Please explain what I need to make Roon work...

[JoachimStrobel]

It is BS. That is they way I run my system! As noted, the only exception is if you get ground loops and such causing buzz/noise. In that case use Toslink and that should avoid it.

Let's remember that I test all the DACs with USB connection to my computer which is running my audio analyzer software which is a CPU pig and uses up an entire core just sitting there. Yet I am getting those excellent results from the well designed DACs.

I agree, mostly. I have heard “noise” or roughness from my PC after it has been on for a day or two. Also when I installed new software while and after playing music and when the CPU maxes out.
A dedicated low noise PC for Roon should be all that is needed. While I admire the Roon software, the design and implementation, I believe they go far overboard with the NUC and associated comments. A dead cheap motherboard with a 50$ processor will do, a couple of low turning huge fans that can be tuned to minimum rpm by soft- or hardware and a fan-less Grafik card for HDMI out ( or just the MB output or USB) is all. Mounted in a small enclosure and hidden away in a cabinet with all Ethernet connections is all you need (there were great low noise enclosure been sold for people that went crazy from the noise of their Sun workstations - they might still be around on EBay). Do nothing else on that PC. The Win10 license will be probably the most expensive single item for that project and it’s updating requirements will be the only upsetting thing but keeps you virus free.. Add USB Hdds as needed and possibly add an online backup service.

 

[STUDIO51]

This is my roon setup now. My recommendation is to use the NAS as a roon core. If the file tag is modified after connecting the NAS to macos or windows, it is not reflected immediately. However, the problem does not occur when using the NAS as a roon core. It works fine on my DS218 +, but if your library is large, consider a NAS with better performance CPU. For example, QNAP's NAS is also a good choice.

If you don't have a roon ready product, use your laptop as a roon end point. Or you can install a ropieee on your Raspberry Pi to replace your laptop. However, before configuring ropieee, find out if your DAC is working properly on Linux. My LYNX HILO didn't work well over Linux, so it didn't work over USB on ropieee too.

 

[carlob]

I'm using Roon on a old Apple Mac mini connected to my DAC via usb, my files are on a NAS. It works fine. I think the integration with Tidal is very good. The only thing I miss is the ability to integrate with Apple Music.

 

[Jimbob54]

Why would they make this claim? Out of abundance of caution I guess? Do they have some stake in people spending extra money? Or are they feeding into audiophile neuroses?

They recommend: "Connecting a DAC to Core will usually work, but it will never result in the best sound quality available from Roon. Roon Labs is unapologetic about Core being a CPU and memory hog. Depending on what Core is doing, it can push nearly any hardware to its limits. When this happens, the computer generates elevated levels of RFI, EMI, and often, fan noise and physical vibrations. All of these things can have a negative impact on the performance of a downstream DAC.'

Youve seen the Roon website, the pages of manufacturers with varying degrees of Roon certification? They dont have standalone DACs on those pages. Follow the money.

I use and enjoy Roon and believe it is a good product. But lets not forget its a business.

 

[Jimbob54]

I'm using Roon on a old Apple Mac mini connected to my DAC via usb, my files are on a NAS. It works fine. I think the integration with Tidal is very good. The only thing I miss is the ability to integrate with Apple Music.

Yeah, think Spotify, Apple streaming are both unlikely for Roon for several reasons :
1. Both like to control the UX
2. Neither are lossless, so go against the Roon "best possible" ethos
3. Not their target market /audience (see 2)
4. Probably want more $ than roon are prepared to give

 

[capitanharlock]

View attachment 61951

This is my roon setup now. My recommendation is to use the NAS as a roon core. If the file tag is modified after connecting the NAS to macos or windows, it is not reflected immediately. However, the problem does not occur when using the NAS as a roon core. It works fine on my DS218 +, but if your library is large, consider a NAS with better performance CPU. For example, QNAP's NAS is also a good choice.

If you don't have a roon ready product, use your laptop as a roon end point. Or you can install a ropieee on your Raspberry Pi to replace your laptop. However, before configuring ropieee, find out if your DAC is working properly on Linux. My LYNX HILO didn't work well over Linux, so it didn't work over USB on ropieee too.

Nice setup.
What are you using the Clarity M for?

 

[SKBubba]

Roon is the worst music playback software, except all the others. I switched to roon from jriver. Roon is much simpler to use, and works more reliably with less tinkering. Jriver ui is antiquated but it does more. If jriver got tidal/qobuz integration I'd probably go back, but they insist streaming will soon be out of business so they aren't wasting their time..

Anyway, a latest generation i5 with 8gb and a 256gb ssd for the os will run roon just fine. You can use an external usb drive for your music library, an internal drive, or a file server/nas.

Roon on Windows is the most trouble free for me. Not sure, but I think that may be what roon uses for development. You can get it cheap if you buy a pre-built pc from dell or lenovo.

But honestly, the future is streaming, and most people might be better off just picking a service and using their apps. It would be sad to let go of my library of albums, but I can't think of one that isn't available on tidal/qobuz, along with nearly everything else ever recorded. At that point, picking the service with the best apps and features seems optimum. Spotify is king in that regard, tidal is close for higher quality playback but still has a ways to go. Qobuz apps are rudimentary, but using roon on the front end solves that except for mobile. Amazon apps are a jumbled up mess at the moment in every regard, but they have features qobuz doesn't have, including cataloging and playback of local files.

Once tidal, qobuz, or amazon has a stellar app suite, I see myself dumping roon and a lot of system complexity and just assimilating with the borg for simplicity. But I'm old and tired, so that may be a factor in my case.

 

[STUDIO51]

Nice setup.
What are you using the Clarity M for?

I mainly use two functions.
1. L / R balance of sound image
2. Understanding the dynamic range and peak value of the sound source

 

[capitanharlock]

Interesting, how is it connected to the dac and to Roon if it is?

 

[STUDIO51]

Interesting, how is it connected to the dac and to Roon if it is?

It's a bit complicated to explain.

First, as you can see in the figure, the roon core is a DS218 + NAS.
In roon, SHD STUDIO and mac mini are grouped together. Then you may have a question. Why use mac mini?

This is because SHD STUDIO does not have a bypass function. I monitor the RTA meter with LYNX HILO and identify DR with Clarity M. For this, the original sound source signal must be input to both devices. However, SHD only provides output that reflects DIRAC LIVE, X over, EQ, etc., so it cannot be input to the monitoring system.

So HILO receives two input at the same time. HILO delivers the input from the SHD to the power amplifier through the line out. At the same time, it is connected to the mac mini's roon via USB and receives the original input. This input is used to monitor HILO's RTA meter and passes it to Clarity M via an optical output.

 

[capitanharlock]

Examining your schema it's clear now!
Very cool!
One more question, why didn't you keep the low pass on the same Benchmark amp?
It looks like now each amp receives two very different inputs on its channels, I guess the left channel is amplifiyng the low freq and the right one the high freq, did I understand correctly?

 

[STUDIO51]

Examining your schema it's clear now!
Very cool!
One more question, why didn't you keep the low pass on the same Benchmark amp?
It looks like now each amp receives two very different inputs on its channels, I guess the left channel is amplifiyng the low freq and the right one the high freq, did I understand correctly?

Very good question. At first, I also tried to use it as an LF amplifier and an HF amplifier. But for a better way, I consulted John Siau, president of Benchmark media.

He told me:

"Crosstalk is never an issue with the AHB2. There will be no audible crosstalk from the AHB2 in any system configuration.

Instead the goal should be to place the same load on both amplifier. Most of the power will be consumed by the low-frequency channel. Because of this, you want to combine one low frequency channel with one high frequency channel in each amplifier. When this is done, the system will achieve the highest possible headroom.

Use one amp for the left speaker and the other for the right speaker. This will put the same load on both amplifiers. There will be no interaction between the high-frequency channel and the low frequency channel because crosstalk is non-existent in the AHB2. The regulated power supply rails in the AHB2 help to make this possible.

I would suggest running the high frequency on channel 1 and the low frequency on channel 2. This is a safer configuration if someone accidentally flips the stereo-mono switch. If mono mode gets turned on, the high-frequency signal will go to both drivers and this will not hurt the low-frequency driver. This channel assignment will prevent accidental routing of the low frequencies to the high-frequency driver (which could be damaging)."

 

[capitanharlock]

Sounds fair, I was imagining something like that, since the hf requires much less power.
Thanks!

 

[JoachimStrobel]

Roon is the worst music playback software, except all the others. I switched to roon from jriver. Roon is much simpler to use, and works more reliably with less tinkering. Jriver ui is antiquated but it does more. If jriver got tidal/qobuz integration I'd probably go back, but they insist streaming will soon be out of business so they aren't wasting their time..

Anyway, a latest generation i5 with 8gb and a 256gb ssd for the os will run roon just fine. You can use an external usb drive for your music library, an internal drive, or a file server/nas.

Roon on Windows is the most trouble free for me. Not sure, but I think that may be what roon uses for development. You can get it cheap if you buy a pre-built pc from dell or lenovo.

But honestly, the future is streaming, and most people might be better off just picking a service and using their apps. It would be sad to let go of my library of albums, but I can't think of one that isn't available on tidal/qobuz, along with nearly everything else ever recorded. At that point, picking the service with the best apps and features seems optimum. Spotify is king in that regard, tidal is close for higher quality playback but still has a ways to go. Qobuz apps are rudimentary, but using roon on the front end solves that except for mobile. Amazon apps are a jumbled up mess at the moment in every regard, but they have features qobuz doesn't have, including cataloging and playback of local files.

Once tidal, qobuz, or amazon has a stellar app suite, I see myself dumping roon and a lot of system complexity and just assimilating with the borg for simplicity. But I'm old and tired, so that may be a factor in my case.

... it is tempting listening to music without owning any. Not sure if that is good or the future or both. Qobuz is 20€/month for CD quality. That is a summ of money over 40 years - more than all my CD together. Would I like owning no CDs? Not really. I do buy milestone books that I like on my Kindle. With music it might the same ....

 

[SPOautos]

Is it possible to play music right from the Roon core/server where the library is, with it being chromecast to a stereo? Or does the crome/library have to be on a different device than the one you use to sort through the music?

I'm building a server that will house all my music and want to chromecast the server to my stereo. Then be able to pull Roon up directly on the server to play music, as well as pull it up to play music from other devices like phone (basically using it as a remote if I dont feel like sitting at the server).

Will it work that way?

 

[BDWoody]

Is it possible to play music right from the Roon core/server where the library is, with it being chromecast to a stereo? Or does the crome/library have to be on a different device than the one you use to sort through the music?

I'm building a server that will house all my music and want to chromecast the server to my stereo. Then be able to pull Roon up directly on the server to play music, as well as pull it up to play music from other devices like phone (basically using it as a remote if I dont feel like sitting at the server).

Will it work that way?

Yes. Main core application just opens as a player on my desktop. Can play locally or cast anywhere...and can access from app on phone to do the same.

 

[mkt]

Yes. Main core application just opens as a player on my desktop. Can play locally or cast anywhere...and can access from app on phone to do the same.

Is that true for linux? At least in the past, it didn't seem possible to play or control Roon in linux? https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-remote-on-linux/77575

 

[BDWoody]

Is that true for linux? At least in the past, it didn't seem possible to play or control Roon in linux? https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-remote-on-linux/77575

Sorry, no idea on that one...my desktop is a Windows machine.

 

[jhm]

Is it possible to play music right from the Roon core/server where the library is, with it being chromecast to a stereo? Or does the crome/library have to be on a different device than the one you use to sort through the music?

I'm building a server that will house all my music and want to chromecast the server to my stereo. Then be able to pull Roon up directly on the server to play music, as well as pull it up to play music from other devices like phone (basically using it as a remote if I dont feel like sitting at the server).

Will it work that way?

That's perfectly fine and how I have Roon installed on my Mac desktop:

* the Roon server always running in the background

* the Roon Mac app (which I use to connect to the Roon server) - this only needs to be running if I want to control the server. I can of course also use my phone, iPad etc

The Roon server isn't available when I put my desktop to sleep but that's fine because I only ever listen using headphones when sat at my desk.

The Roon server takes some system resources but it is really negligible and not noticeable in the context of my Mac desktop (10-core Xeon; 64GB of memory etc).

 

[RichB]

I run Roon Core running on a Brix I3 NUC. I have streamed the following configurations:
- I3 Roon core USB to Oppo UDP-205 (primay use)
- Network to UDP-205
- Network to PI3 Volumio via USB to Oppo UDP-205

A Synology 5 disk NAS holds my CD and HD Audio files and now I increasing use QOBUZ.
I have had an rare pause (1% of the time) from QOBUZ but no issues with any other conenction.

I love Roon, it has been much more reliable than J River.
At least 10% of the time, I had to reboot the Brix to get it working.

- Rich