It’s fine to talk about surface dial as it is germane to the discussion of making the Trinnov Nova functional in a domestic situation.Surface Dial works great when it works, but I've had some issues with the Rpi hosting it. DRCWO has been working on getting a new device, the Quick Keys Remote as an alternative. I thought it was still in Beta testing, but I now see that he's released it, so I'll be picking one of these up ASAP. Sorry to take this thread about the NOVA on a detour.
https://www.xencelabs.com/us/store/accessories/xencelabs-quick-keys-remote
rooMax – Best wireless Roon remote ever!
Dear Rooners, A wireless remote control that can do more than just control the volume (like rooDial with the Microsoft Surface Dial) has been on my (and probably your) wish list for a long time. Recently I came across the Quick Keys Controller from Xencelabs, which comes very close to the...community.roonlabs.com
You are correct that with Surface Dial or with Quick Keys, you don't need La Remote for volume when you are running Roon. However, you could not control volume when listening to another source. With a Roon Ready device on the other hand, I believe you can control volume even when you are playing another source on your Roon Ready device.
Yeah this is the issue with some of these solutions “great while it works”. It’s such great hardware but the software is always the rub. The last thing anyone wants is being in a listening situation and something stops working. It’s happened to me before and I got frustrated enough to just reinstall windows in the middle of the night.
Keep in mind the Trinnov app can always serve as a backup for volume control and it worked fine for me. I don’t even find myself changing it too much either.
The blusound Node or equivalent product is worth looking into as it is Roon Ready device.