I think (hope) @Doug_Spitler means a network vs. usb connection between DAC and core.
Roon ROCK on a Nuc or Nucleus going straight to a DAC is a āfakeā streamer.
Just do some listening with and without a real streamer and the answer will be obvious
I call that āno streamerā, not āfake streamerā, since you donāt really need a streamer when you donāt stream to a different room. I donāt see anything obvious to the contrary.
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Maybe I should have commented in this statement rather than the āreal streamerā because you are correct that a direct connection to the Roon core is actually not āstreamingā.
While I agree that there are differences between different streamers, those differences are all about build quality, feature sets and ease of use. All properly functioning, Roon Ready streamers that use RAAT and have USB output will send the exact same data stream to the DAC and therefore will āsoundā exactly the same. If one streamer āsoundsā different or better than another streamer, well then one of the two streamers is not functioning correctly. Of course you are free to believe otherwise and free to spend your money on the more expensive streamer, if that pleases you.
I have several different streamers in use throughout my house. Squeezebox Touches with EDO enabled, Sonore microRendus, ProJect Stream Box S2 Ultras and a sound bar with Chromecast built in. They all āsoundā the same but are very different when it comes to features and ease of use. Even various mobile devices (phones and tablets) which can be used as Roon endpoints and therefore serve as streamers and the digital data stream from these devices āsoundsā exactly like the digital data stream from my other streamers.
One of the great things about digital audio is that it is much more robust than analog audio but many audiophiles seem unwilling to accept this simple truth and treat digital audio as if it were analog audio, which only happens at the output of the DAC chip, not upstream of the DAC chip.
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Iāve tried DSD128, but I think the DSP robs the music some vitality, at least in the context of the Linn streamer DSM/3.
Pity that Roon still have not supported 384k/24 and DSD 256 for the Linn streamers, despite the fact that some of us, Linn streamer owners, have sent a number of requests to support.
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It may be as simple as a loss of gain.
Your Roon Nucleus+ should be more than adequate as one of the best streamer or server if you are using USB input only.
I have compared my Intel NUC11 Roon core server with the Antipodes K50 & K22 servers using USB interface, and Grimm MU1 server using the SPDIF connection into an MSB Reference DAC with Pro USB-ISL and SPDIF interfaces, respectively. I prefer the NUC11 server.
Donāt bother. Just upgrade your Linn gear to Organik and let Linn do the upsampling and modulation.
Do you actually own a May KTE and have tried different inputs and streamers with it? I do and have. The USB input on the May KTE is so well designed and built that spending comparable amounts on a streamer is totally unnecessary.
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IMO, Sonore ultraRendu is bigger bang for the buck ā better SQ than microRendu.
Sonore opticalRendu is top of the line in SQ, but pricey.
Sonore makes good stuff and they have great support. They actually respond to emails promptly.
This is the sort of comment that would normally wind me up a bit as it seems like Doug is prescribing how one should use Roon. But as the relatively recent owner of a Spring 3 L2 (with the 2.1 USB module fitted) I know he is prescribing how to use the May DAC.
Firstly I donāt need to use room correction where I listen. But I have always used DSP to provide the best conditions for my DAC to give its best, be that conversion to DSD or sampling up in PCM. My Spring 3 is the first Iāve owned where you can hear a difference with DSP on or off where things are better off. And I recognise that as being specific to the Holo Audio product, not Roon. Iām still shaking my DAC down but that is probably my most notable discovery so far.
I am in the possesion of 2 streamers. One in a DAC and one stand alone. If I use the standalone with the DAC (bypassing the internal streamer) thereās a huge difference that anybody can hear. No need for audiophyle hearing.
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In a simple theoretical world, you might get away with this. But in the real world with many kind of interferences, you really have to do a well executed evaluation of gear. Itās not that a bad transport would be altering the bits but a good transport would not add any RFI/EMI and Jitter, from which DACs are susceptible of.
The difference was also obvious when I was using the Schiit Yggdrasil. My comment was not limited to the May DAC. I have extremely resolving open baffle speakers, so I may be hearing effects other systems miss.
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Iām not sure anybody was disputing that a difference between DSP and bit-perfect could be heard. I donāt have your speakers but I can hear a difference, I just prefer it when DSP is on particularly when using specific filters for different headphone models.
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I have two Touches, two Transporters, a BS Node, a micro Rendu, and a Pi4/Ropieee. I also briefly had an iFi Zen Stream.
They all sound different, and the various outputs from the Touch, including EDO/USB, sound different from one another.
For a variety of reasons I did not like the Zen Stream; sound quality was a factor. the Rendu is very good, as is the Pi4/Ropiee, with an iFi power supply.
Iām a longtime fan of Squeezeboxen, but theyāre now outclassed for sound quality by a variety of other devices (I still like the analog out of the Transporter, and itās such a sexy device).
I love the functionality of the Node, but cannot abide the way it sounds, via analog or digital outputs. That said, I two other BluOS devices in the house, a Powernode, and M10, and bother are quite good.
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This is basically how the science based, objectivist audio side of this hobby feel towards the subjectivist audio side:
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Thus there are sites like ASR for all with those vested interests. Saving us all really isnāt the specification of this forum 
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I own an Organik dsm/3 that came out of the 1st batch of production from the Linn factory, but I just want to fiddle around with sampling. Currently, I am using HQPlayer to feed 384k/24 and 192k/24 via USB and TOSLINK inputs respectively. Sounds mighty good to me.
RopieeXL. 10char.
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