rhoering wrote:I believe the Holy Grail will be the Solid Run Hummingboard as it has coaxial SPDIF...
My belief is that almost any embedded device with
I2S over HDMI add-on card (given good implementation with good I2S clocks) would be much closer to proverbial audiophile "Holy Grail"...
I2S does not require I2S to SPDIF conversion nor USB transport (and is therefore much "easier on CPU"). I2S transport over HDMI interface introduces less jitter than I2S over ethernet interface and much less jitter than SPDIF transport (most probably because of inherent HDMI differential signal transfer).
Latest, not only ToTL, DACs do have I2S over HDMI inputs. Too bad there are no Rasberry, BBB, UDOO, Hummingboard... or any other embedded system's add-ons that give you I2S over HDMI output. That + Rune + nice I2S over HDMI capable DAC would make an excellent audiophile grade transport.
...just my few € cents...