Which personal confuser for ultra high end audio, MAC, PC, notebook, tablet or desktop?

Hello All, here is what I use, and I am very happy with the setup.

- Mac laptop for my work and general computer needs.
- Mac Mini, slightly older model, but nicely specified, for dedicated music use.
- Standard hard drive connected to Mac Mini to hold my music collection 
- iPhone for, well, everything we do with them these days
- PS Audio DAC with Bridge 2
- Roon software, Tidal HIFI subscription 

My setup:

the Mac mini is in my home office, hard wired to my home network via Ethernet cable.  Hard drive attached, Roon installed on the Mac Mini.

The PS Audio Perfect Wave DAC mk II with Bridge 2, sits on the audio shelf in the living room, connected to home network via Ethernet cable. I really like this DAC a lot. Extremely capable machine, despite showing a little age!

Tidal HIFI is integrated into Roon, along with my music collection.  The collection is mostly cd rips in uncompressed AIFF along with a modest collection of high res albums.

control is seamless and simple via my laptop or my iPhone, both running Roon, both on the network connecting wirelessly.   This means I can sit in the living room, and control music with a nice interface that is usually close at hand, the iPhone. If I want a more full featured controller or a larger screen, I grab the laptop.

in my home office I have an external monitor that I use with my laptop, when I am sitting at my desk. This monitor has 2 inputs, and I conned the Mac mini to it as well, pushing the input button when I (rarely) have to control the Mac mini. No need for a dedicated display for the mini.  I set the timer settings on the Mac mini to restart once a day at 4am. It is always running, music always accessible.

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in your system, I suspect you can achieve a similar setup, presuming you are interested in my method. PS Audio has 3 different DACs that use Bridge 2, and all are worth considering.

your NAS can connect to the network, and Roon on your Mac mini will find it, and supply the music to the DAC's Bridge via Ethernet.

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the results are are excellent sound as well as extremely convenient operation!  I cannot stress the latter enough. I am a photographer and very tech savvy individual. Nevertheless, I do not like complicated digital audio setups from a control standpoint. Roon is a game changer, really made things easy and enjoyable from a user interface standpoint.  I think that the Mac mini running music exclusively is a plus as well. I don't believe one needs a supercomputer, but rather a decent machine with no other operations taking up any resources. A Mac mini from a couple generations back with a solid state drive is perfect in my opinion.

I hope this is useful! Feel free to contact me if you'd like more info. Good luck!  -Mark

Jim the Aries was indeed an upgrade in both sound quality and user interface but what really spurred me to change initially was wireless capability. The Sonos I was using was wireless but only on a single band the legacy 3.4 ghz band, which in my urban environment, downtown DC, was quite crowded. The Aries has a dual band modem and can run on the newer much less crowded 5 ghz band. Since making the change overall performance and ease of use improved and the intermittent dropouts I was experiencing with Sonos stopped. Don't worry too much you're a good part of the way there,  for me another big step forward in sound quality was when I introduced my Synology NAS to the system so you have that going for you already.

"Is someone now going to chime in and say the Ethernet cable itself matters too?"

Hi Jim, I recently installed an Aurender as my server/renderer/streamer (replacing my laptop) to my DAC. The Aurender requires Ethernet connection to my router/modem (not wireless like the Aries). The latter was located a long distance from my listening room. I started with a generic 75’ CAT6 cable between the modem/router and the Aurender. The sound was pretty "meh".

Then I relocated my modem/router to my listening room and installed a 1 meter generic CAT7 cable between it and my Aurender. Much better.

A few days later, I installed a 1 meter Synergistic Research Ethernet Active UEF SE cable in place of the generic CAT7 cable. Further improvement still. Sounding like music now.

So far, I found through comparing USB cables (Shunyata Venom vs Curious vs WW Platinum Starlight 7) that the USB cable makes the most difference by a wide margin but my experience is that the Ethernet cable makes a significant difference too.

FWIW.

Dave

Marktomaras > I hope this is useful! Feel free to contact me if you'd like more info. Good luck!

Blindjim > that was a super assist. I could not have asked for more. thanks tons.


Jond > The Aries has a dual band modem and can run on the newer much less crowded 5 ghz band

Blindjim > super. THX! This 5GHz protocol I’ll assume is one which works in defference to the WAP setup in the ISP provided on site modem?

I’ll also presume the settings for the Aries are within the mobile device lightening app.

Dlcockrum > The Aurender requires Ethernet connection to my router/modem (not wireless. …. the USB cable makes the most difference by a wide margin. …. Ethernet cable makes a significant difference too.

Blindjim > and there it is! Lol I did not doubt it for a minute. Mark the calendar if its not already, Ethernet wires now officially matter. lol

It seems now, the decision is which protocol to use, and investigate ROON a lot more.

If the USB gremlins can be eliminated entirely, and as well a solid clock or reclocking comes as standard or as bonus, then aiding or adding in the clocking aspect should be the proper selection for a bridge or server, or renderer thingy..

Although, USB and DSD presently appear to be married especially for DSD2 (128) or DSD4 (256) in a few of the newer DACs I’ve read about. I should think this is not a mandated interface situation for all DACs, just some, hopefully.

Without further review, the Aurender W20 would be my first choice, apart from its entry fee. A lesser ver could however be a very real option.

I love the notion of an upgradeability aspect, and a device which clocks the data stream, and supports all the usable audio formats.

This might just coe down to which app works best for me… and not necessarily which server or bridge. I suppose I’ll begin there and download some apps.

Jim,

I trust that my earnest attempt to respond helpfully to your post was not rewarded with sarcasm.

Dave