24-Feb-2018, 11:21
(This post was last modified: 24-Feb-2018, 11:26 by Jantje BEton.)
Hallo Womaz,
My setup is comparable to yours being Devialet 400 / Melco N1Z / Roon (NUC/Rock). But bass and loudspeaker cables/systems hard to compare but .......
I've chosen to run Rock on a (dedicated) NUC i5 device. A dedicated Roon OS (stripped Linux) appealed to me and became my choice. I prefer this ethernet solution above the Melco USB one, but that's just for me.
I listen to Qobuz (European Tidal) through my Melco using Audioquest Diamond USB cable to directly connect these devices.
I listen to ripped/downloaded FLAC/DSF files that reside on my Melco throug Roon/Rock (using the Melco cifs/smb feature as storage location).
I'm not starting a discussion which sounds best, we've different pair of ears, brains and listening rooms.
But what I want to suggest is the following configuration option that improved my Rock/Roon SQ and is also applicliable on a Apple/Linux/Windows device (determined by how one runs Roon).
Jan
My setup is comparable to yours being Devialet 400 / Melco N1Z / Roon (NUC/Rock). But bass and loudspeaker cables/systems hard to compare but .......
I've chosen to run Rock on a (dedicated) NUC i5 device. A dedicated Roon OS (stripped Linux) appealed to me and became my choice. I prefer this ethernet solution above the Melco USB one, but that's just for me.
I listen to Qobuz (European Tidal) through my Melco using Audioquest Diamond USB cable to directly connect these devices.
I listen to ripped/downloaded FLAC/DSF files that reside on my Melco throug Roon/Rock (using the Melco cifs/smb feature as storage location).
I'm not starting a discussion which sounds best, we've different pair of ears, brains and listening rooms.
But what I want to suggest is the following configuration option that improved my Rock/Roon SQ and is also applicliable on a Apple/Linux/Windows device (determined by how one runs Roon).
- Apply an USB-Ethernet adapter to your Roon device to create an extra NIC (costs €20-€30)
- Dispatch your current Roon device CAT ethernet cable and patch it to the new USB-Ethernet adapter
- Configure your "old" ethernet device with new unused IP address / Subnet attributes . (In my case 192.168.254.1/255.255.255.0, remove gateway and DNS server attributes)
- Configure the "new" ethernet device with the IP address / Gateway/ Subnet / DNS Server attributes that were defined at your "old" ethernet device. (In my case 192.168.1.3/192.168.1.254/255.255.255.0/192.168.1.254)
- Using Devialet Configurator change your Ethernet properties to the new subnet as defined on your Roon device (example 192.168.254.254/255.255.255.0)
- Download the changed Devialet configuration on a (empty) SD card and place the SD card in your Devialet
- Patch a good quality CAT6 ethernet cable directly from your Roon device (old NIC) to the Ethernet port of your Devialet.
- The Roon Settings => Audio will show the Devialet with the changed IP information. Zoning stays unchanged (although I only use one zone so I'm not sure of this)
- Being a Network Engineer of profession I strongly favor fixed IP configurations when possible.
- Both your Roon device and Devialet have "Auto Recognize" capabilities, a "cross-cable" isn't needed to patch them
- Because your Roon device and your Devialet are "directly connected" on a dedicated subnet no other ethernet traffic will cause interference (noise) which improves the SQ
- The Roon controller app and, if used, your Mellco or an other NAS will be reachable through the new USB-Ethernet adapter so no loss of functionality
- I've no knowledge of your physical situation and can't assure that the above solution is applicable
- Again everybody has different pair of ears, brains and listening rooms so this MIGHT improve SQ but no guarantees. Tasting is prove to the pudding aka listening is prove ...
Jan
