DIY audiophile source/ripper

[al2813]

I spent this weekend reading about potential upgrades for my source network streamer which is now a simple RPI4 (doing a stellar job) acting as a Roon bridge. I started with the optics of source only (looking potentially at an Allo USB Bridge Sig), but the more I think about it, I want to add other functionalities. 

 

So what I would like to try and achieve in a single box: 

 

- A quality source that will offer a real improvement in SQ compared to my RPI 

- A CD ripper/player again bit perfect and of quality 

- Storage - I want to move my library from my NAS to the dedicated box 

 

Looking at the market, there is plenty of offer but it starts from 1200 EUR and goes up to 3-4k or even more. At the end this is quality (more or less some people are even sceptical on this part) HW combined with packaged SW. I am happy to get my hands dirty and build this myself for several reasons: 

 

1. I think it will cost less

2. I will be able to choose my HW/SW, replace it and upgrade it as I wish 

3. I will enjoy the process of making this work (probably the strongest argument). 

 

For the compute platform I am very kin to stay with the Raspberry pi that offers low power consumption and rich SW support. I would say even more, I am very tempted to insert the Allo USB sig board, although am a bit worried the board (based on the 3+) does not offer enough compute power for the other functionalities? This is an important point as I would like to use USB as my digital audio output. Any recommendations are welcome. 

 

then if people can recommend other components or even send me to posts describing projects that would be great!!