You have had multiple reasons for what you heard but you are not listening. You keep proclaiming a “truth” that is not relevant, as it’s not a controlled environment with known parameters.
Belive me, i’m not saying you heard wrong, just that your conclusions of the reasons are…
So, it won’t matter what advise/explanation you will recieve here. Unless you are being told what you want to hear you likely will keep repeating your flawed conclusion over and over again. So there’s no point in gping on…
And yes, i have used both MacMinis, MacBook Pro, Pi’s, Auralic devices, Lumins, Rockna and all sorts of devices and servers and endpoints so i’m not exactly new “in the game”.
Casing on mbp? Please do compare them and list out the models as well, I think mbp’s even with its cramp architecture especially the new ones achieve much better clarity.
Maybe we all can get to the bottom of this sooner
I didn’t have any conclusions if you read my post, I was just postulating what could have been the factors. No reason to think I’m trying to convince you.
Maybe you can tell us what you’ve tried and which one made a difference?
I’m here to compare and hopefully buy the right equipment to pair to my system. Not trying to proclaim any truth just if it helps guide me what to get next then that’d be really helpful
Sure, that might be an advantage on first glance. Problem is, battery power is re-created to the various voltages needed through switching power supplies on the motherboard. (but this is also happening with the Mini)
I like the setup of separating my Core from my Endpoint best. Even a cheap (they are in demand right now though) Raspberry Pi used as a Ethernet to USB bridge to your Qutest will likely advance sound quality over both the Mac Mini and the MBP.
I have had best results with small, dedicated endpoints with low power consumption or to be completely honest, the Aries G2.1. Whether it’s even sane to spend that kind of money on something that a Pi can do, for the fraction of the prize, can be discussed.
Thanks for that! I am really curious about using a pi too, was about to get one but realize I needed a proper core first to separate my laptop from music duties.
what core are you using? So far I’m leaning towards maybe a newer mini as checked Nuc prices and specs seems they’re not as cheap as I thought they’d be. Initially was looking to use nuc w rock and a pi combo, but weighing as I haven’t heard it yet and none of my friends use a rock configuration yet so a bit worried to spend that much just to try.
Curiosity is good!
The prices are way up there on both NUC’s and Pi’s at this time, due to semiconductor shortages and the 21:st century plague, i suppose?
Anyways, i have a few Roon Cores running. All of them headless and dedicated for their purpose.
My main server is build on an Asus Prime Z-590P motherboard with an Intel Core i5-11400 CPU. This is built into a Streacom FC10 fanless chassi with 250Gb m.2 system drive and a 10Gb WD Red for media.
A custom power supply feeds this as well as a separate PSU for the SOtM txUSB Ultra PCIe card, which is used for direct connection to DAC sometimes. Windows 11 is the chosen OS for this one.
Thing is, the differences between this Core and my NUC10i7 running ROCK is small, when using a separate endpoint such as the Aries G2.1. On a direct connection over USB to the DAC (Nagra HD DAC + MPS) the Streacom FC10 sounds remarkably good, while the NUC leaves me wanting.
Tried finding an overview posted earlier but couldn’t.
Anyways, Wilson speakers (Sophia) and Moon Evo pre along with Karan hefty poweramp. Most proud of my vinyl spinners though and their Phono stages.
Edit: Haven’t tried the Dave in my home, but have owned almost every other Chord DAC since the Mojo (also the QBD76).
Love Wilson Sophia sound. and Moon evo! I’ve heard them before but separately I can’t even think of owning the evo haha the Sophia though I got my eye on but maybe in the next 5 years or if I can find a used raidho or borresen…
I’m currently running a 2.1 set up w Audiovector Kii3 paired w a qutest to devialet d-premier (but subbed out, as these towers are not really adequate to pump out the lower frequencies).
it saves me a lot of space though compared to my previous Dynaudio. Hankering for a better highs and quality lows so I can get rid of the sub but this’ll do for now.
So far my main point of comparison for determining the differences in sq is the tt connected to the Devialet. At least the goal for now is trying to match streaming quality to the vinyl
Bill_Janssen
(Wigwam wool socks now on asymmetrical isolation feet!)
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Respectfully, I think that’s a myth. I’ve yet to see any evidence for it. But if you have some, I’d be happy to be wrong about that.
Edit: A bit more seriously though, yes, i really feel that a Pi (i even prefer the 2) with some basic configuration and a Roon Bridge advances audio quality over a general purpose computer direct (Even a Mac) to DAC. I’m sure there are other opinions on the subject, but it’s not expensive to give it a shot to see what you think.
for my setup? yes the mini and the mbp are connected to the dac via usb cable. for the mbp I have to use a dongle as my dac is using usb a where my mbp only have usb c ports.
USB is notorious for inducing unwanted audio artifacts. It is not entirely surprising that the sound from the older USB is worse than the newer model. I used a WYRD adapter when running from Mac to DAC and it made an enormous differrence.
This is an interesting thread with a few interesting"truths" stated.
A Raspberry Pi used as an endpoint without an audiophile hat with enhanced clocks and or power supply regulation presents no advantage to running any other end point e.g. Mac or PC.
As far as MBP sounding better than Mac Mini that was not my experience. I had exacly the same CPU and memory configuration on both when I compared.
Are both running SSD hard drives? I found on building a high end audio server for a friend that the mechanical hard drive being connected was a noticeable deterioration in sound quality (I guess its logical as the electrical noise that the motor on a mechanical hard drive produces is never going to be a good thing.
I prefer the sound on Roon of a remote server feeding my multiple zones using simple endpoints. I use a PI2AES (running Volumio 3 as a Roon endpoint) to feed my Kef LS50W2s in my bedroom and a Magna Mano Ultra 2 to feed my Kii BXT system in the lounge.
The quality and isolation of USB ports across the multiple models of Raspberry Pi’s differs widely.
Personally I want to go to a Rock server feeding my Raspberry Pi powered end points from a simplicity standpoint with nil obvious compromise apparent.
that’s a really good set up.
