I need a MQA full decoder DAC, max 350usd, to be used in Roon and to join two zones, one in streaming and another in USB.
Thank you
I have been looking at this:
You might get a used one for $350.
I have the SMSL M500, which I think has the same guts / chip, though it has a headphone amp built in and a screwy form factor. I got an open box one on eBay for under $300. Love it… though I don’t listen to it nearly as much as my Schiit Gungnir MB. It does have an issue with missing the first 0.2 seconds of each song after a format change if fed from a Ropieee / some other streamers. Fed from the Tidal app on my PC it has no such problem, and others report that from Moode it has no such issues. For me it was an experiment, and well worth it. But I wouldn’t have spent much more.
Is it good in Roon as a joined zone in preamp mode? Roon recognize it in usb mode? Thanks
Well, it’s not a transport… if you use a Ropieee to feed it for instance, or another RAAT, you can group it with other RAAT zones - but that’s not the SMSL being grouped, it’s the RAATs. Any dac you fed from the same RAAT could be grouped just as easily - at least I think that is how it works. It has neither WiFi nor Ethernet, so it can’t get on your network to be recognized by itself.