It has been a while since I gave an update on the little barn. I will only cover the main system though there have been some changes in the secondary system, and I even built a small office system.
I previously mentioned that I was looking at improving the playing and streaming of high-resolution files. I still have a TAD D600 for playing CDs and SACDs, but I wanted to replace the Weiss 501 DAC and the ageing Aurender server. The Weiss was purchased for my secondary system but stayed in the main system until finding my « ultimate digital rig ».
I wanted something relatively compact and remain within a « reasonable budget ». Breaking the bank was not an option unless telling my two kids that I would stop supporting them in their final years of graduate school.
I considered two options: one comprising a more recent Aurender server combined to a better DAC, and one built around a Roon Core. As the Weiss 501 DAC and my office system’s Naim Uniti Atom are both Roon ready, this is an option I wanted to explore.
After many auditions at B&M stores and at friends’ places, I retained two solutions for a thorough home audition:
1 - The Aurender N20 server with the most recent version of the Thrax Maximinus DAC. According to the local Thrax and MSB distributor, the Maximinus is a serious contender against the MSB Reference DAC. As I have a Thrax Libra preamp, he recommended the Thrax Maximinus over the MSB Reference DAC for better synergies.
2 - The Merging Technologies combo comprising the NADAC+Player, the separate power supply, and the clock. The NADAC+Player is a DAC which integrates a Roon player.
I carefully selected high quality cables (PC, interconnect, digital and ethernet) to ensure a fair confrontation.
Both solutions were much better than my current one.
When using my old Aurender server, the Thrax Maximinus DAC was intrinsically better than the Weiss DAC. With the Aurender N20, listening to high resolution files stored on an internal SSD was a major step up compared to the modified X100L with its big external LPS.
I thought I had reached the pinnacle, but the Merging Technologies combo was even better by a wide margin. I know that the wording « natural sound » raises eyebrows with some members but this is exactly what I am feeling when listening to the Merging Technologies setup. The clock plays an important role. Replacing the standard BNC cable by a SOtM clock cable brought some improvement. The same happened by adding a full specced SOtM switch with its external power supply and clock synchronization.
I also discovered Roon which I find much better than the Aurender Conductor app.
The high-resolution files are stored on a SSD directly connected to the NADAC+Player whereas the CD rips are stored on the SSD of a Nami Uniti Core server located in my study. The Weiss DAC has moved to the secondary system. I have now a seamless Roon ecosystem in the house.
As the Merging Combo moved in the Stacore custom rack, the TAD player is on a Daiza platform sitting on small custom rack that hosts the power supply for the preamp. A pair of 4 meters long Argento Flow XLR interconnect cables as well as a 4 meters long Signal Project Ultraviolet AES EBU cable are connecting the TAD to the preamp and the NADAC respectively.
There are some other changes that took place (room treatment and analog front end) but that will be for another instalment.
