Wireless DAC, or Wireless USB solution?

[Jose Hidalgo]

Get a computer you can put all your customized stuff on and put it on the same floor as the system and quit trying to jury rig a nightmare. That's what I would tell an 8 year old.

Yup. I can't do that, sorry.

1. Because WAF and such.
2. We're talking about 12 TB of storage (and counting), so a laptop is out of the question.
3. I need those 12 TB in the top floor, where my office is (that's where I spend 80% of the time when I'm at home).
4. I can't have 12 TB in the top floor, 12 TB in the living room, and try to synchonize them continuously. That would be a nightmare (and expensive I may add).

 

[pjug]

I would just get a streamer even if you want to keep playing your audio as you have been. Wiim Pro would allow you to connect with Airplay or Chromecast, and you can use your existing dac if it has coax or toslink. With a windows machine you can then play Foobar2000 if you use airparrot or something like that. I just tried it and I had Foobar2000 and Airparrot connecting to the Wiim Pro with just a couple minutes fiddling.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

I have put in bold all the words I don't fully understand.

I would just get a streamer even if you want to keep playing your audio as you have been. Wiim Pro would allow you to connect with Airplay or Chromecast, and you can use your existing dac if it has coax or toslink. With a windows machine you can then play Foobar2000 if you use airparrot or something like that. I just tried it and I had Foobar2000 and Airparrot connecting to the Wiim Pro with just a couple minutes fiddling.

I have looked into Wiim Pro, and it's basically a mini PC, possibly with some proprietay light OS and such.
Could I connect two separate DACs to it? One stereo for Hi-Fi, one multichannel for Home Theater.
I don't know, I'm afraid I'll run into configuration issues with things I don't understand (Airplay, Chromecast, Airparrot).

I've called someone today. I'll have him come to my place and tell me if it's technically possible to run a couple cables between floors. If he finds a way, then I'll have him run an active USB cable plus a HDMI cable, and we'll call it a day. We'll see.

 

[pjug]

I have put in bold all the words I don't fully understand.

I have looked into Wiim Pro, and it's basically a mini PC, possibly with some proprietay light OS and such.
Could I connect two separate DACs to it? One stereo for Hi-Fi, one multichannel for Home Theater.
I don't know, I'm afraid I'll run into configuration issues with things I don't understand (Airplay, Chromecast, Airparrot).

I've called someone today. I'll have him come to my place and tell me if it's technically possible to run a couple cables between floors. If he finds a way, then I'll have him run an active USB cable plus a HDMI cable, and we'll call it a day. We'll see.

Oops, sorry. I missed the multichannel part. So I don't know about that, doubt what I wrote will help.

 

[AnalogSteph]

Could I connect two separate DACs to it? One stereo for Hi-Fi, one multichannel for Home Theater.

That's a bit of an additional complication to put it mildly. In that case I would want to have easy access to a streamer's setup UI for switching output devices. Maybe a mini PC (think NUC) with HDMI output to the TV and a local Foobar2000 instance using foo_upnp to serve as a media renderer, plus a Logitech K400 Plus or similar wireless keyboard/touchpad. Or an Android box with Kodi perhaps. Either should be inconspicuous enough to not negatively affect WAF.

 

[Jose Hidalgo]

Well, there's no real need to switch output devices, for two reasons:

• One is Hi-Fi only (app : foobar), one is Home Theater only (app: MPV or MPC-HC). So I just need to configure said apps once and for all.
• The output devices will only be powered on when used, so they will never be both powered on at the same time.