I’ve got an opportunity to buy a Weiss DAC501. It’s not entirely clear to me though how it would work with ROON. My assumption is that via the ethernet port, I will be able to use Qobuz or other streaming platforms and I could use an external HD with my ‘other’ music to connect through the USB interface. Roon would sort out the 2 in my library. Is that correct? I would hate to loose my own music collection. I’m currently using a separate server (Antipodes) which deals with this and has an internal HD.
As it’s Roon Ready you simply connect it to the network (best option) or by USB to your Roon Server machine. In either case it will appear in your Roon app > Settings > Audio and you can enable it there.
(However, they offer a dedicated USB driver for Windows, so probably you won’t get the max. resolution if connecting it to a non-Windows Roon Server.)
I don’t think you can connect a USB disk to the Weiss, but of course you can connect one to the Roon Server machine, which is the better option anyway. (If it was connected to the Weiss, the data would first move over the network to the Roon Server and then back to the Weiss. So you cut nearly half the network traffic by connecting to the Roon Server in the first place).
You’ll have to continue to use a Roon Server of some sort, because AFAICT the Weiss is a Roon Ready endpoint and doesn’t replace a server.
thank you for the response! I was hoping to replace the Antipodes EX with the 501, and so remove one device out of the chain. I.e. the DAC501 would act as the server and the DAC, but that seems not to be the case I understand.
Roon Core needs to be an Intel CPU or Mac computer. Neither of those are in the DAC501 which is just a DAC. It can act as an endpoint, not as a server.
IMHO, you really don’t want a server and a DAC in the same chassis, talk about extra electrical noise. Personally, I don’t keep my servers in my audio rack, ever. The server sits far away and I run ethernet to an endpoint that feeds a DAC (or straight to a Roon Ready DAC).
You won’t be disappointend buying the DAC501. I am using it for years, connected through Ethernet via a switch and streaming Qobuz. ROCK is installed on a dedicated NUC, and I connected an USB disc to that with around 4000 albums in FLAC. Roon integrates my local files with Qobuz seamlessly, really a great experience.
thank you all for your feedback. all clear now. If I end up buying the 501 I’ll probably end up with something like Gerard_Burgstede has set up. Alternative for me are the 501, a stand alone Weiss 204 or stay with my Antipodes EX and Less Loss DAC for a while longer.
I have a Weiss DAC501-MK2 and use it exclusively as a Roon endpoint, and it sounds fantastic. I don’t even using a streaming transport in front of it. [I have a WiiM Pro for occasional use if I want to stream using Airplay2]
All one needs to do is connect the DAC501 ethernet port to the same network as your Roon server. Once the DAC501 is on enable it in Roon as a Roon Ready device in Audio settings. Thereafter, if you play something in Roon to the Weiss DAC it will switch to the Roon input automatically. It couldn’t be easier to setup, enable and use.
I got an email yesterday that it has a new firmware update that it now supports Qobuz Connect as well.
Also noticed the firmware update for my DAC501, installed it successfully. My Qobuz app does not list the Weiss for Connect yet, does this work for you?
Sadly, my firmware update didn’t go so well. After I installed it (successfully according to the UI) my DAC won’t reboot. Daniel Weiss sent me a SSD card with a bootable image to use. Once I get it booted from that I can copy the firmware image to internal flash. But I have to wait for that SSD to arrive (from Switzerland I suppose).
Hi Dean, sorry to hear that. I’m sure Weiss will support you in fixing the issue. I found that you can now easily select a ‘Qobuz’ source via the NET button on the remote or the DAC web interface. Then you can select the Weiss as your output device in the Qobuz Connect app. Works great!!
Good to see that Weiss provides updates and new funtionality for devices that are on the market for quite some years! (Mine is 6 years old)
Yeah, I’m sure the SSD card Weiss is sending will bring it back to life. I think it’s great that support requests are answered by the the founder and chief engineer. Thanks for the tip on using Qobuz Connect.
@Gerard_Burgstede it turns out Weiss had a bug in their 2.8 firmware update. The DAC won’t boot if it doesn’t have a ethernet connection to the LAN. They fixed it in 2.8.1 which is now available. That was a problem because my switch takes 30 secs to open the ethernet interface on new connections.
I still have a problem because I’m using a Cisco Catalyst 2960G ethernet switch. My DAC still won’t boot connected to the switch. If I pull the ethernet patch cord it finishes booting, but putting the ethernet cable back in again doesn’t work to connect it to the LAN. Weiss knows this, but it doesn’t like my switch. In the meantime I have a different switch connected and that works just fine.
Now I can use Qobuz Connect and will start comparing the sound to Qobuz/Roon.
