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ROON CORE ADEQUACY

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Georgeadv

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Guys can you run a single license not simultaneously with mac and a pc?
 

Phorize

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What is rock os?
It 's the official appliance-like Linux distribution which runs room core on some intel nucs, but it can run on some other intel hardware.
 

Ziroz

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I just purchased one of the Beelink Ser 5 Ryzen 5 5600H Mini PC on Amazon under $500. Ready to go out of the box(Windows 11 Pro) and small enough to fit behind a TV or monitor. They have cheaper versions under $400.
Isn't 5600H kind of overkill?
 

Phorize

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I bought an i5 ThinkCentre M90n-1 last year new for £200. Works like a charm but the uefi firmware is locked on uefi so it can’t boot rock os, so I use fedora server to run roon server instead.
 

Adaboy4z

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Isn't 5600H kind of overkill?
It was cheaper more economical to buy the Beelink than updating my older laptop.
 

DilbertPugh

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I'm running Roon Legacy on a hand me down 2011 iMac connected to the network via an ethernet cable into a TP Link Mesh satellite; it's on a bookshelf in a spare bedroom so doesn't take up any space.

With a decent internet speed I've had no issues, Roon delivers music instantly to my iPad, phone and laptop with EQ applied as needed but then I don't have DSD files with insane sampling rates or a need for HQ Player.

Out of curiosity I used an easy to apply OS patch to enable it to run Catalina ( High Sierra was the limit for the 2011), so I could now install Roon 2.0 but I have no use for ARC so will stay with Legacy as long as there are no more compelling reasons to upgrade.

You're right not to splash out on Roon hardware, it makes more sense to buy Lifetime than to pay out for a Nucleus or even a NUC;
I now realise that a strong wired network connection is more important.
 
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Georgeadv

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I'm running Roon Legacy on a hand me down 2011 iMac connected to the network via an ethernet cable into a TP Link Mesh satellite; it's on a bookshelf in a spare bedroom so doesn't take up any space.

With a decent internet speed I've had no issues, Roon delivers music instantly to my iPad, phone and laptop with EQ applied as needed but then I don't have DSD files with insane sampling rates or a need for HQ Player.

Out of curiosity I used an easy to apply OS patch to enable it to run Catalina ( High Sierra was the limit for the 2011), so I could now install Roon 2.0 but I have no use for ARC so will stay with Legacy as long as there are no more compelling reasons to upgrade.

You're right not to splash out on Roon hardware, it makes more sense to buy Lifetime than to pay out for a Nucleus or even a NUC;
I now realise that a strong wired network connection is more important.
Am stuck on high sierra as well : /
 

MrGoodbits

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Recently installed ROCK on NUC 11 Celeron 5105. No install or functionality issues and is more than plenty fast. With a huge library or heavy DSP might be different. I tend to agree that Roon's stated CPU requirements for ROCK and Server are way overkill, if using current CPU offerings.
 

dadregga

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For reference - my Roon core is a Lenovo ThinkCentre M93p
  • CPU: Haswell i7-4765T 2.0G 8M 4C LGA1150 HF 35W vPro
  • Mem: 8GB RAM
I stream 6-channel DSD over the network to an endpoint that only accepts PCM, so the server has to transcode DSD to 176PCM, and I do software crossover and convolution filters on all channels as well - that more or less constitutes a "heavy" Roon server load and the i7 (which is pretty old) just can handle it (processing at ~1.3x realtime with all that going), as long as no background processes are also running on that server.


That should give you a good metric for what an acceptable core spec would be.
 

Snoopy

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Im running roon on a M1 MacBook Air. Even upsampling to DSD512 with EQ and volume leveling is absolutely no Problem and uses up only 10% cpu and around 2GB of ram.
 

aclz

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I am using a Synology DS218+ NAS for the Roon core, which has a dual core Celeron J3355. I have 6GB RAM in it. Streaming 44100Hz content it's idling (3-4% CPU usage). [COLOR=var(--darkreader-inline-color)]I tried upsampling 44100Hz content to 768KHz, with PEQ and crossfeed on, and it used about 50% CPU and the same amount of memory as when not upsampling. [/COLOR]
 

Snoopy

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I am using a Synology DS218+ NAS for the Roon core, which has a dual core Celeron J3355. I have 6GB RAM in it. Streaming 44100Hz content it's idling (3-4% CPU usage). [COLOR=var(--darkreader-inline-color)]I tried upsampling 44100Hz content to 768KHz, with PEQ and crossfeed on, and it used about 50% CPU and the same amount of memory as when not upsampling. [/COLOR]
Try DSD512 :)
 

RichB

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Phorize

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Thanks, that’s progress. Not sure if the Lenovo will even let me switch secure boot off. Fedora with auto update is more or less an appliance anyway, but chances are I won’t resist the urge to ‘just see’ if I can get rock running on it.
I use a ThinCentre M93p with ROCK OS. Didn't run into any problems changing the BIOS settings to Roon's needs.
 

Pritaudio

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can I use m1 MacBook Air for Roon core when the lid is closed. I have the power cable permanently attached so that's not a problem.
but when I close the lid, I don't want the Mac doing anything except run Roon core.
not sure what settings I should choose so that Roon core runs without interruptions regardless of sleep/wake state, and as long as it hasn't been shut down or restarted.

I don't see the point of me purchasing another pc/Mac for Roon core.
MacBook m1 doesn't need a fan, instantly wakes up, and is optimised for Mac OS with minimal power usage.
and my MacBook Air normally stays in one place with the battery on smart setting, so hopefully no battery degradation over time.
 

Snoopy

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can I use m1 MacBook Air for Roon core when the lid is closed. I have the power cable permanently attached so that's not a problem.
but when I close the lid, I don't want the Mac doing anything except run Roon core.
not sure what settings I should choose so that Roon core runs without interruptions regardless of sleep/wake state, and as long as it hasn't been shut down or restarted.

I don't see the point of me purchasing another pc/Mac for Roon core.
MacBook m1 doesn't need a fan, instantly wakes up, and is optimised for Mac OS with minimal power usage.
and my MacBook Air normally stays in one place with the battery on smart setting, so hopefully no battery degradation over time.
It's exactly how I use my MacBook M1.
External 2Tb NVME SSD (thunderbolt case) for my music library.

A usb hub for Lan connection + external monitor.

MacBook is always on (amphetamine app)
 

Pritaudio

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why do you need a wired ethernet connection. m1 MacBook Air has a good and reliable wifi board.
is it your router that's the problem?
 

Snoopy

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why do you need a wired ethernet connection. m1 MacBook Air has a good and reliable wifi board.
is it your router that's the problem?

The protocol that roon uses works better with LAN. Especially when you are upsampling to DSD256 / 512
 

Pritaudio

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The protocol that roon uses works better with LAN. Especially when you are upsampling to DSD256 / 512
What dongle are you using. I have the anker 8 in 1 usb c type, which doesn’t require an external power supply.
hopefully this will remain active.
 
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