Yes, staying within the HfifB ecosystem is certainly a wise choice, It is just a shame that they refuse to touch the HDMI port
Such a nonsense, I have never heard!
Ropieee automatically updates and install itself. Nothing to configure ever. Connect any USB DAC like the Topping 10s or MQA DAC like the Project S2 or SIMSL SU-9 with the ESS chip or a Topping D-90 with the Akamai (whatever you prefer) and you are done. I have highest end equipment, a lot where money is no object and the above config is just marvelous.
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If you would like MQA DAC then you need to go USB out of the RPi and then optical will not do into your speakers, must be analog. If only HD DAC is what you want, then get the RPi, install Ropiee on it (just write an image to the SD card and boot the Pi, it will do everything else by itself and reboot done), attach an USB DAC Topping 10s to it (100ā¬), then connect its optical out to your speakers. Just splendid.
Itās a bit fiddly but to clarify for othersā¦ The Allo DigiOne Signature is comprised of 3 boards. The Pi, an isolation board for I2S / power, and the SPDIF board. The SPDIF board has two power inputs which are independent. A ādirtyā side which is passed down to and powers the Pi. A clean side which powers the SPDIF board. This provides for cleaner, less noise, and more stable power for the part that matters most; the SPDIF board. The āruleā is the SPDIF board must be powered before the Pi boots or the board isnāt recognized by the OS. I think the board takes something like less that 300mw. You can leave the clean side powered and the boot sequence wonāt be any different than a normal Pi. In my set-up I connected the clean side to a power bank and had the power bank permanently connected to a solar panel in a window. Never an issue and never had to worry about powering the SPDIF board first as it was permanently powered by the sun.
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Iāve used an RPi4 for a while on different platforms. Iām fully aware of the discussions regarding SQ, but have to agree with the OP
I use a couple of RPi4s with Ropieee as Roon bridges and they function effectively.
Matrix Audio make great equipment, but it doesnāt sound as if you need that for your set up.
Hello, my listen experiment is comparing my MAC Mini with Roon Core and a Pi with RoPieee, both plugged on a DENAFRIPS IRIS USB-SPDIF converter. The sound is really a lot of better with the MAC on all (bandwidth, dynamics, informations, transparencyā¦). The sound on the Pi was āflatā. And I assume that the MAC mini is not in the same league than a Lumin, a SOTM and so onā¦
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I use an Allo DigiOne Signature (connected via Digital Audio RCA to my PM7000N) with a Shanti PSU and the sound is bonkers good. You canāt really compare a base Pi with something like a Lumin. Thatās a given that itās not going to sound as good.
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The Pi model youāre using would be useful, if itās a Pi3 via USB connection then the Pi will possibly be compromised via bandwidth. As @John_Claude points out a dedicated HAT device of some kind is usually preferred. Thereās a lot of experimental detail mising.
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A good DDC should pretty much hide the sourceās (lack of) attributes. The fact that you hear such a difference suggests that either the DDC (Iris) is not as good as you hoped, or that the Pi is not sending a correct bitstream (USB audio has no error correction).
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Well itās an old Pi2 V1.1 
That would do it, they have well documented problems with data capacity, USB and Ethernet share bandwidth. I suspect a RPi 4 on USB alone would run the Mac much closer. Thanks for the info 
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This is not typical, but perhaps can happen with RoPieee on an old RPi2. Based on my testing, your experience will be quite different with a RPi4 running VitOS.
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Except for the self-proclaimed high-end connoisseurs, it is more interesting for the average music lover to spend more money on the speakers than any other link in the reproduction chain. Their differences are clearly audible, but subjective and dependent on taste. In addition, the timbre of the sound gets used, which is something you almost always notice when you buy other speakers.
The differences of the other links in the chain are more subtle and are reserved for connoisseurs with special talents. Here, luxurious presentation and suggestion is an important sales method that should result in an exclusive experience.
Even professional musicians from symphonic orchestras cannot compete with those connoisseurs and usually seem satisfied with modest installations because they want to listen to music and not stare at hardware.
Greetings
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Iād be even more iconoclastic and challenge anyone to build a new system for the same price as a pre-loved BW 802 Matrix series, appropriate amp, and a well-tested objectively fine DAC / Raspberry combo to stream. Add an Umik and room tuning service for added giggles. There are of course many other examples of this, but whole shebang should come in under 2k, all day, any day, and should absolutely obliterate anything you can get new for that type of amount.
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I mostly agree with this, but I think this underestimates the potential for untrained ears to appreciate the benefits of quality upstream components and their synergies. Optimizing speaker and amplifier matching can produce audible differences that I submit nearly anyone can easily hear. Decent DACs certainly sound similar, but they certainly donāt all sound the same, even within the same price range.
I do agree with you that most folks (myself included) will have a very difficult time hearing a significant difference between an expensive network audio transport (eg., Sonore ultraRendu or SOtM sMS-200 Ultra Neo) and a RPi4 running VitOS, assuming a reasonable quality DAC.
I have no idea what this means. What I do know is that the very greatest of musicians donāt need their hearing to create beautiful music and I doubt that expect anyone to train their ears to enjoy their creation.
Maybe Iāve missed your point, but I thought Hi-Fi was a means to an end not an end in itself.
I have no idea what this means either. Back to enjoying the music. 
Neil Young, Will.i.am, Grimes, Ludwig van Beethoven, Pete Townsend ā¦
It is clear that youāre a fan of VitOS, which is fine of course.
I donāt understand why however why you always seem to find the need to mention something negative about RoPieee.
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I donāt think Iāve ever seen David be negative about RoPieee. If you mean a few comments up, he was talking about the Raspberry Pi 2 being the issue.