Upgrading from Holo Red, need i2s, external clock input & HQplayer NAA

I don’t use hqplayer, but i do run Roon on Apple silicon Mac mini going Ethernet to a streamer that its function in life is to galvanize the incoming Ethernet to the I2S output to my dac, all running roon upsampled to DSD256. 

I used to run the same setup using Roon upsampled and it didn’t sound as good, so I ran Roon on a trash can Mac Pro running Linux and this combo sounded better than running Roon on the Mac mini. Even Qobuz Connect sounded better than both these upsampled configurations. But the upsampled Roon config sounds the best now.

BTW, I had the Cinnamon Ethernet in my system and then upgraded to the Vodka Ethernet cable, sounds better, more than 2x the price and 3x thicker cable. As for the I2S cable, I tried a few cables and ended up with the $1000 Revelation Audio Labs cable

You have already a streamer. Use the Gustard, it accepts NAA natively! I had one and upgraded to a R30 and use it as my main streamer, even having a Hifi Rose RS 130 as the latter haS no NAA protocol.

@rbstehno galvanically isolating how? Ethernet to i2s doesn’t sound isolated. You’ve need a glass leg in their somewhere between your wall and streamer/switch, SFP fiber for example out of your modem/router to a switch. Also, the Roon upsampling isn’t the same DSD I’m sorry to say… wait till you hear it done properly, outside of Roons internal DSPs

@greatdivide71 it helped me to select the ‘48khz DSD’ box enabled in preferences in HQP 6. Also enable the box. ‘Adaptive rate’ and then finally in DSD preferences tab over to the right a few tabs, select max sample /rate as 48 x 512, not 44 x 512

@greatdivide71 even at DSD 512 you should be fine! I’m running it seemlessly. Turn off all Roon DSP and volume controls. Enable in advanced settings ‘multi core DSP’ and still in advanced, under ‘blocks per cycle’ enter 6. When I get home from my business trip I’ll take a picture of all the filters and NX and 1x and yadda ya. We’ll get you running smooth