[AudioGal]

Yup. And even better-er would be PC - wireless - streamer - COAX/AES/I2S - DAC.

That's pretty close to my setup. No issues with the audio over the WiFi connection. Everything in our house that connects to the Internet is on WiFi.

 

[CarlosAudio51]

Interesting! Most people "agree" that ZMF need an OTL amp to sound their best.

How do transformer-coupled amps sound with ZMFs? Are there any transformer-coupled amps under $1k? Only ones I've heard of are Eddie Current or Donald North but they're pretty pricey.

 

[earnmyturns]

sans electrical noise

There's always electrical noise. The question is what is best at reducing its leakage into the most sensitive circuitry in a DAC. Source, connection method, DAC all play a role here. Unison makes USB into Schiit DACs more able to reject upstream noise, but it's a matter of degree. A great AES source may still beat a just so-so USB one even with a Unison DAC.

 

[earnmyturns]

Unless....it's USB. There is no error checking from the DAC back to the PC.

S/PDIF or I2S have no error checking either, and being synchronous they are much more clock-sensitive than USB, which is asynchronous.

 

[johnjen]

You know the old saying “Your Results May Vary” well. I have been running Roon on an i7 Mac mini (Late 2012) in macOSX Catalina, now up to Version 10.15.7 with no problems what’s so ever. This is our only desktop in the house and it gets double duty with spreadsheets, accounting and light CAD tasks all while running as a music server with my wife playing music in our great room using Roon Remote while I am in the den with my Schiit stack and headphones listening to definitely something else. I have two Schiit stacks I have used. A) Jotunheim 1 True MuliBit, + Modius. B) Jotunheim 2 + Bifrost 2. Both are performing flawlessly.
I forgot to list my wireless endpoints. I have 1 via Apple Airplay (DT Studio 3D Mini) and 2 pairs via SONOS Streaming (4 SONOS PLAY:1) endpoints

Just throwing that out there.

I too must concur.

My Mac Pro (2009 cheese grater) is a do it all work horse as I email, zoom chat, browse, read books, write papers and run Media Center (with a full load of DSP), all at the same time with nary a hitch in my git along while listening to tunes.

Of course I don't play games nor stream much of anything and I keep my cached file load less than 2.5GB, and the swap files are at 0bytes, and I make sure that "powerd" never runs rampant in the stack…

JJ

 

[earnmyturns]

How do transformer-coupled amps sound with ZMFs? Are there any transformer-coupled amps under $1k? Only ones I've heard of are Eddie Current or Donald North but they're pretty pricey.

Great, to judge by my EC Aficionado>ZMF Verité (open and closed) experience. Yggdrasil A2>EC Aficionado>Verité open is still my favorite headphone experience for the most dynamic jazz and small ensemble classical.

I've heard good things about the SW51+ which should be a lot less expensive if you can find one. But I've never heard one.

In general, SET amps are expensive because good coupling transformers are a craft product made with custom-specified materials.

 

[tincanear]

How do transformer-coupled amps sound with ZMFs? Are there any transformer-coupled amps under $1k? Only ones I've heard of are Eddie Current or Donald North but they're pretty pricey.

Woo Audio WA6 (designed by Woo, assembled New York?, but mid and higher tiers definitely over $1K

 

[Timster]

There's always electrical noise. The question is what is best at reducing its leakage into the most sensitive circuitry in a DAC. Source, connection method, DAC all play a role here. Unison makes USB into Schiit DACs more able to reject upstream noise, but it's a matter of degree. A great AES source may still beat a just so-so USB one even with a Unison DAC.

... and the other factor is the level of the noise. Is it actually audible? Noise at -130db may be visible via an analyser, but hearing it? Nope. (Well I certainly can't!)

I think maybe I'm straying too far into the objectivism/subjectivism discussion. Time for a beer mod.

 

[OldRoadToad]

That's pretty close to my setup. No issues with the audio over the WiFi connection. Everything in our house that connects to the Internet is on WiFi.

I too use our WiFi for music throughout the house. I have Heos from Denon along with a few Grace Digital devices. No problems whatsoever except for a few weeks ago there was an internet outage for several hours.

I simply played some choice vinyl and CDs and later watched some films from my Criterion Collection. To be specific about the films I chose selections from "Zatoichi - The Blind Samurai" collection. Because for me (and maybe for some of you too, it matters not how the music is reproduced only that we hear it and answer the call from within.

ORT

 

[rkw]

Unless....it's USB. There is no error checking from the DAC back to the PC.

USB audio has error detection (CRC in the data packets), but there is no retry protocol. However, the maximum allowed error rate in the USB specification is extremely low. At CD data rate, it's like an average of 1 bit of error in several days of continuous streaming.

 

[EELawson]

Hi -

Have your tried it with another source that uses that same input? How about a source that uses Toslink or Coax Digital?
All the best!

ORT

Yes, I tried other sources (CD player, SACD player) and tried Toslink. No luck.

It will get taken care of this week. It is summertime, I will something else to do with my spare time.

I only mentioned it here because I feared I was overlooking something obvious.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

 

[ev666il]

Why not S/PDIF (Coax)?

I’m married to Unison

One last (hopefully!) question for my better understanding. In a PC - wireless - streamer chain, my PC is still at the source. How does this solution bypass PC-induced audio issues?

 

[Les Strat]

First time post: I wanted to thank Jason for being as involved in the community as he is and has been. Gives me the impression at least that it matters to him, and perhaps Schiit, to have a finger on the pulse of what we like, love, hate, really hate in (most) all things audio and BBQ. Cheers!

Welcome to the forum @cakewalk101

 

[JamminVMI]

The best laid plans of mice and men...

Seems my RPi has a bad wired Ethernet port. Internet is required to complete Roopieee install and config Wifi, etc. Just an endless re-boot cycle, so it's a no-go for now.

So.... RPi 3+ or 4?? And I realized that I have a Digi Pro HAT w/ only Toslink and S/PDIF coax out. Any suggestions on a HAT to get RCA analog out to Valhalla 2?

HifiBerry DAC+ Pro?

 

[Les Strat]

Well said, Sir Strat! To be honest, I don't listen to codecs, just music.

Thanks @OldRoadToad
Great comment!
I feel fortunate that I now have a system, assembled over many years, which I am very happy with.
At the heart of it is the fantastic Yggy A2.
That doesn't mean I won't be tempted to buy even more gear though... in the shape of Mike's new 'Urd' CD Transport.
However, I got into this mad hobby because I love music- ideally live, but also recorded,
We recently moved house, and are still surrounded by boxes, including ones containing my main audio system, which will remain boxed until we have had some building work done.
My current music 'system' comprises a very old Squeezebox 'Classic' as digital source, connected to some tiny, and also old, Audio Engine A2, active desk top speakers.
It is a far cry from my 'main' system, but it does mean that I have access to all my lossless files, Qobuz and internet radio.
Despite it being a really simple, and some would argue almost 'obsolete' system, I have found that I am still enjoying listening to music in my study and spend many, many hours doing so.
I am looking forward to setting up my main system, but that could be several months away.
In the meantime, this works fine.
In the end, the music is more important to me than the gear.... but I still regard myself as a bit of an audiophile