Generally IME anything but USB is at least marginally better, with the exception of high end DAC’s, where if you can use some sort of USB isolation, USB in on the DAC can be better.
My Lampizator Pacific sounds better over USB or Ethernet (which I believe is just running through the USB interface inside the box) if you can get it a clean signal, than even my “expensive” streamer over AES or BNC. But on everything else I’ve tried including the Chord Dave, streamer to AES/BNC is a win.
The one thing you might lose using AES or BNC is access to higher bit rate DSD or PCM, they are usually limited to 192/24 and DSD64 over DOP, though some will do DSD128 (I think the Dave did).
Most of my collection is 192/24 and I do not do DSD currently. Even the USB off the PI2AES would be isolated from the NUC noise by the ethernet connection (I would think).
It does seem that most of you guys are using Roon. I will have to look at it and download the trial.
It would and I have/do used USB directly off a Pi, I still have couple of those in my systems, but the pi3’s USB implementation is far from ideal, (I believe it’s better in the pi4).
IME
PC USB << RPi4 USB < Pi2Aes (AES or BNC) << EM Labs NS1 AES
Two things in that list that surprised me when I did the tests, while the pi4’s USB is clearly a win over the PC, the Pi2AES’s is a significant step up from it. The second was spending more on a “high end” streamer was a surprisingly big win over the Pi2AES, I really didn’t expect the improvement to be as big as it was, but you have to put the cost in perspective, and where you could be spending that money in the system, I was running a Chord Dave into Woo WA33 running off a regenerator when I bought the NS1, I’m not sure it or any of the even more expensive options are justifiable at much lower levels than that.
I use a pi2aes into a TT2, and actually have had the usb form the pi and bnc from the pi2aes hat both hooked up at various times. If there is a difference, it is at such a level that I would need to go “full audiophile” and pick specific tracks to find it.
I did notice a difference going from a random rca cord on coax to a true 75ohm bnc from Blue Jeans Cables.
One of the fun parts about Roon is it would allow you to group those two outputs and just flip back and forth on your quest to A/B them until you found the best option.
I can see that. With a Dave an expensive media streamer would be justified. A Dave I am afraid will never be in my budget. It’s just extremely interesting to delve into all the things that can affect the audio stream and end up with (or not) good changes subjectively. A NUC or Zotac running Roon is probably more along the lines of my system (Foobar on a PC ->Qutest->Phonitor x->HD800S), and it would be fun to build.
I have all of the popular players and like the sound of Roon (they all seem to have a slight sound of their own) but find using a satellite computer - other than the core computer - troublesome as Roon seems to be very fussy regarding wifi signals. My wifi setup is very robust and I have no issues using the same satellite computer with Jriver but with Roon it will simply disconnect at will. I also have yet to figure out how to use HQPlayer as a player for Roon with any computer other than the core.
Just to add my budget orientated 1 cent (I always try to keep things cheap, so 2 cents is a waste ).
The Pi can also run RopieeeXL which can be used as a Roon endpoint (just like regular Ropieee) but can also serve as an end point for other DLNA capable players and streaming services (such as Foobar, BubbleUPNP or Spotify/Tidal directly).
I use mainly Foobar or BubbleUPNP (most of my music is on a local server) but the wife uses Spotify, all of these play directly on a (couple of) Pi 4 running RopieeeXL.
Also, according to measurements, the USB output of the Pi 4 is actually less noisy than hat based set ups. These are not my own measurements but I have come across them in various independent locations.
I’m slowly learning about all of these things Roon related. There was interest in Roon a while back but setting up a server, then a NAS and all the steps to put all that together were a little over whelming. Then the Roon licensing, using hqplayer as an option, either wifi, directly connect. Lots of little dots to connect. Raspberry kits can be very cheap but essentially pcs, then you have to get a dirty power supply, clean power supply, it just seems to go on and on.
(this post was also in response to @Doc asking if moving off pc makes a difference in sound)
Or as Andris said, Auralic Aries is a great option as a dedicated streamer (it’s basically a media server that’s dedicated to only streaming and hosting media). I’ve had the G1 for a short time and you can hear the difference moving from ipad or windows pc. Then there is the lightning ds software (for ios only unfortunately for those on android) which does your streaming (and a real good job implementing qobuz), connects your network shares and streams the media on your network storage. You can hook up a cdrom and use the Auralic software to burn cd’s to local or network shares. If I remember correctly, it does several passes to get the best quality of what is burned to your network. You can listen to music while it burns and it auto ejects so you can continue to burn your media. It can add your network shares also as a destination. So, you’ve got a software that they are constantly updating. It’s plug and play more or less. So, it’s considerably more expensive than a Raspberry but does considerably more. The G2.1 has internal storage, galvanic isolation, copper plated chassis, vibration dampening feet and the list goes on and on. Four inch display, volume control, play/pause controls on the front of the box or through the app. You can configure everything through the app or through the front panel interface. So, again, your paying a lot but your also paying for the research of the hardware, the software development and I’m sure the list goes on and on for that also.
Guess it depends on how far down the rabbit hole you want to go. Sorry for the rant, it’s nice to have options.
It’s great to have options, especially when there is a forum like this to pass info. back and forth. I jumped in with both feet in Audirvana this morning, which will do for now (and be kind of fun!). The Auralic Aries sounds like a good project to research on and plan. Thanks for the ‘rant’ - it’s all good!
Given that I am stuck running my source on a PC, do you remember the days when your ripped CDs to FLAC through a software application? I have used Exact Audio Copy for some time. Do you believe there is a superior alternative?
I’m still a pure streamer right now. I have to quit looking at nas storage and burners but i do have a box of cd’s that I’m curious to burn to disk. If and when, cause i know myself with this hobby, I’ll use Auralic’s software to burn to nas storage.
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