all in one streaming device(?)

[santrik]

Hello all'y'all

I've got this minor first world problem that I've been living with for a good year now and I'm getting itchy fingers now.

My setup consists of an SMSL M500 DAC, two separate Hypex NC400 mono blocks and then my speakers, Audiovector Si3. Apart from that there's this regular 1080p Samsung 58" TV, PS4 Pro, Chromecast ultra and a Chromecast Audio.

Connected devis as of:

TV & PS4 Pro connected together with an HDMI inbetween.
TV & Chromecast Ultra connected together with an HDMI inbetween.
TV & DAC connected with optical S/PDIF inbetween.
DAC & Chromecast Audio with optical S/PDIF inbetween.
DAC & Monoblocks separate balanced XLR cables.

To the SMSL I've connected one Google Chromecast Audio via optical s/pdif and optical s/pdif from my TV, which is fed audio by a Chromecast Ultra (for netflix and the like) and a PS4 Pro via separate HDMI-ports in the TV. So I got the audio output of everything connected to the TV running through optical S/PDIF to the DAC and then fed to the mono amps. All in all, it works and does it's job but now I'd like to up things from level 1 to level 2.

I'd like a setup where all the streamed media goes through the USB-port of the DAC and the PS4 will get to continue the use of the optical s/pdif so that everything that sends out audio is sent directly to the DAC and not bypassed in the TV as it ... well, it's just irritating.

So, in conclusion: It would be nice to have all the streamed media in one "box" and the gaming-part in the other - so a streaming device for all the music- and film/series-services (spotify, apple music, amazon prime, netflix and so on) that ticks all these boxes.

I've been thinking about an HTPC - mac mini 2014 or something else(?) Idunno, if you have an alternative or a thought, please share - I'd like to see what is out there.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Morla]

maybe nvidia shield pro?

 

[santrik]

maybe nvidia shield pro?

Hmm, maybe that's it.

When I checked online it looks like Nvidia is about to enable audio passthrough to a USB-connected DAC, in that case, the device is really interesting.

Thank you for this recommendation and sorry for late reply!

 

[Morla]

afair you can attach a dac and tell the shield to either upsample to 192 or keep it to 44.1

 

[santrik]

Yes, I actually went and searched for this on the nvidia forums and a staff member of nvidia replied that they're also working on a pass through option for the USB.

They said a day ago that it was enabled in the 9.0 version but afaik it's only for HDMI.

In the same thread another forum member mentioned that it's only for the HDMI, you can see it here:

link to nvidia forums

 

[Morla]

Yes, only specific apps like tidal or that player pro app can go directly to the dac. The "new" function only for hdmi

 

[santrik]

Ahhhaaa, so it's in the app the developers can say "go directly to outboard USB dac" and bypass the whole DAC in the shield(?)

 

[Morla]

Ahhhaaa, so it's in the app the developers can say "go directly to outboard USB dac" and bypass the whole DAC in the shield(?)

Yes it is app specific but by default it's resampled (computationally) or directly sent to the dac without resampling by the app. No DA conversion involved!

 

[JoeBrooklyn]

The Vero 4k + appears to support passthrough over USB out.

 

[BDWoody]

Ahhhaaa, so it's in the app the developers can say "go directly to outboard USB dac" and bypass the whole DAC in the shield(?)

There is no DAC in the shield. It can send digital audio through HDMI, or through USB. It doesn't have analog outs, unless you count the ones built into the controllers where you can plug in headphones.

I've used mine connected to several DAC's and it works great.