"Roon Ready" Device with HQ Player

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
1

Aloha,

I have ordered a PS Audio Direct Stream Junior. It is a “Roon Ready” device.

I assume my question will apply to all “Roon Ready” devices, not just the DSJ.

It is easily possible to connect with a “Roon Ready” device over ethernet to my MacBook Pro, and use Roon in conjunction with HQPlayer?

Having never tried such a thing, I’m imagining that the DSJ would be selected as a “zone” in Roon. So if the DSJ (or any Roon Ready device) is selected as Zone, how can HQPlayer also be selected as a Zone?

Or is that HQP is selected as the Zone in Roon, and then the DSJ is selected as the output device in HQP? Can HQP connect to the DirectStream Junior (or any other Roon Ready device) over the network? Or does it require a USB connection?

I’m hoping to avoid USB!

Thanks.

2

@jussi_laako

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You need a HQPlayer NAA capable endpoint if you want to use HQPlayer over your network, no way around it. HQPlayer can’t talk to RoonReady devices.

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John_John, This is what I use.
iMac (Roon > HQP > NAA > USB) USB > Singxer SU-1 > I2S > DSJr I2S input.
I would rate the sound of each as USB alone as a 5, so-so, Bridge II as a 4, better, USB to SU-1 to I2S on DSJr as 1, excellent!
The SU-1 gives the best sound of any combination I have tried. As you can see USB can sound great with a little help from the SU-1. Hope this helps.

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Thanks! I wonder if Roon will sound good with the DSJ doing the upsampling? And eliminate HQP?

I just know that Roon with the SGCD doesn’t sound very good…

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I thought that was the magical part of the DS Dacs, the internal conversion and upsampling to DSD.

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John_John

It isn’t so much about the upsampling, it’s about the filters in HQP. With most DACs the filters are what the designer likes with his system. You and your system are probably different and other filters may suite your system better, or worse, but it’s your choice.

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The Stellar Gain Cell Dac (my current) does not upsample to DSD. It the DirectStream and DirectStream Jr that do that.

I do enjoy the HQP filters though…

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Is it the Singxer specifically, or would any USB to I2s converter bring about the improvement?

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rrwwss52,

I only tried the SU-1, there are others. Though some seem to be DYI. It’s only $350 US and it’s plug and play. And later you can add a linear power supply, to bring it up a notch. I recommend the UpTone audio LPS-1, it has supper caps with very low impedance, and responses to transits faster than most of the. others.

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Thanks for the info. I was considering the Small Green Computer/Sonore variant.

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@DancingSea sadly the dsjr only supports up to dsd64 on Ethernet, 128 on usb iirc.

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With the SU-1 > I2S you can do 128, my favorite settings.

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To play to a device using HQplayer it must be running NAA. You can control HQplayer with Roon. We sell the microRendu and the ultraRendu just for that.

So for your DSJr you would have Roon and HQplayer on your MAC then the ultraRendu attached to your DAC via USB.

Roon -> HQplayer -> Ethernet -> NAA(on ultraRendu) -> USB -> DSJr

I have heard that the DSJr sounds better with I2S. We have the ultraDigital for that.

Roon -> HQplayer ->Ethernet -> NAA(on ultraRendu) -> USB -> ultraDigital -> I2S -> DSJr

The ultraDigital is cheaper then the Singxer SU-1. But the ultraDigital doesn’t have an AES output. You don’t need AES for your DSJr.

The DirectStream Junior is a very popular DAC and I do have some customs running with the configuration above. It is working well for them.

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I have an LKS Audio DAC. Does UltraDigital support DSD512?

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You can check out the specs here

It supports DSD256 over i2s.

-Andrew

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Another USB to I2S option is the Matrix Audio X-SPDIF 2. I use this between a mR and a Holo Audio Spring DAC and am very pleased with it.

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Does anyone know of a quality NAA that outputs I2S?

The USB input on the DirectStream (Senior) is actually very good. If I am going to use an ultraRendu as a NAA, which has a fantastic USB out, there is no way I am going to buy an ultraDigital or Singxer SU-1 along with another LPS. Nope, not going to do that.

But I would consider trying a quality NAA that outputs I2S. I am not a fan of Raspberry Pi units for this function. There is too much noise with the boards packed so close together.

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The ultraRednu + ultraDigital is a great option. A lot of people are using this combination with the DirectStream and getting very good results.

You can use a Y cable to power both the ultraRednu and ultraDigital from our 7v Linear or other supply.

You could use a Pi but the sound quality is very low.

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Why would I want to add another device to the chain? The whole point is to avoid USB altogether. If USB has to be involved, why not let the DirectStream be the DDC instead of the ultraDigital? No, what I would like to find is a quality NAA that has I2S out.

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