Better Roon Endpoints?

[Uni]

On 11/15/2018 at 7:38 AM, AudiophileWanabe said:

Anyone here tried the new 2018 iPad Pro with a USB-C to USB (A) adapter?

 

I wonder if the iPhoneX (old and new) with their theoretically less noisy OLED screens will be better endpoints than the LCD screens of iPads and IPhones?

 

 

I tried iphone 6s and ipad Air 2 and I will try iphone Xs and iPad Pro 2018 (12.9 inch) tonight.

 

I was using Audirvana plus 3.5.  The GREAT SQ improvement of using iDevice as roon endpoint to USB DAC shocked me.

 

In terms of my testing so far, ipad Air 2 > iphone 6s.  Iphone 6s sound more thin and less power.

[Uni]

8 hours ago, Uni said:

 

I tried iphone 6s and ipad Air 2 and I will try iphone Xs and iPad Pro 2018 (12.9 inch) tonight.

 

I was using Audirvana plus 3.5.  The GREAT SQ improvement of using iDevice as roon endpoint to USB DAC shocked me.

 

In terms of my testing so far, ipad Air 2 > iphone 6s.  Iphone 6s sound more thin and less power.

 

What I can say, i tried two more iDevices, and this is the SQ in order

 

iPad Air 2  > iPhone 6S  > iPhone Xs = iPad Pro 2018

 

iPad Air 2 provides the cleanliness, balanced sound.  iPhone 6s is similar to iPad Air 2 but more thin.  iPhone Xs and iPad Pro 2018 are muddy.  The differences are not very huge but sufficient for me to notice.  I like iPad Air 2 result only.

 

 

[Uni]

1 hour ago, AudiophileWanabe said:

Are all of these devices with the same version of iOS?

Yes all the same 

in fact I don’t know why the difference. Hope someone can explain to me

[Uni]

On 1/4/2019 at 8:56 AM, Uni said:

Yes all the same 

in fact I don’t know why the difference. Hope someone can explain to me

 

Last night I tried to switch back iMac but using digital output.

 

I was astonished.  Significant SQ improvement over iphone -> usb -> dac OR iMac -> usb-> dac.  High is more clean.  Bass is much more tight.  Very obvious.

 

But it's problematic to use iMac on this as the digital cable would disable internal speaker.  I must plug and unplug again for different usage.

 

It makes me wonder if I should swtich to raspberry pi + HAT.  Any idea?

[Uni]

13 minutes ago, bobfa said:

You can adjust the audio output of the Mac in system preferences so it does not route output to the DAC you are using for Roon.  The Mac will play though the speakers just fine for system sounds, etc..

 

 

I assume by digital cable you mean USB?  

 

Wait until you start filtering that USB to stop some of the noise from the iMAC from getting to the DAC..    There is a lot you can do to improve sound quality.  Don’t rush it.  Have fun listening!

 

Bob

 

 

@bobfa

Thanks for you answer

Sorry for confusing you.  My "digital cable" is actually a toslink, not USB.

 

There's a hidden switch in iMac.  Once the toslink cable plugged in, it switches off the internal speaker.  It's in the hardware so there's no way to work around.