Cemil

Thank you very much. I looked at the microRendu. I don't know if it supports the PD natively; I couldn't find any information on their web site. Pricing wise, it is pretty close to the new Mac Minis. Would it sound any better ? All that is required from the unit is take the input from Roon core/server via ethernet and feed the Playback Designs DAC. As a clarification, I am running Roon core/server on the NAS (QNAP). Currently, I'm using an old headless Mac Mini (2012) purely as a renderer/bridge to feed the Playback Designs DAC (mac doesn't do much else). The Mac is nearing the en of its life, so I'm looking for a replacement.

Old topic, but I'm still not clear. I'm using Roon running on a Mac mini to feed a a Playback Designs MPD-8 DAC. The DSD256 file gets converted to to DSD 128 (from 11.29MHz to 5.645 MHz) - The DSD 128 goes in unaffected. The MPD-8 DAC goes up to DSD 256. In the Roon setting configuration for the MPD-8, max DSD is shown as DSD 128. Is this a problem with Roon or with the Mini?

How does the MPD-8 sound?

Thanks for all your comments. Big bear got it spot on - the gizmo I was looking for is Sweet vinyl Sugarcube. Some background which I should have mentioned. I have about 3500 LPs that I would like to digitize (eventually). I have a top notch LP playback system (SME 20/12, series V 12" arm, Koetsu Coralstone Platinum, ARC REF 2 phono stage) therefore getting a Technics/Pro-ject/whatever USB tt is a bit of a step backwards. Ideally, I would record at 96/24 minimum. I currently do have that capability with an Apogee ADC, but the thought of mucking around with the files afterwards, splitting them, declicking, getting the metadata and so on seems like too much work for the number of LPs that I want to archive. I did think about the Alesis, Korg type of recorders, but again, I kept hoping for something simpler to use. When I recently read about the Sugarcube, that seemed to fit the bill, but I promptly forgot the name and where I read it.

Apologies if this is not the right place to post this. I've recently read abut a gizmo that you would either hook up to your phone cables or to your phono stage (can't remember which) that will digitize your vinyl, download the meta info from the net, split the tracks and remove clicks and pops. I can't remember the name of it. Would appreciate if anyone has further info on this or can point me in the right direction. I remember a price point a bit under $1k. Thanks Cemil

Apologies for the probably dumb question, but was is the "core" and what is the playback section? Is that UI and 'sound engine'? Also, from what I gather, Roon and (say) Amarra can exist on the same system, and can be used alternatively: Amarra for good sound, and Roon for exploration. Is that correct?

My first exposure to Computer Audio was many years ago, when I had a (pre-Meridian) Sooloos demo at a dealer. Despite the fact that this was an early, just released version, I drooled at the UI, but was neither willing to take the financial plunge, nor had the space (or permission from my wife ) to accommodate a touch screen in my living room. Time passed and I am currently using Amarra on a Mac mini, and I am very happy with it, despite the iTunes interface. Soon seems to finally bridge that gap and will hopefully/eventually provide a Sooloos type UI to a headless Mac mini controlled by a tablet. their web site is highly uninformative, so I have to rely to the few reviews out there for information. I've seen Chris' 30 minutes video on it and read through the thread here, but I am still unclear on a couple of fundamental points, which I hope someone will clarify for me: 1- Is Roon just a UI or does it also replace the 'sound engine'? For example, I am currently using Amarra as the 'sound engine' and iTunes as the UI - will Roon just replace iTunes, or both Amarra and iTunes ? 2- If both, is this mandatory or optional? i.e. can I configure Roon to work with Amarra ? 3- If not, what does Roon sound like compared to the others (Amarra etc..)? I find it surpassing that I am not able to find any mention of this. All the discussions/reviews seems to be concentrated on the UI, payment methods and so on. Thanks for any help. Cemil

Thank you very much both. Installed and running fine right from the start - a new experience

I've been hesitating to install 3.0 after reading the comments regarding instability. Does its installation overwrite 2.6 or is it possible to have them both installed? If I can keep 2.6, I will install it and give it a shot. It often takes me ages to get a major Amarra upgrade to perform correctly, and now that I have 2.6 running smoothly, I'm hesitant

I get the occasional crash, as in "Amarra has quit unexpectedly". Anyone has the same issues ?

Interestingly, after an initial mail with follow up questions on 2nd of July, to which I replied, there was no follow up whatsoever from Sonic Studio.Not that I need them any more, but it does not look good for someone dependent on their customer service. They used to be much better in that respect a few years ago. I hope thi sis just a temporary blip.

Have followed your suggestion, and am happy to say that it looks like it WORKED ! Keeping my fingers crossed. Thanks again

Hmm.. I think the output is shown as the Weiss Firewire. Will try it tonight. Thanks for the suggestion.

The HDMI monitor made no difference. Somehow Amarra picks a sampling rate (not sure how) and plays it correctly, no matter how many tunes I play at that rate. Everything else glitches.

Ok Sonic Studio replied in a similar way, saying that some users have reported issues running a headless mini with Mountain Lion and asked me to try plugging a monitor in. I tried last night with a monitor plugged into the Thunderbolt port, as I do not have one with a DVI plug. There is a definite improvement, but the problem is not resolved. First thing I noticed is that the screen on the remote laptop refreshed fast, whereas it was problematic previously running the mini headless. I thought all was well as I played quite a few tracks without any glitches. However, changing to a tune with a different sampling rate, brought back the glitches. Interestingly, I can play a particular sampling rate without glitches but they start again when I switch. It seems to get 'stuck' on a particular sampling rate, and will glitch anything else. So, as long as I play entirely 192 or 96 or 44.1, I am fine, though I have no control on the sampling rate that it gets stuck on, except to reboot the mini (maybe I should try restart Amarra only) and chose the first track depending on what I am going to be listening to. Just to make sure, I am trying to find a monitor to plug into the HDMI port to see if that fixes things. Any other ideas?