I fully agree with @ProfFalkin and @PaisleyUnderground. Also note that audio bitrates are extremely extremely extremely slow relative to the potential of networks and network cables. For audio streaming, even ancient Cat 5 cables are more than enough. Cables and networking surpassed audio requirements by the 1990s. Easily.
There may well be advantages with Cat 7 or 8 for file archives and executing large data transfers. However, the Internet constantly executes fast data transfers and they use bulk basic cabling rather than Supra cables. Houses are wired with this stuff, and your router will drop to (typically) Cat 6 as soon as it hits the wall. Also, the power lines come in on basic bulk Romex through the walls. Fancy audio power cables are just the last 3-6 feet.
@generic Great links to sites that I will be reading today. I love audio and I love music and that passion gets me in trouble sometimes. About 6 months ago I decided to make significant upgrades to the audio path as I had it then and I have done so and continue to research my options on my PI2AES project. I got suckered on the Supra cables. (I guess my NAS will run like a bandit now :). My focus now is getting my music cleanly and quietly to my DAC as I can within a reasonable budget (although reasonable sometimes goes out the window when I am teased by more beautifully reproduced music). My PI2-4 has shipped but it will be December before I can get the AES board. I appreciate everyoneās feedback.
Regarding Supra cables, Iād try the USB models if they were more easily available. USB gets very shaky with high speed or time sensitive data beyond 2 meters. Iāve purchased and been disappointed with several USB extenders. They often freeze or generate errors. If you stick with the factory cables and below 2 meters, even they arenāt a big deal.
I upgrade cables beyond the in-box giveaways for better shielding and for color matching (e.g., all black versus a weird mix), but not in pursuit of audio miracles.
Iām having a tough time finding anywhere that has a 75 Ohm coaxial cable with BNC connectors that is nothing other than cheap. It does not look like Silversonic makes one, only raw cable.
My ears become a bit clogged due to allergies. This problem vastly impacts the sound of my headphones where they become very bass heavy and lack fidelity especially with the highs. At first i was blaming my headphone rig. I donāt notice this as much with speakers. Hence it seems that headphones exacerbate this situation. Just wondering if others have this problem with headphones.
I have to be frank. I love the full Roon Desktop interface on one of my 24" monitors; it makes browsing for new music and easy laid-back process. I plan to build a NUC, but how much NUC do I need to run Roon Desktop and HQPlayer? i5 or i7 assuming there will be enough ram and wanting a m.2 SSD slot.
I donāt believe HQPlayer and Roon ROCK (the OS linked by @mfadio) can co-exist on the same NUC. I havenāt used HQPlayer, but Iāve heard it needs power, and also a powerful GPU, so you may be better off installing HQP on your regular PC, and connecting it to Roon on the NUC via the network.
I think so. The Roon forum would be a really good source of information for you. Not trying to kick you out of here, just mentioning it because I often go there if Iām confused about Roon, and I often find 100 people have asked the same question.
You probably only need an i5 if youāre just running Roon on the NUC, but having said that, I bought an i7 with 16GB RAM to future proof it, since it wasnāt that much more.
No problem. I know I must do a lot of research on this. I am sitting on an i5 that I got without decent investigation. I am thinking that I need to turn it around for sale and get an i7. As far as the HQPlayer, that was another purchase that it will take me quite a while to master. Much of the HQPlayer is designed for open speakers in a room, not headphones. As my system sits now, the files are processed in Roon with an endpoint of the HQPlayer and the endpoint for the Player is my Qutest. I hate to touch it because it is sounding so much better than I had just a few months ago. Your input and the links are much appreciated.
Its not difficult to set one up. If I had a i5 in front of me, Iād try it before I worried to much about upgrading.
(I run my roon core on a vitual machine, hosted on a consumer grade Nas, and I starve it for ram based on principle. so you may want to ignore my advice)