Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. I found a dealer demo SOTM sMS-1000SQ server so I bought that. It will have digital output AES, coaxial, and optical. Also a 10MHz master clock inout as I have an Antelope 10M. We’ll see. I can sell it without taking a bath if it fails to live up to the hype.
So the requirements can easily be met for a few hundred dollars, used Mac Mini as server is the functional equivalent of the Taiko = Running Roon with Ethernet in - USB out
If it doesn’t sound as good then the big question is why, and at what point in the spending spectrum from $260 to $26,000 do you get to the point of no improvement? That’s a question, I don’t have any answers.
Some mini-itx boards have spdif outputs. I use a Gigabyte Ultradurable GA350N board in a fanless Hush case running Fedora / VortexBox / Roon. This has spdif headers on the board that enable coax (and optical with a suitable adapter board) outputs. It works very well as a one box solution with spdif out to a dac / preamp. I have also used an Asrock E350M1 board which has an optical spdif output. I can recommend this type of build for a one box solution if you don’t mind a bit of diy.
I have a Salk StreamPlayer Generation III, which includes a S/PDIF Toslink output (as well USB output.) I purchased it mid-2016 and it’s been working flawlessly since. At that time I tried both outputs and slightly preferred the sound via USB, but of course this comes down to personal preference and the DAC and interconnects being used.
Last year I upgraded my DAC and amplifier and was blown away by how great this unit sounds. It’s a shame the StreamPlayer hasn’t generated the buzz of similar offerings from Innuous, Small Green Computer, Roon Nucleus, etc. It offers exceptional performance and is competitively priced.
in case anybody is still paying attention, and assuming anybody actually cares… I gave up
first of all , thanks for the input and suggestions
after a lot of research I came to the conclusion that what I want does not exist shy of mega $$$$ so I gave up and went with multiple boxes. My DAC is an Antelope Eclipse 384 Pro Audio interface that is both A to D and D to A. It has a USB input but being 8 years old I had a hunch it would be better with the spdif inputs, So I got a Mutec MC3+ and their REF10 master clock to feed the AES/EBU input. Wow.
If you are messing around with “audiophile” DACs you owe it to yourself to try a Pro Audio Interface… so many to choose from like Lynx Hilo, an Antelope unit, RME, and others.
I tried a PS Audio Directstream, Chord DAVE with M Scaler, DCS Rossini with clock. DCS Debussy too. This Antelope more than holds it own, I prefer it, and at about 1/4 the price (Antelope + Mutec units used) of the DCS and Chord… again… wow. Don’t get trapped in the “if it costs more it is better” illusion
yes, the Wyred unit is one of the few suggestions that actually does what I asked, It is kinda odd they don’t give you the specs at least that I can find on either the web site or the manual. It says up to 384K which I assume is only USB, doesn’t give coaxial or toslink specs that I can see. There isn’t even a picture of the back of the unit nor do they tell you what ports are active. can you hook up video or a keyboard? From other images I found it looks like an off the shelf computer in a special case… like a lot of these offerings.
I also agree with Fish Guts, the i7 unit is pushing $4K which seems like a lot … however, other companies want $30K and up for dedicated computers so in the grand scheme of things not so bad
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