[GreenBow]

No my previous posts were correct - you are forgetting one thing - the volume control has digital gain possibilities, which allows you to increase the volume for quiet tracks. The gain can go as high as +18 dB when you set the volume to max - and if you were to put in a -18dBFS signal, everything would be fine. But anything higher than that and the DAC will clip on it's analogue outputs.

So -3dB low or high gain will give you 3v RMS in ultra low distortion all the time, guaranteed. But in low gain mode it can only output a maximum of 3.3v RMS; so if you set the volume to -2dB it will clip with the maximum input possible of 0dBFS. If you need more than 3.3v RMS then set it to high gain mode, when now you can have 9.4v RMS max. output - so now you can go to +6dB on the volume without fear of it ever clipping.

I was playing a quiet track I chose especially for its quiet property, even when going to +3.

Thank you though. I understand bit more. I also know where to set my gain for 3V RMS. It's in the case if I ever decide to use low gain variable into an amplifier, instead of DAC mode. I would only be doing that in the case where I wanted less than 2.5V RMS into an amplifier. I was thinking about an amplifier upgrade, and most have higher wattage than I need, and currently have. It means I could do with my source being quieter than 2.5v RMS.

Anyway we just got talking about the output stage with someone on the M-Scaler thread. Then I found again your posts about this. Right now, though I am using speakers in the TT2, and it is easily sensitive to run quietly.

 

[PJDubyaM]

BUT last weekend started reading the forums in Roon Rock and audio Linux and people getting MASSIVE sound improvements... so ordered the parts on amazon to do a diy Roon nuc + build. ... keep in mind the Roon nuc + is 2500 but the diy is identical and 600... built it.,,

boom., SQ on mTT2 jumped 40 to 50 %. I was flabbergasted. And I then tried my mojopoly. Holy****. This thing blew my socks off as I never would think 5is would impact WiFi sq.

Could I ask you what setup / specs you ended up with? I've been very close to pulling the trigger on a Nucleus / NUC before, but haven't quite. You've pushed me close to it again!

 

[Triode User]

Could I ask you what setup / specs you ended up with? I've been very close to pulling the trigger on a Nucleus / NUC before, but haven't quite. You've pushed me close to it again!

I think @Amberlamps did a DIY Nucleus / NUC not long ago and so he might be able to help point you to his post where he explained what he did . . . .

 

[PJDubyaM]

Thanks Triode – Amberlamps has already helped me out and pointed me towards things. Got close to pulling the trigger then! But just wondering what Kyn ended up with.

 

[AndrewH13]

Could I ask you what setup / specs you ended up with? I've been very close to pulling the trigger on a Nucleus / NUC before, but haven't quite. You've pushed me close to it again!

I found this 3rd option a very good solution for a separate Roon core, and Vortexbox added an extra 1gb SSD into the Transporter i5 for me for music storage. Cheaper than a Nucleus, but dearer than a NUC.

 

[gnomen]

I know most of this it's basic stuff i just got confused with the new mscaler artwork and my imac optical out settings.

many thanks for your breakdown it has helped alot. mk

When i had a Hugo TT connected via optical, Roon identified the signal path as "High Quality" because the signal was going via the iMac system out electronics. When I changed to USB out to the TT, Roon identified the signal path as "Lossless". This is done with a glowing button icon next to the track playing, green in the first instance, light purple in the second instance. They did sound different, which I attributed to Roon generating the best signal it could by bypassing the Apple optical code/electronics. But I don't know for sure. I preferred the USB version so left it like that.

 

[JamieMcC]

My Roon Rock consists of a NUC8I3BEK, 250GB Samsung EVO 970 PLUS M.2 SSD, 2x4GB DDR4

Total cost £285 not including the external SSD drive I store tunes on. Searches, playback, scrolling through library is all blisteringly fast pretty much instantaneous.

Definitely gained a noticeable jump in sound quality.

Recently purchased a fanless case to transplant the Nuc into £100

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/aka...term=4574655568555954&utm_content=Ad group #1

 

[Amberlamps]

My Roon Rock consists of a NUC8I3BEK, 250GB Samsung EVO 970 PLUS M.2 SSD, 2x4GB DDR4

Total cost £285 not including the external SSD drive I store tunes on. Searches, playback, scrolling through library is all blisteringly fast pretty much instantaneous.

Definitely gained a noticeable jump in sound quality.

Recently purchased a fanless case to transplant the Nuc into £100

https://www.scan.co.uk/products/akasa-turing-a-nuc45-m1b-compact-fanless-case-aluminium-8th-generation-intel-bean-canyon-nuc-ucff-4x?msclkid=49a145c579d110e1c2ab185afd7dc928&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=Catchall - Low priority - Low Margin Label - Shopping&utm_term=4574655568555954&utm_content=Ad group #1

Same case as mine, if you haven't transplanted your nuc yet, a couple of things to watch out for. If it's the same board layout as mine, you lose sd card access in the akasa case, so it's maybe a good idea to stick a sd card inside the slot so you have some extra storage if you ever need it, and also the wifi and bluetooth aerials.

The ones in the original nuc case cannot be used in the akasa case since they are soldered to the intel nuc case, if you want to keep wifi and bt, you will need to buy a set of IPEX MHF4 RP Aerials with Antenna's. RP = Reverse Polarity

Only a few quid from amazon or ebay but, once you disconnect the original nuc aerials, trying to get the new one's back on to the motherboard is extremely fiddly and hit or miss, and the actual connector on the motherboard is only about 1mm in diameter, and are extremely easily damaged.

You may want to forgo trying to get wifi and BT in the akasa case ?

Also, one thing to keep in mind since it's passive cooling, most temp apps will show core temps, but the cpu as a whole will be roughly 10oC hotter, if possible get a temp app that shows you "Package Temp", as thats basically the entire cpu temp, and thats the one to rely on, not core temps.

Example, cores 1,2,3 and 4 may show temps of between 35-40, but the cpu as a whole will be sitting at roughly 50oC.

Just throwing this out there for any budding nuc fanless case transplanter.

 

[JamieMcC]

Thanks for the tips much appreciated I have already purchased the aerials but as the Nuc will be LAN wired loosing wifi and BT capability wont really be a inconvenience if it ends up that way.

 

[CreditingKarma]

Has anyone compared the TT2 with the Metrum Pavane Lv3? I just got the tt2 but am curious about the pavane I had one on order and ended up canceling the order due to a long wait period.

 

[musickid]

is it possible to reduce the voltage from 2.5v to 2v when in fixed dac mode?

 

[kelly200269]

I'm really confused about the Mscaler / TT2 being added to Roon. Assuming that the most likely use case with Roon is streaming to a network streamer (as opposed to outputting directly from whatever's running your Core), under what circumstances does Chord gear being Roon Tested actually matter? My Mscaler / TT2 are downstream of a (Roon Ready) Bluesound Node 2. That's the thing that Roon picks up. How does it matter what's downstream of that?

Horrible feeling that I'm utterly unaware of something that everyone else knows, and that's really obvious. Eep.

A word from Roon on the use of HMS with Chord DAC’s:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/chord-mscaler-and-dave-icons-on-signal-path/80201

 

[Chester Rockwell]

I am going to ask what is no doubt a stupid question but hopefully one of the more technical members here can enlighten me.

I had one of the xlr to 3 inline banana sockets made up as Rob and others have discussed previously. I’m only really interested in running single ended into speakers but it’s nice to have the balanced option.

From what I’ve read here, for single ended you can use pin 1 and either 2 or 3 and for balanced you use pins 2 and 3.

My understanding was that electricity flows through the speaker and back out down the cable. If that’s the case, how does the balanced configuration work as on the surface, it seems both pin 2 and 3 are ‘active’ (for want of a better phrase). I’m not technical in these regards so forgive my poor terms and descriptions.

To a simpleton like me, this configuration would mean sending power down both wires which I assume is not the case?

Thanks

Chester

 

[musickid]

hi chester you took the tt2 then? same here much more refined than h2 IMHO.

 

[Chester Rockwell]

hi chester you took the tt2 then? same here much more refined than h2 IMHO.

Ha yes, I did indeed. I had no intention until one bored weekend, I cobbled together some connections and had the Hugo2 powering some bookshelf speakers. I wasn’t expecting much at all but was so impressed, I went for a TT2 within a couple of days. The sound from the Hugo2 was really nice through speakers but a little impractical. TT2 is much better in that regard. I was also pleasantly surprised again by the uplift between Hugo2 and TT2. As you know, I did not expect much of an audible improvement. It’s been a good week for music in my house!