Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5
Best way to connect NUC (i7) with Roon Rock to Devialet
#1
Hi,

I hope to find some good tips on how to best doing the following:

My situation, i have an intel nuc i7 running roon rock on intel optane memory, configured as ssd. I know, right now this doesn’t make a difference for rock, apart from booting insanely fast ;-)

This nuc is connected to the network via a simple switch, as is the Devialet and the music is stored on a nas also connected to this network.

Recently i bought a keces p8 lps for the nuc, which made a great improvement over a hdplex, much to my supprise i must add.

So this tasted like there must be more to squeech out of it.

Now, when i very much would like to keep the one box solution for the nuc (apart from lps), is there a better way sound wise to connect this into the system, propably directly to the Devialet (using aq diamond usb, or something)?

Does it make a (big) difference to store the music collection on a large ssd within or directly connected to the nuc instead?

If cost is not directly an object, what would make a real difference?

Also, is it interesting to upgrade the simple dc power cord coming from the keces lps?

Know, a lot of questions which propablly don’t have one answer to rule them all, any help and tips are very welcome!
Devialet 250 Expert Pro / Nordost Valhalla Bi-Wire / Sonus Faber Olympica II
Anthem MRX 710 / B&W MT-60D
Paul Hynes SR7/T LPS / Intel Core i7 NUC-Plato X7D with Roon Lifetime / Melco S100 Switch with 2 x Ansuz Ethernet A2
Dr. Feickert Woodpecker II with Inertia Platter / Dr. Feickert Linear / Jelco TK-850L Arm / Shelter 501 III Cartridge

Power: AQ Niagara 3000 with AQ Tornado to Furutech wall outlet <-> Doepke DFS 2 F Audio Fuse Box and 3 x AQ Blizzard to Components
Reply
#2
I think RAAT via ethernet to your 250 would be a good choice. If you are worried about noise, an EtherRegen should do it. This would also get you around any trouble with the '1GB ethernet + RAAT' bug as the 'B' port of the EtherRegen is 100Base-T. NUC and NAS directly connected to EtherRegen 'A' ports if possible, with good power supplies all the way. USB to your Devialet may sound excellent, but I believe the network route is even better.
Alternatively RAAT over wifi (real galvanic isolation) can sound very good. RAAT is extra ordinarily robust over a wifi link. If you can play 176.4 and 192kHz over wifi with no disturbances it's a decent alternative.
A recent discussion over at the Roon forum reveals that there is no SQ benefit with music files on a local SSD vs SMB mounted from a NUC. There are a few functional advantages to a music file SSD on ROCK though.
*
Devialetless!
Roon, ROCK/Audiolense XO/Music on NAS/EtherRegen/RoPieee/USPCB/ISORegen/USPCB/Sound Devices USBPre2/Tannoy GOLD 8
250 Pro CI, MicroRendu(1.4), Mutec MC-3+USB
Reply
#3
I'll add to the comments made by @ogs

I'm running a Roon Nucleus+ with internal SSD for my library. It works well and it's convenient for me to have the internal SSD rather than adding a NAS to my network so I made that choice based on convenience. I have my 140 connected via ethernet to my network, also for convenience and because I can't get a reliable wifi connection from my wifi router which is in a different room on the other side of the house. I use an ethernet switch to connect the Nucleus+ and the 140 to an ethernet wall point which provides a wired connection to the router.

I've tried using USB from the Nucleus+ to the 140 and discovered I preferred the sound I get with an ethernet connection. There's a lot of devices you can add to improve the sound quality with USB but I haven't tried them, partly because they involve adding more boxes and I like keeping things simple with as few devices as possible. I did replace a normal ethernet switch with an ETHERRegen which gave what I think is a nice improvement in sound quality and there are other audiophile ethernet switches which claim to improve sound quality as well but I haven't tried them. Replacing the normal switch with the ETHERRegen didn't add any extra boxes to my setup which was also a plus but it's possible I could get equally satisfying sound with USB and one of the devices you can add to improve sound quality on a USB connection. Whether you use USB and an add on device, or ethernet and a switch like the ETHERRegen, you may have the option of adding an external clock device to improve sound quality further. I haven't tried that.

@ogs mentioned wifi providing galvanic isolation. If you use ethernet you can also achieve galvanic isolation by using ethernet to fibre converters. My router is on a different power circuit to my audio system so I used an ethernet to fibre optic converter and fibre optic cable between the ETHERRegen and the ethernet wall point near the audio system. Etthernet to fibre optic converters are quite cheap as are network fibre optic cables. You could use a normal ethernet switch and connect your Devialet to it with a couple of ethernet to fibre optic converters and SFP modules and a network fibre optic cable for a very modest cost and probably get a lot of the benefit of an audiophile ethernet switch for a lot less money and achieve the same galvanic isolation that wifi gives. What it would mean, however, is having an ethernet cable from your switch to a converter, fibre optic cable from that converter to a second converter, and another ethernet cable between the second converter and your Devialet. You have to find space for the converters and even if you use short ethernet cables and a short fibre optic cable, you may end up with a much longer cable run between your switch and the Devialet than you currently have and you have to find somewhere to place the converters and that extra cable.

If you use a normal 100 Mbps network switch instead of a gigabit switch or a managed switch and set the port to which you connect your Devialet to 100 Mbps you can also avoid the gigabit ethernet problem the Devialet has with RAAT. I use RAAT and have no problems with my 140 connected to the ETHERRegen's "B" port which provides a 100Base-T connection.

In the end there's a lot of different connection options and all of them can work very well. Since you already have your NUC and your Devialet connected to the network via an ethernet switch I'd stick with that and decide whether you want to go for an audiophile switch like the ETHERRegen or one of the alternatives available but I'd consider starting by simply inserting an optical fibre link between your Devialet and your current switch to provide galvanic isolation. I think everyone who has tried an optical fibre link has had positive results, it's easy to do, and it's cheap. You can always swap your current switch for an audiophile switch later and keep the fibre optic link.

Ethernet cables do make a difference and there's lots of options there. USB cables can also make a difference if you choose to go with USB.

I use a Keces P8 to power my Nucleus+ and the ETHERRegen. I haven't tried alternatives to the DC power cords which came with it so I can't help on that question.
Roon Nucleus+, Devilalet Expert 140 Pro CI, Focal Sopra 2, PS Audio P12, Keces P8 LPS, Uptone Audio EtherREGEN with optical fibre link to my router, Shunyata Alpha NR and Sigma NR power cables, Shunyata Sigma ethernet cables, Shunyata Alpha V2 speaker cables, Grand Prix Audio Monaco rack, RealTRAPS acoustic treatment.

Brisbane, Qld, Australia
Reply
#4
If you have enough budget, SOTM SNH-10G will be a very good choice. You can read some reviews/comparisons from serveral web sites. One of them is found at --> https://www.whatsbestforum.com/threads/s...58/page-12 (SOTM SNH-10G and Uptone Audio EtherREGEN are compared).

Creating an optical network would even be better. Some of the audiophile switches has extra SFP port which gives you flexibility to use a Transceiver Module you want(compatibility is an important factor here; some switches support limited choices).

I use Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 10x and SOTM SNH-10G(It is powered by Sbooster MK2 LPS) together. Devialet, MacMini are connected to SOTM SNH-10G with Supra CAT8 ethernet cables. Internet router and NAS are connected to Ubiquiti EdgeSwitch 10x. The switches are connected to each other using a fiberoptic cable(I use StarTech.com 1000BASE-ZX SFP Transceiver and OS2 LC to LC Fiber Patch Cable Singlemode Duplex, https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06Y5VZYD8/). I achieved great results with such a network configuration. There is no dropout or error even if you prefer ROON RAAT with wired gigabit ethernet connections. I highly recommend SOTM SNH-10G .
Stereo Setup: Synology DS214Play NAS/Internet sources>> Supra CAT8 >> Ubiquiti Edge10X Switch>> Fiberoptical Cable >> SOTM SNH-10G Switch(S-Booster LPS) >> Supra CAT8 >> Euphony v4(Stylus with Qobuz, Tidal) running on RAM >> SOTM SNH-10G >> Supra CAT8 >> Mercury Streamer (GentooPlayer, MPD+UpMpdCli  running on RAM) + Fiio PL50 LPS >>  Mogami Gold AES XLR >> Devialet 220 Pro >> Echole Omnia Speaker/Jumper Cables >> B&W 804D3 Speakers on IsoAcoustics GAIA-II

Headphone Setup: Synology DS214Play NAS(CAT8) >> Ubiquiti Edge10X Switch>> Fiberoptical Cable >> SOTM SNH-10G Switch(S-Booster LPS) >> Supra CAT8 >> Euphony v4( Stylus with Qobuz, Tidal) running on RAM >> SOTM SNH-10G >> Supra CAT8 >>  Mercury Streamer(GentooPlayer , Mpd/UpMpdCli ) + Fiio PL50 LPS >>  RCA Coax >> Chord Hugo >> Fostex TH900 MK2
Reply
#5
I very much prefer Ethernet over USB! I habe a SonicTransporter i5 and the Devialet Expert 120 connected to my old AirPort Extreme and the setup works with Roon’s Build-in AUR like a charm! Can‘t be any simpler than that. The sound is smooth and engaging.
SonicTransporter i5 - AirPort Extreme - Devialet Expert 120 - ATC SCM 19 v1
Reply
#6
Thank you all for the information, i will check this out!
Devialet 250 Expert Pro / Nordost Valhalla Bi-Wire / Sonus Faber Olympica II
Anthem MRX 710 / B&W MT-60D
Paul Hynes SR7/T LPS / Intel Core i7 NUC-Plato X7D with Roon Lifetime / Melco S100 Switch with 2 x Ansuz Ethernet A2
Dr. Feickert Woodpecker II with Inertia Platter / Dr. Feickert Linear / Jelco TK-850L Arm / Shelter 501 III Cartridge

Power: AQ Niagara 3000 with AQ Tornado to Furutech wall outlet <-> Doepke DFS 2 F Audio Fuse Box and 3 x AQ Blizzard to Components
Reply


Forum Jump:


Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)