Opening a discussion here, wondering what your thoughts are on whether implementing a U1 into my setup would yield significantly better (and noticeable) results than the built-in Roon functionality of my Bricasti M21 DAC.
What is “U1” ?
The Lumin U1 Steamer
How is your M21 connected? If it’s connected directly from a computer USB output, or you’re using its built-in streamer via AirPlay, you may consider the U1.
If the M21 is already Roon Ready, then it’s hard to say whether an external streamer will be any better. However, we do have customers who chose to use our streamer instead of the (built-in or optional) network modules from their DAC manufacturers. Two brands come to my mind.
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The M21 should be Roon Ready unless you have an older model. I don’t know about the hierarchy of their models but my presumption is it is possible an older one may not be Roon Ready. This was lifted from an article dated April 2019. To be frank, I can’t imagine a £17,000 DAC controller can be improved on by too many devices out there.
Ethernet connection – Roon
The M21 is UPnP and Roon compatible and indeed, it works with Roon right away, without any fiddling. All one needs to do is to enable the output in the Roon Audio setup, in this case, the Antipodes CX, connect the M21 via Ethernet and that’s it. When connected via LAN, the correct input is automatically selected on the M21 when starting music playback from the Roon application. What’s also very convenient is that the M21’s volume level can be controlled directly from the Roon app.
The M21 will work with Roon, but it’s not certified. Also, because the volume control is analog on the M21, you can’t control the volume from Roon.