What have you been working on in 2020?

Added a pair of Clayton M300 amps, upgraded Schitt Freya, added a new loom of Huffman interconnects and speaker cables, power cords from JPS Labs and Nordost. 
I am 2/3rds through the Great Course, Music and the Mind. Fascinating and illuminating. As we know, music is the bomb. No other sensory input simultaneously excites and inhibits more brain areas and activity than music. I do not believe in a big bang theory. I believe the universe began with a perfect chord that is still resolving. But then, I also believe that each of us is born with a single song that we then spend our lives either endeavoring to give it full voice or conversely avoid singing it at all. The gift and the wound inextricably woven. When enough of us are singing our song, the universe moves toward resolution. When we don’t, it implodes toward chaos. By my accounting, too many of us are silent, off key or holding the wrong libretto theses days. 
The course is one of a dozen in my queue. I mirror them up to the HT big screen. Take notes as though I’m in school

@millercarbon,

One of each ( 48 x 18) through Music Direct, 3 month wait.

Lots of things this year.

I spent the last few months slowly building a pair of class A monoblocks - about 60 watts per channel based on the FirstWatt F5 design with lots of embellishments. Just finishing them now - first sound test was last weekend.

Finished the acoustic treatments to my listening room with drapes and lots of GIK panels - ceiling cloud, art panels with scatter plates on the side walls, bass absorber/diffusors behind the speakers. 

Built a Roon ROCK server in a fanless case, now with a linear PS. 

Added an EtherRegen with LPS. Upgraded ethernet cabling to Cat8.

Replaced my Yggdrasil with a Denafrips Terminator. 

Added Qobuz to the mix (along with Tidal through Roon). Listening to a LOT of music since my home office is at the back of my listening room. 

I'm not experimenting with direct USB connection between my Roon server and the DAC vs using my Bryston BDP-2 connected via AES/EBU. The jury is still out, but I'm leaning toward selling my Bryston streamer. 

ErikI believe you helped me with loading the software on the RPI and mentioned you had a squeezebox type of setup at one point.

@ovinewar
I did have a SB setup.  I tried PiCore as well.  They all pale to Roon.  At the same time, the PC requirements for the Roon core are much more severe, and there is no ARM/Pi version.

What I wish I had was a Pi based Roon streamer that has a touch screen. Right now I have a Pi end point that works great, but I kind of miss seeing the music scrolling like I did on the Squeezebox Touch.


Best,
Erik

Hi Erik! Mundorf MKP capacitors replacing the rectangular pink caps on the Parts Express YuanJing 2 x 68w LM3886 and NE5532 board makes a big difference. Better yet, run you audio into the second cap and skip the NE5532 stage completely. DIY forever!

After reading (AudioXpress July 2020) about the new amp module (1ET400A) from Purifi Audio in Denmark (by the same fellows that built the nCore amps), I bought their EVAL1 package made for evaluation by potential purchasers (like NAD and others) consisting of two Class D amp modules (400 wpc @ 4 ohms, very low noise & distortion, unmeasurably low output impedance) and a front end with protection circuitry, extra gain, and input & output jacks. You have to build a suitable power supply to use it. Got it right on the second try. The amp is getting sensational reviews and I must say it's the best I've heard. Great specs and performance! You can own it for about $1000 with the power supply (you must build). Extremely good.

Linkwitz LX521-4 speakers, DAC upgrades (SMSL cute little red rectangle), lots of music, speaker builds & mods, ukulele groups, performing, and being grateful for a wonderful wife and church involvement fill the rest of my life. Keep smiling!