CES 2016

ELAC DS-S101 Discovery Music Server

Jon Iverson  |  Jan 15, 2016

For some reason I liked this product the moment I saw it. And at $1,099, including a lifetime full Roon license (for $1,000 you get a lifetime limited Roon license), it became even more interesting once I started digging into the features. Essentially, you can run Roon on your tablet and use the DS-S101 as your endpoint without the need for a computer.

This means you can hook up to your NAS drive, Tidal, AppleTV, or whatever else Roon supports, to the ELAC and be off and running. On the back are two sets of analog outputs and also digital outputs (SPDIF and optical) which, if I understand correctly, can all be configured as different zones. There are Ethernet and USB jacks for attaching storage or connecting to your network. Very straight forward and very cool and available around March. And did I mention $1,100?

By the way, ELAC has been around 90 years and I still remember a pal in high school having one of their nicer turntables. It was the best turntable I'd seen at that point, so we played a lot of music on it. ELAC has been out of action for 30 years but are now back and it looks like a good reboot to me.

COMMENTS
eliotc's picture
Submitted by eliotc on January 15, 2016 - 3:39pm

How would you hook this up to an Apple TV (4th gen, 2015), as you suggest? I can't figure out the arrangement. Presumably you'd stream to this and then send that signal into the ATV, but this USB port says "in." You can't hook them up through their Ethernet ports, can you?

Jon Iverson's picture
Submitted by Jon Iverson on January 15, 2016 - 3:54pm
Roon software allows you to set up an AppleTV as an endpoint. I've done this in my own home. So you can hit play on a track and send it to the AppleTV via your home network, which will then send the audio to whatever it's connected to.
eliotc's picture
Submitted by eliotc on January 15, 2016 - 3:57pm

Thanks — I'm guessing you'd do that using an HDMI splitter to split out the audio from the HDMI-out on the ATV? That's the only way I can think to connect them in that order, because the new Apple TV lacks an audio out and the ELAC device lacks an HDMI in.

Jon Iverson's picture
Submitted by Jon Iverson on January 15, 2016 - 4:01pm
The AppleTV has to be connected to a audio receiver via HDMI cable. It sends the audio over HDMI. In fact I don't recommend AppleTV for audio since HDMI is not the best way to send music, but it can do it if you want to add your receiver to the network and it happens to have an AppleTV connected to it.

The ELAC will be on your home network via it's Ethernet jack. AppleTV is also connected to your home network via Ethernet, so that's how they communicate.

count.de.monet's picture
Submitted by count.de.monet on January 15, 2016 - 3:43pm

Seriously i have so many of these mini size boxes designed to take files or music or tv and shoot it wifiwaze,leftways,sideways,upways,directionways i dont understand,magicways to some different device i have filled a closet. i just want to watch the damn movie or play the Cd. when did it get so hard?!

Jon Iverson's picture
Submitted by Jon Iverson on January 15, 2016 - 3:58pm
The idea here is to get rid of everything except for this box (which plugs into your audio system), your tablet to control it and a subscription to Tidal. Then you have a huge slice of the world's lossless music at your fingertips. Couldn't be more simple.

In fact this type of product is the approach I take with friends who don't want a lot of tech in the house--just music.

count.de.monet's picture
Submitted by count.de.monet on January 15, 2016 - 4:55pm

Sold. That's exactly what i want...."Exit level" components. I wish there were two levels so I know I am buying the better one.

mtymous1's picture
Submitted by mtymous1 on January 15, 2016 - 8:51pm

Support for either/both?

Titus01's picture
Submitted by Titus01 on January 15, 2016 - 10:06pm

Everything else i have read on this product states that it is running a modified version of Roon with some features missing and is intended to be a serve as a standalone product.

Jon Iverson's picture
Submitted by Jon Iverson on January 15, 2016 - 10:27pm
What ELAC told me was that for $100 more you can get a full license, but yes at $1,000 it is a limited version. Since this product is not yet out, it might change before release.
Titus01's picture
Submitted by Titus01 on January 15, 2016 - 10:40pm

For a hundred bucks that seems to be a very easy decision and makes the Discovery certainly something to keep an eye on.

JRT's picture
Submitted by JRT on October 14, 2016 - 12:28pm
J.Iverson wrote:

What ELAC told me was that for $100 more you can get a full license, but yes at $1,000 it is a limited version. Since this product is not yet out, it might change before release.

I do not own one of these, and I have no affiliation with ELAC.

My understanding is that the extra $100 buys a license that provides compatibility with non-ELAC Roon products sharing the same Ethernet network.

Including license for the added compatibility increases ELAC's cost, and is not needed if you are going to use ELAC's DS-S101 Discovery Music Server only in combination with other networked ELAC products, such as the active version of ELAC's UB5 (not sure what model name they are going to be using to differentiate the active variant).

As an aside, it is my belief that Audio over IP, with active loudspeakers and related devices (hopefully compliant with AES67 and AES70 for interoperability) interconnected on an Ethernet network (using non-esoteric, non-proprietary, bog standard network hardware and cabling), represents the core future of home audio. The ELAC DS-S101 Discovery Music Server, and the moderately priced ELAC active UB5 should be a big step forward in that direction.

This may sound like a sales pitch, but again I have no affiliation, no financial interest, just an opinion.

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