Hi all,
New to Roon, actually just ordered NUC to install ROCK but wanted to see if you have any information on any Roon End point streamer with I2S RJ45 output?
My DAC has USB input but that would be used from my PC and hence only other port to use seems to be I2S RJ45 and apparently it is jitter free and wanted to utilize that port but wasn’t able to find much.
I could go with DDC with I2S RJ45 but trying to minimized the chain.
Thanks.
Have a look at the Sonnet Hermes streamer.
WOW great thanks for the information.
Might just be the one… 
Thanks so much.
If you already have a streamer there are several companies that make converters with an i2S output. Sonore and AudioByte Hydra are two I use but they don’t stream, they just convert USB or other types of input to i2S. You also need to be careful because not all i2S is the same. Most of the converters have some kind of configuration setting for the different versions of i2S. So you need to make sure that whatever you get, streamer or converter, supports your DAC’s version of i2S. I learned the hard way that just because one device has an i2S output and the other has an i2S input doesn’t mean they will actually work together.
As @ksalno notes, there’s no standard I2S interconnect, either on HDMI or RJ45. Sonnet uses an RJ45 pinout that is also used by Metrum, you should make sure that your DAC uses that same pinout if you get the Hermes.
Oh thanks for the info.
My. DAC ha RJ45 I2S connection and pinout would most likely be different so will get custom cable made to connect them together.
Sent email to Sonnet to get pinout I formation.
Thanks.
Here’s a doc with a bunch of different I2S pinouts: https://www.computeraudiophile.com/applications/core/interface/file/attachment.php?id=29238
Thanks for the link. I actually had that in Excel format but it didn’t have Sonnet or Metrum pinout
Got the reply from Sonnet just now. and below was the pinout information.
| Pin | |
|---|---|
| 1 | SDATA |
| 2 | GND |
| 3 | LRCLK |
| 4 | GND |
| 5 | BCLK |
| 6 | BND |
| 7 | MCLK |
| 8 | GND |
Great suggestion.!!!
Was looking at getting a new one but coincidentally found a 6 month old Hermes on the classified for half the price of new one.
Pinout between Sonnet and Aqua DAC was very different so had to make custom cable for it… not sure if it would work… but at least each pin are connected to corresponding pin when testing with RJ45 cable tester…
Will know if this cable would work once I test it after pickup the Streamer tomorrow
Thanks.
Let us know how this goes, please!
Will do… picking it up tomorrow 10AM … hope this works
Just picked up the Sonnet Hermes… nice little unit indeed …
Have Sonnet connected to my DAC via RJ45 I2S connection and listening to music now.
Sounds great compares to my RPi via Coax RCA…
Had to make custom cable as pinout is different like below;
was bit worried as this was my very first I2S cable, made RJ45 network cables numerous times before, but cable turned out OK …
Add images
Thanks @spockfish for your awesome suggestion.
Quick update on my quest to get I2S working with Sonnet Hermes and Aqua La Voce S3.
Had massive issue with noise when switching input other than I2S. No noise what so ever but when switching to any input there was so much noise.
2 issues had to fixed.
First I2S pinout given by Aqua was for older model of La Voce hence the cable had to be in below format;
Reason it worked, was all active signal was connected, only change was 2 extra ground connection.
Anyway this didn’t resolve the issue and Sonnet suggested me to use non-shielded CAT6 cable instead.
Wow using non-shielded network cable actually fixed the issue. I thought having a shielded cable would be better but not this time around.
So elcheapo cable with standard RJ45 connector actually worked much better than much more costly CAT8 shielded cable and connector.
I use the same method to connect la voce s3, but I can’t play the dsd
I believe La Voce doesnt support DSD but only DoP and that might be why… Believe only Formula support Native DSD from Aqua lineups…
Extract from Aqua website (La Voce S3 Discrete R2R ladder DAC);
RJ45 AQlink (I2S serial bus) - PCM 24 bit / 384kHz – DSD64, DSD128 via DoP
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