Hi there. I am running Roon-core off my Synology Ds918+ NAS direct to my dac(Hegel H590) via USB. So far so good. But would there be any benefits by getting a Lumin U1 mini? The dac of the H590 does full mqa, but I can’t help but wonder if a separate endpoint would be an upgrade in sound quality…
I recommend checking out the Lumin T2. You can try both the DSD512-supported XLR balanced analog outputs, or USB output to your Hegel.
That’s a nice unit, for sure. But I think that the dac in the H590 is good enough. That’s why I had an eye on the U1 mini transport.
The DAC in the H590 is indeed very good, and I also agree that another endpoint may well improve sound quality. Another solution would be a Sonore ultraRendu (or perhaps their newer optical product) - this is a great Roon endpoint with ethernet -> USB. I have an ultraRendu hooked into my H190 and the sound, reliability and simplicity is very good indeed. Of course Hegel will eventually provide Roon Ready capability for the H190/390/590.