DSD512 NAA WIN setup (T+A DAC8 DSD)?

Hi,
Due to T+A DAC8 DSD Amanero USB receiver driver issue it seems not possible to use LINUX NAA device to output up to DSD512.

So, unfortunately, only alternative is to use a WINDOWS NAA device (WIN USB receiver drivers are OK up to DSD512).

I’ve asked @Miska on another forum for a good setup:

[QUOTE=Miska]This is what I am using with Win10 Pro:

https://www.logicsupply.com/eu-en/products/industrial-computers/cl100-series/

(16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD, no wireless options)

But I recommend getting a better PSU than the default wall-wart.[/QUOTE]

Any other feedback from T+A DAC8 DSD users playing DSD512 to NAA ?

You need a minimum of i7 with Cuba enabled Nvidia graphics card as hardware accelerator. It is really a high spec PC considered just to up-sample anything to DSD512. Noise from both PSU, CPU and graphic card will become an issue. There’s a discussion on this in topic here:

We are talking about an NAA here, so you don’t need i7 processing and CUDA. That should be being done elsewhere. This is about a silent end point powerful enough to run Windows with decent boot times. This solution is passive so a tick in the box there but it is also ruggedised to an extent far greater than is needed for domestic use. In the UK that comes in at £300 plus software plus a PSU. There are Celeron NUC’s, Brix, Vivo’s and others that should be just fine in a domestic setting. Try this for instance. My only concern with this is 2gb with W10 may be sluggish in operation. Otherwise the only other concern would be a truly silent solution. My answer was a W10 console with 9 inch screen so it could be used as a Roon remote also. Think Squeezebox Touch on steroids. The model I got was the PiPO X9S. It is a complete solution out of the box and runs fine for an endpoint with its small fan disconnected. Another option is the X10S which has a slightly bigger screen and a battery taking care of the need for a decent PSU.

Thank you @MusicEar,
I’ m looking for a NAA endpoint, but i agree with your points and the associated link.

@Henry_McLeod, thank you too Henry.
Pipo X9s MINI PC seems a good (and cheap) functional solution for a silent ethernet networked WIN NAA endpoint (and eventually a good SBT replacement if powerful enough to run Roon Remote).

Any concerns with:

  • Reliability if the fan disconnected and always on (24/7) ?
  • No Gigabit Ethernet adapter but only 10/100, suffisent for DSD512 data handling ?
  • Noisy device (if WIFI / BT are still activated) ?
  • What about USB isolation from a SQ point of view ?

Did you tried this setup to output DSD512 from HQP via USB to a DAC ?

Concerns:
The CPU never gets above 15-20% so the unit has never overheated. If it did Intel are pretty good at CPU throttling so no permanent damage would be done. Roon as a remote runs fine.
I haven’t done 512. However I understood it was ok at 100MB.
I use it hard wired so WiFi and BT are off in software. The antenna is external regardless.
I used a W4S Recovery plus Fidelizer.

Thank you Henry.
What DAC are you using ?
And what external PSU ?
Seems a good (and cheap) setup if OK up to DSD512.

I use an AudioByte Black Dragon. PSU is an iFi quiet switch mode PSU.

I have the same issues with my amanero usb interface DAC. Could you recommend a windows running mini PC for endpoint/NAA use? I guess such NAA is not required to have high computing power as I have separate main PC which will do most of upsampling and librarian work. Any recommendations or any suggestions on the set up of such equipment?

Because native DSD512 Linux playback is not supported on the Amenero usb interface fitted to my Lampizator I was forced to replace the MicroRendu/LPS-1 (DSD128) with a Win10 NAA in order to utilise the DSD512 capability.

I’m using a Tronsmart Ara 5 (Win 10 64bit + ASIO driver) as NAA with my Lampizator for DSD512 playback.
After a considerable amount of time optimising the OS by disabling unwanted services and replacing the supplied 5v smps with a Long Dog audio linear psu, I am pleased with the results.

The Tronsmart Ara 5 remains cool to the touch.

The only issue I had was the built in ethernet on the Tronsmart had limited bandwidth, so during DSD512 playback it would clip. I resolved this issue by using a Realtek usb3 to ethernet adapter instead of the built-in ethernet.
No problem with DSD512 playback.

_

PiPO X9S or X10. It will run fine with the fan disabled as power usage is minimal as a Roon control and endpoint. Just set it up to display the now playing screen and you get album art and titles pop up on the screen too. The X10 is battery powered too so, while more expensive, it should not need a linear PSU to get the best from it.

As my dac with amanero usb interface does not accept dsd256 or dsd512 from linux based pc, I purchased nuc6cayh and installed windows server 2012r2, but DSD256 failed in my nuc6cayh endpoint which is being fed from roon core (i3 7100 desktop).

The setting of nuc in the screen of roon core PC shows that dsd256 and dsd512 is listed green which means it can be played bitperfect, but once I tried to play dsd256 (dsd512 is not selectable), endpoint failure message pops up.

Both PCs support gigabit ethernet network. What would be the problem? Should i install windows 10 instead of windows server 2012r2?

What portion of the nuc or system should I check to cure the problem? Any suggestions?

PS: I just realized that the blue color of my nuc compared to other endpoints in the setting screen of roon core is slightly faded out (it is not greyed out but slightly thinner). Is it indicating something?

PS2: with my windows 10 laptop being endpoint with other conditions equal dsd 256 plays well.

This doesn’t sound like related to HQPlayer/NAA at all…

Sorry to interrupt the thread, but I am using HQplayer together with Roon and the windows 10 nuc is used for NAA for HQplayer. The windows 10 nuc was bought to play dsd256 and dsd512.

When I use the nuc as an endpoint using only Roon without HQplayer, DSD256 is the max rate to play and DSD512 is not selectable. DSD256 under the Roon is well played. When I use the nuc as NAA for HQplayer, DSD512 is selectable but it is too noisy for music play. My core PC is a desktop with i3-7100 cpu with 8GB RAM and 256GB M.2 SSD. I was wondering if the i3-7100 without CUDA capable graphic card is too weak to handle DSD512 or since the nuc is connected with 100MB ethernet, such slow lan speed is the problem or both. I tried to play DSD512 in the setting of poly-sinc-shrt-mp or ploy-sinc-shrt-mp-2 with DSD5. I have no problem in playing DSD256 through HQplayer under the same setting.

It is probably bit on the edge even with -2s filters. i5-7600T is the weakest CPU I use for DSD512. Hard to say exactly where the boundary is.

Stereo DSD512 takes about 50 Mbps so it should work…

DSD512 takes twice as much processing power as DSD256. You certainly need to use -2s filter variants, so poly-sinc-shrt-mp is definitely not going to work, while poly-sinc-shrt-mp-2s could work…