Hi, I’m hoping someone might have a suggestion for me. I’d like to set up a ‘headphone station’ in my living room where I can plug my Focal Clear’s into a box that can act as a wireless Roon endpoint. Any ideas?
This looks good but I am having trouble finding dealers in North America.
Yeah they are still looking for one. There is one in Canada though
Chord Mojo and Poly, its wireless Roon Ready companion.
The Focal lineup is so easy to drive. I’ve got a Mojo and Poly for travels, driving my Focal Elex wonderfully.
Poly had a lot of issues for me, until a firmware update a couple months ago. Happy to recommend it now though.
Should be very easy for you to demo in store also, with your own Focal Clears.
I’ve been considering the Bluesound Node 2i for a similar scenario.
I have one of these. I use it mostly for tv use. It has toslink input and output, and analog (3.5 mm) input. $100 USD.
With this device a system would need to output via toslink or analog to the bluetooth transmitter. Quality of sound is good.
Another option might be to use a Raspberry Pi + HifiBerry as endpoint, and connect a headphone amp of your chosing. (Like a DYI Bottlehead Crack )
How much are you looking to spend?
Raspberry Pi and AudioQuest Cobalt. Nice pairing and not too pricy. With RopieeeXL installed you can also use it for UPnP , airplay and Spotify.
Ipad & audio quest Dragonfly, red or cobalt , plus Apple Camera kit
Doubles up as a remote
Ideally under $1000 but definitely under $1500 (Canadian).
I just wonder about the quality of the DAC and amp in the Bluesound. If it was good this would be a great option.
I actually have this setup but Roon gives me error messages about it’s ability to stream to the iPad. I will try to solve this problem - the Cobalt is excellent!
The bluesounds DAC is fine, the headphone side is just ok, nothing amazing, I think when I tried it on mine I found it a little thin.
I use ipad audioquest red with no error messages I wonder why you get errors ?
It’s my sunshine patio headphone set up, South Africa has some advantages , not many mind …
If you’re willing to tinker a bit, the Rasberry Pi is a cheap and very effective solution. I use a Raspberry Pi as a headless client in my bedroom. Currently using Rasplex, but now that I’m using Roon, I’ll install Ropiee on the Pi instead. When I get around to it. You could also use Volumio or probably Rune. It’s conected via USB to a Fiio E10k DAC/Headphone amp. Grado SR80e 'phones. Modest but nice sounding little headphone setup.
Like DeLub said, you can use the Pi as the base client/endpoint and then get whatever actual music playing kit (DAC and headphone amp) that budget/preferences allow. Some combination of a HAT plugged into the PI itself, and/or separate component(s).
Raspberry PI with Ropieee connected to a IDSD headphone dac via USB works.
Same experience here, Node 2i sounds great in my system but the headphone output is meh.
Have a look at the RME ADI-2 DAC I see a lot of good feed back on different forums particularly its versatility for headphone use. Also a number of Roon users here using it. Try search here in the forum a number of threads come up.