Ready For Digital Source...Computer?

Ah, a little bit of further googling and found documentation on DSP that Roon provides:

https://help.roonlabs.com/portal/en/kb/articles/dsp-engine#Getting_Started

Just for kicks, I looked into that “432 Evo Essence” streamer/dac that you asked about earlier. It’s essentially a 432 Evo Standard (all the Evo are computer motherboards, which is not necessarily bad). They just put in an Asus Xonar Essence STX II PCI computer audio card and use that as the “DAC” (hence the name Evo Essence). This sound card originally sold for $200, but is now selling for $400-600 for some reason. I am intimately familiar with this card since I used to run this in my system many years ago. I also did modifications (upgraded capacitors / opamps). I used this for some years before I switched to using an external DAC. The stock Asus card uses Nichicon FG capacitors and somewhat low resolution op amps. This presents a very nice and pleasing sound, but it is not going to be super high resolution (due to the FG caps warming up the sound by slightly messing the high frequencies).

There’s another point of concern here. The Evo website has a bullet point on this item that says “Oven controlled clock for low jitter”. I have a gut feeling that this is a marketing falsehood. The Asus Essence card uses a TCXO, which is a temperature controlled clock. This is completely different than oven controlled clock (OCXO), which are generally much larger in size and require more power supply voltage. Unless Evo did significant modifications to this Asus card, I think they made a mistake on the description (I could be wrong here – others chime in if they have the definite knowledge).

Because of this, I think the Lumin T2 would be a highly superior all-in-one box. The Lumin T2 would be much higher resolution and more transparent as a DAC when compared to the 432 Evo Essence. It is entirely possible that this is the reason Audiotroy did not push the 432 Evo Essence dac when you asked about it.

A note on the Evo 432 products. They have a DSP mode called “432hz tuning”. This is another form of coloration where it changes the waveforms. I have never heard this, so I cannot say what it’s really doing to the music and if this is a good result. However, the 432 allows you to enable/disable this DSP mode whenever you want.

Further note on Denafrips. Based on listening and descriptions, the Denafrips generally have a thick sound that has a lot of “weight” to it. However, they are not the highest resolution / transparent DAC. Many prefer the Denafraps sound because of some reason or another. I have heard one person say that when they listen to music, they want a very pleasant sound that they can just relax/veg to. If you want a really forward / transparent / exciting sound, the Denafrips product may not be for you. It all comes down to personal preference. If this is what you’re looking for, then awesome, get a Denafrips.

sns - Thanks, auxinput really does know what he is talking about. Yes, I will check out those recommended DACs. In the past, that is exactly what I had, a Roon Nucleus USB’d to my W4S 2v2 SE DAC (9038 Pro).

auxinput - Thanks Sherlock! Lots & lots of investigation, and yes, I do remembering playing around a bit with the DSP in Roon.

Great info on the Evo & Denafrips too. It would be nice to hear all this stuff first, but tough to do, so, at present.

How about the Pegasus Musician DAC, are you familiar with it?

I don't know anything about Pegasus Musician DAC.  I looked at internal pics and it looks like an okay small format R2R resistor ladder DAC at $1k retail.  Not the best, but okay.  This next is a complete guess, but from youtube videos and what I see inside Pegasus, I think you are better off looking at the Audio-GD R-1 if you want a good resistor ladder DAC in the $1k price point.  I think the Audio-GD R-1 is going to be more open and transparent sounding.  The Pegasus might sound a little flat/sterile if you do a side-by-side comparison.

The Wyred 4 Sound Dac-2V2 is a good neutral sounding DAC.  Single ESS and good power supply, but uses op amp for output stage.  It's very nice sounding at $2k, but it's not going to have the "magic" that these other DACs have.  In fact, I think even the Lumin T2 is a lot better sounding and more open with more "magic" than the W4S 2V2.

    
auxinput - Thank you! sns recommends this DAC, the "Musetec 005" , even over some of the more recommended (by you and sns). Getting pretty up there price wise. Any thoughts?