Roon: CAPS Pipeline or Aries?

[Martin]

Hello,

I'm considering two Roon/Tidal setups:

 

1. C.A.P.S Pipeline, as headless Roon core/output, Ipad controlled.

Linux (Roon recommendation) or Win (Intelligent Platform Management Interface)

 

or

 

2. Small PC as Roon core (e.g. Mac mini, Intel NUC) + Auralic Aries as Roon output, Ipad controlled.

 

As I currently see it:

 

Pro

1.

Versatility, easier to repair in case of hardware failure, hardware upgradable,

can be reused for other PC duties if replaced, one unit, can use HQPlayer (if I ever find out what to use this for) .

2.

Optimized hardware, optimized software (upgradeable firmware), no unnecessary (noisy) hardware,

has a remote for basic operations (e.g. skipping songs).

 

Con

1.

OS hassle/maintenance, not optimized entirely for hifi.

2.

If hardware fails it is probably a complete unit loss, not exactly pretty, two units.

 

 

If you have any comments/recommendations, I would appreciate them.

What would you do?

 

Martin

[firedog]

I'm using a Pipeline as server for both Roon and HQP and am very happy with it.

 

I'm not sure what you mean as a "con" OS hassle maintenance. I running Windows 10 with most services turned off and never need to touch or worry about the OS. You could also install the upcoming "optimizer" version of Windows 10 which is about to come out. (See elsewhere on this site), or a simple audiophile version of Linux if you want to.