Sprout 100 with Raspberry Pi streaming Roon endpoint Volume Control

Audio Components Integrateds
1

Hi

I am planning on purchasing a Sprout 100 to replace a Raspberry Pi with a Allo Boss DAC hat going to Adcom GFA555 Amp.
It is driving a pair of KEF 104/2 speakers.

A couple of questions.

  1. Will I be able to connect the USB output of my Pi Roon endpoint to the Sprout and will I be able to control volume from my Roon iPad controller?
  2. A more subjective question. Would a Sprout 100 be an upgrade in SQ compared to what I currently have?

Thanks for any input?

Andreas
Vancouver Island, BC

2

1a. Yes, you can connect the Pi USB to the Sprout. I don’t have the gear to test this but it’s just USB and should work fine.
1b. Depends. I don’t believe you will able to control the volume on the Sprout. You could, however, leave the Sprout at full volume and use Roon software volume control which would work to control volume from within Roon (although I’m not, personally, a fan of such set-ups).

  1. Not heard either set-up so cannot comment.
3

Like ip mentioned, Pi should hook up to Sprout USB just fine. Roon’s volume control won’t be able to controls the Sprout’s internal volume. You’ll essentially have two volume controls with this setup. You could set the Sprout’s volume control high enough where you could simply control the level with just Roon, and be able to do both low and high level listening. May take a little playing around with in order to find the sweet spot.

It would be a bit disingenuous for me to say I know the Sprout100 will be a better setup because I haven’t heard your current system. I do know that the DAC and amp section in the Sprout is really good. Offers a very transparent sound. The amp section within the Sprout would also drive the KEFs very well.

4

I recommend you flash an SD Card for your RPi using https://ropieee.org and it will work perfectly.