U1 Mini with Mcintosh DA1 DAC in a MAC7200

[Rugby (aka Daniel or Big Dan)]

This might be the thread you are remembering. But, Peter was not saying it did native DSD.

McIntosh DA2 (DAC Module)

If DoP works fine for you and you don’t need to play more than DSD128, then use DoP. No reason to use the old dCS standard. I don’t think you could have got DSD256 from Linux via dCS protocol on DA1. You can use native DSD if you direct connect the DA2 to Roon on Windows, or if you use our Lumin U1 / U1 MINI streamer, since we have recently added specific native DSD support for McIntosh DA2. A likely reason between the different USB behavior of DA1 and DA2 is that they use different USB proc…

Bottom line is these devices use Linux and will be limited to DoP. This is all about McIntosh’s implementation. The only way to get native DSD to that device is via a Windows box running the ASIO driver.

That being said you can get a cheap prebuilt mini for about 150 bucks on Amazon Just load the ASIO drivers, load RoonBridge. plug it up to ethernet and the USB to the McIntosh.

Maybe you could contact McIntosh tech support for a pre-sales tech question, describe what you want to do and see if they have another option. OR, think about a different DAC/AMP that WILL do native DSD with the hardware you have.