First-time Roon user: PC -> streamer?

Hello,

I stream Tidal and play local files from my computer. My chain is Windows 10 PC → USB → DAC → amp. I’m looking to reduce the PC’s influence on the audio quality of my chain. To that end I’m considering a streamer, but I still want to use my PC as the interface I use to browse and select my music. I also want to use parametric EQ (currently using Peace GUI with Equalizer APO) The streamer I’m looking most closely at is the Lumin U1 mini or U2 mini. So the new chain would be PC → ethernet cable → router → streamer (connected to router via ethernet cable) → USB → DAC → amp.

I’ve been reading about how Roon works and I want to make sure everything will work together before I start buying things. If I install Roon on my PC, it would be the Roon Core and App and the streamer would be the Roon Output, correct? And I could use Roon’s parametric EQ to modify the frequency response? Would this setup work?

Thanks.

Hey and welcome James,
yes that’s how it works.
Roon’s sound quality article advises to do just that to be on the safe side.

On the other hand, what has convinced you of your PC (negatively) influencing the sound?

For starters, you could just keep things connected the way they are and listen to how that sounds.
If your DAC was competently designed, you may not really gain anything audible by going through a streamer - just adding more complexity…

If you’re still curious after a while, you can try things out and send them back if no audible improvement is heard.

4 Likes

To be honest, I’m not sure if it is. But I am curious to find if putting a streamer in the chain will make a difference.

I think this is what I’ll be doing. Thanks for your help!

1 Like

This topic was automatically closed 36 hours after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.