I really don’t want yet another music service in my life. I have a extensive Roon library that I have built over years. And I’m deep in the Apple eco-system so Apple Music is where I have all my discovery, playlists, and shared music with my family. I wish Apple made this easier but I expect they will with Airplay 3 as @dabassgoesboomboom is speculating. But paying for Qobuz in addition to Apple Music just makes no sense to me. It does seem complex but I am somewhat bring this on myself because I have high end audio components in both my setups so I’m trying to squeeze the best quality I can out of what I have. AM supports high resolution streaming so given all that I have spent for my two setups it seems like this final few additions is well worth it if it is reliable. And @dabassgoesboomboom experience suggests it is.
I understand. So, needless to say, that any additional hardware box may potentially bring Jitter, etc to your chain. You are aware of it. But I understand your point. It is all a matter of personal preferences. Will keep reading and please share if it did work out as you intended. I hope so. In
regards to speculations, yes we all want progress on this. But it remains speculation. Did open the discussion about Airplay again at Apple forum… Apple Music and Airplay - current status … - Apple Community
I guess you mean automatic rate switching? For such cases, simpler and easier case is to use miniDSP USBStreamer for input. It is plug-and-play to use with HQPlayer Embedded, but it doesn’t support automatic rate switching. But if one uses AirPlay 1 or Spotify, then it is not needed, as it is always 44.1k.
For automatic rate switching, you can do this with the UP Board USB input.
Or you can use ADI-2 inputs through S/PDIF converter.
But I recommend ADI-2 Pro for inputs, because it adds AES/EBU and analog inputs. Using a DAC version just as input device feels more like device going wasted.
Thanks. I guess since the UP Board is back ordered the MiniDSP USBstreamer becomes an option again for connecting the Bluesound to the HQPe server. However, you specifically said Airplay ‘1’. The Bluesound is Airplay ‘2’ compatible. Does that make a difference? Only asking because using the ‘1’ seems to suggest it might. So I just plug the USB output from the USBstreamer to one of the USB inputs on my HQPe server and it will automatically be detected and show up in the INPUT drop down?
I thought @dabassgoesboomboom said that the UP Board doesn’t support rate switching at all? So you are saying that I could skip using my ADI-2 for the iPad cabled connection and just plug the iPAD via USB into the UP Board and then have that send the audio stream to the HPQe via ethernet? So this means that for Apple Music, where sample rates can be high resolution, there are no drawbacks to using the UP Board vs the ADI-2? I already have the ADI-2 DAC but would prefer to use that elsewhere since, as you suggest, it seems kind of like a waste just for a rate converter.
I think AirPlay 2 supports changing sampling rates. AirPlay 1 is usually 44.1k (AirPort Express) or 48k (AppleTV). But if you are seeing static sampling rate for one reason or the other then the difference doesn’t matter.
It is pre-configured on HQPlayer Embedded, so it should work without much work. miniDSP offers multiple firmware variants for it, so first make sure you have the stereo Toslink I/O firmware flashed. (the board itself supports multichannel etc)
Not a rate converter, but input device. These devices specifically shouldn’t do any rate conversions. HQPlayer will. But the key is whether HQPlayer gets notified that the source side sampling rate has changed when such happens. USBStreamer for example is not able to communicate this and you need to manually match the sampling rates.
So then I think for my cabled iPad/Apple Music/HPs setup that I am just better off with the setup that @dabassgoesboomboom helped me with even if a bit convoluted: ipad to usb/SPDIF converter to RME to RPI4 NAA upstream to HPQe. I looked up the ADI-Pro RME and it is almost $2k. Ouch.
Since I am using one HQPe server for both setups, and when using the Bluesound input I have to turn off adaptive rate sampling? Still unclear on what changes I have to make if any on the HQPe side. But obviously I still want full rate switching when using Roon and/or the iPad/HPs setup.
@Michael_Grant : You are better of with Airplay 1 for this usage scenarios here. Check the latest update from Marco on this with posted link here above to Apple forum. Includes the link to Naim forum too in regards to this and the still ongoing discussion. Or jump right away to the summay of measurements here: Apple Music Lossless Mess Part 2: AirPlay - Bits and Bytes - Audiophile Style +++Please take note, if one does it wrong Airplay compresses to aac instead of ALAC 
Anyway, my current favorite for Airplay 1 usage
scenario is Shairport-Sync as you can „force“ the Airplay protocol in limits how to act and much more. https://github.com/mikebrady/shairport-sync
If we use Airplay, we should use it as weakest member of the chain as good as possible imo. Better to avoid it totally and use NAA.
I didn’t think I’ve ever said that. Pretty sure in post #4 and many later posts I wrote the complete opposite?
Can you point me to the exact post/s so I can edit them to not confuse anyone in future. Maybe in the other thread?
The complexity just keeps on compounding. I bought a 2021 Bluesound Node specifically because it supported Airplay 2 and would integrate seamlessly into what my wife is used to doing to play Apple Music on her phone and a few HomePods we have as well. So not much I can do about it at this point. What @jussi_laako and @dabassgoesboomboom are telling me is that I can just get the MiniDSP USBstreamer and plug the ■■ Node into that for upsampling using the same NUC NAA I have in our living room for Roon upsampling playback. And my wife will not have to know nor worry about it. It will just work. Right now I have to switch inputs on the Holo May DAC at the end of the chain with the Node plugged into COAX and the NUC using the May USB input. But that is less than ideal mostly because anytime we play Apple Music via the Node, the May takes forever to lock to the stream and we miss a lot of the song. People say to turn off PLL and I guess I could do that but still. So running everything through HQPe and outputting to the NUC via USB solves that issue.
Sorry @dabassgoesboomboom Maybe I continue to be confused about the ‘limitations’ of the UP Board that you keep referring to. I thought it meant that you had to send the UP Board a fixed sample rate like 44.1k such as from Airplay vs a variable sample rate from an iOS device playing AM directly where you would have 44.1k but also 96k and even 192k high res files. I thought you were saying that the UP Board wouldn’t support this hence NOT TO USE it in the directly cabled iPad scenario. Hence suggesting the use of the RME ADI-2 for this is IT DID support these variable sample rate inputs. But please correct me if I got all this wrong.
No that’s not a limitation with the UpBoard Gateway - auto sample rate switching is the main feature I use with the UpBoard.
I’ve explained the issue in detail in this thread and the Embedded thread. It’s a bit to explain and I don’t have time at the moment to search again.
Have another look where I explain the music quality ends up sounding like bad tape or something similar.
But I also shared the simple solution a couple days ago here. Assuming CPU can handle things with auto rate family off.
Yep, just wanted to make you sensible for issues of Apple Music with Airplay. And yes, this complexity with its stumbling blocks is terrible. At the Audiophile article there is as measurement result too: „ Apple’s Music App, lossless streaming content, USB output with CCK - not bit perfect at 44.1.“ This simple sentence is shocking imo. Especially in context with the summary of the article: „ I’d like to note that some people have said my bit perfect testing isn’t really that big of a deal because Apple is streaming lossless audio and they don’t care if it isn’t bit perfect because it’s better than the lossy stuff. After doing my research, I can tell you the “lossless” may be the exact same thing as the lossy, so people really should care about bit perfect playback. If we don’t know where the digital signal processing is happening, we don’t know that it’s even lossless.“ In summary, let‘s wait for Apple to fix their stuff with Apple Music. Maybe - just a maybe please - you postpone investments till it is fixed. ++ Today, noone - except Apple itself and its partners - know, how they will fix it. But myself is pretty sure, that Apple will fix it. Hoping a bit for news on this, when Apple announces the new extension for classical: Apple Music's classical app could bring the sounds of the orchestra to your AirPods | TechRadar +++ Final sentence to Bluesound and Airplay 2. According to the measurements from Audiophile for 2i, Apple converts to aac. Doublecheck the article please. If this really is the case, exchange it e.g.with a Pi or a capable Airplay receiver for this scenario. It is not about Bluesound, it is about Apple. +++
I have an i9-9900k CPU. Have no idea if that is enough to turn off auto rate family.
Simple thing to do is just try it now 
Even with just Roon
Will do. But what this means is that I could fix my output to DSD256 (assuming enough CPU) and then there are no limitations using the UP Board, i.e. I could use it instead of the RME for iPad/iOS playback?
Precisely why I gifted my 2nd ADI-2 to my dad to use. I was happy enough with UpBoard and the "limitation " was/is not a problem at all for my CPU and filters/modulator I use
Try it and you’ll have all the answers. No need to guess.
My fav is 1x = gauss-long, Nx = gauss , ASDM7ECv2
This one seems to me to be a very nice little guy. Shairport support too, next to NAA. But still happy with PI and NAA image or Ropieee XL. Sonore - microRendu v1.5 ++ However using the PI (with NAA image or Ropieee XL can add a Toslink/Coax output hat instead of USB. Still waiting for the hat to arrive for testing
@jussi_laako So for connecting a Bluesound Node (using Airplay 2 for streaming) am I better off with the USBstreamer or wait for the UP Board since I’m being told that can work also as long as I turn off adaptive rate on HQPe and set it to fixed DSD256 output? I kind of have this bias that USB input will be better than toslink but I suppose that might be incorrect as it relates to Airplay Apple Music streaming.
Can imagine it depends on your DAC too, if Tos or USB. But with your Holy May I guess it is not such important as both inputs for sure excellent. @Michael_Grant I am bit surprised that you are not more concerned about the Bluesound. There is a high risk, you are upsampling all the time aac instead of ALAC? That Audiphile article was done together with Bluesound, maybe you ask them?
As I previously said, the Bluesound was my only option for ease of use Airplay 2 streaming. My wife is moving from a couple HomePods to this new audio system I setup. So it needs to be as easy to use as it was before. There are very few if any affordable Airplay 2 streamers that work as well as the new ■■ Node.