My trip down the Roon Rabbithole

Posted by: Zipperheadbanjo on 29 August 2018

Hey all... it's been awhile since I've posted.

I've been dabbling with Roon integration... clearly it's a hot topic around here. I've done some research and want to share my findings.. and hoping for some feedback. Particularly interested in feedback from Sloop John B who it appears has similar gear and went through an integration process that may be similar to my path. 

The first hurdle for me was figuring out how to get Roon into my NDX > Chord Hugo TT set up without having to spend much (or preferably any cash). The solution for me was to get my Mac Mini back into service... so I set up a Roon Core on the Mac Mini... connected my external drive that holds all my music... and then ran a decent quality USB cable from the mac mini directly into the USB input on the Hugo TT. The Roon software and Tidal integration kind of makes the whole thing a no brainer for me... as long as the sound quality is reasonable. For convenience purposes I set up the Mac mini and external drive on the hifi rack (for now)... although it is plugged into a different mains outlet than the rest of my gear.

So... the listening. Well let's say it was encouraging enough "as is" to encourage me to to continue my journey. The set up allowed me to do some direct A/B listening tests....  Roon / Mac Mini / Hugo TT option vs the Naim app / NDX transport / Hugo TT. I felt the latter was definitely more organic and warm without sacrificing detail... it was a nice balance. The Mac Mini option had some rough edges and harshness, but there was lots of detail. Perhaps the bottom end was better defined in the NDX / Hugo option... both options were similar in terms of soundstage. So... I chalk up the difference to the noise introduced by the mini and the better quality transport the NDX provides.

I was encouraged enough to start looking for hardware that would remedy this, and have just ordered a Sonore Ultrarendu and linear LPS-1 power supply (both gently used). I should take delivery of this tomorrow and plan to install it... and move the mac mini and hard drive off the hifi rack. I've read (I think from Sloop John) that the UR / Hugo TT combo gets pretty close to NDS territory. I'm excited to hear for myself and draw my own conclusions. If it pans out.. I will likely remove the NDX altogether. I've always felt that using it solely as a transport into a secondary DAC was a little bit of overkill.. and if I can get the same or better sound quality and Roon integration, then there is no need for the redundancy.

Curious to any tips anyone can offer on how to further optimize the setup... or thoughts in general. Note that I have downloaded and installed the HQPlayer... however haven't implemented it's use in the set up. I do see it as a Roon Endpoint in the Roon app... not sure how to get it talking to my TT... it doesn't seem to be very intuitive. I probably need to search for a youtube video on the subject :-)

 

 

 

 

Posted on: 30 August 2018 by Sloop John B

Well the ultraRendu / LPS1 should give better quality than USB direct from Mac mini and you will be able to move the Mac mini away from your kit. 

The ultraRendu will give you 2 options. 

One as you say is direct into Hugo via HD USB. This (more or less) is the configuration that led me to sell my CD555 as the sound quality was bettered with this combo. Not everyone would agree with this obviously so there is the my ears, my room YMMV caveat. But I didn’t want my CD555 to be superseded and to take the big hit financially that I did with it, but it just sat for 6 months unused and for a further 6 months unused and powered down. 

Your other option will be to use the UPnP bridge software (one of the several packages with the ultraRendu) which will basically allow Roon to see your NDX. There are many on here who think the NDX cannot be beaten as a renderer and use it into a Hugo (Simon in Suffolk being one major proponent of this view). This will allow you send WAV via UPnP to the NDX from Roon. 

The beauty of this is you can try both and see which you prefer. 

I wouldn't bother with HQP at least until you have Roon running well for a few months. It is worth a trial then but when I only had a Hugo I found I didn’t use HQP as the Hugo from Roon sounded best (there are however others who use it with a DAVE, so go figure as they say! ). (Mind you there is a new HQP filter that has a million taps similar to the chord m-scaler so I may try that when my Hugo TT comes back from a bit of TLC from Chord via Signals).

Anyway forget about HQP and figure out which flavour of Roon delivery you prefer and then just enjoy your music. The Roon forum is particularly helpful if you have any issues.

.sjb

 

Posted on: 04 September 2018 by Zipperheadbanjo

Thanks for the feedback sjb. 

My impressions after a long weekend using the LPS-1 PS / UR combo directly into the Hugo TT via USB 2?

I don't miss the NDX, although I do miss the look of it in my rack :-)

To my ears it's a wash... perhaps with a slight edge to the LPS/UR... add in the Roon functionality and it becomes no brainer. For me at least, the NDX is better put to use as trade in value on perhaps a Uniti Atom or Nova for a future second system.

Posted on: 04 September 2018 by Sloop John B

Indeed the ultraRendu/LPS does seem a nicely engineered solution to get Roon to a USB DAC. 

Interesting to hear you think it’s at least as good as NDX as transport into the DAC, that’s what I would have anticipated but was just making you aware of other opinions and options. 

Enjoy the music…

.sjb