Nothing but a tiny bit of handiwork. This includes all you’ll need.
Really? For just over $100? Seems too good to be true.
So let me clarify whether it includes the following:
1 - Pi 3
2 - headphones Amp
3 - headphones DAC
4 - Power supply and plug
5 - Case
6 - Roon software
7 - Built in wifi
Basically, just plug in the headphones, and ready to go?
Thanks!
That’s yes, 7 times.
I do think you will have to assemble it yourself though (nothing complex – just click the two boards together, assemble the case and flash the RoonReady image to the SD card).
Also: the Pi’s Wifi is not the most powerful. If you intend to use Wifi, make sure there’s a strong signal available, or you may run into trouble at higher bitrates.
I have no sound quality preference when it comes to these things, aside from being aware of the issues with USB and high rate DSD/DXD mentioned earlier in the thread.
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Wow Rene! Thrilled I don’t have to buy a separate headphones DAC / Amp! It is going to save me quite a bit of money.
A couple of questions for you please, if you don’t mind:
1 - Is the headphones amp any good? I don’t see the specs on the power / output
2 - Is the DAC any good
3 - Does it have an Ethernet port? I may be able to use existing coax in the house via MoCA. I just need a couple of MoCA adapters and an Ethernet switch.
Thanks again. Much appreciated!
Headphone amp and DAC quality: for the price, it’s brilliant. In more absolute terms, I’d call it ‘pretty decent’. 
The Pi does have a 100Mbit Ethernet port.
When it comes to the OS, you have a few choices. You can use IQAudio’s image (which is RoonReady and ready-to-run) or use DietPI, allowing you to install RoonBridge and a specific audio kernel for PCM up to 384.
Pardon me for jumping in, but as far as I’m concerned, the answer is “yes” to all three questions. Now I grant you that my ears may not be as golden as yours - after all, I’m the guy who can’t distinguish between this setup and a microRendu driving a Dragonfly v1.2.
Thanks!
good to know. I was about to buy a Schiit Jotunheim. Or an Audeze Deckard. You guys saved me a bunch of money.
My only (big) concern is whether I can put this together myself. I am not good with DIY computers. Not at all.
Do these ship from UK?
Don’t panic - DIY for these babies is really easy, and René has clear instructions in the forum for the software installation. And yes, they ship from the UK (I’m in the Netherlands, as is René)
No US distributors (online or otherwise)?
I use a Raspberry Pi 3 with a meridian explorer 2 plugged in to the USB and through my Arcan a19 and kef ls50s think it sounds brilliant.
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Hope this isn’t a dumb question, but when the ‘ROCK’ software comes out (not part of initial 1.3 release) can this be uploaded to run on the Pi-3 (I’m not big on computer savvy).
Is the other Pi-3 bundle a good option (Pi-DAC/AMP+ Bundle) if I wanted to connect direct to speakers (I could let my son have a try in his bedroom, and connect to his CD/Speaker set-up).
Thanks
John
Don’t know the answer to your first question but if you only want to connect direct to speakers and forgo the headphone and RCA outs the DigiAmp+ bundle is all you need. In any case either is fine for that sort of usage. In fact many have found this bundle to suit their needs totally.
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Unlikely, ROCK is intended to provide Core functionality, Pi3 provides endpoint functionality and should thus have Roon Bridge installed by leveraging the likes of DietPi.
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I have IQaudIO and HifiBerry hats for the Pi3, but are recently listening to the Dion Audio Loco DAC AMP… Man, what a difference is that… It is a huge upgrade in sound!
http://i.marktplaats.com/00/s/MTAyNFgxMDI0/z/MsEAAOSw5cNYQAnK/$_84.JPG
More info can be found on their website:
That looks really nice from what I could understand of the info on the page. Do you know if they can send these outside NL? Seems weird not to have the website available in english, and makes me slightly wary to get one if I would need support, but seems the software is in english so I guess it should be ok.
Tony
I was looking at the full package only as it could gave me all choices in the future if I wanted, but as you say the low package would probably meet my needs. Will most likely only use it attached to my AVR (outside Pergola) as another zone, but could give it to my son to try as well.
Cheers
John
Lots of great suggestions here. Again, thanks to everyone for responding to my question–and to the others who seem to have the same needs as I. I’m heading to Canada from Brasil at the end of March, so it’s almost time to shop. Most of these things aren’t available in here Brasil, and those that are cost the usual 2x to 3x the North American price (including the lowly Pi)…