ROCK with Trinnov Altitude 32

Are out there any ROCK and Trinnov Altitude 32 users?

I was successful in building ROCK with NUC715BNH with 8GB RAM, 2TB internal SSD and Akasa Plato X7 fan less case. The power supply is HDPlex 200W LPS. It only powers the NUC and the switch (Linksys SE3005).

Compared with ROON running on a Windows 10 server ROCK provides a significantly improved sound. However, it is not as smooth and effortless as the sound I get when playing CD/SACD on OPPO 205 (SE upgrade by The Upgrade Company) connected to the Trinnov via HDMI.

The best sound however is when playing high-res files: more body & sparkle. The problem is that Altitude 32 is not capable of playing 192KHz streams without drop-outs.

Any thoughts on what I should do next to improve the ROCK sound? Better switch? Pimped up NUC board with a better clock? Snake oil?

I’m using a Win10 server with my Alt32. No problem with 192 files to date (wired connection). It’s not clear to me why the server type should affect SQ (all other settings being equal). I’m willing to be convinved otherwise.

Cliff,

I my case the device running Roon/ROCK makes a noticeable difference even when using B&W A7 (AirPlay) as an endpoint. I have tested this with Roon running on QNAP 871, then Windows 10 then ROCK/NUC. Every single change to the ROCK/NUC appliance, such as fanless case & LPS, improves further on the sound quality.
Length and quality of ethernet cables also have an impact. In fact for the Trinnov set-up I am using short ethernet cables that connects the audio components to the switch. The only cables into the switch are those from Altitude, ROCK and internet.

One can hear the SQ improvement very clearly on the Trinnov set-up which includes Wisdom Audio LS 75i speakers and S90i subwoofers powered by a mix of Krell and Trinnov amps.

My suggestion is to listen to the same CD via Roon and through some quality spinner into Trinnov via HDMI. Do you hear any differences?

Regarding the hi-res files, the source of dropouts is not the ethernet connection (wired); it is because of a lack of processing power on the Altitude. To support this statement I would add that I get same processor behavior by connecting ROCK via HDMI. Since OPPO 205 is a ROON endpoint I have streamed same hi-rez files to OPPO->HDMI->Altitude and got the same drop-outs. OPPO’s analog outputs were fine.

Do you use the optimizer?
Ric

Hi Ric
I have to confess I haven’t done many comparative tests except between 2-ch and multi-ch upmixes. I’ve compared various Auro-3D upmixes with up to 9 speakers. Often I prefer the stereo.

I’ve not had any dropouts at all with 192 material whatsoever so I’m not convinced the Core i7 in the Alt32 isn’t up to the job. Have you raised the issue wiith Trinnov support?

And, yes, I do use the optimiser

Hey Cliff,

I too prefer stereo for music. Because my speakers require digital crossovers, Altitude processes 6 channels just for L & R. That might be too much for the processor at 192KHz. In fact John Heron mentioned that in certain conditions I might have issues with high-res music (172.4KHz and 192KHz only).

The main reason for the post was to find out means of improving SQ for ROCK streams to Altitude.
If you get a chance it would be an interesting exercise to rip a well recorded CD to WAW or at least AIFF, place the files on the Roon server and then compare the sound to the same CD played through your blu-ray player connected to Altitude via HDMI. You might be surprised.
Before performing the test, let the Altitude and the amplifiers to warm up at least half a day.