Premier: does remote interface with the DD or the DAC unit?

General
1

Hi all,

I’m a new’ish Premier owner! I have a quick question… I did some searching on the forum but didn’t find an answer yet so I am posting my question. If there’s an answer already posted, my apologies for this post and please point me to it.

The situation: I have the Premier DAC, DD and powerbase. I’d like the locate my streamer and the DD in a separate room, and connect the DD to the DAC with two (long) optical cables: one for music signal, one for control. The question: does my remote interface with the DAC unit or the DD unit? I don’t see any obvious IR receiver on the DD, so I assume the remote interfaces with the DAC. But before I go through all the effort to relocate things, I want to double confirm.

Thanks! Stew

2

Great question!

The IR remote interacts with the DAC, not the DD. The only exception to this is the Powerbase has a IR sensor as well and this is only for the power on/off command.

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Thanks Jonathan… I appreciate the quick reply.

4

Wonder what the benefit is to locating these devices in a separate room, or is it a space/power issue, concern about EMF noise?

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@idrachman I am mainly motivated by concern about EMF (and heat) inside my relatively tight cabinet where my 3-piece DAC and streamer are essentially stacked on top of each other. Also, space behind my cabinet is somewhat limited. So if I can move the DD and streamer (along with their associated linear power supplies and network boxes) to a closet, it will create more room inside the cabinet to space the DAC and PS apart and alleviate a bit of cable congestion back there. The downside is having to route optical cables under the house.

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How long of a cable are you planning on running? There are no issues with the ProISL cable length, but the Toslink control cable can get touchy depending on the length.

For a Toslink cable recommendation, I have found the Amazon Basics and other super cheap cables to work best. If it’s a pain to run the cables, maybe run two brands just to be safe at the same time. The cables are really cheap. I have found the “nicer” ones don’t seem to work as well for the way we use it. If the cable isn’t a great connection you will get a C-Link error on the display. Sound quality is not affected.

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Thankfully optical doesn’t have the same issues as copper.
Good luck.

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Thanks @Jonathan_Gullman for the question. I haven’t measured the length of the optical run that would be needed but I would eyeball 40-50’ or so. Would that work for the control signal? For audio: yes, I have a ProISL installed in the DD feeding its optical output into the DAC (note: from the streamer into the DD, I have MSB’s ProISL USB→optical converter too).

I’ve decided to try a different approach for now: moving only my server (not the DD) into the closet to use as a Roon Core, then using two Raspberry Pi’s (1 as Host Roon Endpoint + 1 as Target) connected thru ethernet using Diretta protocol. This is a simpler change because I don’t have to run any optical cable. If that provides the same or better audio performance compared to my current setup, then I’ll stick with that setup in the name of simplicity and it will still help me achieve (some of) my goals towards reducing cable congestion and spacing components apart more. However, if I am not happy with that result, then I’ll move the DD into the closet also, along with routing the optical cables.

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I would be surprised if the DD control link cable was reliable at 50’. In theory, it’s possible, but you would need to find the right cable.

Moving the ProUSB along with the server is ideal! You can run the ProISL 50’ or 500’ with no problem and no loss of performance.

If you are using it as a Roon core and are going to use a network, why not get the Renderer module for your DD? Isolation isn’t an issue as you have the DD, and this will also allow you to change the volume of your DAC from inside the Roon app. It’s actually a very nice implementation. Just remember, network is data packets and it doesn’t “stream” audio like S/PDIF. With the Renderer, the DAC clock feeds the module making it a clock synchronous system.

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Thanks…. Let me think thru different options out loud here, make sure they make sense and cover all possibilities:

  1. Streamer in the closet (as Roon core) connected to the network. Rpi (as Roon endpoint) connected to the network, with USB out to the ProISL converter, then optical into the DD.
  2. Streamer and ProISL in the closet. Streamer USB out to the ProISL –> optical cable under the house, connected to the DD input.
  3. Streamer in the closet. DD Renderer module connected to the network. Note: no ProISL box (for USB → optical) needed in this case.
  4. Streamer, ProISL and DD in the closet. As described in my original post.

#1 is an inexpensive option (total cost for the RPi setup is $300-400 only). I have all the parts in-house, but not set up yet. Question is whether its sound quality can meet or exceed the current setup

#2 removes the need for Rpi, but requires cable routing under the house. If possible I’d like to avoid routing. But it’s a simpler implementation than #4, especially considering that the signal cable communication might not work well.

#3 is a good idea but the Renderer is fairly pricey and I’m on a budget

#4 is to be tried after #1 and #2.