They make streamers that work much better than off the shelf computers. The Sonic Transporters do a fine jon and are within financial reach of most people. Add and UltraRendu and your set pretty well. The Euphony PTX server is another fine box that doesn’t require the UltraRendu. It doesn’t require Roon as it has its own interface that works pretty slick.
USB out to your Matrix and your set. Don’t fret the P3, it runs at 2% capacity unless you do oddball upsampling. you control it with an app on your phone, laptop, ot iPad/Tablet.
There are probably a few ways to do this but I currently use my Windows PC running with VLC as my video player. I use an HDMI cable from the PC to the TV screen and I set VLC to ‘pass through’ the digital audio stream to my USB-connected audio device. In this case, to my Matrix X-SPDIF 2 that converts USB to I2S and that is connected to my DSDAC.
I’m not sure if the Octave streamer will be able to accept the audio stream from a video player like VLC but if it does then you’ll be able to use it! Of course it won’t be able to handle the video stream.
Thank you, in that case it seems to be again dependent from a pc (MacMini) to play video, if so I’m at the starting point again. The aim would be to exclude any computer at all, also for dvd videos from a disc drive or a software VLC like.
The crucial point is the connection between TV and 2 channel system, if I understand well.
Yes, I agree. For better or worse we are constrained to using a digital computing device somewhere in the system. What I was trying to illustrate is that, by thoughtful design, you can functionally seperate the audio and video roles, and the associated digital processing, in order to minimise interference with your analog audio chain. (Admittedly, my bias is towards the audio side over the video side.) This allows easier swapping of individual components as technology and products are developed. Your digital library (system) can be located in another room. The streamer, player or, more generally, rendering device can be similarly kept at an appropriate distance or otherwise galvanically isolated from the DAC which can similarly be isolated from the analog side. For an appropriately capable video renderer, this could also cater for more than 2 channels of audio.
I guess what I’m trying to convey is that I think with sufficient thought and research you can build a system to suit your needs and be flexible enough to handle changes.
The Mano Ultra mkII is essentially a Raspberry Pi (3B) with some kind of hat and a linear power supply in one package. The i2s transmitter module is from Audio-GD (I bought one a few years ago and still have it in my gadget drawer). From the looks of the hat that feeds the i2s module, it looks like it may be a custom job from Audio-GD as well, but I don’t know for sure - the layout, components, etc. SEEM to be his ‘style.’
I am currently running JRiver on my Pi4B using IanCanada’s modules to sling i2s, and it works/sounds great. After another poster asked, I decided to do a free trial for Qobuz to see what it is capable of as far as internet sources, and using BubbleUpnp, or MConnect, it streams fine.
Both apps can see my local library (in the Pi), my library in my Synology, and connect to Qobuz. Both apps see JRiver AND the Bridge II as separate renderers to send to.
The only glitch I initially came across was if I streamed from Qobuz to the Pi, to output i2s to the DS, on 24/192 (only) it would drop the first fraction of a section because of hardware startup. JRiver has a variable setting, “play silence at startup for hardware synchronization” for instances where DACS, receivers, etc., has a slight delay in activating output (it does not affect continuous tracks). After setting it for 1 second (the lowest setting possible), no more drops.
Audirvana now works with Windows 11 so my laptop is back in action. In the meantime I’ve been looking at surround processors. Lyngdorf mp40 at the top and Monolith by Monoprice htp1 near the bottom of the price range. Anyone using either of these?
But when you start to really look at what Lyngdorf is doing, it gets very apealing to the better sound search - which never ends. The Monolith by Monoprice htp1 is not in stock and all the used ones are sold. It was ranked product of the year and they can’t produce enough of them at $3900.
Monolith has come a REALLY long way. I remember the only thing Monolith was for was to get good computer cables cheap. Then came their video cables, then came their audio cables, …
I got the Lyngdorf MP60 2.1 (HDMI). It’s all digital. It does have SPDIF in: 4 optical, 1 AES, 4 coaxial, and 1 usb audio in and 1 LAN network in. There are 8 HDMI 2.1 (8K) ins and 2 outs. There is also a 10K network out. I’m not sure how to include the DS DAC. The RoomPerfect EQ correction system was a big plus in choosing the MP60. Maybe it’s time to sell the DAC, the Matrix-X, UltraRendu and two Booster power supplies? Any suggestions appreciated.
Apparently, the new firmware update of the Lyngdorf MP60 included MQA processing. I open Audirvana on my M1 Mac mini and Lyngdorf MP60 shows up as an output. The subcontrol has been great also. I’ve got a couple cables coming for the rear speakers this Sat. After that I’ll do a full room EQ adjustment using RoomPerfect.
I was just reading in a Roon forum that someone playing Tidal combined a Lyngdorf MP60 with a DS DAC for DSD. I’m not a room user so I can’t contact him but apparently it’s possible to combine them. I guess I could try to connect all the SPDIF connections as well as the UltraRendu/Matrix-X through i2s and see what happens.
