Hi,
I am looking for small Roon endpoint with Raat and Airplay aswell. I want to use my Speakers with Roon Nucleus, and also Airplay from any of Apple Devices. Does anybody have a suggestion?
With thanks
Daniel
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Or buy one already built. Who sells these?
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I will try the Orchard. Thanks for hints and ideas.
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I have picked up the Orchard PecanPie today, swapped the sd card for an RoPieeeXL Image and I am enjoying my new Roon Endpoint. Thanks for your suggestions and hints !
Happy listening
Daniel
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Hi,
Sorry to revive this thread, I’ve been searching around because I’m new to Roon, and found this thread very to the point.
I am trying to get Raat into my AVR to overcome Airply limitations. From what I understood, I’m planning to do the following:
- Buy a Raspberry Pi4, 4 Gb, model B, and install Ropieee as suggested above.
- connect my PC Server (Roon Core) via Ethernet to the Raspberry, then the Raspberry to my Marantz SR8012 via USB (or HDMI?) to get up to 24bit/192kHz into the AVR DAC.
Is the above correct? Am I missing anything? Will there be any sound difference using the options mentioned above ( Allo, Orchard, Metrum )? If so, which differences?
Appreciate any help. Thanks.
If you use RoPieee or RoPieeeXL you can’t use HDMI. USB works well if your receiver can use it. Also, you don’t need 4GB. A 2GB RPi4 is fine. Of course, your PC and RPi4 will be connected to your router or a switch using ethernet. The RPi4 running RoPieee can use WIFI, but ethernet is usually better.
Thanks. Yes, everything will be connected via Ethernet, except the Control Points.
I’m going to double check if the AVR has USB-DAC. If not, how can I connect the Raspberry via HDMI?
I understand the use of Allo, Orchard etc is to have some DAC between the Raspberry and the AVR, right?
And thanks for pointing out that 4GB is not necessary,and the quick reply.
Your receiver has an internal DAC (digital to analog converter) you will be using. The RPi4 is simply a bridge from your Roon core running on your PC to your receiver. If your receiver cannot use USB input, you would need a different bridge device or you could add a HAT that fits on top of the RPi4 to give you different connections to your receiver.
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Hey @MBS1702, welcome. Your Marantz has digital audio inputs of coax and optical but not usb. You have several options with the Pi then: 1) Add a digital output hat to your pi, like a hifiberry digi+ which you can run on the pi using either RopieeeXL or HifiberryOS. From that you could connect to your amp via either coax or optical. 2) Add a DAC hat like Hifiberry DAC+, Allo Tone etc… on top of your pi (very easy to do) and connect to your marantz via RCA. This would bypass your marantz dac, and allow you to use the dac of your choice, which may be an advantage if your marantz’s dac is outdated. 3) Go “hat-less” and get an external dac like a Topping E30 for $129. You’d connect to that using USB from your pi (running ropieee) and then go out to your marantz (from the dac) using rca. My reco is option 3, which I believe gives you the best SQ for the buck. Options 1 and 2 I would only consider if you wanted to save space, and maybe $60. Hope that helps!
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Hi, this is very informative and detailed, thanks!
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My AVR is the SR8012 (still very high up in their line), and has an AKM 4458 DAC (which is unfortunately not so top of line, as I’ve read, but capable) that according to the manual can be used through the front panel USB which it says has the ability to decode up to 24-bit/192-kHz ALAC, FLAC and WAV lossless files as well as DSD 2.8MHz and 5.6MHz tracks. I understood it does have the USB digital input necessary.
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Even so, do you think the Topping E30 will give me the best sound? Is the AKM 4458 outdated? I’m in Brazil, so with taxes it will be like double the price. I’m OK with that as long as the SQ improvement is of notice.
I do appreciate the help!
Sorry, but you are mistaken here. The SR8012 USB input is for USB Memory devices only (e.g. a USB memory stick, or USB drive). It is not for connecting the USB output of a Pi or other computer.
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I see. That’s a pity… So I guess the Topping as suggested will be my best SQ choice, and simplest implementation, right?
Thank you for taking a look. This is all very confusing in the beginning, and difficult to understand why certain features are not available in expensive gear like my AVR…
That is not uncommon.
Well, it’s really up to you to decide, and I appreciate that you are probably not in a position to be able to compare different setups and decide which one you like best…
If you’re happy with the sound that your Marantz DAC and speakers produce, then the cheapest option would be to use a HAT with digital output (coax or optical) to your AVR.
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The simplest and cheapest implementation would probably be to use a RPi4 with a HAT like Hifiberry Digi Pro which gives you coax and optical S/PDIF output. With this, you can connect your RPi4 endpoint directly to the coaxial or optical input of your AVR. This also means that you will use your AVR’s internal DAC for digital to analogue conversion.
Not necessarily so. The suggestion stands that you could use a RPi endpoint without HAT, connecting it to an external DAC with USB input. The analogue output of the DAC would be connected to the analogue input of your AVR, bypassing the AVR’s internal DAC. To make this worthwhile, though, I believe you should look for an external DAC that gives you the best sound quality possible, and one that noticeably outperforms the AVR’s internal DAC. I agree that this would possibly be the best option with regard to sound quality, but being you I would invest some effort reading and asking about DAC alternatives within your financial constraints.
I agree. I would go this route first. You can always purchase a new stand-alone DAC later.
Thank you all.
When I said “My best SQ choice” I was saying within the budget range discussed in the thread, from around U$ 50 of the HifiBerry Digi Pro/Standard to around the 100 of the Boss Player or the 300 of the Digione Sugnature or PecanPie. I thought the suggestion of the Topping would get me a DAC pretty much on the same level of these more expensive options, as it has the AK4493, which seems to be well regarded, with a better pricing point. In this line of thought, am I correct, or the other solutions provide much better SQ?
I’m also assuming you are talking about more expensive DAC, over 500 or so as a later option, right? But I don’t think I will go this route. It seems to me above the cost/return capabilities of my ears. 
And as Geoff noted above, being in Brazil, I have to make all the purchases based on research…
I doubt you would notice much difference in comparison to your AVR’s internal DAC. I maintain my point that the most cost-effective way to use your AVR is with a RPi endpoint and a HAT with digital output into your AVR.
If in the future you’d like to improve upon your setup, you at least would know what exactly you were going to improve upon, because you would know well the sound of your AVR’s DAC. Without having experienced the sound of your AVR’s internal DAC it’s quite impossible to know beforehand if a Topping D30 will or will not improve upon this. With regard to DACs there seem to be as many opinions as users, so in my experience it takes some time to get one’s mind sorted.
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