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Class A Options for adding Roon and MQA to existing system

I want to add a Class A digital front end to my 2-Channel main music listening system.  My current Streamer is an Oppo Sonica DAC which has a pretty decent D/A capability that I use to stream Tidal music.  What should I look for to add Roon and MQA?  The rest of my system consists of a Linn Sondek LP12 analog front end and a Primaluna CD player both feeding a Primaluna Dialogue HP Integrated amplifier.  I'm currently listening through the GoldenEar Triton 3's with my eye on purchasing the Triton References next (after I solidify all of the front ends).  I'd like to keep the Oppo for D/A conversion if possible to be able to focus $$ (looking to spend ~ $,500) on the Roon and MQA processing and be able to upgrade to a higher quality DAC at a later date.  As a bonus, I'd like to be able to include a SSD drive (preferably internal to the new streamer) for local download storage.  Any suggestions would be appreciated.
boeingaudio
davehg
85 posts
 
Roon Nucleus has no DAC, it is just a server. It has a USB output to hook up a USB DAC. I bought one recently and as a plug and play server I like it but not what you are looking for.

check out the new Bel Canto e.One Stream. It is a music streamer that’s MQA compliant and has a built in 24/192 kHz DAC. It also lets you add a Stand alone DAC using various digital outputs. It has native Tidal support and also is Roon compatible. So out of the box it does Tidal MQA using its own app, and expands to enable Roon and third party DAC solutions if you so choose. Only thing it can’t do without a third party DAC is DSD.


ianrodger
164 posts
 
ezstreamsno worries mate!I think davehg might be onto something with the Bel Canto.Happy hunting
ezstreams
58 posts
 
I agree ianrodger, davehg's suggestion to check out the Bel Canto e.One Stream looks like it could be exactly what im looking for.  Thank you davehg!
 Because it was just released this fall, the professional reviewers haven't had time to audition it and publish reviews.
Does anyone in the Audiogon community have any hands on experience with the e.One Stream? 
uberwaltz's avatar
uberwaltz
13,381 posts
 
The Bel Canto looks interesting although the Aries Mini does everything it can I think?
And the Aries hosts a SSD so you can store all your music right inside it making it a full on music server.
Sorry to keep banging on about it but for the money you can steal them at, it is quite the machine.
dgarretson
2,599 posts
 

The OP has picked an interesting price point at $1.5K. In a Roon world, $1.5K buys a Roon Nucleus. You can further improve on that with another $500 for an Ethernet-to-USB renderer like the Sonore MicroRendu, and perhaps upgrade later from the mR to a SOtM renderer and USB conditioner.

But to support Roon’s impressive DSP engine, you need $2.5K for a Nucleus+ with an i7 processor. Alternatively, for around $1.5K you can install the Roon core with full DSP engine functionality on a QNAP NAS with i5 processor and expandable RAID storage. I’m using a QNAP TVS882 with one SD slot hosting Roon core(with sufficient computing power to fully support the Roon DSP engine) and a second SD slot to cache the music library stored on multiple disk drives in the RAID slots.

You pay a premium for the shrink-wrapped Nucleus, which may or may not be worth it, depending on your ability to set up and maintain a NAS. It’s not that hard to do, and it adds extra value as network storage and back-up for files unrelated to music.

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