Currently have one Mac Mini as the Roon Core, and a second Mac Mini as a Roon Bridge (its only role). Both are wired into our ethernet network at home.
(FYI - I have a couple spare retired Mini’s from work, so it’s no big deal to use them for this.)
Anyway… I wonder if it’s overkill, and could just use a $15-20 Chromecast audio dongle as the Roon output to the Sprout100.
It supports 24/96 audio, and it has an optical/toslink digital output.
Yes, I recently bought two for this same purpose. Roon just started supporting them as an endpoint a couple months ago. I haven’t installed them yet but they were $15 each; super cheap for 24/96 streaming capability. They will eventually replace a couple of ancient Airport Express devices. I still use iTunes from time to time which is putting a wrinkle in my plans. I need to look at a couple ways to make the Chromecast dongle show up as an airplay device.
The only caveat right now is that the optical output has dropouts with 24/96 content (and in some cases also 24/88.2). This will hopefully get fixed, but it’s been like that for a few months. Other than that, it works very well and is the perfect pairing with the Sprout (and also my SGCD/S300 setup).
Don’t expect Google to support AirPlay, though! Not going to happen.
Thanks.
Does anything depend on quality of toslink cable?
Micro USB jack is only for power, right?
Micro-USB is only power, yes. I don’t see how the TOSLink cable can make a difference, especially since there is no electrical connection between the CCA and your DAC. I got a FosPower one from Amazon and it’s working perfectly.
Picked up a Chromecast Audio dongle. Seems to work great.
One thing of note: You need to turn the volume for the Chromecast to 100% to get Lossless audio.
I think the limit for the CC is 96kHz; haven’t tried to stream a 192kHz MQA FLAC yet.
I have this CC in our main listening area, with wired Ethernet, powered by a NAD 7050 Amplifier. Not an audiophile situation, but it sounds good. The NAD supports Airplay, which isn’t lossless, but I don’t think I’d hear much of a difference. So I’m thinking of trying it in my office, where the Sprout100 is, to replace the Mac Mini Bridge. (Seems crazy to run a second Mini just for the bridge.)
tried it with a 192kHz file, and seems to work just fine. (Tidal MQA FLAC)
aaaaaannnnd just now seeing that Google is discontinuing CC Audio. $15 now ($20 off), so get em while they’re hot.