I just received my PS Audio Mk2 DAC this past week, and I am loving it! I was previously using a Lampizator Golden Atlantic TRP DAC and the MK2 equals or surpasses it - more musicality and a blacker background come to mind immediately. My question relates to using the DAC as a Roon endpoint. It immediately shows up in Roon audio devices, which is great. Roon has a number of DSP settings that can be used under sample rate conversion, for example, sample rate conversion, DSD sample rate, and a number of sample rate conversion settings. Should any of these DSP settings be used, if so, which, or should I just let the MK2 handle any and all processing with no interference from Roon?
2 Likes
My MKII arrived yesterday. I have the Roon Nucleus feeding into the DAC via USB. After some fiddling, I chose the legacy PS Audio DirectStream DAC configuration:
Basically just sending the DSD to the DAC and letting the MKII do its thing:
Sounds great. Hope that’s helpful…
4 Likes
Wait, you just have Roon on a ROCK and feeding the DAC through ethernet? And it’s a Roon endpoint?
Or are you connecting the DAC to the ROCK through USB?
I was going to ask same thing. Guessing usb directly.
I asked also in the “DS Mk2 via USB” thread. Does one even need a streamer then? (Currently I have a Lumin and considering the Holo Red.)
Accoding to Roon its not the recommended way. I have not done that way in 2 ch. setup. I have connected the HDMI to my AVM70 and it works (NUC does not support DSD - so no DSD at all) for both 2 ch and multi channel. But I was not super impressed with sound. I would probably say using Oppo as end point and picking files off NAS work better. For roon only 2ch works with oppo, have to use native oppo interface for multi channel. Either way roon does not recommend so I stayed away and will unhook once Anthem goes Roon (promised for past year and half)
1 Like
Ah. The NUC doesn’t but the nucleus does. Thats how @jsteinca has succeeded
When I said that, I meant out the HDMI. Neither worked. I do not have usb in on my AVM70 so I have not tried using that.
1 Like
Just to clarify, I connect to the DAC using usb from a switch connected directly to my router via ethernet, and then a reclocker using fiber optic interface, with a Roon instance on a computer in another room. The connections are a bit more involved than that, but this is the essence of it.
That is close to what I am using as well, but there are advanced settings that also provide more options as well - have you played with the advance settings? Craig
Back to the original question, DSP in Roon does not depend on how you hook up. The DSP is applied by the core before it sends to where ever. That DSP is applied to that zone. For example, I created a conv. filter for room correction and apply only to my music as that is the only place it makes sense. They PEQ, headroom and other DSP you can apply as well. This is user / System dependent. Nothing I do will make sense nor work right in your room.
1 Like
Here’s what was pre-set by choosing the DS MKI settings…
Nothing screamed change me! so I left well-enough alone.
1 Like
LOL the good old can I run USB directly from my Roon Core. When I had a Nucleus+ I ran it that way for years. Worked great for me.
Hi @craignorris,
If you have Tidal and want to get some of the MQA unfolding, assuming you have no MQA capable device before the MK2, I would recommend that you turn on the “Enable MQA core decoder” in the advanced setting image that @jsteinca posted.
1 Like
NUC’s support DSD. Especially if you are running ROCK.
Then can I just hook up the Mk2 to the NUC directly through USB and do away with the streamer in between?
Yes via usb. I was just saying my experience via hdmi. My AVM does not have dig usb input so inhave never tried
Yes, this is how I have it set up now. However, I subscribe to Tidal so in this configuration, I cannot get the full unfold of MQA.
Yes, you can. In the past the general consensus in Roonlandia was that Roon sounds best when the connection to the Stream or DAC was over a network. That’s because USB was noisy on many DAC’s. Now with galvanic isolation that might not be the case anymore. I have been thinking I’d experiment with this sooner or later. But, I also like knowing that with a streamer if my Roon wasn’t available for any myriad of reasons, I could still stream to the endpoint from any number of apps like Audirvana.
8 Likes
Backup plans are always a good thing which is why I keep a mint condition Aries Mini and LPS in a storage closet even though I could sell it easily. Plus I would venture to guess that all of the streamer companies including Holo have put more effort into noise reduction than was done with the Nucleus.
2 Likes