> SOTM 200
hi tex
thanks again for your willingness to impart useful information. first off let me say that i don't want to come off like a grouch (which i suppose i am), but the more i look into the available alternatives to using a general purpose computer like the mac as an endpoint the less enamored of the idea i become.
i suppose that a unit specially designed for audio (as sonore and SOTM claim to be) will have sonic advantages over devices like the mini, but it does seem to come at a cost. for one thing -- and this is a real gripe of mine -- there is the necessity to interact with the device via a web-based proprietary gui. ugh i say, ugh. (fwiw i've been a professional programmer for half a century, so code doesn't scare me.)
i compared the instructions for SOTM here:
https://docs.sotm-audio.com/lib/exe/fetch.php?media=manuals:sms-200_user_guide-rev0.7.pdf with my current setup:
initialize the mac as a streamer by downloading and installing the roon client.
connect the mac to the local dac.
connect to the lan via ethernet or wireless.
use any computer in the house to just pick the relevant dac from those shown in the roon client.
i must be missing something, but interacting with the streamer via the web is a lot more complicated, and therefore prone to error (which i encountered with the sonore device and their sonic orbiter web interface). not just more complicated, but (and again i may be missing something) it seems like one would lose the ability to play music in the event of an internet outage. why add this extra moving part?
it is frustrating that dedicated audio computers like this and the rendu aren't as user-friendly as the mac, since i am inclined to believe that they result in better sonics.
again, thanks for you willingness to engage ..