New photos of Randy's system ...

Randy

Dev's correct about the Ginko's. Try taking the .25 rubber feet off of the ARC and the Stellar and use the Ginko's. You should only need three in a triangle pattern under each. Or if you don't want to take the feet off go to the middle of the front and either just inside or in front of the rear feet.
 
Thanks Jack... you actually just answered my next question. I definitely wanted a set under the amp, but having a second set was wondering which would be the best to use them with. I stuck them under the conditioner but was thinking of moving them to a different unit. You are thinking the preamp? That makes complete sense actually :)...
 
Good Morning... I think I am finally reaching a serious point of satisfaction... the new DAC in place, Roon and HQ Player handling the software duties... here are some new photos...

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The Wyred was a great DAC, maybe one of the best using the ESS chip. With what I am doing now the T+A is a bit better. DSD is very important to me and recently discovering HQ Player I wanted the best up-sampling that I can afford. The DAC8 DSD can not only do DSD512, it can also do DSD512 with a 48 base clock. Also, I really like that T+A make their own 1 bit converters. Definitely a DSD specialist in my view!
 
Nicely dressed system, Randy. Mine look like drunk cyber-spider cobwebs.

What's feeding the dsd512 to the DAC?

Parker
 
I use a custom built music server running Roon and HQ Player. After getting it configured and experimenting a bit with various settings it is working very well!
 
I've been trying to figure out how to stream some dsd512 Tidal into my TA. Does your server have everything or is there an endpoint like a microrendu hidden on the rack? (I don't know if this question makes it sound like I know what I'm talking about or obvious I don't, but it's the latter ...)
thanks
Parker

edit: the roon-ready Oppo? Is that where your server sends the stream?
 
Hey Parker. I do not stream, therefore I do not use Tidal. But, if I did it would be as simply as using Tidal through Roon (Roon allows adding Tidal service within Roon). I have all of my files on my music server which is directly connected to the Recovery and then the DAC.

I also have HQ Player running on the server. Roon processes, controls, etc., and then hands off to HQ Player to actually play the file (and up-sample, etc.). HQ Player is setup as a zone within Roon...
 
Thanks for the explanation, Randy. I start reading threads about this on CA, etc., and I'm over my head pretty quick. If you don't mind me dragging you into the baby pool, looking at SGC's i7/hqplayer model here https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/...ansporter-i7-for-roon-dsp?variant=35324041615 your W4S serves pretty much the same function as the Sonore in SGC's diagram? Do you think SGC's specs are adequate to run HQP full tilt? I'm not interested in DSP, I just want the best dsd512 upconversion of the Tidal stream, though I'll probably mess around with some of my stored flac files out of curiosity as well. The SGC only has 8gb of ram and doesn't seem to have the CUDA capabilities others seem to advocate.

edit: whoops, after a little more exploration I see that the W4S is strictly USB so pretty much a different animal from the Sonore.
 
Hello,

No this will not work. First of all, these pre-built servers, such as the Small Green Computer and Wyred 4 Sound for that matter, usually come with a built in set of software packages. None of them are equipped to be able to control the software separately like you can with a computer. Also, these type of servers almost always run a version of Linux. Macintosh and Linux computers are capped at DSD128. They both use DoP as the transport to the DAC. DSD256 or DSD512 requires Native DSD drivers... which means they require a computer running Windows.

I use Windows 10 Professional on my server so that I can Remote Desktop which means I do not need a monitor, keyboard, and mouse attached. I also highly recommend 16 GB of RAM. To run HQ Player requires some real heavy duty computer power. I do not have CUDA processors running now. One of our son's has my video card but will be returning it shortly.

Oh, the servers you were mentioning do not have separate video cards, not expecting you to ever hook a monitor to them. CUDA Core is what is used on Nvidia graphic cards. Therefore one of those is required to use the CUDA capability. I have heard for them to really be able to help requires a powerful one, like a GTX1070 or higher. The one I am getting back is a GTX980. I will see if it helps.

Bottom line, if you seriously want to use HQ Player to up-sample to DSD512 you will need a powerful computer; a solid i7 CPU in a separate Windows box. 16 GB RAM or more, high end power supply, High level Nvidia graphics card, highly recommend SSD drives for internal storage. Roon works great as the controller and will also allow you to use your Tidal. And I would run Windows 10 Professional unless you are looking to have a monitor and keyboard, etc., attached to the computer.

Hopefully this makes sense...
 
Thanks for all that. Makes sense --while the SGC is a Windows machine the specs just seemed a little light. I pretty much maxed out my skill set putting ram and ssd into a nuc then loading Windows for a kitchen pc ... Really hoping TA shows up at Munich with a magic box that feeds dsd 512 through Roon into their dacs. Roon's site is showing TA as having something Roon-ready in the works.
Glad your system is settling in. Hope you get the kinks worked out on an easier fw upgrade.
 
Hehe... thanks Chris. As you probably recall then, since my system has become pretty much digital only, my journey through DACs has been fairly extensive. I think at last count I have tried 13 or 14 various machines, both dedicated DACs or multi-function units. I can honestly say the T+A DAC8 DSD in conjunction with Roon/HQ Player is the best I have tried!

I am going to try the Headphone section in the T+A soon. I have an adapter cable coming in the next day or two to allow this (4-pin balanced to 1/4" headphone adapter... I simply do not want to buy another $250 DUM cable from Mr.Speakers). If it does as good as I am hoping then I may be selling the Bryston headphone amp.

Functionally this would really work nicely. I would only turn on the Pre and amps when listening through the speakers. With headphones it would only require the server and the DAC. This would also allow me to trigger the amps on from the Audio Research. I just have to listen and see if the DAC8 DSD can power my Mr.Speakers and sound almost as good as the Bryston. If so this configuration would certainly be much more functional.
 
Randy Myers said:
Hehe... thanks Chris. As you probably recall then, since my system has become pretty much digital only, my journey through DACs has been fairly extensive. I think at last count I have tried 13 or 14 various machines, both dedicated DACs or multi-function units. I can honestly say the T+A DAC8 DSD in conjunction with Roon/HQ Player is the best I have tried!

I am going to try the Headphone section in the T+A soon. I have an adapter cable coming in the next day or two to allow this (4-pin balanced to 1/4" headphone adapter... I simply do not want to buy another $250 DUM cable from Mr.Speakers). If it does as good as I am hoping then I may be selling the Bryston headphone amp.

Functionally this would really work nicely. I would only turn on the Pre and amps when listening through the speakers. With headphones it would only require the server and the DAC. This would also allow me to trigger the amps on from the Audio Research. I just have to listen and see if the DAC8 DSD can power my Mr.Speakers and sound almost as good as the Bryston. If so this configuration would certainly be much more functional.
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What part of your system contains analog?
 
Well, since I recently got rid of my McIntosh tuner, pretty much nothing :).... currently all music comes from my Music Server. I could spin disks, but I really don't. I rip all CDs/SACDs that I buy an put them on the server and keep the silver disks as an archive :)....
 
Randy-
So glad you are enjoying the T+A DAC8dsd...it's a special piece.

As a heads up, for those that want to stop short of HQ Player but want DSD512...Roon now offers their very own DSP engine with a nice set of filters. I was interested in a one stop shop and am doing it all in Roon. Sounds awesome!
 
Nice... love Roon.... for those who want to up-sample without the complexity of HQ Player you can't beat Roon.
 
Using HQ Player with Roon is a bit more involved then Roon alone, but with the T+A DAC8 DSD, it is something beyond amazing. I would recommend considering this DAC and software combo, no matter your budget.
 
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