I wonder if there are any other Roon users here that use a Sonnet Hermes bridge?
…It seems not; I’ll reply to myself! I’ve been using the Hermes for six months now. It was sort of an enforced upgrade; my vinyl setup was out of action for seven months getting a stylus re-tip, and my 2012 Mac mini that I’d been using as a Roon server/player was approaching end of life. I’d looked for a bridge that offered an AES/EBU connection, as my Weiss Minerva only has Firewire, AES/EBU and S/PDIF or Toslink. Weiss can’t find anyone to write an updated firewire driver for an M4 Mac mini so I moved outside the Mac ecosystem.
The Hermes is very appealing. It has a small form factor and minimalist styling, and is the affordable ‘youger sibling’ of Metrum, with very similar sound. I had to update my Synology NAS so that I could run RoonOnNAS, so that gave me a neat two box solution. I found an old Canare digital cable with XLR connectors and was up and running once I’d manually added files to RoonOnNAS so that I could stream digital radio - very important in my rural location with limited FM options (2 stations).
The Hermes connected straight away and has been trouble free, even less trouble than the Mac mini. Despite sounding considerably better than the Mac mini with improved micro and macrodynamics, lower noise floor, and better imaging, I was a little disappointed in the sound initially, especially compared to my CD setup, a modified CEC TL-51X, and even more so after I upgraded the S/PDIF cable from the CEC to a DH Labs Silversonic digital cable. Once I’d upgraded the Canare cable to a corresponding Silversonic AES/EBU cable, the Hermes was transformed, especially playing NAS based files - almost identical to the CEC.
It’s been a great upgrade, reasonably inexpensive, very listenable.
I recently added the Hermes to my setup, feeding his brother Pasithea via I2S, so far I’m really enjoying it!
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Anche io Hermes con Pastihea (ed anche un vecchio Weiss 202 via AES); mi chiedo se esista un aggiornamento di Rooopie …
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I’m interested in how you think that the Weiss compares to the Pasithea
It’s a really engaging streamer, it surprised me that it made such a large difference
I’m pleased to start by saying that until a few days ago, I was also using a Naim NDX2, which I recently sold. Although it’s an excellent piece of equipment, I prefer the sound of the Pastihea due to its greater weight and density. That said, compared to the Sonnet, the Weiss is a bit more airy and relaxed, very natural, and perhaps less dynamic. We’re talking about many years between the design of the two DACs, but in digital, the differences are subtle and can be detected by concentrating on the listening experience. If I were to wander casually into the listening room, I’d have trouble telling which of the two was at work…
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Hi, I’ll reply in English, if you prefer, we can switch to Italian via direct messages. Did you hook up the Pasithea to the Hermes over I2S? I’m not sure why you need to update Rooopie, but I’m pretty new to the Hermes.
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Yes, i use i2s (Audioquest Vodka Etherenet); Hermes is based on Rooopie …