New Uniti range gets Roon Ready update

Richard Dane posted:

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.

If you read the Naim announcement about Roon Ready, they mention Atom, Star and Nova. I am certain that if UnitiCore could support Roon Ready, they would have mentioned that too in the same announcement. So apart from the point Richard mentions that the Core isn't a streamer, I think it's completely clear that the Core can't act as a Roon endpoint.

best

David

schuhmab posted:

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).

If a device has enough horsepower to act as a Roon core it can certainly act as a Roon endpoint! Being a Roon core and a Roon endpoint are also not mutually exclusive functionalities! Similarly, any decent SOC can run a UPnP server and a UPnP renderer.

Wondering if naim is still happy with their decision to equip the Core with an S/PDIF out. Without that, there would be no discussion at all if the Core could act as a streamer/player or not.

I was thinking of the Core as a pure server, and forgot about the S/PDIF output. Guess naim reps have a hard time (as many discussions on this forum show) to explain why it doesn't have full streamer capabilities.

In terms of product marketing it would have probably been easier to position the Core as a server without the S/PDIF output.

Out of curiosity, is the Core able to play music from an external source (like another UPnP server) and hence act as an UPnP player? Or does it only allow to play local music? The Quickstart guide suggests it can play all files that it can access via a filesystem, local and remote.

The Core can play any file it can find. In principle you have to tell it where its music store is and which music shares it should scan and it won't scan anything else. When it plays them, it uses its own upnp server, not a upnp server that might live on the place where the files are shared.

I think Naim made the right decision to include a S/PDIF output on the Core because you can choose to use it as a local hard disc player directly from the Core to a DAC. Some people prefer the sound that way to upnp, although others notice no difference. In any case,  not allowing that mode of connection only because it makes it harder to explain why they don't include further functionality would be strange imho.

best

David

schuhmab posted:

Wondering if naim is still happy with their decision to equip the Core with an S/PDIF out. Without that, there would be no discussion at all if the Core could act as a streamer/player or not.

I was thinking of the Core as a pure server, and forgot about the S/PDIF output. Guess naim reps have a hard time (as many discussions on this forum show) to explain why it doesn't have full streamer capabilities.

In terms of product marketing it would have probably been easier to position the Core as a server without the S/PDIF output.

...

I generally agree with your analysis, sometimes no cake is better than a half backed cake. The presence of a SPDIF output also raises the obvious question of why SPDIF but not USB: is the Core meant to be used with SPDIF DACs but not with USB DACs? Why so? On the other hand, the Core at this point seems to be a more or less one-to-one port of the old US to the new computing platform. No new functionalities, as far as I have understood. The Core was also the first device of the new Uniti range that Naim launched. Thus, it is conceivable that they wanted to make a first step and take advantage of a known, "thin" software architecture to spearhed the development of the new Naim app. This makes sense to me. Naim can always add functionalities in response to users' requests. Anyway, if you look at modern music servers like the SOtM sMS-1000SQ, you will see that they usually offer a number of configuration options and that they support running both UPnP servers, Roon server, UPnP renderers, etc. These are relatively small processes (apart from the Roon server, of course) that take very little memory and CPU time. From this perspective, the Core shouldn't perhaps be considered as a full-fledged server. Like the US, it is a device that attempts at hiding some technical aspects of music data management and organization to end user who have littly of no understanding of data formats, metadata management, etc. Best, nbpf

simes_pep posted:

Interesting - I already have Roon Core running on a NUC using ROCK and an Endpoint feeding the NDS either via UPnP using the Sonore UPnP Bridge and through a USB->S/PDIF convertor into a Digital input. The UPnP Bridge solution isn't able to play 24/192, DSD64 files (or DoP 24/172.4)

So having native RAAT support on the NDS would be an advantage - however when a Uniti acts as an Roon Endpoint, is it operating using the RAAT protocol (Roon's own) as a stand-alone component i.e. playing the tracks or if the Uniti is a Core is it able to serve the tracks to a Streamer (NDS, NDX, ND5XS, 272, 172) over UPnP (i.e. is it bridging between RAAT and UPnP protocols?)

Simon.

Simon, I don’t understand why you say that the UPnP bridge can’t play 24/192. I’m listening to Joni Mitchell ‘Blue’ in 24/192 right now.

Are you using into a NDS?

Whenever I try and play a 24/192 track, it either doesn’t or I get seconds, then the stream collapses.

If I view the buffer level, in the NDS, it has been completely depleted, so I can only conclude that the Bridge is not able to process & supply it fast enough.

Sonore weren’t much help in Support, so no diagnosis, or fixes to try.

Hence I added the USB->S/PDIF convertor and take in a Digital input to the NDS, which works ok.

thanks, Simon

David Hendon posted:

Richard Dane posted:

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.

If you read the Naim announcement about Roon Ready, they mention Atom, Star and Nova. I am certain that if UnitiCore could support Roon Ready, they would have mentioned that too in the same announcement. So apart from the point Richard mentions that the Core isn't a streamer, I think it's completely clear that the Core can't act as a Roon endpoint.

best

David

Eaxctly.  And just to be sure I have asked Naim to confirm, which they have - Roon Ready applies just to the New Uniti streamers.

simes_pep posted:

Are you using into a NDS?

Whenever I try and play a 24/192 track, it either doesn’t or I get seconds, then the stream collapses.

If I view the buffer level, in the NDS, it has been completely depleted, so I can only conclude that the Bridge is not able to process & supply it fast enough.

Sonore weren’t much help in Support, so no diagnosis, or fixes to try.

Hence I added the USB->S/PDIF convertor and take in a Digital input to the NDS, which works ok.

thanks, Simon

Simon,

Yes, I am using it into an NDS, with no problem of the kind you describe. I am not technically knowledgeable enough to suggest what you might do to fix your problem, but you live very near me, so if you would like to call over to see how I have managed to stumble on a solution, you would be welcome.

David

Cool, could I bring the SonicorbiterSE I run the bridge on, to if the problem can be reproduced?

Please PM me you details and when works for you?

thanks, Simon

No PM on the Naim forum.......

simes_pep posted:

Cool, could I bring the SonicorbiterSE I run the bridge on, to if the problem can be reproduced?

Please PM me you details and when works for you?

thanks, Simon

Moderated Post: David, please don't post personal e-mail addresses on here.  It's a publicly viewable forum and not safe to do so as anyone can read it.

Just in case you haven't noticed, Naim have now announced that Roon support for the new Uniti streamers is available. Although I've yet to be convinced that Roon is something I really want or need, I can say that, having had a chance to play with it in beta, it works very well, and I found running it from my MacBook Pro (as Roon Core) into an Atom (as Roon Endpoint) to be very stable and user friendly. Details here:  

https://forums.naimaudio.com/to...niti-progress-update

Where is the discount code?

[@mention:36201736949470193] can you show a screenshot of how the Nova appears in Roon as an endpoint?  I.e. streaming Roon over the network (vs. using a digitial input) does the Nova allow for DSD?

Best,

Marty

Hanover33 posted:

[@mention:36201736949470193] can you show a screenshot of how the Nova appears in Roon as an endpoint?  I.e. streaming Roon over the network (vs. using a digitial input) does the Nova allow for DSD?

Best,

Marty

Hi Marty

I'm using an Atom, but I'm sure it would be the same on a Nova. Once you have Roon running, it will search your network, and should find the Nova automatically. You can then select it as an output and Music will play through the Nova. You will not see a Roon input to select on the Nova or the Naim app, you just do it from Roon, very similar to using Apple Airplay.

In this image, 'Downstairs' is the name I have given my Atom, which I have selected as a 'zone'.

Functionality on the Naim remote control (not the app), like "stop/pause/play/next/back", is operational too when using Roon ?

magagne posted:

Functionality on the Naim remote control (not the app), like "stop/pause/play/next/back", is operational too when using Roon ?

Yes, you can still use the remote, but you have full control of the Naim streamer from within Roon. 

very nice thank you - and can you show the detailed setup screen (the dots next to the zone)?  That will show the supported formats I believe...

I also think that the 'Roon Ready' Branding has been included in the latest Roon release (1.3B269) - see https://community.roonlabs.com...ld-269-is-live/32316

Thanks, Simon.

Hanover33 posted:

very nice thank you - and can you show the detailed setup screen (the dots next to the zone)?  That will show the supported formats I believe...

I would have to post dozens of screenshots to show you all the setup screens! I would suggest that you sign up for the free trial and have a look, it’s easy to get it up and running, then you can spend as long as you like tweaking it!

To answer your earlier question, yes, Roon will play DSD to your Nova. I don’t have many DSD files, but I can use Roon to stream DSD64 from a Macbook to my Atom. 

simes_pep posted:

I also think that the 'Roon Ready' Branding has been included in the latest Roon release (1.3B269) - see https://community.roonlabs.com...ld-269-is-live/32316

Thanks, Simon.

Hmmm. 

I haven't seen the firmware update for the Naim yet.

The roon core update to 269 now shows this icon for the Uniti Atom.

However, the zone settings clearly show that this is an airplay device at present...

Okay, found and applied the Naim Atom update 

So now I get:

And then playback audio path is:

And a bit more fun:

Also cover art works flawlessly on the Atom screen, and the volume level displayed in the roon control app shows realtime the volume level of the Atom.

Hope that's helpful to people. Have fun.

One more thing...

You can see TIDAL Masters in the Roon UI now...

I don't know how Roon is passing MQA to the Atom, this is what shows... 

Further exploring to do.

Thanks for all the info and screen shots! - I already use Roon so my questions are exactly what you are posting, how the Naim works with Roon (not how Roon works).