Here is my current setup.
Bedroom : Self built PC with Core i5 8Gb ram and a 4Tb hdd for storing my roon music files running windows10.
Denon DA-300USB dac and a NAD VISO HP50 headphone.
Living Room : RaspberryPi with Hifiberry Digi+ running the Hifiberry SDcard image.
and a Core i7 HTPC with 16GB ram driving a Meridian Explorer 2 with a Schitt Wyrd inbetween.
The Hifiberry Digi+ connected to the coaxial digital input of my amp,the explorer 2 to the analog cd input.
The amplifier is a Denon PMA-2500NE,speakers are KEF R900 black.
Mac mini ssd, Roon, audioquest diamond usb, ipad, msb analog, classè cp 800, classè ca 2300, vienna acoustics beethoven bb s.e. Van den hul the mountain, val the hul the cloud.
ASUS Vivo PC to NAD M51 DAC to Accuphase A-36 to Avantgarde DUOs
Have had this set up for years the ROON/ Tidal front end is the best yet. I really enjoy the vast TIDAL library it eclipses my 2TB of music that I have collected over the years. Thanks guys, looking forward to MQA.
That is a lot of high quality electronics, but I’d say you can gain a lot by placing the speakers properly.
Separate, a bit away from the walls and you’ll get a much better soundstage.
Agreed. Unfortunately, room configuration and WAF are factors in my layout. It works pretty well though.
(Hard to tell in the photo, but the entertainment center and speakers are in a recessed wall pocket…door to the rear yard to the left, fireplace to the right, each 18 inches from the outer speaker edges.)
Afaid @paaj is right. With that speaker placement your hi-fi definitely isn’t showing anywhere near its potential. Not meant as criticism, just statement of fact. I’d move them out into the room for listening, hell I’d even put them on wheels if I had to for listening.
As previously stated, “Unfortunately, room configuration and WAF are factors in my layout.”
You haven’t met my wife…
If it were “just my room,” I would actually reverse the seating area to sit inside the recessed wall, and put stuff on the long wall where I sit. However, that said, I must sacrifice soundstage for household peace.
So after almost year using Roon I would like to show my setup.
I have to setups: one for stereo music, second for 5.1 sound.
Stereo setup:
Mac Mini with second 2TB HDD with music files,
Wireworld Ultraviolet 7 USB Cable,
Yamaha CD-S2100 (SACD/CD Player with DSD DAC),
AudioQuest Red River XLR,
Yamaha A-S2100,
Furutech U-2T 2x3m,
Chario Delphinus Constellation,
iPad Mini 2 as remote.
BTW Roon IMHO is great software for listening music. Earlier I used MC21. MC21 is better in one functionality over Roon - it’s SACD ISO support which I have a lot.
Regards
Sebastian
Sorry for my camera, on the picture my TV looks like to be curve but it isn’t.
Well, after some thought, I installed some wheels on my homebuilt speaker platforms. I never would have thought of it, @evand, @paaj, but it was a pretty simple solution. Pictures attached. Thanks for the honest feedback!
This is my “soon to be” setup. Still missing a few of the components. Everything will be hard wired except for the ipad of course. NAS and RoonServer will be stored in a closet to eliminate noise.
Just finished it this afternoon. I’ll let you know in a few days how it sounds. Still kind of limited on how far I can pull them out, but at least the fronts are clear of the cabinet.
Toe in will be important too - it’ll define the soundstage and imaging. You want to aim for symmetry from speaker to listening position, but that’s a whole other thread.
No doubt better soundstage with the speakers moved forward. Tinkering with toe-in angles as well. Put oak valences on the speaker platforms to hide the wheels too…
My setup - Roon installed on a Windows 10 desktop PC with 64GB memory and a 4tb hard drive. About 33,000 tracks, all ripped to FLAC using dbPoweramp (used an ancient Sony CD/DVD changer (VGP-XL1B2) connected via Firewire to do the initial rips - 200 CDs at a time. Yes, dbPoweramp has a bulk rip solution too…
I listen in 2 rooms:
USB connected to an Emotiva XMC-1 playing with a Parasound A21 amp to Paradigm Studio 100 speakers. Control with an iPod/iPhone and sometimes the PC itself.
Home office - old Denon AVR-4311 running studio monitors. AirPlay to the Denon, controlled with an iPhone.
