Interesting to read your comment.
But may be it is not galvanic electrical isolation the adequate terms to apply to the isolation given by fiber. I do not know
But the use of fiber to isolate from the router is applied by several streamers designers and widely accepts as a fact
I have previously make a test with an 1000€ filter for the Ethernet with astonishing improvement. Before investing in buying it Zi have puto those fiber Cu converter and I have as well noticed an improvement. Sugestión? I do not think.I am using a LINN Majik streamer very good quality
I strongly recommend not utilize just A NUC raspberry or other, directly with a DAC as end point, according to my experience.
I have a high quality DAC Weiss and I have try to use it directly not passing through the LINN Majik streamer, clearly the streamer give much better SQ
I understood from Roon ROCK NUC preferable send flow to an external end point
Any streamer is something else more than just a DAC
Hi guys,
here is someone asking for an endpoint until 500€ and so (also as a used one) it doesn’t make sense to discuss here about Lumin or Linn.
By the way: Linn hasn’t any Roon Ready device, because they are not using RAAT internal.
6 Likes
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
26
The sheer number of things “widely accepted as fact” that actually aren’t boggles the mind.
Fiber is great for suppressing EMI caused by the surroundings, though apparently shielded Ethernet cable will do just as well. So if you’re going to wrap your cable several times around an industrial punch-press in a machine shop, OK, well, it might be a good idea. But even then, the data is transmitted over the Ethernet using a protocol called TCP, which checks each packet for damage, and re-transmits if an error has occurred. This protocol was designed to transmit clearly across thousands of miles in the aftermath of a nuclear war, after all.
If you are seeing an improvement from using fiber in a residential setting, something else is wrong, I’d say.
I am just sharing my readings and experience, I do not pretend that what I say is fully right.
But although it is true that bit are bits and electrical increase of voltage that a bit is , is not lost, it is explained by technical experts that the ditter in those teoréticamente square increases in voltage are not vertical increases and finally are waves with shapes that are affected by not only EMIs, but as well by noises coming with the information in the net. The expensive filters to clean the information that arrive and are send from the router , which have an astonishing result , prove it, partially the intercalación of the fiber converter do same result.You can look into the company Sonore and see how they apply this principle, and as well the the experience of users. More and more high end streamer are introducing fiber in their input
Although other designers such as Weiss say they do not experience any difference with fiber spdif or RaJ45 , but consider interesting to experience it. It means that probably high end DACs and streamers due to their internal design are not affected by internet noises, and other yes,
I have already shield with profesional mesh my cables and grounded it correctly and with a PSAudio noise harvester , yes , I have measure a decrease of EMIs
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
29
Believe it if you must, but I have seen no proof that they do anything but waste your money.
They no doubt have to do something to justify their high prices. There is no need for a very good modern DAC to be expensive. It’s a solved commoditized problem.
Several high degree Electronic engineers have explain to me the reasons why DACs quality differ between them
You can easily test it for example replacing the internal DAC of a CD player with a high end external DAC and ear with no doubt at all the big improvement of SQ
I am using a quite god LINN streamer with a WEISS DAC instead of its internal one and the difference is clear
The internal DAC quality s of CD players make a big difference of SQ Many people use better external DACs due to the SW differences
About fiber intercalation I admit some doubts but about Ethernet filter it is no doubt at all
Please try to test the EVO filter.
Ethernet noise is a fact not only EMIs
AceRimmer
(Smoke me a kipper, I'll be back for breakfast!)
32
Ok people…not really on topic any longer so let’s call it quits please.
And no I’m not creating a new topic about Ethernet filters…I would just have to close it down again in short order!
Thanks for your patience and help.
Thanks everyone here for your help. I have some great insights and I know now what to look for.
My first priority would be the node, but I will be stalking for a better deal than normal price, but I will keep my eyes open for the other things, too.
Such a great community!
I can’t believe nobody has mentioned this given your price range but you really could use your smart TV as a Roon end point. I don’t think you need to purchase anything. The sound quality probably wouldn’t be quite as good as the node streamer but you might be surprised by how good it sounds. I don’t know if your amplifier has digital inputs but even if it doesn’t you could use the analog output from your TV and give it a try. It doesn’t cost anything to give it a try.
I will give it a try man, but I believe the flexibility that the streamer will allow is something much more appealing.
Also, I believe that the electricity consumption on the TV is gonna be much higher and these are not ideal times for high electricity consumptions.
I’m new to the forums, so forgive me if I’m not helpful. And old hands please don’t flame me and make me feel bad if I’m not. It doesn’t exactly encourage participation when one feels bad for not “posting in the right place” or “repeating something”. Give me a little grace please.
I only saw the iFi Zen Stream mentioned once. I have two of them. At first, before they were officially “Roon Ready” they were quite buggy and I didn’t like them. But since becoming officially Roon Ready they exceed my expectations as a streamer and Roon bridge. They support Wi-Fi and impressively well. The debate regarding ethernet and Wifi will forever wage on, but if Wi-FI is something to be considered for your situation then by all means consider it. The Zen excels at outputting audio to any DAC of mine at PCM352.8 and DSD256, flawlessly, on both Wi-Fi and Ethernet.
While it doesn’t have an optical input, it does have SPDIF which I would imagine you could buy an inexpensive spdif to optical converter (a cursory search finds these to be around $20). The iFi Zen Stream retails for $399USD and has many functions in addition to being Roon Ready. It’s worth candidate now that it has had a lot of its bugs worked out (as long as you have a DAC for it to bridge to).
Edit:
Just looked at my go-to dealers site and while I don’t think it’s technically a “streamer”, the “IFI ZEN ONE SIGNATURE | USB, SPDIF, BLUETOOTH DAC” has an optical input. I own this as well as I used to use it between my television and AVR before I bought a Chord Hugo TT2 and Hugo M Scaler. It is nice as it’s inputs are geared towards home entertainment systems. $349USD
Thanks. I’m aware of the differences between the two and the I/Os of each as detailed in my post. Just out of personal curiosity, why would a streamer need an optical-in other than to feed digital data to an internal DAC in the streamer? I mean no offense and plead ignorance - I have never fully understood the difference in utility between a streamer such as those by Bluesound (I have the Vault) and Matrix (I have the Element i) versus using a DAC connected to an endpoint. I guess I would understand the allure of a streamer if one was using it for more than just Roon (e.g., Roon Ready, Spotify Connect, TIdal Streaming, NAA Streaming, DLNA Streaming), but the OP as I understand is only going to be using it for Roon. Again, I don’t mean to be rude at all. I am truly ignorant here.
