New Uniti range gets Roon Ready update

I am not too interested in Roon, but it would be nice for legacy products to have a board upgrade to 384/32 and DSD2. The Uniti Core can serve these files. Realize it may be expensive but I still prefer the sound quality of NDS and NDX streaming from the Core over a computer/NAS running Minimserve. Also I am more interested in my music library than the world of Tidal, etc. probably shows my age. 

jon honeyball posted:

I'd like to implement Roon. But I'm not getting into this "pile of boxes and spaghetti" nonsense that people are using today. 

So I will have to wait for naim to do something "new platform" on the separates range. 

A Raspberry Pi connected to a DAC, smaller than most phono stages!

Think I'd decline a bolognaise chez Jon if that's spaghetti.

.sjb

I think this is great news from Naim, a new software feature being implemented on the new hardware more or less right out of the gate. Makes my optimistic reading of Andrew Everhard's review, where he only seemed to test out the Roon input, now "true"; I wasn't sure if he had selected the AirPlay input and targeted that as a Roon Endpoint.

My recollection is that Phil Harris stated here on the forum (early in the new Uniti announcement period) that further development of planned new features would not be possible on the old hardware (hence neither on 272 or SuperUniti). I think in part because of memory and processing constraints, the new platform is the target for new features and the old platform is limited to maintaining existing functionality but with interoperability - eg same app and multi room - with the new range; could be app (yes) vs firmware  (no) development, for example. 

I've been exploring the least spaghetti-like way to add Roon to existing Naim hardware (v1 Qute and SU), as that is in part a branching decision for upgrades chez moi. Per other threads here, and given excellent reviews both on the Roon forum by users and on DAR, the minimalist DigiOne Player seems to be today's top pick (one small box, pre-built, and one SPDIF cable) at a very reasonable price. To be honest, I was about to order this "in the meantime" as a way to explore....

Lots of excitement. Time to get home and get organized!

Regards alan 

Kirkpg posted:

I am not too interested in Roon, but it would be nice for legacy products to have a board upgrade to 384/32 and DSD2. The Uniti Core can serve these files. Realize it may be expensive but I still prefer the sound quality of NDS and NDX streaming from the Core over a computer/NAS running Minimserve. Also I am more interested in my music library than the world of Tidal, etc. probably shows my age. 

Have you found that both the NDS and the NDX sounded better when served by the Core's UPnP server as opposed to when served by MinimServer? On which computer or NAS have you been running MinimServer? Thanks, nbpf

nbpf posted:

 

. I am also not sure how support for Roon will be integrated into the Naim app. Currently it is a control point for Naim streamers only, it does not even support generic UPnP or OpenHome streamers. As Richard Dane pointed out a few posts above, one can easily front-end a NDS or a 272 with a Roon endpoint. I guess the crucial question is that of integration that is, whether the Naim app will recognize the Roon endpoint or not. 

Roon is its app to a degree, so I would imagine the integration will be similar to what Bluesound does, it shows what's playing in the belusound app and one can stop/pause etc but any choosing of albums etc will be done in the Roon app, the beautiful Roon app................

.sjb

nbpf posted:

Kirkpg posted:

I am not too interested in Roon, but it would be nice for legacy products to have a board upgrade to 384/32 and DSD2. The Uniti Core can serve these files. Realize it may be expensive but I still prefer the sound quality of NDS and NDX streaming from the Core over a computer/NAS running Minimserve. Also I am more interested in my music library than the world of Tidal, etc. probably shows my age. 

Have you found that both the NDS and the NDX sounded better when served by the Core's UPnP server as opposed to when served by MinimServer? On which computer or NAS have you been running MinimServer? Thanks, nbpf

I previously had a UnitiServe.  I would become frustrated with how downloaded Hi-Res files would be handled differently than the CD rips.  I was hoping to just have one big library that I could search.  Minimserve functionally sees all files the same so that when searching under Genre, for example, everything appeared.  The UnitiServe and Core just look at the CD rips when doing a genre search.  I would then try Minimserve on a QNAP NAS and also a headless Mac Mini.  With extended listening I always preferred the Unitiserve and now the Core as the server both with the NDS and NDX.  I cannot quantitate the difference but I heard it.  Just my opinion but I do wish Naim would fix the server software so that all the files are treated the same.  This is a little off the Roon topic, sorry about the diversion.

Kirkpg, I don't know how you had your Unitiserve configured, but on mine, if you browse by genre, or any other tag for that matter, you see the whole music library, not just CD rips or downloads separately. If you weren't seeing this, something was amiss, possibly the way your downloads were tagged?

That's how mine worked as well. Downloads and CD rips all came up together. 

nbpf posted:

 I am also not sure how support for Roon will be integrated into the Naim app. <snip> I guess the crucial question is that of integration that is, whether the Naim app will recognize the Roon endpoint or not. 

I think it would work the other way around, via the Roon app (as SJB suggests) and possibly with a Naim app "input selection" hook a la Spotify Connect - where the Naim app controls volume and input selection only, then provides an escape to the Spotify app for functional control. That would be infinitely simpler than trying to duplicate Roon app functionality in the Naim app... an approach which may best be seen with Tidal integration (and new Tidal app functionality is not readily incorporated into the Naim app)  

Regards alan

I can see some people have problems, when they have different and more versions of a album. Roon are not showing all the albums.

keano posted:

I can see some people have problems, when they have different and more versions of a album. Roon are not showing all the albums.

That's actually one of the great features of Roon, you can denote albums as different versions of the same album  for example if I look at my Beatles albums I have -

then is I choose to show all versions in the settings -

I think it's great to have these 2 views for as you can see I have a lot of different versions of the Beatles albums.

If you click on the album there is an other version tabs that show all available versions.

You can make one the primary (which is shown when duplicates are hidden) but play any one you wish.

.sjb

Sloop John B posted:

keano posted:

I can see some people have problems, when they have different and more versions of a album. Roon are not showing all the albums.

That's actually one of the great features of Roon, you can denote albums as different versions of the same album  for example if I look at my Beatles albums I have -

 

then is I choose to show all versions in the settings -

 

I think it's great to have these 2 views for as you can see I have a lot of different versions of the Beatles albums.

If you click on the album there is an other version tabs that show all available versions.

You can make one the primary (which is shown when duplicates are hidden) but play any one you wish.

.sjb

Thanks. Just what I wanted to hear. I must try a free trial. 

How about boxset?

Box sets, looking at the Band

The 5 in the corner of a Musical History denotes a 5 box set, when clicked

Now sometimes this does need some user input to get correct especially with some classical box sets which are amalgamations of previously released mini-sets. The most challenging for me was Stravinsky's 20CD set.

No metadata is changed, all editing is on the Roon dataset, there are comprehensive editing options

.sjb

Both Roon and Naim apps are totally independant.

if you play something from Roon, the Naim app will still show you the metadata, you can adjust the volume in both apps. If you select a different input on the naim app the device will drop Roon. The 2 apps run concurrently.

Roon works like Airplay: you do not have a Roon input in the Naim app. But when you connect from the Roon app, the Naim app will tell you you are using Roon ( like Airplay). To do that you need to have multiple sessions opened at the same time on the player. Something that is impossible with the old platform products. Make you own conclusion...

at least this is the way it works on the alpha version we are using at the RMAF. We are using an Intel MUC as Roon server.

Apparently Roon doesn’t t see a USB drive connected to a Core...

As well as dedicated Roon endpoints and Airplay, Roon can also stream to Sonos devices, further extending its usefulness.

Does anybody know if the Roon functionality will be implemented also in the Core ? If this is the case, the NDS/NDX owners (like me) could have the best of the 2 worlds (with the direct coaxial connection of the Core to the streamer)

phosphocreatine posted:

Does anybody know if the Roon functionality will be implemented also in the Core ? If this is the case, the NDS/NDX owners (like me) could have the best of the 2 worlds (with the direct coaxial connection of the Core to the streamer)

No, it’s only for the new Uniti streamers. 

So stoked about this. The reason I bought my Atom. Exciting times!

Could please Phil or Richard make a clear statement about Core and Roon functionality?

Thanks a lot

Is the question basically:

Will the Uniti Core function as a Roon Core ?

or

Will the Uniti Core also accept RAAT as a Roon Ready endpoint ?

I’m curious. 

ta. 

I was asking about Core acting as Roon endpoint (like the other Unities)

bencrosby posted:

Is the question basically:

Will the Uniti Core function as a Roon Core ?

or

Will the Uniti Core also accept RAAT as a Roon Ready endpoint ?

You will need a Roon Core running on another device, i.e. a computer of some sort. The Uniti streamers will be endpoints, clients, or whatever they want to call it. There has been a demo at a US show recently, and I suspect there won’t be long to wait. 

phosphocreatine posted:

I was asking about Core acting as Roon endpoint (like the other Unities)

Core isn't a streamer like the Unitis, it has a very specific role as CD ripper and server. I believe that "Roon Ready" applies to the new Uniti streamers. However, I can ask Naim for clarification if there's any doubt here.

Thank you Richard !

would be nice if you could ask to Naim if Core can act as a Roon endpoint like the other Uniti streamers.

Regards, Andrea

Might have a slightly different suggestion regarding Core and roon: assuming the Core has enough horsepower, it would be great if the Core would act as a roon core (server).