I haven’t quite got my head around how this works yet, but essentially I’m trying to eliminate the USB connection on my laptop from my audio chain as I get a buzzing sound through my external DAC/headphones when connecting an external monitor.
So, I currently use Roon > HQPlayer > USB DAC from my laptop. Can HQPlayer stream via ethernet to the Sonicorbiter? Will it retain all the processing it’s doing (I’m converting everything to DSD in HQPlayer)?
Cheers!
Short answer - Yes.
Long answer - HQP can stream by Ethernet to a device running a small associated piece of software called an NAA or Network Audio Adaptor. You can read more about NAA on the Signalyst site and in the HQP manual. They are written in Jussi’s inimitable style which eschews marketing hyperbole in favour of a terse engineering description. I find it quite refreshing, but that doesn’t make it easy to understand on first read.
The SonicOrbiter SE can be easily configured as an NAA and HQP will then happily stream to it by Ethernet (it doesn’t support Wi-Fi) at all resolutions and formats supported by HQP. There are other devices that can be configured as NAA with a bit of DIY, see the NAA threads in the HQP section.
Thanks Andy, nice clear explanation. Sounds like just what I’m after 
Ah - at last I have an explanation of the NAA TLA I guessed that it stood for Network Attached Audio, but I guessed wrong…