Which is ?
I was the same and went for a Naim Uniti Atom for my main zone and use pi’s and Allo usbridge for all the other zones in the house.
Good luck and have fun. It really isn’t difficult using ropieee.
Same as Simon. Naim Atom for the main system and then Pi for kitchen, garage, office and Sonos for the bedroom.
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BUT we know it doesn’t CA CXN for sure doesn’t see USB class 2, only Class 1, there was a big thread about it recently so it limits tp 24/96 npot 24/192 which the CXN is capable of.
CXN and the 851 have the same streamer unti
@xxx was involved too.
It was RPi , Ropieee and CA CNX on USB
Mike
Any of the digital inputs will lose the artwork , you just get a line of text showing the sample rate
You are simply using the 851 as a DAC
If I remember correctly this includes USB
Mike
Hi Stephen
Just to summarize , you are following the exact same path that I did. The CXN and 851 streamer unit is functionally identical, I assume the electronics & DAC are better to warrant the second model.
Starting from CXN (or 851) fed from JRiver controlled by JRemote - you get full artwork and full 24/192 support (the best the streamer unit can do)
Then I went RPi - USB , and hit the Class 1, Class 2 issue. In current state the CA CXN only recognizes USB Class 1 due to some funnies in “Linux audio stack” (@xxx can explain in more tech detail). Even with that you lose artwork
Then I added the Allo Digone board which gives Coax output. You get full 24/192 support but no artwork.
(as it happens I go to my Audiolab M-DAC as a headphone amp, from that Coax so the CXN is redundant as it stands sigh …)
Currently I use only headphones for Hi Fi, general music is an optical out from the CXN to a soundbar due to WAF !!!
The artwork stuff only works for the CXN as a streamer unit by ethernet (or wireless) network input
Some one above was correct , it will only work with artwork if (or when) CA goes Roon Ready and they have stated on their support forum that its unlikely.
The Chromecast Audio route is just another digital output , again losing artwork
The only other route is the dreaded Airplay , where you keep artwork but get 16/44 at best. All your hi res stuff is processed down by Roon to 16/44
Something about Rocks and Hard Places.
I too am seriously wondering about what to do at the end of my first year subscription.Tidal is the balancing factor for me.
I am not aware of any other alternatives with the CA streamers (other than sell a perfectly ACE bit of kit to fit in with software – UGH). The addition of Tidal to the CA CXN / 851 makes it more bearable although the CA connect app is a bit ugly compared to Roon.
Good Luck , if I can be any more help don’t hesitate to shout (T shirts available 
)
Mike
The 851 is only 6 months old and have no intension of selling it.I love how Roon works from my dedicated NUC, very fast and great layout…I have a pi and DigiOne on its way with spdif out.I know I will loose artwork but if I get a good improvement in sound quality,I can live with no artwork.Should have it tomorrow .If this is not what I expect , I will start again with jriver or similar.Install Mac and jriver on my NUC.I have seen a SMS-200 on eBay at £250 and am still tempted but I gather I will still have these problems
That would be my SMS 200 
Built my Digione and Pi,installed software and got it up and running.To my ears it doesn’t make any difference to the sound at all ,Ive tried the USB from the PI and the Spdif from the Digione.Both sound very much alike and i have no artwork on the 851N as expected.At the same time i ordered a SMS 200.Now this is a totally sound,bass is much better and all seems clearer and a lot more crisper, thats straight out the box with standard PSU.Im going to give it a week to burn in as suggested hopefully it should even better.
At this stage im looking at a upgraded power supply like the sbooster (9v)no one seems mohave them in stock.
Would this be a good investment or equivalent ?
Great to hear this. I ordered my SMS 200 last week and looking forward to receiving mine.
I did notice that the sbooster is available here.
I am however not sure whether it is worth the upgrade, given that I will be plugging the stock power supply into a power conditioner to begin with. Any advise?
Im trying to find one in UK
Or the LPS 1
I am sure these guys will ship to the UK. I bought from them when I lived in Singapore. I can recommend them.
Do i need the 9v version, only some are running 12v
I am no expert – but if you look at the specs for the STM-200, it appears that 9 v should suffice. If I read it right, even their stock ps is 9v, but I might be wrong.
sMS-200 Ultra are 9V as standard, but can be internally adjusted to 12V. The wall wart supplied is 9V, but the sPS-500 can be set to 9 or 12V (or even lower).
This is useful. A question please. Is there an optimal voltage adjustment for this unit? Does it make sense to bump it up to 12 v, given that it is an internal switching DC circuit in any case?
I was looking at the Sbooster when I considered an SMS-200 (not the Ultra) a while ago.
Sbooster seem to recommend the 12-13V version.
Also, I emailed a distributor in the Netherlands, they said 12V as well.