Is there a Roon ready endpoint somewhere WITHOUT a DAC?

Audio Gear Talk
64

Great kit all around. Do you connect the Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 directly to the Halo? I searched for a couple of weeks and there was no way for me to connect my receiver directly to the sMS-200 unless I used an adapter. Well, would an adapter give me as good performance as a standalone DAC? I thought not, so yesterday I purchased the April Eximus DP1 DAC. Do you feel that avoiding a DAC has given you equivalent or superior SQ? Integrated amps and receivers must have really good DACs. So are standalone DACs absolutely necessary. Thanks so much for the reply.

65

I connect the sms 200 directly to the Parasound Halo. The Project is feeding my headphone amp

66

Understood thanks. Was reading too many threads and confused myself.

67

I own a DigiOne Signature feeding a Schiit Gumby Multi-bit. I love the sound. I find the Schiit DACS to be insensitive to the upstream source. They have sufficient jitter buffering and local clock accuracy and stability to do the best with what you’re playing. The Allo DigiOne keeps company with a HiFiBerry Digi+ (I have 2) and a HiFiBerry DAC Pro for the bedroom radio.

John Darko has good reviews of the Allo devices including the DigiOne and the USB Bridge

John is not keen on the cosmetics. I hide mine behind a 7" LCD display showing the current album and track. This is a standard Roon Endpoint capability.

68

I’ll second the Chromecast recommendation but Google has discontinued that product. Chromecast, at the time, was superior to AirPlay One. AirPlay 2 is not so bad but iOS keeps switching the audio off changing apps. The iOS device is a captive of music until finished listening. Chromecast sources didn’t suffer that problem. At the time a Cambridge DACMagic (original) was my preferred DAC. Parasound P5/P6 have internal DACS. The P5 DAC sounds like a by the data sheets check in the box device. Not very engaging. My recollection is that the Cambridge had more soundstage. Both since replaced by Freya+ and Gumby-multibit.

69

I was a fan of the Allo USBridge Signature Player, but the iFi Audio ZEN Stream is my new favorite. I don’t know what they put into that funky box, but it sounds better than anything else I’ve tried.

70

The Sonore Rendu line works very well. The opticalRendu even has optical isolation so network noise does not get into you DAC.

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