Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Rasberry Pi3 with Explorer 2 as a Roon endpoint?

Thanks ODC ! Sounds like a good option.

I have my Pi3 up and running, Explorer 2 as DAC and Airplay now set up as well, which is a godsend.

I have to say, I was not quite sure if the Explorer and Pi was going to be good enough, however, my iFi PSU arrived today and I plugged it in and it made a massive difference.
Well chuffed with the results.

Nice one Guy! I setup the Airplay but haven't had a chance to test properly. Are you able to Soundcloud with it?
Cheers
Tom

Yeah, you can Airplay everything to it.

Good news. And do you just have to stop playing Roon before you start Airplaying? Or do you need to run something first?

I think you have to stop playing the track on Roon. I don't think Airplay will just stop it in the same way way loading a new track up would stop the one playing.
But not 100%.

But all works well, very well.

It actually makes it far more useful to me than a Meridian endpoint of Sonos.

My thoughts too. I can see me setting up 4 combinations around the house either with analog or digital out depending on the speakers.
I really like how easy it is to change sources. A Chromecast emulator would be the icing on the cake. That or a card with a line in.

Cheers
Tom

I agree that the iFi PSU sweetens the sound, and have added an Uptone REGEN between the RPi and Explorer2:

Roon or Airplay over ethernet > RPi3 w/iPower > USB through REGEN > Explorer2

As a Mac user, I also like playing Audirvana Plus through this setup, but haven't been able to complete MQA unfolding in the DAC over Airplay. Anyone else able to accomplish this?

I think I might try the iFI Nano iUSB3.0, but before going any further I am waiting for some other kit to arrive, depending on what direction I go speaker wise will depend on where I need to spend money.

It looks like you wont be able to as AirPlay is 44/16 so you don't have the 24 bit resolution that I think MQA requires.

When MQA was introduced we were told that it would be Red Book compatible and could be streamed over Airplay. Once TIDAL launched, however, we saw 24-bit, not 44/16.

What keeps me looking is that I do sometimes get the blue light on my DAC when playing a local MQA file or a TIDAL Master using Audirvana over Airplay to Shareport-sync on the RPi3. Briefly. Then it switches off to 44.1 white.

I posted here because I found nothing about this at the audirvana.com/forums. Now I've registered with them, and will query the developer and other users once "approved by an administrator" so I can log in.

I'll report back if I learn more.

When playing over Airplay is the gain set at 100%?