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Turning me DAC into a streamer

R

rescuest3ve

pfm Member
Hello!

So I've got a shiny new Denafrips Pontus II DAC on the way in a few weeks' time (eek!) so I can stream mostly Tidal Hifi / Qobuz etc. I don't have any saved high-res or flac files or anything (the CDs went a couple of years ago), so it's strictly just for streaming (for now). Does anyone use their DAC similarly? And what do you guys use to turn your DAC in to a streamer?

I have a Chromecast Audio that has optical out that I know will work, but would that be a good match? I admit that its relative cost to the DAC scares me a little as I feel like it might be a bottleneck in terms of quality. I've considered actual streamers, but they seem like a bit of a waste considering most come with an internal DAC that will have to be bypassed anyways. And Raspberry Pi's might be stretching my computer skills somewhat.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve
 
See how the Chromecast sounds you might get a pleasant surprise. A Pi is pretty easy to get going, loads of guides out there and help on here, a basic Pi running one of the free music player operating systems off a memory card connecting to the Pontus by USB would be fairly straightforward to get going. Loads of options for standalone streamers to feed the Pontus, depends what the budget is? Some streamers do not have a DAC onboard, Auralic Aries G1 for example or the Pi via USB or fitted with a pure network CoAx out board.
 
The CCA should work perfectly, but there are countless other options from beer money to BMW money... lots of people have had great results from Rasberry Pi and the various “Pi Hats” that can give you a very high quality digital output. Bluesound and Auralic make some superb streamers that could be used as an excellent quality and truly flexible streaming transport with your DAC.
 
A Bluesound Node 2i will give you maximum streaming flexibility as all the main players (inc. Amazon) are supported.
More importantly, and not to be underestimated, the Bluos app is a pleasure to use and just makes the whole streaming experience seamless - no USB out though.
 
Okay, so it looks like I'll be going CCA for now, then look at the bluesound node or auralic Aries G1 when we can get demo'ing again. Thanks all!
 
You can't go wrong with an NUC and use USB out. Which streaming services will you be using? are you advise to using roon? roon has both Tidal and Qobuz integration so a library using both services will look as one within roon.

Its not the cheapest of solutions but its neat and fairly simple to setup.
 
My only source is digital and I have tried a few streamers in the last year.
I definitely ended up on an Intel Nuc with Roon, this is the Roon core in the house and I have other Roon endpoints in the house.
Cheaper than many hi end streamers out there, yet not dirty cheap. But it’s my favorite setup so far.

Anyway I was curious about other dirty cheap alternatives, and have recently bought a s/h Fujitsu Futro S900 (thin client PC) for 32€ from eBay, and installed Daphile (free) on it. It doesn’t have the same functionality that Roon has, but at a fraction of the cost it’s truly amazing.

I imagine a Raspberry with Volumio may be same similar.
 
As a previous user of Raspberry Pi I'd suggest avoiding USB output, particularly with a DAC at that level.

If you go down the Pi route I can recommend the Allo boards and used the DigiOne myself before upgrading to a Sonore streamer I bought from the classifieds on here.
 
Ian Austen said:
As a previous user of Raspberry Pi I'd suggest avoiding USB output, particularly with a DAC at that level.
Click to expand...

That may have been the case with the Pi3 and earlier models, but USB output on a stock Pi4 is 100% fine to use (and sounds great!). I’ve now abandoned the Digione and Pi3aes since getting the Pi4 and using its USB output.
 
John_73 said:
That may have been the case with the Pi3 and earlier models, but USB output on a stock Pi4 is 100% fine to use (and sounds great!). I’ve now abandoned the Digione and Pi3aes since getting the Pi4 and using its USB output.
Click to expand...
I’ve the Pi4 USB to DAC no issues, ironically the Allo USB+Sig to their own USB Rev DAC pops and clicks. The Allo USB+Sig CoAx out to another DAC sounds fab though.
 
I totally agree that the Pi4 USB is a huge improvement over the Pi3 USB but think you're selling yourself short using it with a £2k DAC.
 
Ian Austen said:
I totally agree that the Pi4 USB is a huge improvement over the Pi3 USB but think you're selling yourself short using it with a £2k DAC.
Click to expand...

I can see why somebody might want something classier looking perhaps, but as for performance zero difference between a Pi4 USB and something marketed towards audiophiles.
 
John_73 said:
I can see why somebody might want something classier looking perhaps, but as for performance zero difference between a Pi4 USB and something marketed towards audiophiles.
Click to expand...

I was talking from a performance point of view. I think we'll just have to agree to differ on the merits of the Pi4 USB ;)
 
Ian Austen said:
I totally agree that the Pi4 USB is a huge improvement over the Pi3 USB but think you're selling yourself short using it with a £2k DAC.
Click to expand...
I do wonder about this Pi3 vs Pi4 issue.

My observation over almost three years of using a Pi3 via asynchronous USB into a similarly priced DAC is that up to 384 kHz PCM and up to DSD-128 (the maximum I have tried) the Pi has never missed a beat in delivering the data. If it had it would have been obviously audible.

I looked for the relevant trouble reports and they all seem to relate to the difficulty the Pi3 USB interface has in handling the timing for synchronous or adaptive USB because of excessive time elapsed in dealing with interrupts. A modern asynchronous USB DAC like mine does not seem to be impacted. Have I missed something that I should have found?
 
There’s no selling short. The Pi4 and a good dac(that’s not necessarily expensive Dac) performs as well as many high end streamers. The choice is whether you want a fancy looking set up or whether you can cope with the looks of the Pi. If that’s a problem, fancy boxes can be bought for the Pi. Mine sits behind a screen as a Touch Emulator. The differences between the range of Dacs and streamers are very small these days and most hit the requisite measurement baselines as well.there are differences I believe but these are not necessarily improvements. It’s down to choice really and how it firs into your own set up.
 
John Phillips said:
I do wonder about this Pi3 vs Pi4 issue.

My observation over almost three years of using a Pi3 via asynchronous USB into a similarly priced DAC is that up to 384 kHz PCM and up to DSD-128 (the maximum I have tried) the Pi has never missed a beat in delivering the data. If it had it would have been obviously audible.

I looked for the relevant trouble reports and they all seem to relate to the difficulty the Pi3 USB interface has in handling the timing for synchronous or adaptive USB because of excessive time elapsed in dealing with interrupts. A modern asynchronous USB DAC like mine does not seem to be impacted. Have I missed something that I should have found?
Click to expand...
I have no problems with my 3b in my other set up.
 
Del monaco said:
There’s no selling short. The Pi4 and a good dac(that’s not necessarily expensive Dac) performs as well as many high end streamers. The choice is whether you want a fancy looking set up or whether you can cope with the looks of the Pi. If that’s a problem, fancy boxes can be bought for the Pi. Mine sits behind a screen as a Touch Emulator. The differences between the range of Dacs and streamers are very small these days and most hit the requisite measurement baselines as well.there are differences I believe but these are not necessarily improvements. It’s down to choice really and how it firs into your own set up.
Click to expand...
There are differences in DACs, it does depend on the context they are used in - a top end system aimed at revealing detail will likely show differences easier vs one aimed at capturing the emotion and less concerned about soundstage and micro detail retrieval.

Compared to a change of Speaker or Cart/Stage they are relatively small changes even between devices with large price gaps. I have several DACs at home currently - lockdown to blame - rather than read mags/forums/top trump the measurements and choose, I prefer to buy/borrow, listen, compare and then decide based on sound, looks and features, there is and always has been an aesthetic element to my Hi Fi systems - it's a hobby/passion not a job.
 
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