Optimization Options for streaming Music

[Hifi_swlon]

What do you mean by isolating the NUC from the Dev exactly?

Buying something like the Auralic Aries Series? The SonicOrbiter should be the same right?

I how far does it help to put something between the NUC and the D200? Isn't it a superfluous interruption of the dataflow to the D200 or doesn't it matter with digital content?

And what das the SonicOrbiter do exactly? It is not running the Roon Software, be it headless or as Remote, it only processes the signal and forwards it to the D200, correct?

Generally speaking, especially more recently, it's considered a bonus rather than a hinderance to have a 'lightweight'/low RFI ethernet type renderer as the final link to your DAC - since it carries over less noise. So Sonic Orbiter, Aries, Cubox, various DIY solutions coming forwards - are all the same idea at different levels of expense and with different mission profiles. Since you use Roon it narrows it down as you don't need a custom control Ap, therefore might as well go Sonic Oribter or upcoming DIY solutions. There is probably still some noise and its most likely down to power supply, NAA hardware itself, and how minimal and efficient the OS is, among other things….

Of course, one step better would be to have nothing in-between and use the Devialet as an NAA as it was intended, using AIR - if you can get it to work reliably.

It's definitely worth trying - but ignore anyone suggesting that you 'simply do X,Y and Z' and AIR will work for you! Trust those that have been around for longer, and have a better understanding of the reality of AIR in the real world…. It may work - but I wouldn't buy hardware specifically for it, and as soon as you hit pops/crackles/dropouts/bluescreen/whitenoise or whatever, call it experiment over, and move on to a better solution designed by manufacturers that know what they're doing - as mentioned above.

Bear in mind that Using Roon and AIR may cause some issues, but since Devialet aren't very helpful to vendors (especially ones they think are rivals apparently), so the Roon guys have limited options to bug fix anything.

Yes, the Sonic Orbiter (in Roon mode) essentially just acts as an NIC and passes the data onto the Devialet (there's a bit more to it), and in theory in the cleanest way possible - at least from that hardware. Fair amount of discussion about it over at the Roon forums.