Roon Transport

I should add that the designer Cees Ruijtenberg has since left Metrum and formed a new company. Their Roon streamer is called the Sonnet Audio Hermes.

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@toscana As good as the N-DAC is, itā€™s getting a bit old now, and canā€™t be purchased new anymore.
I was wondering if Naim may bring out a replacement? Not sure if the DAC-V1 was the replacement? But like me, thatā€™s also getting on a bit now! :grinning:

Iā€™m told that the newer DACs, the USB connection is now pretty good.

Thanks. I had a look at this thread and I believe thatā€™s where I stumbled over the Waversa WStreamer. Most of the other suggestions were outside my budget, unfortunately.

I bought the Naim DAC second-hand at a reasonable price and like it for the sound quality but also for its usability (remote control, number of inputs etc.). The only downside is indeed the absence of a USB input which restricts the choice of transports a little bit unless you add a USB/SPDIF converter which I am reluctant to do at the moment.

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The Waversa WStreamer seems to be an interesting option.

But if you want it to work optimally youā€™ll need to add a good linear power supply. Which adds quite an amount.

Perhaps another option would be the AudioPhilleo 1 MkII SE with its Pure Power.

New itā€™s about $1500, but used itā€™s quite less.

Add to it a Raspberry Pi based streamer and youā€™ll have a VERY nice streamer for a reasonable cost.

[nDAC]ā€”[AudioPhilleo]ā€”[Raspberry Pi]

I had the nDAC and used it with an AudioPhilleo 1 MkII SE andā€¦ an iPhone as a Roon Endpoint!

*EDIT : *

The good thing about the AudioPhilleo 1 MkII SE with its Pure Power is that you may use whatever you like : computer, tablet, iPhone, Raspberry Pi, etc.

Itā€™ll handle the noise and the jitter.

Thanks Thomas.
The AudioPhilleo seems like an interesting option that I had a quick look at based on a thread here in the forum. However, I am not sure it is still being produced and I was not able to find anything on the used market.

Right, the AudioPhilleo 1 MkII SE which was their flagship, is no longer produced.

But there is a used one online.

I recently orderes a PI2AES board to test out to see how it compares to my Pi4 usb to RME DAC. Its supposed to be very good but I have yet to hear any differences in transports on the RME usb or Spdif thus far.

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I am based in Germany and they do not seem to come up for sale very often here. One of the search engines listed one in the UK but it seems already sold. And I am not even sure I want to go through the adventure of ordering something from the UK nowadays (but that is a separate topic).

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Hi Toonartist,
I use optical between the EtherRegen and the opticalRendu. Do you have any particular recommendations for SFP optical modules that would be compatible with these? This is an aspect of network tech that is a mystery to me.

Best regards, BF

The SFP that Iā€™m using in the StarTech FMC isā€¦

StarTech Cisco GLC-SX-MM - 1000BASE-SX 850nm 550m (SFPGLCSXMMST)

I havenā€™t had any problems with it or the FMC and sounds great combined with the Cisco Meraki switch and the OR. Would this be an improvement over the one you currently have!??!? I wouldnā€™t like to say.

The StarTech FMC & SFP came up as a recommendation at Audiophile Style and I havenā€™t done any A/B comparisons myself.

My advice would beā€¦ if it sounds great as it is with no issues, donā€™t change it. But, if you want to experiment, buy a pair of them from Amazon so they match in the ER & OR and if there is no improvement, send them back!

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@toscana, thanks for making me aware of rooUPnP! I might give it a go once it supports Roon Radio and the shuffle stoppage w/PCM/WAV output issue is resolved. The Sonore ultraRendu is stellar, but it only supports one UPnP streamer at a time. Itā€™s going nowhere as far as my main system is concerned. However, Iā€™d like to add Roon support to my other legacy Naim streamers (multiple UnitiQute 2ā€™s), but donā€™t want to buy and maintain a microRendu or ultraRendu for each and every one of them.

Regarding your question, Iā€™ve only used the WStreamer with my vintage Naim chrome bumper system (NAC62/HiCap/NAP140), with a Schiit Modi Multibit DAC. In that system Iā€™m getting superb sound quality, with PRAT, air and soundstage *. This little, vintage system as a whole, has exceeded my expectations by no small measure!

Mind you, I have not tried the WStreamer on my main system, so I do not know how it would fare there (main system is Sonore ultraRendu/NDX/NDAC/NAC252/NAP250DR).

* BTW, I power the WStreamer with an iFi iPowerX low-noise power supply. I also use an iFi SPDIF iPurifier 2 between the WStreamer and my DAC. The latter is powered by an iFi micro iUSB Power (with the ground lift engaged). Itā€™s subtle. but I think these contribute to the sound quality.

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@garyi is one of the very few people who really talks sense on any streaming topics.

The Waversa WStreamer arrived for testing today and I will play around with it over the weekend. Will be interesting to see how it compares against my RPI with DigiOne HAT and my UQ2 via rooUPnP.
The WStreamer is surprisingly heavy and does not follow over if you accidentally touch a cable like the RPI does every other day.

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Looking forward to your findings. What power supply are you currently using for your RPi/Digione?

Just the standard power supply.

If thatā€™s the standard power supply obtainable from Allo, itā€™s not a bad supply at all. The standard power supply that came with my RPi was simply shocking in terms of how electrically noisy it was (checked using a portable LW/MW radio), a third 5v wall-wart I had to hand was somewhere in between.

The new Nirvana power supply from Allo looks like pretty good value and not over-expensive in relation to the cost of a Digione.

I have the standard DigiOne HAT (not the Signature version) that does not require a separate power supply. And I am using the standard RPI power supply. Upgrading to the DigiOne Signature and/or a better power supply is one other option but I was hoping to find something more aesthetically pleasing. The available cases for a RPI/ DigiOne Signature are not really very appealing.

I swapped mine for a battery pack and noticed no difference in performance to my DACs.

Allo have a standard wall-wart supply, for about $16, that replaces the standard one used on the RPi. It was that supply I was referring to. If your standard RPi wall-wart supply was anything like mine Iā€™d definitely not want to plug it into the same outlet used by the rest of the HiFi system. If thatā€™s how youā€™ve got yours arranged it might worth an experiment to use a mains extension lead in order to plug it into another mains outlet away from the HiFi (and locate the power supply as physically separated as far as possible), see if you hear a difference.

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