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.
