220pro: n00b question on the DAC portion and Roon

[pvanosta]

Foegive me if this has been asked and answered elsewhere but I coujld not immediately find it.
I use Roon (music stored on NAS with Roon ROCK on a silent NUC).

If I connect to a Devialet 220pro via ETHERNET and use the Devialet as a Roon endpoint, will I be able to play DSD128 and DSD256 files?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

[David A]

The Devialet can only accept DSD64.

[Jean-Marie]

Foegive me if this has been asked and answered elsewhere but I coujld not immediately find it.
I use Roon (music stored on NAS with Roon ROCK on a silent NUC).

If I connect to a Devialet 220pro via ETHERNET and use the Devialet as a Roon endpoint, will I be able to play DSD128 and DSD256 files?

Thanks for any insight you might have.

Yes you will, however, to my knowledge, the Devialets are able to go up to DSD64 using DoP. 

so with 128 and over, I suspect that Roon would decimate it and send it as PCM. You can try and see what is actually done by looking at the path in Roon. 

just between us, and irrespective of any debate of DSD vs PCM, since the internal architecture of the Devialet is heavily PCM based, a decimation has to occur somewhere in the chain, so if I were you, I would not pay much attention whether it is done in the Devialet itself or by Roon. 

My two cents,
Jean-Marie

[pvanosta]

Thanks for confirming.
Is there a downconversion happening in the Devialet or does it just ignore higher res than DSD64 and do I need to downconvert further upstream?

[pvanosta]

Thank you both, I think that gives me enough to work with.

High-jacking my own thread, I have a system config question as well.

My current system fulfills two roles: home theater and dedicated stereo chain for audio only.

I achieve this by connecting a Parasound JC2-BP preamp and a Pioneer receiver through the Parasound's bypass function.
The pioneer decodes surround sound and provides power to center and surround speakers.
Stereo (audio) power is provided by Bel Canto ref1000M monoblocks. Stereo speakers are Marten Django XL
Digtal source is NAS->NUC with Roon ROCK -> Auralic Vega G1 streamer/dac.

Audio stream is either digital (ethernet Nas to NUC to Auralic) or balanced (Auralic->Parasound->Bel Canto)

Theoretically, I could replace the Auralic Vega G1, the Parasound Halo JC2-BP and the Bel Canto monoblocks with a Devialet expert pro (220 or 440)

The question: has anyone used a devialet in such a dual config system and if so, how did you do it?

[Jean-Marie]

Thank you both, I think that gives me enough to work with.

High-jacking my own thread, I have a system config question as well.

My current system fulfills two roles: home theater and dedicated stereo chain for audio only.

I achieve this by connecting a Parasound JC2-BP preamp and a Pioneer receiver through the Parasound's bypass function.
The pioneer decodes surround sound and provides power to center and surround speakers.
Stereo (audio) power is provided by Bel Canto ref1000M monoblocks. Stereo speakers are Marten Django XL
Digtal source is NAS->NUC with Roon ROCK -> Auralic Vega G1 streamer/dac.

Audio stream is either digital (ethernet Nas to NUC to Auralic) or balanced (Auralic->Parasound->Bel Canto)

Theoretically, I could replace the Auralic Vega G1, the Parasound Halo JC2-BP and the Bel Canto monoblocks with a Devialet expert pro (220 or 440)

The question: has anyone used a devialet in such a dual config system and if so, how did you do it?

Yes, many have. 
you can basically configure an entry as a pass through, meaning that it does not apply the preamp attenuation. You can search the forum, it has been described quite a few times. 

Jean-Marie

[pvanosta]

thanks for the quick response. That gives me a path forward.

[David A]

Thanks for confirming.
Is there a downconversion happening in the Devialet or does it just ignore higher res than DSD64 and do I need to downconvert further upstream?

I don't think that the Devialet can downscale the resolution. It automatically upscales all digital input to 192/24.

There's a setting in Roon which allows you to tell it to output DSD files as DSD or PCM. I output the 20 or so DSD albums I have as DSD and let my 140 do the conversion to PCM. There's also settings in Roon for maximum resolution output to an endpoint. You'll find the settings in the Audio Menu settings.

[pvanosta]

Thanks, for 20 or so albums, I would do the same most likely.
I have over 800 DSD and DSF albums, the vast majority are DSD64, so that's ok (assuming the Devialet as a Roon endpoint will accept the DSD64 signal via ethernet).

For the DSD128 (95) and DSD256 (16) albums I could either just keep the Auralic Vega G1 as a second Roon endpoint (expensive option for just a few albums) or have Roon or the Devialet do the conversion...

[Jean-Marie]

Thanks, for 20 or so albums, I would do the same most likely.
I have over 800 DSD and DSF albums, the vast majority are DSD64, so that's ok (assuming the Devialet as a Roon endpoint will accept the DSD64 signal via ethernet).

For the DSD128 (95) and DSD256 (16) albums I could either just keep the Auralic Vega G1 as a second Roon endpoint (expensive option for just a few albums) or have Roon or the Devialet do the conversion...

Even I you use your Auralic Vega G1 and enter the Devialet as analog, the first thing that the Devialet will do is to convert the analog in PCM at 96kHz or 192kHz, depending how you configure it. 

So since it needs to go to PCM anyway, the sooner the better and I cannot see how having an analog segment in the middle could be any better that doing the conversion directly in the digital domain, like Roon or the Devialet for up to DSD64 do. 

Jean-Marie