Eureka moment: Why not use a second ROCK as an endpoint?

I built the “lower cost” ROCK for my core:

Seems to work fine, with occasional slowdowns (like when I am adding new music to the USB drive attached to it)

I have been looking at endpoints, to complete the puzzle. I am now coming to realize that I could use a ROCK as an endpoint, and connect via HDMI to my Yamaha AVR. Is there any reason NOT to do this, as opposed to buying something like an ALLO endpoint or a Primare NP-5 (if it ever arrives)?

I was thinking of building the more powerful Rock; using as my core, and re-purposing the 8i3 ROCK as my endpoint using HDMI 0, and directing it to the Yamaha, which has an excellent DAC (ESS Sabre)

Thoughts??

That will probably work, but will the ROCK OS support the HDMI port as an audio device? Does it show up in the NUC you currently have?

Cheaper, I’d think, to just get a Pi 3 and use the HDMI port on that (along with VolumeIO as an OS). But there are still issues with that approach. Odd that no one makes a simple HDMI streamer.

Cost maybe.

Yeah, the higher end Rock is pretty pricey and I’m not sure that I will see a huge improvement with an i7 vs my i3 with my “meager” 6000 album library. Maybe just go with the Allo/Primare…

Better still—can I use my rock ALSOas an endpoint. Ie, one NUC for both core and endpoint?

Yes, you can. It’s what I do - my ROCK NUC is both a Core and a (multi-channel via HDMI) endpoint for my Denon AVR.

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Can’t wait to try this.

I have ROCK on a single core Atom powered NUC. As a passive end point it works really well and ROCK is quite happy on it.

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Yes it does on my MOCK and on my Passive Cooled Atom NUC that Henry recommened which is purely an endpoint, and it sounds better than the pi it replaced when using USB and the same DAC my Dragonfly Cobalt and is my primary headphone rig now. Using it now as I type.

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It does for me - NUC 717 running my core on ROCK - I have had an HDMI cable plugged into my Yamaha AVR that I have tested for 7.1 surround use and that works fine. I was having a playing with the Roon upmix features to see if I could create a decent 2->7.1 upmix with it - was quite decent actually :wink:

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