Roon Integration with New Uniti Series Products

I set up a Uniti Star for a friend. He bought Sonicorbiter i5 with Roon Core preloaded. Just plugged it in to the same switch as the Uniti, and hey presto!

He is delighted with it. He is a 60+ year old, and had no system before. 

David, do you mean the Sonictransporter i5 from Small Green Computers... $695US?

I use Roon with my Atom which is Roon ready.  Works as long as the Atom itself behaves itself. It's very simple to setup.

Yes. Sorry, Sonicorbiter.com is the website for the interface to SGC products. Sonictransporter i5 it is.

There are cheaper ways of going about this, but none so straightforward without technical torture.

I initially thought that Roon didn't sound as good as the native playback in my Atom. I have turned around on this. I find it more rounded and fuller than the native tidal and upnp which comes across as a bit bright and harsh. Also the interface for Roon is so much more practical and way to use. 

David O'Higgins posted:

Yes. Sorry, Sonicorbiter.com is the website for the interface to SGC products. Sonictransporter i5 it is.

There are cheaper ways of going about this, but none so straightforward without technical torture.

I just use a custom i3 pc myself. Found setting it up pretty easy. You just need to decide on simple operating system that's good and stable for audio  such as Vortexbox and it's simple to install the core after that. 

David O'Higgins posted:

Yes. Sorry, Sonicorbiter.com is the website for the interface to SGC products. Sonictransporter i5 it is.

There are cheaper ways of going about this, but none so straightforward without technical torture.

I have a friend that went this way and it is pretty much worry free and he enjoys the set up. However, his is networked to and UltraRendu/PS that feeds a USB DAC to integrated amplifier. 

I'm contemplating how to add Roon to my Naim rig and keep the NDX in service because I have it all in the living room  with TV, streaming, iRadio etc. I think I could go the Sonictransporter i5 for the Roon Core, UltraRendu/PS or SoTMUltra/PS through USB/SPDIF converter into the NDAC but thats all pretty expensive proposition and don't know if the stream would take a hit via the converter. 

I think you are over complicating things. If you don’t have a USB DAC, go for a solution that has spdif out  

Roon will run on any PC/Mac/Linux machine. You can get an allo digi one which has Ethernet in / spdif out into your nDac. 

For a no fiddling solution  an Auralic Aeries Mini ( or even an Squeezebox Touch, which are cheap as chips second hand now). 

My advice is to get the least expensive pathway in, do the trial and then explore further. You’d be surprised how good a “cheap” solution can sound. 

You perhaps  could even trial Roon and use your iPad into the nDAC’s front USB port as the iPAD (or iPhone) is now a Roon endpoint as well as a controller. 

.sjb

mackb3 posted:

I'm contemplating how to add Roon to my Naim rig and keep the NDX in service because I have it all in the living room  with TV, streaming, iRadio etc. I think I could go the Sonictransporter i5 for the Roon Core, 

If you were looking at the Sonictransporter, doesn’t that have the Roon to UPnP Bridge software?  No need for any extra hardware there.

It does but you not getting the full benefit of Roon using upnp.

Using a QNAP nas as Roon server and Nova as Endpoint controlled by an Android tablet - excellent!

SimonPeterArnold posted:

David O'Higgins posted:

Yes. Sorry, Sonicorbiter.com is the website for the interface to SGC products. Sonictransporter i5 it is.

There are cheaper ways of going about this, but none so straightforward without technical torture.

I just use a custom i3 pc myself. Found setting it up pretty easy. You just need to decide on simple operating system that's good and stable for audio  such as Vortexbox and it's simple to install the core after that. 

Lots of the replies in this thread are ignoring the essence of what I was trying to put forward. What I did is persuade a 60+ ‘non techie’ with no sound system to put in a very high quality sound system into his living room, and to install an Ethernet network there simultaneously. Then he added a fanless, discless Linux based PC, which promises to be ‘fit and forget’ in terms of updates. All of this painlessly (from his point of view) and without (so far) crossing any domestic limit. The icing in the cake is that he doesn’t know he has done all this. It just works, and now he is enjoying the music.

Of course I am riding for a fall here, but I am really encouraged by this example of how this technology may be spread.

SimonPeterArnold posted:

It does but you not getting the full benefit of Roon using upnp.

It’s late SimonPeter, but can you please explain what “not getting the full benefit of Roon using UpNp” means?

Roon is optimised to run on it own streaming protocol called RAAT. Whilst it will talk and mimic Sonos and Squeezebox devices (this is how they get the upnp bridge to work) these cant use RAAT so may not be as stable as using a dedicated Roon ready endpoint, possible metadata limitations to and it will have limited multiroon syncing (if you need that). SQ is also claimed to be better using RAAT. I did notice a difference my self and its pretty obvious on my current Atom, I can stream via upnp or use the dedicated Roon ready and it does sound better to me via Roon, although some might prefer uPnP sound. Roon creators really have a beef against uPnP too its the reason they developed there own tech to get around its shortcomings.

A lot of Naim users use it though and seem happy. 

Synology NAS running roon. Database is on a memory stick. Nova works well with it wired. Chord Mojo/Poly works equally well wirelessly for late listening. Biggest benefit is the UI really. The NAIM app is so terrible trying to interact with Tidal or uPnP. The Roon app is a pleasure to use. I run it on Android Tablet and Note 8. LIstening to Rainbow Rising on it right now :-).

Dan360 posted:

Synology NAS running roon. Database is on a memory stick. Nova works well with it wired. Chord Mojo/Poly works equally well wirelessly for late listening. Biggest benefit is the UI really. The NAIM app is so terrible trying to interact with Tidal or uPnP. The Roon app is a pleasure to use. I run it on Android Tablet and Note 8. LIstening to Rainbow Rising on it right now :-).

Yep using Roon app compared to the Naim app feels like a generational leap in design and usability.

I’m have a Roon system running through my house to a variety of systems. Roon Core is on an old MacBook Pro with an attached drive serving out. In another room I have an Atom receiving as a Roon endpoint. It was flaky over wireless but is stable using Homeplugsd to carry the wired network (until I get around to putti=no a full Cat5 network in). The Atom sounds excellent in this set up. I have a couple of other connected devices to this system and Roon integrates them all very nicely.

I find Roon itself and the control apps (on iPads, Macs and iPhones) to be a superb multi-room experience.

Sloop John B posted:

 You perhaps  could even trial Roon and use your iPad into the nDAC’s front USB port as the iPAD (or iPhone) is now a Roon endpoint as well as a controller.

Thanks for that tip. Am I correct in assuming that the RAAT protocol is always used when Roon sees a Roon endpoint, no matter the device on which the endpoint is installed ?

Thanks

Jan

If it's Roon ready  or Roon bridge then yes always RAAT, same for android or iOS playback from phone or tablet.

Great, thank you ! Another good reason to pick up a new iPad then...

Jan-Erik Nordoen posted:

Sloop John B posted:

 You perhaps  could even trial Roon and use your iPad into the nDAC’s front USB port as the iPAD (or iPhone) is now a Roon endpoint as well as a controller.

Thanks for that tip. Am I correct in assuming that the RAAT protocol is always used when Roon sees a Roon endpoint, no matter the device on which the endpoint is installed ?

Thanks

Jan

Squeezebox, Sonos,  Devialet and KEF LS500 wireless are not true RAAT endpoints. Roon engineered a solution for these. 

All other Roon endpoints are RAAT. 

.sjb

Sloop John B posted:

I think you are over complicating things. If you don’t have a USB DAC, go for a solution that has spdif out  

Roon will run on any PC/Mac/Linux machine. You can get an allo digi one which has Ethernet in / spdif out into your nDac. 

For a no fiddling solution  an Auralic Aeries Mini ( or even an Squeezebox Touch, which are cheap as chips second hand now). 

 

My advice is to get the least expensive pathway in, do the trial and then explore further. You’d be surprised how good a “cheap” solution can sound. 

You perhaps  could even trial Roon and use your iPad into the nDAC’s front USB port as the iPAD (or iPhone) is now a Roon endpoint as well as a controller. 

.sjb

John,

You are correct. Thanks for your advice. I do have a Chord 2Qute that I'm not using. I will explore.

Thank you sjb. Coincidentally, I've just finished an evaluation of the KEF LS50 wireless, which gave me a chance to use Roon, and appreciate its depth. Music seemed a little more involving via Roon than when using the Kef playback, or perhaps it was my imagination...

Jan

Works really well with Roon Rock installed on a Cheap i5 Intel Nuc as a Core. Raat works well connecting with my Atom. The main strength is it also plays nicely with Android unlike the Naim app which is pretty poor compared to IOS. I've had one failed connection in six months.

I’m running Roon core on a Mac Mini with music files on a WD Nas drive. Until this week this went to a Blusound Node 2 into a Cambridge CXA60, and stop gap Q Acoustics 3010. But I have now replaced these with a Uniti Atom into said speakers. Sound is great, and Roon works well with the Atom.