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RME User Forum → ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series → Home Network and RME ADI-2 Pro FS R
Hello,
Please bear with me as I'm a newbie!
I intend to by the RME ADI-2 Pro FS R.
Thing is, I would like to wirelessly play audio via the home network using JRiver.
Router -> via USB to RME ADI-2 Pro FS R via toslink -> amplifier.
If my intended cooections above are incorrect, I would be grateful for any advice on how to go about it.
Many thanks
Connecting the ADI-2 Pro to the amp using toslink doesn't make much sense. Generally you want to use the ADI-2 as the DAC and so you'd be using the XLR analog outputs to an amp.
Routers also generally don't have the ability to send audio over USB to a DAC like an ADI-2 so I'm not quite sure what you mean by that either. Some wifi routers support things like USB-connected printers but I don't think I've ever heard of one that supports audio.
JRiver (if I understand correctly) is software that runs on a Mac or PC so the most logical configuration is that you'd have a Mac or PC connected to the ADI-2 via USB and the ADI-2 connected to your amp via XLR. Then I believe you can access JRiver wirelessly from other Macs, PCs, mobile devices, etc. on your network. There are other configurations that might involve using something like a DLNA-enabled blu-ray player but I won't get into all of that.
You mention choosing an ADI-2 Pro but I didn't see any mention of a need for the analog-to-digital conversion capabilities that would be the main reason for choosing the ADI-2 Pro versus the cheaper ADI-2 DAC. The ADI-2 Pro has a toslink output but as I mentioned that doesn't make much sense in your case. The reason it's there is primarily to output converted analog signals.
Can your router feed a printer via router USB port to printer USB port? Most if not all can. If the documentation says yes, then you should be able to feed a stream into the DAC.
Of course, to make your selections of what to play next, you'll need to be where you can tell JRiver what you want. That would be at your computer. JRiver might also have an app that you can install on your phone or tablet. (I don't know JRiver details. I use Minimserver on a Windows PC in tandem with BubbleUPnP on an Android tablet.)
kanefsky wrote:
Routers also generally don't have the ability to send audio over USB to a DAC like an ADI-2 so I'm not quite sure what you mean by that either. Some wifi routers support things like USB-connected printers but I don't think I've ever heard of one that supports audio.
If you can't use the USB port on your router to make the connection, an alternative is a device like WiiM or Denon LinkHS2. It receives the digital audio stream sent out by the router (which receives the stream from JRiver on your computer) and outputs it as coax or Toslink into the DAC. Then, as kanefsky also noted, you feed the analog output, RCA or XLR, of the DAC into your amplifier.
I think JRiver is designed to distribute audio around your network, so the device that stores your music, the device that plays your music, and the device that lets you browse your music and choose what to play can all be different devices on your network. That's definitely how it works with Roon, which is what I use.
You shouldn't need to use any other kind of technology to wirelessly transmit the audio around, but you'd want a computer running JRiver that's directly connected to the DAC via USB (or toslink or coax). Then you can use other computers or your phone or tablet on your network to browse your music and control the playback on the device that's hard-wired. You could also have a separate computer with big hard drives to store your music library if you wanted to separate that from your playback computer.
The playback computer connected to the DAC could even be something small and inexpensive like a Raspberry Pi if you don't want or need a bigger, more powerful computer in that location.
In Roon the playback device is called an "endpoint", and lots of off-the-shelf streaming devices have built-in Roon endpoint capability or any computer on your network running Roon can be an endpoint. I use a Raspberry Pi connected to my stereo as my Roon endpoint in my living room and use my Macs around the house or my phone or an iPad to browse music and initiate playback. I can also select one the Macs with an ADI-2 DAC as an endpoint, in which case the audio plays back through the Mac to the ADI-2 DAC over USB and then to the monitor speakers or headphones I have connected to it.
If making all connections over wires is convenient, fine. But if one or more legs of the connection is difficult to do by wire, that is where wi-fi comes in. It still allows that "the device that stores your music, the device that plays your music, and the device that lets you browse your music can all be different devices on your network."
My situation falls in this category and works great. The Windows PC stores music files and run Minimserver. Minimserver issues the stream, which can be playing a music file or grabbing a stream off the Web. The stream goes over wi-fi into a Denon LinkHS2. It has coax and Toslink outputs, one of which goes into the RME ADI-2 FS DAC. The DAC outputs RCA analog that goes into my amplifier. I control what plays using BubbleUPnP running on an Android app. I browse the music files either at the PC or using BubbleUPnP, which can see the shared folder(s) where the music files are.
So by now the OP has several alternatives, at least one of which should fit his needs!
If making all connections over wires is convenient, fine. But if one or more legs of the connection is difficult to do by wire, that is where wi-fi comes in. It still allows that "the device that stores your music, the device that plays your music, and the device that lets you browse your music can all be different devices on your network."
In the architecture that I described, all the devices can be connected via a wifi network without any wired connections at all. The only wired connection would be from the playback computer to the DAC (via USB or toslink or coax) and from the DAC to the amp and speakers.
Thank you all for your very prompt, informative and helpful suggestions.
I have realised my mistake:
The RME Dac is not a DLNA supported device (I couldn't find anything in the manual to suggest that it is).
Consequently it wouldn't be "seen" or "visible" in JRiver as a player (which indeed it isn't).
My purpose was to avoid tethering a computer to the dac.
However, it appears, (though I'm not sure) that an iPad can work wirelessly with it. If this is the case, then my objective is achieved. I will have to read up to verify and hope that that is the case.
Thank you kanefsky for your suggestion to use XLR outputs to the amplifier. Thank you too chpine2 for the options you have proposed. Both are much appreciated.
Hi. ADI2PRO is not a wireless device. You always would need some kind of USB or SPDIF bridge in between.
A RaspberryPi with Ropieee perfectly works in that case as a utilizer for almost no money.
But this might not be the preferred solution for you. Cheers
The Denon LinkHS2 and, I believe, the WiiM, do support DLNA. And they receive digital audio over wi-fi, so your computer need not be tethered to the DAC. You can thus play from JRiver.
The RME's iPad app does not control which music files or streams are played. You use a DLNA controller app on an iPad or Android device. JRiver has such an app. You also have the alternative of other DLNA controller apps, like BubbleUPnP.
(The RME app controls which EQ is active, etc. It is not something you must have; it mainly provides an different way to do the same things you do with the knobs at the RME. And the RME comes with a remote with which you can adjust the volume.)
The Denon LinkHS2 and, I believe, the WiiM, do support DLNA.
This is correct, and in the case of the WiiM Pro a lot more besides, such as Chromecast and AirPlay 2. Note however that the audio quality can be restricted when using these, particularly with AirPlay. WiiM Pro supports DLNA at up to 24/192.
A RaspberryPi with Ropieee perfectly works in that case as a utilizer for almost no money.
100%. In my experience, using a Pi running Ropieee as a playback computer (or endpoint, bridge, or whatever you want to call it) is smaller, cheaper, simpler, easier to setup and maintain, and more reliable than proprietary solutions. It can be on wifi, as can whatever devices you use to browse, control playback, and/or store your music.
The Denon LinkHS2 and the WiiM Both support 192 kHz/24 bit audio streams. "CD quality" goes to 44.1 kHz/16-bit. What I hear through the LinkHS2 and RME is top quality (if the source file contains top quality!).
I only joined the forum a couple of days ago, asked a question about Firmware upgrades and was delighted by the posters who had taken the time and trouble to give me quite detailed answers.
So, in the same spirit, here goes . . .
The Denon LinkHS2 and the WiiM Both support 192 kHz/24 bit audio streams. "CD quality" goes to 44.1 kHz/16-bit. What I hear through the LinkHS2 and RME is top quality (if the source file contains top quality!).
Agreed!
I use a Wiim Mini and it tops out at 24/192kHz. IMHO there is more audible difference between a really ‘good’ recording and a ‘poor’ or ‘average’ recording than there is between 16/44 and 24/96 or even 24/192. A plain vanilla 16/44 album recorded really well (Yello, Zero 7, David Sylvian, Steely Dan etc, etc) can sound better than any fancy-shmancy 24/192. And don’t get me started on DSD!
The original poster, it would seem, is looking to create a PC-less music system much as I have done for the past 10 or so years. To just use a remote control to stream files via his i-pad with no PC involved.
I use a Synology NAS to store my files, and I use Bubble UpnP running on an old Samsung phone or sometimes an Amazon 7” tablet to serve them wirelessly to a Wiim Mini, then optical out to my ADI-2 Dac. From there, either RCA out to my stereo pair of Amazon Echo 4th Gen speakers for casual background listening, or Headphone out to my cans for critical listening.
To Noteworthy - I can’t speak highly enough of Bubble UpnP. I have used Bubble for around a decade without fault. Are there newer, fancier, apps available? Sure, but I’m sticking with Bubble because it just works.
The same could be said for the Wiim Mini. I’ve used this for just over a year now and it hasn’t let me down once.
To me, the height of decadence is to switch my PC off, dim the lights, lay back in my recliner 3 or 4 metres away from the RME and luxuriate in Kate, or Sylvian, or Kraftwerk, or the Dan, or Eno, or . . . , using just an old phone.
One final upgrade I highly recommend is to add a good Rum with plenty of ice. Real audiophiles know this can upgrade your SQ by at least 25% and is relatively inexpensive 
RME User Forum → ADI-2 & 2/4 Pro series, ADI-2 DAC series → Home Network and RME ADI-2 Pro FS R
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