The OP wasn’t looking for a core machine. He was looking for an endpoint. Even with an integrated core, at £10k, I’ll still pass…
Hello,
Appreciate this thread, I’ve been using Roon for nearly a year now and feel pretty invested as using it for my primary music server experience.
To date I’ve been using an old Sonos Connect circa 2010 as my endpoint via Optical TOSlink. With Volume Control Bypass enabled on my DAC/pre-amplifier I have been able to control the volume using Roon.
I thought it would be useful to upgrade the Roon endpoint so that I could take advantage of hi-res audio from Qobuz and files I’ve purchased. Roon was downsampling everything to 48Hz & 16 bit due to the limitations of the Sonos Connect.
I’ve tried 2 devices and have been unhappy with both so far.
-
Bluesound Node via digital COAX but I got random pops when skipping tracks of different formats, such as 192Khz Qobuz stream to a downloaded DSD/DSF track. The volume control bypass worked.
-
Cambridge Audio MXN10. No pops but the volume control bypass only works via its analog output. This is not acceptable as I want to use the higher quality DAC in my pre-amplifier.
My requirements are:
- Roon integration
- Spotify connect - My wife isn’t sold on the Roon UI, yet
- Airplay support
- Digital output to my preDAC for hi-res audio and Roon upsampled audio
- Volume managed by Roon / Spotify - as mentioned the Volume Control Bypass has worked with the Sonos Connect and the Bluesound Node, but not the CA MXN10 which I’m going to return
- Less than $2000, ideally less than $1000
- Would prefer plug and play, but will consider the building an RPi device if that can do everything I need and other options aren’t available.
- Ethernet jack
It appears both the Sonore and the Stack Audio devices recommended here are out of stock.
Currently available options appear to be:
- Pro-Ject Stream Box S2 Ultra
- Volumio Primo
- Intel NUC + Rock + Roon extensions for the Spotify Connect and Airplay support
- Raspberry Pi with some sort of OS (there are so many…)
Any other standout options that I should consider? The NUC & RPi options feel like they could be a headache and require lots of tinkering and software updates, but maybe I’m overthinking it.
Right, there are many OS options if I go the RPi route. I’m still in the device purchasing phase of the decision. Are you fairly confident that RPi + Ropieee would do the volume control using USB as the connection?
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I’m in the raspberry pi camp, I use a 3b into an iFi Go Bar gold visa usb for a simple headphone desktop setup running Ropieee and get great sound via Roon whilst working.
I do have a Wiim pro plus to use as a streamer in another headphone setup as it can accept Tidal natively within the app, Tidal connect or music from my nas in the event of a Roon core failure etc.
You don’t need to spend a lot of money on a steamer only, you’ll get more value elsewhere in the chain, IMO.
I also would support the RPi4. Can be left always on with very low power consumption. Very reliable. Not difficult to set up.
Many here are suggesting Ropiee, and I can’t argue with that except to say that DietPi is also very easy to set up and, for some people, based on requirements, may be more flexible since it is less of an appliance - but that flexibility may come a a small cost in terms of maintenance - although even that is not onerous.
Whichever OS variant you use, if you will likely find that the basic 2Gbyte ram model with a 64Gbyte micro SD card will be more than adequate for audio applications.
I use 2 RPi4s - one as a basic device driving a Fiio K9Pro (ESS) over USB for a headphone station and one with a DigiAmp+ (60 W/channel into 8ohms) driving directly into a pair of passive speakers.
This with RoPieee comes as part of the package. Sure, there are other OS options, but then you’ll have to piece the parts together yourself.
Myself I have been running DietPi with Roon Bridge for some time, but have no need for Airplay or Spotify Connect support.
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Well, your requirements are mainly software requirements, so purchasing a device without paying attention to the software is moot.
What you need is a network transport with RAAT support, Airplay support and with Spotify Connect. That could be either some shiny Roon-Ready network streamer (assuming it supports Airplay and Spotify Connect), or a SBC device like a Raspberry Pi4 with the correct software.
A Roon-Ready streamer will always put into the package some proprietary software; again, I wouldn’t purchase a device without paying close attention to its software package. Then again, you will use it with Roon, which has all your software needs covered.
A RPi without HAT (extension board) will give you USB as digital interface to your DAC; a Wiim Pro as suggested by some will give you all but USB.
RoPieee as OS and network transport appliance in one package will give you an easy solution to your requirements. It includes the Roon Bridge as standard, and comes with options to switch on Spotify and Airplay support. As to Roon volume control, RoPieee supports this, as it doesn’t alter in any way the stream coming over the network from your Roon server. It just receives the stream and handles it off to the the USB output.
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Over the past several years, I’ve tried a number of “network bridges”, including:
-Logitech Touch via coax and USB
-Logitech Transporter via coax
-Bluesound Node 2i via coax
-RPi4 via USB
-iFi Zen Stream via coax and USB
-microRendu via USB
-Silent Angel M1T via USB
The DAC in all cases was the built in DAC of the Quad VA-One+ amp, the consistency of which has given me an appreciation of the relative sonic differences between each of the streamers.
without going into in-depth descriptions of each one, I can say my search ended with the Silent Angel. It supports all the features you highlight, is within your budget, and is available directly from Roon.
Most importantly, there is a liquidity, and sense of ease to the sound that is far superior to any of the others, IME, of course.
Michael Lavorgna has a good review.
I have not invested in the external power supply. for the moment, I don’t feel the need.
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Thanks for your helpful insight. How are you controlling the volume with your M1T via USB → Quad VA One+? Are you doing the volume via the Roon app and it passes that along to the DAC or are you using fixed Roon and adjusting the volume on your Quad VA One+?
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Andreas,
Thank you for all of your explanations.
I’ve actually started to wonder if maybe my Peachtree preDAC doesn’t support volume control bypass via USB and I’ve reached out to them for clarification.
@erekola I did consider this device. I’ve read some negative feedback and reviews and see lots of issues on these Roon forums for these devices. For $1200 there are options that people rate higher.
the M1T supports device volume via Roon, but I use the Quad to adjust volume.
I confirmed that my DAC does support USB Audio 2.0 and volume control via USB. They said they’ve tested the Volumio Primo and it works as a full RAAT Roon end point.
So my question to you - are there good USB Audio 2.0 adapters/add-ons for RPi devices?
This allo USBridge seems likely what I’d use, and it appears pretty similar to the items in the more expensive options…however it’s out of stock, anything else similar that you are aware of?
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Pi devices have USB ports that support UAC 2.0, so you don’t need an adapter.
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To use a RPi as Roon endpoint with USB out, no adapter or add-on is needed. USB Audio is natively supported. I’ve been using a RPi 4 during four years, with two DACs connected via USB, without any problem ever.
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@woodford I looked up the specs of your Quad and they use a very similar ESS Sabre 9018 DAC as the Peachtree preDAC I have. I ordered the Silent Angel M1T and a RPi and plan to do a comparison.
interested in your thoughts.
I still have a Pi, running Ropiee, in a headphone system with an OG Schiit Jotenheim. I like it very much.