I own the stream box s2 ultra and use it with pre-box digital S2.
I use them as a roon endpoint—>dac and then rca output to kef ls50W aux inputs.
I left the output volume of the stream box S2 at 100%, and i’m experimenting if it’s better to use the pre box as a volume control or leave it at -0db and use the ls50w as volume control, but my question is: since in roon it sees the stream box as endpoint and in signal path it connects to pre-box, is there a way to control the pre-box S2 volume from roon and not the stream box volume (since if I lower the stream box S2 volume output, the signal is not bitperfect anymore) ?
A question for people who run a Nucleus/+.
Has anyone tried a SQ comparison between connecting their Nucleus directly to the DAC via USB vs using an S2 Ultra in their network as a Roon endpoint feeding their DAC?
The complete setup is: nuc 7i5bnh with roonserver,stream box ultra,dac is a Pro-Ject pre box s2,Rega elex-r amplifier and Dynaudio emit M10 speakers,sounds very decent for the money
Just out of curiosity… why would you use a Stream Box/Pre Box combo and run them into KEF LS50W’s?
The LS50W’s are already Roon Ready and have a very capable DAC w/DSP built in (which you cannot bypass by using an external DAC). So you are going from digital to analog into the LS50W’s, which then re-digitize the signal and convert it back into analog.
If you just use your LS50W’s alone with Roon you can control the volume just fine within the Roon software.
Yes they work but it’s not Roon Ready same reason Sonos and Squeezebox are not classed as Roon Ready they don’t use RAAT. Its Roon tested there is a difference and that is RAAT. https://roonlabs.com/partners.html
Whether the LS50W is Roon Ready or Roon Tested it does not change the fact that you can stream directly to them in high resolution using Roon, change the volume, and there is no need to use an external streamer or DAC.
If you can tell me the rationale for using the Pro-Ject boxes with the LS50W’s I’d like to know the reason why.
I don’t have one, but it could be, stability , they want MQA and higher resolution than it can stream. It does seem odd as it will redigitse the input as you pointed out, but so does my Naim Atom if I feed it an analogue signal from my TT or AV amp and I hear no I’ll affects. Everyone has their own path. I would personally choose the easiest one, but it might not be the best one.
Just read through all of the above - looks like a great little device. But the real question is: how does it compare sonically to the SOTm sms-200 ultra? Has anyone done any comparisons or read anything about this?
Well I tried a few things. BT KB and Mouse was not successful although this may be because I’m not pairing correctly. Might double check the instruction
I did have success with a a Logitech KB and mouse with one of their unifying gadgets connected to USB on the Stream Box. IN the main you really only need the mouse unless you want to search for music I guess. Worked OK but the KB and mouse I tested are part of my main PC in study so I’ll have to try something else.
