Ethernet input DACS

[jabbr]

The PS Audio uses UPnP/DLNA. The Moon Audio website is vague about protocols, but it appears to be something similar as well. The Merging device uses Ravenna/AES67 which is a lot more than a "direct" input as requested by the OP.

 

The trouble here is that the question isn't well defined. The most "direct" Ethernet input would use a dedicated NIC on a computer connected directly to the DAC and send something like S/PDIF data wrapped in Ethernet frames. I doubt such a device exists, at least not on the mass market. A more likely approach would use standard IP networking with either TCP or UDP. It's certainly possible to build a device that simply accepts audio data thrown at a UDP or TCP port. Again, I've never heard of such a thing.

 

Every DAC-type device I've come across with an Ethernet input uses some fairly elaborate high-level protocol like DLNA. Maybe there's a market for something simpler.

 

It could be as easy as providing a virtual soundcard driver/app for an Ethernet enabled device. One can look at any of the ARM boards which provide I2S output as a model for Ethernet in (TCP/IP) -> conversion/fifo -> I2S/DSD out. I imagine we will see a number of devices implemented that way in the upcoming product cycles. Ravenna/AES67 too but either way you'd need to install a virtual soundcard and unless the Ravenna/AES67 input modules become cheaper, they are likely to be limited to higher end. If you just stream the data over Ethernet, the protocol can be *very* simple.