Gregory

My understanding is: If you use your streamer software, it will connect directly to the streaming service and play the files without any Roon DSP. I you use your streamer as a Roon endpoint, then Roon does all the work and uses the streamer to play the feed the Roon server sends. While a track is playing you can see the signal path by clicking on the star above the progress bar. While listening to Tidal (via Roon) I see the EQ being done by the PC then send to my RaspberryPI based streamer.

In a single box, with XLR out there are the Lumin network players, I think the D2 is around $2300 (Didn't check the GPB/USD rate) , Or the Mytek Brooklyn Bridge. Otherwise it could be a network streamer (Raspberry Pi based) + DAC. Second hand PSAudio Dac JR (not sure of the exact reference).

TL;DR, JSSG = John Swenson Shield Ground (see post here) Thank you, never realized Audiomart had a forum section 🤦‍♂️

Out of curiosity, can you explain what is JSSG?

No problem, I have a similar situation and was interested in the solution.

There are isolators available. You can use it after your box and before your switch. search for 'lan isolator' or 'lan galvanic isolator' Edit: see this topic Edit2: apparently Ethernet already implements isolation via transformers by default,

Hard to answer, lots of variable here. From my experience with regular CD drive, noise is varying depending on the use: sometimes the thing speeds up (after insertion mostly) then becomes quieter while reading a track. The PC enclosure has impact too as noise can resonate inside. As for the heat, it also depends: if the tower is well ventilated, no issue, if it's low speed fans, heat can build-up a bit more but usually the disc spin make air move in the drive, keeping it at a reasonable temperature. I have a mini PC setup, with graphic card and a big 18cm fan on top to blow air inside and no issue. The whole thing is noisy when it starts (fans at full speed) then all fans slow down and it stay at low noise level for moderate use. Hope this helps.

I'm in the same situation: Old NAS but software keeps being updated, so I keep it. I have backup (local + cloud). Recent failures I had were one memory bank failed (thank you ECC for the detection) and a power supply failure. So considering an upgrade too. In your case you can probably wait for software obsolescence as davide256 said or hardware issue then buy a new Synology and either transfer your disks of restore from backup.

It depends on which kind of player you plan to use. There are software solution that are relatively easy to use and install like Roon and Audirvana. You need a PC/Linux/Mac, then the storage can be on the NAS. This is a standard solution many people use. You can run a software streamer on the NAS itself, this requires a bit more work fiddling / IT knowledge and a more powerful solution as stated by @davide256. You can use a hardware streamer (node, aurender, Raspberry Pi based,...) that will also use the NAs as a storage. Do you have an idea of which kind of player you want to use?

I setup TimeMachine on my NAS and used it over WiFi, it wasn't the most reliable solution but it worked (sometimes). I ended-up plugin an external drive as you did.

Thank you for posting the link. Haven't check this report for a while. I'm currently using 4TB HGST drives in my NAS, so far so good, but they're getting old now. It's maybe time to replace them, just in case.

Hi all, I gave HQplayer a try in the past, I want to retry it. I got the latest version but it doesn't launch. I think this is probably due to HQplayer being previously installed and tried on my machine. Is there a way to reset the demo period?

In Roon did you check in the settings for the node 2i, if there a buffer settings? I have one for my transport, I can adjust it (only up to 500ms though). Same in the node settings, are there any buffer settings available?

You should check studio forums. Main monitors are often mounted flush to the walls. Here's a link I found while looking for this: https://www.gearslutz.com/board/studio-building-acoustics/1223911-wall-studio-monitoring-buy-wall-speakers-hang-them-out-behind.html

I didn't thought about this additive aspect, good point, thanks.