Comments on Profile Post by Merrick

Using with Digi+ boards?

you could use it as a streamer into eitr

No, going to replace the Pi entirely at some point. Either get a Mac Mini and run it headless with Roon or replace my current laptop and wipe this one, load nothing but Roon on it and use it as an endpoint. Since Eitr/Gen 5 make the source less important, I'm done fiddling with finicky Pi software distros. I just want the damn thing to work.

yeah a small/cheap computer would be great for that. i might do that one day too!

Certainly makes it more appealing to get a Intel NUC or similar that can do Roon justice without worrying about crazy Usb solutions.

I went down that same road, @Merrick. Raspberry Pi + Pi2Media SPDIF board was the best value prop until the Eitr met my unused Mac Mini, which now runs headless and offers more flexibility and less hassle than the Pi. I wanted to love the Pi but could never find a truly stable audio OS for it. Tried Moode (lovely but crashey), Volumio, and Rune. The Mac Mini makes heat I wish it didn't but other than that it's great.

So any discernible sound difference between Pi with hat -> coax vs PC USB -> Eitr -> Coax?

Same here too, I'd been using my Pi as a Roon endpoint for the past few months, but finally replaced the Pi+board with a cheap headless mini PC and Eitr on my main system. Much more flexible. Moved the Pi to the kitchen with a small powered speaker.

Maybe somebody else will have an opinion on this. I haven't done any back to back comparisons. My speaker setup is more fun than headphones but less resolving so I wouldn't trust it for comparisons, and so I have just trusted others that the Eitr is a 99% good enough solution even for highly critical listening.

I can't really tell the difference between Pi+502DAC RCA and the USB to Eitr on my system. Eitr is more flexible, you can use it with Atomicbob's IVS or Roon+Sonarworks sytemwide etc.