and also MQA
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Hi all,
To me it is a very enjoyeable never ending discussion.
I like to read a lot about it.
I tried many things:
Core in usb direct to my McIntosh amp
Core in usb to a Dac with ESS9028 then RCA
Same but XLR
And now core to a streamer/Dac with ESS 9038pro to McIntosh in xlr…
To be honest as long as source is good, i struggle to hear any difference.
The only One my ears was able to identify (at least i think) was Roon in airplay vs « normal » way to listen to Roon.
But as i am an enthusiastic buyer i like the idea trying to improve the 3 or 4% i won’t never able to hear…
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Yes, the last 10% improvement in sound quality are always a disproportionate use of funds and cause an irrational invest in equipment. But the journey is the reward … 
Topping seems to be a good alternative to a Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M, that’s unfortunately not available in Germany at the moment.
Maybe not relevant but after reading this topic I connected my Core directly to my DAC and heard an improvement in sound quality.
I had been suspicious that the power supply on my Asus Mesh router (only a couple weeks old) might be adding noise. With my basic Chi-Fi EL34 valve amp I could hear an audible hiss with the volume at max. By removing the Asus router and Pi4 Roopiee and connecting directly to the Core the hiss is now almost totally inaudible.
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Bits are bits. As long as the DAC is getting the bits, then it doesn’t matter what’s serving them up.
As long as your core isn’t underpowered and skipping or overloading and causing blips in the music, then it’s nothing to worry about whatsoever.
I guess one argument might be on how the DAC is powered—if it’s via the same USB power supply as the computer, then it’s possible the load on the computer could cause issues with the DAC’s power if it has low PSNR (power supply noise rejection) and noise filtering then you could potentially get some noise bleeding into signal, but that’s very very unlikely on a well-designed DAC with a sufficient power supply: it would all be below the SNR and inaudible.
To be safe, you could stick to DACs that have their own power supply and aren’t USB powered, but in my experience I’ve never had a problem with USB-powered DACs. All of them I’ve tried filter out the computer power just fine. It’s better these days than it was ten years ago, when you would hear weird buzzes and blips from time to time in your headphones on cheap DACs and sound cards, but with modern audio equipment that’s generally a thing of the past.
In other words: if you can’t hear it, I wouldn’t worry about it.
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Yep, this seems likely.
Weirdly, and this is something you learn when you start designing low-power amps and line sources—like 95% of audio quality comes down to DC power circuitry design.
Clean power = clean audio.
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Not exactly. At least not in my own experience:
I don’t necessarily buy it, unless again we’re talking about powering a USB-powered DAC with a better power source provided by the dedicated streamer. But I’ll take your word for it if you’ve heard it 
Cheers.
I was very skeptical too. Until I listened.
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Using for example an UpTone EtherRegen between NAS/Roon Core and Devialet made a considerable improvement.
Do you still own the Devialet?
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Hi - no the 220 Pro CI didn’t live up to the hype and was swiftly replaced with an Audionet DNA 2.0
I’ve connected a Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital directly with my Nucleus via USB. There’s no kind of distortion, no humm or noise. The Pro-Ject DAC behaves like connected to a standard PC. It’s powering on when the Nucleus starts and it is shutting down when powering off my Nucleus. I didn’t connect the Pro-Ject with it’s external 5V power supply. A very smart solution.
[nice to see the Quad 34/606 in the pic; I have the same here. Wish I had the rest of the kit, too :)]
I studied the common approach of ethernet wiring the core, but came to the conclusion that USB direct from an inexpensive dedicated laptop with solid state drives to a DAC with high quality USB was musically equal to it, simpler and perhaps more reliable.
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Same over here. I went from PC to raspberry pi with various hats and various software up to an Ultrarendu but have found out that at least with my DAC a direct connection to my PC is equal in sound quality but surpasses all other solutions regarding stability and at least for me it is much more convenient because Roon is not my only music source. I use Deezer, LastFM, Bandcamp, Youtube, various other music players etc as well. Nothing beats a regular PC in that regard, it can do it all.
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Then I’ve done it twice as bad…as I have not one but two DAC’s connected directly. One to my 2012 MAC Mini Roon Server and one to my 2020 M1 MAC Mini Roon Core. Works great!
I would be curious to know how Roon arrived at making their sound quality set up recommendations, namely ethernet instead of USB. This recommendation drive so much related to purchasing, home networking, and equipment location for its users. From what I’ve gathered any real benefits to ethernet over USB is a myth outside the rare audio system with a $10 DAC and a $1000 NUC.