This is the right answer 
Now… lets see how many responses we can get on debating what a “bad usb interface” is 
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Any DAC where the S/PDIF interface “sounds better”?
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But seriously, it is a shame that there’s no testing regimen to measure the capability of a DAC’s inputs – how well they comply with the standards, how well they resist noise, etc.
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Yep, that’s unreal currently 
This is true and a lot of HQP folks use the Up Gateway which looks like a fine bit of kit. It just bothers me we used to build “good” endpoints for $45 and now we’re having to recommend multi-hundreds of bucks because Pis are not available.
Won’t happen. No one wants to expose the truth! (cue x-files theme)
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Relative to folks here, I’m lousy at discussions about sound quality and sound signature. I’ve been listening to music on decent gear for decades and I think I’m just easier to please and more reluctant to believe my ears and to make recommendations based on what I think I’m hearing.
I prefer integrated solutions. In the past, that’s led me to things like Peachtree Novas, pre-streamer Lyngdorf boxes, and similar. Today, it leads me to things like Linn DSMs, the Uniti Atom HE, and KEF active speakers.
I have a Naim Uniti Atom HE that I just recently purchased. It’s driving Mezes and Focals. Both sound terrific. So terrific that it’s hard to get up and step away from it. I’ve been spending more time with headphones than speakers recently and this setup is, to my ears and my aesthetic tastes, exceptional.
Naim is certainly known to have a sound signature. Some reviewers commented that the HE is more neutral and tracks that signature less. I don’t have a reference point and, frankly, I choose headphones that are known to have some color so what I care about is a listenable pairing. I did a long listening session with my own headphones at a local HiFi shop and it was obvious to me that the HE was coming home. If you have the option of doing similar, I recommend it. If you don’t like exactly what you hear, you have the option of playing with Roon’s DSP engine to modify it.
The case for separates is strong. There’s a reasonable case for an integrated streamer, too, which is the simplicity and turnkey nature. It’s not a cheap route and you probably get more for your money if you go separates, especially if you use a Pi as a streamer.
The S/PDIF vs. USB discussion is amusing. I fought for years with S/PDIF in the early days of in-home streaming (Audiotron, the very first Slim stuff like the SliMP3, early Sonos, Benchmark, etc.) Issues for years. I was a tester for multiple hardware companies who were working through timing/sync issues. When USB matured, I switched and I would not want to go back. I’m biased and I’m not claiming my bias is based on fact. I just find USB to be solid. I’m sure the Chord guys have their reasons for advocating for USB. I also have a Mojo 2 + Poly which I use around the house. It’s interesting to me that the Poly streams into the Mojo 2 over USB (which is also how the Hugo 2 + 2GO combo works). You’d think they’d build to their own recommendation but apparently not. Interesting.
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Say it’s not so!
@Amir_Majidimehr @Archimago – you guys listening?
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Strap the RPi on a battery pack and you have a portable bridge that you can sit outside with. The RPI is a great bridge solution.
I guess there’s no routine testing regimen for relative input quality. Hopefully a decent modern streaming device company will at least check that their ports are of high quality! Not hard to test…
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I don’t even know how you’d do it! I guess some custom test jig would have to be put together, an upstream USB port that purposely injects noise and various spurious signals into the output (and power feed). See if they are properly rejected by the DAC.
Hopefully. But if the poor consumer is using an off-the-shelf micro-PC as their streamer? Be nice to know that the DAC is well-engineered, as well.
Almost all modern/recent DACs have high quality input ports and low jitter.
When you got to sites that measure devices for such things, pretty much all DAC from $125 on up have good measurements on these parameters. The only exceptions I can remember are some very cheap dongle types.
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Hi,I connect my Musical Fidelity MX Stream(no dac)to my Chord Hugo2 through USB-A to Micro USB cabling and listen to my Meze Empyrean.
Highly recommended.
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I´m use Silent angel rhein v2 as streamer without DAC. In this you have ROON as Musicplayer. My DaC is in the Amp Peachtree audio Nova 500. All of this sounds great. If you Can afford the Naim alternative Just buy it. Naim plays always on a high level
Sorry to hear about the passing of your Chord Hugo. Chord are the stuff of legends!
I started a nice article praising Allo Digital USBridge Signature and DigiOne Signature. I use DigiOne Signature here and USBridge is out of stock. DigiOne Signature is in stock at some distributors. I usually buy from PiShop in the US but have ordered the Allo boards directly from Allo.
I made my purchase some years back based on Darko.Audio reviews and films. John has been staying current with the Bonnets and vendors. But availability changes as ships come in.
USBridge has a different architecture than DigiOne. USBridge has all the proprietary stuff on a mother board. a Pi Compute Module DIMM slips into a DIMM slot on the motherboard. A riser permits adding a DigiOne SPDIF/TOSLink interface if needed. The case is metal and supports adding the SPDIF bonnet/hat. Compute Modules are in stock but not the mother boards. If I were making more Raspberry Pi cobbler, this would be my choice. It is a good match for Schiit Unison USB.
I have been using RoiPeee with my Allo and keep switching between HiFiBerry and RoiPeee on the HiFiBerry Boards in my secondary nodes. I can’t really hear a difference between software versions. The HiFiBerryOS is HiFiBerry only. RoiPeee has gathered up drivers for much of what is out there. For it to work, you must select the correct HAT type from the drop-down. Automatic board identification is not currently possible.
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Thanks for all of the answers, really appreciate the input.
I need a bit of clarity of the whole Roon situation before moving forward though as I’m confused again. I understand that this has been asked before but I’ve searched and read and am still confused so please bear with me…
If I have a bridge (lets say a Lumin U1 mini or a SoTM Neo Ultra) attached to a DAC / headphone amp (lets say a Chord TT2) will this be sufficient to use Roon? I have no physical media and will only be using a streaming platform such as Tidal.
Or do I need a Roon Core??
Control would be via laptop app and iphone.
If I was to buy a Uniti Atom HE instead then that would work independently and not need a Roon core??
Apologies, but this stuff really is quite new to me and I don’t want to spend a stack of money just to find out that I need another piece of gear as well.
Thanks
You always need a Roon Core machine to run Roon. But if you’re only going to use Tidal, maybe you don’t need to run Roon. Just use the Tidal app.
That’s right. Just use Tidal. But it’s ridiculously expensive for what it is. Jewelry.
You always need a core but you can use the laptop as both core / remote. Especially if you’re not managing a library of files.
The long story is:
- You need a Roon Core, without core you have no running app. The core needs a computer to run on (nucleus, pc with windows, mac)
1->2 you need a network (router, switch, etc) - You need a bridge, the device that is connecting using ethernet to your Roon Core. the bridge gets the stream and converts that into a digital audio
2->3 the digital connection, USB, Spdif, etc (there are also DDC, that convert from usb to i2s or etc) - Dac to convert the audio digital stream to analog
-
-
- etc preamp, amp, speakers
-
There are devices that do just one thing and devices that do combine different stages of the chain. The simplest would be a Comp to run the core and an all in one end point that needs only speakers (so that end point would be: bridge+dac+preamp+power amp) or a setup where you have a computer for Roon Core and a bridge+dac+preamp that connects to active speakers or has a headphone amp so you can listen on headphones.
I hope I’ve got them all as there are so many choices.
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With a Lumin U2 Mini + Chord TT2, you can use Tidal Connect via Tidal app, or use Lumin app to play Tidal. Lumin will perform MQA Core decoding for the MQA tracks you get from Tidal before sending it to Chord.
If you really want to use Roon, you’d need a Roon Core on a computer.
OK, I think I’m understanding it.
I’d basically missed the requirement for the Core.
I’d like to try Roon still though, especially the seemingly better UI, access to radio stations (BBC Radio 4 essentially), artist info and EQ. Seems like a big step up from Tidal alone.
However the cost of the extra piece of equipment is off putting as I’m already looking to replace my Hugo…
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