I guess i’m not 100% clear on the use of ethernet from serve/player to DAC but the way I see it some devices will output digital via the ethernet port and recognise the DAC at the other end right? I just happened to be looking at a DAC that only takes ethernet input, and wondering if there were any actual physical limitations to the S30 hardware that means it’ll never be able to stream over ethernet, or whether that might be possible in future via software/firmware?
There is no Direct Stream output on a S30, so connecting a ethernet DAC directly is not possible.
Having the Player inside the DAC isn’t the best place for it, having it inside the S30 is desirable,
Likewise USB may sound better.
However S30 running Roon to a DAC that is connected to the same network can act as core assuming that the DAC is Roon Ready.
Or if the DAC is UPnP then running MinimServer will also work like this.
But it’s not directly connected so sound quality will be impacted.
ah, this is where i’m going wrong then, thanks Mark. I thought it was hypothetically possible to output from a player to a DAC over ethernet in the same way as you output over USB, so I was imagining it would just be a different cable/connection serving essentially the same function, but obviously not for the S30 at least. Is that correct for the other players that offer “direct stream”?
Yes, an S40, K41 etc have direct stream out, so it is a straight ethernet connection.
Then depending on what player the DAC has will determine the server app used.
So with direct stream does the DAC not just DAC like a DAC would DAC at the end of a USB connection? (so to speak!) ie server/player is all Roon , and outputting a digital signal to the final stage B which only does the conversion of the signal? The DAC on the end of a USB does just the conversion right, so is that just not possible over ethernet or just not a standard that’s generally done? Thanks for the info by the way, learning here!
Short answer NO.
You must have a server and a player, in direct stream the player is located in the DAC.
Check out our Design page for more info…
I might be confusing matters but one thing I’d like to see implemented in Antipodes’ OS is support for Audio Over IP protocols like Merging Technologies’ Ravenna or Dante protocols. This may be exactly the solution the OP is describing. It doesn’t require a direct ethernet feed between S30 and DAC, per se, as the Ravenna protocol can piggy back on existing network infrastructure.
This solution differs somewhat from the traditional server/player scenario Mark describes. Currently this solution exists for MAC and PC users only (via custom driver installation)
Ravenna support is a future possibility.
1 Like