How to replace my Sooloos

[Howiebrou]

I have used Sooloos pretty much for over 10 years but now that it is no longer supported and my hardware is starting to flake out, i thought it was about time i looked elsewhere. Right now i am exporting my 8000 or so albums in Flac to a HDD and from there i expect to move it to a NAS QNAP with Raid 1 8 TB enterprise drives.

So where to from now? I don't really know much about network players or who to look at. Roon seems easy to use from the reviews and speaking to users personally but I would like to use my CH Precision C1 Dac if possible so that means not getting a netowrk player with a Dac i guess?

I came across Lumin today and they seem to have a great solution in the U1. Digital outputs in coaxial, optical, AES/EBU and USB. Right now i use a cat5 to AES connector for my sooloos so the Lumin could do the same with a AES cable. The GUI seems good and it can connect to my Tidal too.

Other people have suggested an Esoteric N1 player connected to a Roon Nucleus + and NAS.

It's all a bit confusing for a computer numby. If my priority is to use my CH DAC and an NAS and have an apple AND android app to browse and with tidal and the possibility to read DSD downloads what would you recommend which is good quality?

Thanks for reading and apologies for the rather simple questions.

howie

[triodesteve]

I have used Sooloos pretty much for over 10 years but now that it is no longer supported and my hardware is starting to flake out, i thought it was about time i looked elsewhere. Right now i am exporting my 8000 or so albums in Flac to a HDD and from there i expect to move it to a NAS QNAP with Raid 1 8 TB enterprise drives.

So where to from now? I don't really know much about network players or who to look at. Roon seems easy to use from the reviews and speaking to users personally but I would like to use my CH Precision C1 Dac if possible so that means not getting a netowrk player with a Dac i guess?

I came across Lumin today and they seem to have a great solution in the U1. Digital outputs in coaxial, optical, AES/EBU and USB. Right now i use a cat5 to AES connector for my sooloos so the Lumin could do the same with a AES cable. The GUI seems good and it can connect to my Tidal too.

Other people have suggested an Esoteric N1 player connected to a Roon Nucleus + and NAS.

It's all a bit confusing for a computer numby. If my priority is to use my CH DAC and an NAS and have an apple AND android app to browse and with tidal and the possibility to read DSD downloads what would you recommend which is good quality?

Thanks for reading and apologies for the rather simple questions.

howie

I imagine Roon will be very familiar coming from Sooloos. Its done more for my musical discovery and enjoyment than any other purchase in the last 30 years. For simplicity take a look at Innuos servers. I don't have one...yet. If you use usb to your dac this will work easily. Roon Core and Roon endpoint along with ripper. Simple to implement and use. Look on youtube for John Darko's review/explainer. I found it very helpful.

[Howiebrou]

I imagine Roon will be very familiar coming from Sooloos. Its done more for my musical discovery and enjoyment than any other purchase in the last 30 years. For simplicity take a look at Innuos servers. I don't have one...yet. If you use usb to your dac this will work easily. Roon Core and Roon endpoint along with ripper. Simple to implement and use. Look on youtube for John Darko's review/explainer. I found it very helpful.

Thanks. Only issue is my CH dac doesn't have USB input. I need to add a card but this can be done relatively easily i think.

[triodesteve]

Thanks. Only issue is my CH dac doesn't have USB input. I need to add a card but this can be done relatively easily i think.

Same here. I use a streamer to connect to my dac via spdif. It would be an easy temporary solution. Although yet another (small) box and power supply.

[KeithR]

Innuos Zenith and you should be set. Get the Ethernet card for the CH.

Iirc, former Sooloos guys created Roon.

[Howiebrou]

Innuos Zenith and you should be set. Get the Ethernet card for the CH.

Iirc, former Sooloos guys created Roon.

Thanks Will check out Innuos. Yet another server to learn about!

[Randy Myers]

The guys who started/run Roon did the same for Sooloos until Meridian bought them, so they left and started Roon.

Roon is superb!

You can go with a music server, depending on level you want to go. If you do not want to deal with a computer then companies such as Small Green Computer, W4S, among others have custom built servers. Roon offers their own, the Nucleus & Nucleus + which are fairly much plug and play devices.

There are others such as the SOtM sMS-1000SQ which is supposed to be fantastic, and many many more. All of these are in essence computers, but custom built for music. They all can all attach to your current DAC in some manner.

[MRJAZZ]

Thanks Will check out Innuos. Yet another server to learn about!

The Innuos is very, very good.........
Cheers.....

[still-one]

I found it extremely easy to replace Sooloos as my main provider of content in both my 2 channel room and in my whole house system. I did a native export from Sooloos to a 2 TB USB drive. I added replaced my Sooloos MC200 core with a Small Green Computer i5 with 2TB of storage. I copied the data from the USB drive to the drive on the i5 and pointed Roon at that drive. Voila' finished. After two years of using SooLoos only to support my whoie home set-up I decided to move totally to Roon and purchased a SonoS Connect endpoint to replace my MS200 feeding all the rooms in my home. I was up any running in less than 5 minutes. With the SonoS I did lose anything beyond CD quality but for the whole home set-up which is only used for background that is not an issue.

[Mr Peabody]

Also, take a look at the Aurender ACS10. It has a lot more onboard storage than Innuos and an established app but I'm not sure how important storage is since you already have NAS. The app works only with an iPad as well, for now.

I believe I read on Aurender's site their units are designed to work better together in regards to NAS.

The ACS10 is going to be my next purchase. I was hoping to wait until I sell this NAD but I'm not sure I, can, wait. I was blown away by thee ACS10's sound. It's crazy just handling digital can make such a difference.

[BlueFox]

Go with the Lumin, but get the TOTL X1. It’s DAC is excellent, and you save by not needing an interconnect cable, or a power cable for the DAC.

[Howiebrou]

I found it extremely easy to replace Sooloos as my main provider of content in both my 2 channel room and in my whole house system. I did a native export from Sooloos to a 2 TB USB drive. I added replaced my Sooloos MC200 core with a Small Green Computer i5 with 2TB of storage. I copied the data from the USB drive to the drive on the i5 and pointed Roon at that drive. Voila' finished. After two years of using SooLoos only to support my whoie home set-up I decided to move totally to Roon and purchased a SonoS Connect endpoint to replace my MS200 feeding all the rooms in my home. I was up any running in less than 5 minutes. With the SonoS I did lose anything beyond CD quality but for the whole home set-up which is only used for background that is not an issue.

Glad to hear that Jim. Lots of choices but it seems there a few main players. For me priorities are good GUI, good sound, low maintenance.

[Howiebrou]

Also, take a look at the Aurender ACS10. It has a lot more onboard storage than Innuos and an established app but I'm not sure how important storage is since you already have NAS. The app works only with an iPad as well, for now.

I believe I read on Aurender's site their units are designed to work better together in regards to NAS.

The ACS10 is going to be my next purchase. I was hoping to wait until I sell this NAD but I'm not sure I, can, wait. I was blown away by thee ACS10's sound. It's crazy just handling digital can make such a difference.

I read that an Android app is imminent which would be much better. Lumin has done both from day one i believe. I think the W20 and A30 now allows 2 12TB drives in Raid 1 which would suit me very well.

[Howiebrou]

Go with the Lumin, but get the TOTL X1. It’s DAC is excellent, and you save by not needing an interconnect cable, or a power cable for the DAC.

Yes i am considering it as well as the Aurender A30 which is similar in function, i.e a one box all singing network player with no need for another Dac. Only downside is the loss incurred when you trade in the CH Dac...

[Mr Peabody]

are you sure you want to part with the CHP just for convenience?

Yes i am considering it as well as the Aurender A30 which is similar in function, i.e a one box all singing network player with no need for another Dac. Only downside is the loss incurred when you trade in the CH Dac...

[Jack]

I agree. If you already own a first class DAC and like it I would just look at one of the streamer only units like the Aurender N-10, Auralic G2, Lumin U1 or the Innuous Zenith Mk. III and be done.

[wklie]

The people who made Sooloos went to form Roon Labs, if I'm not mistaken. Therefore I believe most Sooloos users are going to migrate to Roon sooner or later. In view of this, Roon Ready should be a key requirement in choosing a brand.

[Howiebrou]

are you sure you want to part with the CHP just for convenience?

I agree. If you already own a first class DAC and like it I would just look at one of the streamer only units like the Aurender N-10, Auralic G2, Lumin U1 or the Innuous Zenith Mk. III and be done.

No quite. I really like my CH Dac and there is no reason to part with it if the player can interface with it. The U1 or N10 would work. I like the Lumin GUI. It seems very flexible sand it worked seamlessly with Tidal too.

[Jack]

Plus with the Lumin you get Peter for support which is a big bonus.

[Howiebrou]

Plus with the Lumin you get Peter for support which is a big bonus.

Yes and he is local so hopefully a phone call would be possible too!

[Howiebrou]

After a lot of soul searching I think i have whittled the choices down to two. The N10 from Aurender and the U1 from Lumin.

What would be the best output to use, USB or AES/EBU? On Aurender's own website it says this about the outputs; N10’s AES/EBU, BNC, Coaxial, and Optical outputs provide a superior musical presentation. As opposed to an asynchonous USB connection, where the DAC pulls packets of information from the player, N10’s SPDIF and AES/EBU audio outputs push signal out to the DAC at intervals defined by the on-board OCXO clock. With a clock this precise, trust us, you want to use it!

[Jack]

I always try AES/EBU first but then I don't have to worry about DSD. If your situation is the same you might find it to be the best option on either one.

[Mr Peabody]

That's interesting as the ACS10 only has USB. Maybe it's beefed up from the one on the N10?

After a lot of soul searching I think i have whittled the choices down to two. The N10 from Aurender and the U1 from Lumin.

What would be the best output to use, USB or AES/EBU? On Aurender's own website it says this about the outputs; N10’s AES/EBU, BNC, Coaxial, and Optical outputs provide a superior musical presentation. As opposed to an asynchonous USB connection, where the DAC pulls packets of information from the player, N10’s SPDIF and AES/EBU audio outputs push signal out to the DAC at intervals defined by the on-board OCXO clock. With a clock this precise, trust us, you want to use it!

[wklie]

What would be the best output to use, USB or AES/EBU?

Although this is often setup dependent, I've received more reports of AES sounding better than USB. Unlike some DAC, your DAC even supports DSD DoP64 from AES, so Lumin will play DSD64 music to your DAC via AES (in addition to USB).

The most important thing is that you have both outputs to choose from, then you can find out which sounds best in your DAC with your cables, for your preference.

Mr Peabody the answer to your question is stated in the web page of your unit. I would not expect a lower-priced unit to outperform the SQ of a higher-priced unit of the same generation from the same manufacturer anyway.

[still-one]

Howie, If you can’t use Ethernet to your DAC then AES would be my second choice before USB.

[Howiebrou]

I always try AES/EBU first but then I don't have to worry about DSD. If your situation is the same you might find it to be the best option on either one.

I guess I'm trying to avoid forking out for a good AES/EBU cable AND USB cable!

That's interesting as the ACS10 only has USB. Maybe it's beefed up from the one on the N10?

Yeah it's a shame that it only has USB. With 2 x 12TB drives it might be quite attractive a proposition if it had AES/EBU too.

Although this is often setup dependent, I've received more reports of AES sounding better than USB. Unlike some DAC, your DAC even supports DSD DoP64 from AES, so Lumin will play DSD64 music to your DAC via AES (in addition to USB).

The most important thing is that you have both outputs to choose from, then you can find out which sounds best in your DAC with your cables, for your preference.

Mr Peabody the answer to your question is stated in the web page of your unit. I would not expect a lower-priced unit to outperform the SQ of a higher-priced unit of the same generation from the same manufacturer anyway.

I didn't know that Peter, thanks. May be I should actually download some high res files and see if they're worth the money

Howie, If you can’t use Ethernet to your DAC then AES would be my second choice before USB.

So USB is the preferred one. I guess USB can carry higher res than DSD64?

[wklie]

May be I should actually download some high res files and see if they're worth the money

Free DSD downloads:
https://samplerateconverter.com/educational/dsd-music

If you need to purchase an additional card for USB input in your DAC, then don't. Just use AES.

[Howiebrou]

Free DSD downloads:
https://samplerateconverter.com/educational/dsd-music

If you need to purchase an additional card for USB input in your DAC, then don't. Just use AES.

Damn. I already ordered it bu that's okay. I'm sure it will come in useful some time later. So Peter you are firmly in the AES is better camp? I am using my AES input now from my Sooloos with a special RJ45 to AES cable.

[still-one]

I guess I'm trying to avoid forking out for a good AES/EBU cable AND USB cable!



So USB is the preferred one. I guess USB can carry higher res than DSD64?

No, USB is the least preferred when the options are ethernet, AES or USB.

[Howiebrou]

No, USB is the least preferred when the options are ethernet, AES or USB.

Thanks Jim. Looks like I should be on the hunt for a good AES cable then.