Help GUTB Get a Consumer Amp

[Thuaveta]

On 20/01/2018 at 10:19 PM, GUTB said:

Another consideration is the source. I have a heavily specialized audio PC running Roon and HQPlayer running DSD512 through a Cyan DSD DAC — a chain which costs much more than the equipment I’ll be trying out.

 

RasPi + HifiBerry Pro + an iFi wall-wart should essentially get you the ready-to wear version of the cheaper Bryston streamer.

 

You'd probably want to run RoPieee on it, since it's the simplest Roon endpoint to install AFAICT. If you're comfortable editing files, you can go all tweak-tastic, try Archimago's CRAAP settings. You might also want to lower the volume 3 or 4 db in Roon's headroom management to get rid of potential intersample issues.

 

If you want to stick to the spirit of the experiment, you could try one of HifiBerry's dac boards, or splurge and try the allo option that can be powered externally. Going all-out and getting both a dac board and a spdif board would, of course, allow you to figure out how much of a difference your DAC makes when fronting that gear the proles use.

[Thuaveta]

3 minutes ago, GUTB said:

 

Very interesting...these are things I had no idea existed. Maybe I should go for it? The cost is next to nothing...

 

They're loads of fun... and if you decide you don't like what they do, you can always repurpose bits and pieces as a Roon endpoint driving a rather better looking (and probably better sounding) Sonos alternative