Inexpensive Roon Endpoint for my Yamaha RX-A2080

[dpippel]

Hey all! Admittedly, I haven't read through this forum much, but I'm looking for the easy way out. I'm thinking about going Roon at home, but I want to find a relatively inexpensive Roon endpoint to connect to my Yamaha receiver to get around the limitations of Airplay. I'd prefer a turnkey solution, so am not really interested in a Raspberry Pi-based endpoint, but will consider it since I already have one. Maybe a Pi and a Topping E30? Does anyone have any recommendations? I'd sure appreciate hearing them. Thanks in advance!

 

[BDWoody]

Chromecast audio optical connection.

Available used for @$50

Edit:. Assuming receiver has optical in?

 

[GDK]

I have done RPi to E30 to my amp and it worked great. More stable from a networking perspective than some Roon Ready devices I own.

 

[DuxServit]

Any PC computer or Mac computer can be a Roon endpoint. Easy to use. Just have to download and install Roon.

There are plenty of sub-$250 new PC computers. Even cheaper.

The benefit is that you can later use the computer for other stuff.

 

[dpippel]

Thanks all. Now, are there any solutions that allow control with Roon Remote running on an iOS device, or am I stuck with Airplay in that scenario?

 

[GDK]

Thanks all. Now, are there any solutions that allow control with Roon Remote running on an iOS device, or am I stuck with Airplay in that scenario?

Not sure that I understand your question, but you can use virtually anything as a Roon Remote, including an iOS device. It doesn't affect the signal path, but you do need a computer of some sort that can act as your "core device".

EDIT: Just FYI - my core is a 2009 Mac Mini that I picked up for $200 and sits in my cellar attached to my router.

 

[oldmanhifi]

I have Roon core running on a mac mini casting to a Chromecast audio. I can control with Roon remote app on my Iphone. Works great.

 

[dpippel]

Not sure that I understand your question, but you can use virtually anything as a Roon Remote, including an iOS device. It doesn't affect the signal path, but you do need a computer of some sort that can act as your "core device".

When I'm running Roon on my iPhone XS Max, I only see AirPlay devices as outputs, so I assumed I'm limited to those on iOS. No? My core is running on Windows Server 2012 R2.

 

[dpippel]

I have Roon core running on a mac mini casting to a Chromecast audio. I can control with Roon remote app on my Iphone. Works great.

Obviously, I have some more playing around to do.

 

[GDK]

When I'm running Roon on my iPhone XS Max, I only see AirPlay devices as outputs, so I assumed I'm limited to those on iOS. No?

I assume that's all you see because there aren't any other options available for Roon. It will discover your Airplay connected devices and allow you to play to them. However, if you connect a RPi running Ropieee (or another streamer) to a DAC then you can stream using RAAT at whatever sample rate your DAC is capable of. The Remote is nothing more than that - it's a remote control. It's not part of the signal path and therefore doesn't restrict your choices.

What are you using as a core?

 

[dpippel]

What are you using as a core?

Core is running on Windows Server 2012 R2 on the same network. No audio devices physically attached to the server.

 

[DuxServit]

Thanks all. Now, are there any solutions that allow control with Roon Remote running on an iOS device, or am I stuck with Airplay in that scenario?

I use both my iPad and iPhone as remote.

Works for PC endpoints and Mac endpoints.

 

[GDK]

Ok, so you should be able to go Server>wifi>RPi>usb>E30>Yamaha. That’s basically the set-up I use for my headphones. I use a variety of iOS devices as remotes and it’s not limited to Airplay.

 

[dpippel]

Thanks everyone. I'll play around more with Roon and see what I can come up with. I appreciate all of the info.

 

[TimW]

Thanks everyone. I'll play around more with Roon and see what I can come up with. I appreciate all of the info.

You probably know this already but in case you don't, you have to enable a Roon endpoint before you can play music with it. You do this by going to Settings>Audio where you will see all of the available endpoints that can be enabled.

 

[dpippel]

You probably know this already but in case you don't, you have to enable a Roon endpoint before you can play music with it. You do this by going to Settings>Audio where you will see all of the available endpoints that can be enabled.

Yep, I've already done that.

 

[flyzipper]

As soon as you enable a Roon ready end-point, you'll be able to see that in your Roon remote on iOS.

• For turnkey, I'd echo the Chromecast Audio optical solution (I've used this and it works great).
• Since I like to tinker, I also built a Pi-based option using the HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro, running DietPi x6.33.3 currently (and it also works well).

For fun, I also experimented with placing my music library up on Google, accessed via Drive File Stream, and it also works very well.

 

[dpippel]

Well, I tinkered as well. Picked up a CCA on eBay, and it works just fine via optical. Nicely simple and small. But, I wasn't satisfied. I was planning on leveraging my old Raspberry Pi 3+, but turns out it up and died. In the end I bought a Pi 4B with 4GB, loaded it up with RoPieee, and plugged in a Topping E30 in DAC mode. Works like a treat and sounds fantastic. It's nice not having the resolution limitations inherent in the CCA, although that was most certainly the least expensive option.

So, I'm very happy with the RoPieee/E30 combo and Roon, which is wonderful even with its quirks. I think I'll pony-up and stay here for a year when my trial is over.

 

[MaestroS]

Hi @dpippel, I'm new here and eager to start using ROON. I found my way here because I also have a Yamaha AX2080, which I love. In my main zone it drives 2 B&W 686s, 2 B&W 684s, a small B&W sub (608), and center channel...and it's not a very big room It also drive a pair of B&W in ceiling speakers in my kitchen and a couple of decent Niles speakers in my small backyard. Several years back I ripped my entire CD collection to FLAC and MP3. I uploaded the MP3s to Apple Music Match and have been using that for years. It works well and it's great to have my whole collection accessible to me in the cloud wherever I am. I had the forethought to rip to a lossless format (and not AAC) because I didn't want to be trapped in the Apple ecosystem and I wanted to be able to listen to CD quality sound whenever a suitable solution came to market, It sounds like it's ROON and they now have a large number of manufacturers supporting their protocols.
So before I kick off my 14 day trial with ROON, here are my questions that I hope you and others can answer. 1) As you've noted the AX2080 has a good DAC built-in (as well as support for all the major streaming services, Sirius, etc.). I"m looking for a simple ROON endpoint without a DAC (or streaming) that I can plug-in via TOS (or HDMI) to my AX2080. The HiFiBerry Digi+ Pro bundle seems like a good solution. I'm reasonably technical but haven't tinkered with hardware in many years. How hard is it to put one of these together? I don't own a soldiering iron any more. Can anyone point me to (or write) detailed instructions on what it takes to assemble the kit and load the necessary software to set one up as a ROON endpoint?
2) Does anyone know of a good preassembled and relatively inexpensive ROON endpoint that has better audio than a Chromecast, doesn't have a DAC or streamers (which I already have in my AX2080) and has TOS or HDMI out?
3) As I understand it, I can use the ROON software on my Roon Core, which will be my MacBook, to optimize the output for AirPlay and AirPlay in to my AX2080. How much of a difference am I likely to hear (in any of my 3 Zones) and playing my FLAC files and connecting from the MacBook Core to a HiFI Berrry or other Roon endpoint connected to my AX2080 vs. playing the same files from Roon on the Macbook via Airplay to the AX2080?

Thanks in advance

 

[BDWoody]

Does anyone know of a good preassembled and relatively inexpensive ROON endpoint that has better audio than a Chromecast,

Do you realize the CCA has mini-toslink? That gives you a digital Roon endpoint about as easily as possible. The analog outs aren't as bad as commonly believed. I use them in both analog and digital with Roon, and it works perfectly.