Showing (off) your Roon setup - description and photos [2021 .. 2022]

Wowsers :heart_eyes: :heart_eyes: :star_struck:Hope you have either
-wall treatments that dampen sound
-no neighbors

It looks like you’ve been working on this for about 7 years. It shows! That’s a really nice space - the equipment but also the art, the books, the furniture. Hope you enjoy it!

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:grin: :grin: No complaints yet but one day I’ll turn it up loud!!

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Lava lamp= discerning audiophile

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Not quite. Lava lamp + linear power supply + galvanic isolator = discerning audiophile

“It’s like being inside an actual volcano!”

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That would be an amazing product :slight_smile:

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…endless story :woozy_face:

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Lovely seeing another Embla! I am on my third one!
(And i have the app on an old iPad Mini)
It’s a very versatile machine actually!

A small update with a new component.

I have been dying to get a real streamer to replace my 18-year-old Apple AirPort Express.

Here’s the Matrix Audio Element I2 now functioning as a streamer, a DAC and a preamp, with a single remote, playing Roon wirelessly.

My previous DAC and preamp combo unit has joined the bedroom system, also served by another Apple AE, which I’d like to replace at some point.

Happy Holidays everyone, and enjoy the music!

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Mikael, the Embla is still a great audio player regarding the sound. Firmware and missing features is different story… although the machine has internet connection and talking upnp, theoretically at least! :wink:

Been getting quite a bit of gear envy looking through these posts! So much amazing gear and clever setups.
Thought i’d throw up my current, very minimal setup (i dont have a listening room, and 2 small toddlers running around, so have to keep it basic for the minute :sweat_smile:), for anyone whos interested in a compact setup.

Gear Im running is…

MSI Military Class 4 Fanless mini PC (dont know the model number sorry…) runnin Linux Ubuntu Roon Server

Sending over wifi to Samsung S20FE as the endpoint which is plugged via OTG usb-c to usb B dongle into…

Behringer UMC404HD Audio Interface (using as DAC), which is going via RCA into a

Rotel RA- 820BX2 Stereo Amp which is powering…

A pair of Acoustic Research AR18s.

All in all, sounds very good to my ears, the AR18s are BEAUTIFUL little speakers for their age (35 - 40 years thereabouts) and price.

I also have that Kenwood KD-47F turntable going straight into the Rotel Phono Stage.

I would love to eventually upgrade with a proper Roon Ready streamer, or maybe a Rasberry Pi, and also a better record player with a dedicated seperate tube preamp.

Anyways, all gun and games! As long as it sounds good!





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Re-shuffled my desktop setup. The 99 Classics got 'banned’ here. Well, still a great headphone (when DSP-corrected) although loses hands down to the DCA. Having added the Topping L30II improved the Pro-Ject’s performance significantly. Quite happy with this now.

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@Bernd_Kurte I can see that you had a Pro-Ject Pre Box S2 Digital in that stack. The Pre Box is a DAC/Preamp/Headphone so may I ask why you added the Topping, a dedicated headphone amp to the mix?

I also had a Pre Box but eventually sold it because while it sounded quite good it did not have enough power to properly drive a few of my high impedance headphones, like the Sennheiser HD800 or the Beyerdynamic T1. When using easier to drive low impedance headphones the Pre Box worked just fine.

I never was happy with the headphone amp section of the PreBoxS2. It was a fuzzy, less crisp and flat experience (my personal perception). On the other hand when used as a DAC with my Lindemann integrated amp at that time it was great. No complaints. And so it is again driving the Topping. As always … YMMV

That pretty much describes how an under powered headphone amp would sound when trying to drive headphones needing a lot of power.

Glad that you found a reasonably priced solution!

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Just a few updates since last post including Lumin X1 and iFi procan headphone amp.
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Added a Nucleus + today…



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Bought my Susvaras a new cable for Christmas. It’a from Arctic Cables in Florida https://www.arcticcables.com/aeris-flagsip-series. More micro detail with very small differences in how loud an instrument is being played within the context of an orchestral piece easier to pick up, I also think it looks fabulous. Workmanship off the scale too.

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How’s it performing? Are you able to integrate HQPlayer with it and if so are there any limitations on filter used before skips occur?

For the price of these cables the workmanship had better be off the scale!
Glad that you found the cables to be money well spent.