Roon and 272

It's not supported directly by the Naim software in the 272. You will need to add hardware if you want to add roon.

.sjb

You need to run the Roon ‘Core’ on a separate device (and that would be the case even if you had a Roon enabled streamer like the new Naim ones.) Beyond that, if you just want to give Roon a try, you don’t necessarily need to buy more hardware. If you have a Mac with an optical output, connect that to the 272 and you’re sorted. 

OK, I'm dim... explain to me how Roon works, with an ND555.  What bits are there, what do they run on and what does it do?

It's all a bit "the Emporer's new clothes" to me... can I admit to knowing bugger all about it and still maintain my credibility on the Naim forum... that's assuming I had any credibility to start with    

Roger

PS - Thanks !

Roger, you can run Roon on a computer or NAS you already own to try it out. Sign up for the trial, instal it, and it will find your ND555, local music stores, and your Tidal account if you have one. It then takes over from UPnP and sends music to your streamer(s).

 If you like it, you may then decide to buy dedicated hardware to run the Roon Core. This might be a Mac Mini, a Roon Nucleus, an Innuos server, etc. etc. 

Can I run the Roon core on a networked PC and the app on an Android device?

The Melco is on the network and connected to the 272 using Direct mode

Yes, you can run the core on pretty much any computer, but because a 272 is not Roon enabled, you cannot then play to it over the network. You would need a hardware solution to make this work with the 272. The optical cable suggestion was a way round this. 

ChrisSU posted:

Roger, you can run Roon on a computer or NAS you already own to try it out. Sign up for the trial, instal it, and it will find your ND555, local music stores, and your Tidal account if you have one. It then takes over from UPnP and sends music to your streamer(s).

 If you like it, you may then decide to buy dedicated hardware to run the Roon Core. This might be a Mac Mini, a Roon Nucleus, an Innuos server, etc. etc. 

So, running the Roon core on my QNAP NAS, the ND555 now sees this as a server as well as the other servers, like NS01 on the network, so I select Roon server instead of NS01 on the 555 and I'm then playing files served by Roon from my QNAP NAS where the Roon Core resides ?

So, since all my music is stored on NAS drives, the only remaining duty for my NS01 becomes ripping... is that right?

And would there be any SQ differences between music served from my NS01 and music served from the Roon core NAS ?  (Yeah, I know... try it and see  )

Thanks.

rjstaines posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Roger, you can run Roon on a computer or NAS you already own to try it out. Sign up for the trial, instal it, and it will find your ND555, local music stores, and your Tidal account if you have one. It then takes over from UPnP and sends music to your streamer(s).

 If you like it, you may then decide to buy dedicated hardware to run the Roon Core. This might be a Mac Mini, a Roon Nucleus, an Innuos server, etc. etc. 

So, running the Roon core on my QNAP NAS, the ND555 now sees this as a server as well as the other servers, like NS01 on the network, so I select Roon server instead of NS01 on the 555 and I'm then playing files served by Roon from my QNAP NAS where the Roon Core resides ?

So, since all my music is stored on NAS drives, the only remaining duty for my NS01 becomes ripping... is that right?

 

Yes, that's about it. Roon will see any music it can find on your network, on NAS, computer, iTunes library, etc and merge this, and your Tidal account if you have one, into a single library. You control it all from the Roon app rather than the Naim app - there is no output to select on the streamer, it just detects the incoming signal and plays it. If you have any other networked systems around the house, Roon can play to those too, and has its own multiroom function.

Regarding sound quality, I only have an Atom supporting Roon, so you might have to judge that for yourself! I have tried it via a few different workaround setups into my NDX, and although I didn't really try too hard to make a direct a/b comparison, Roon sounded OK to me.

I have used roopie on a raspberry as a Roon player at circa 60 quid it’s a no brainier plus you can hide it behind the 272. I should imagine a simple sub to spdif concert or would work form it else get a highberry fav to go with it

ChrisSU posted:

 

Yes, that's about it. Roon will see any music it can find on your network, on NAS, computer, iTunes library, etc and merge this, and your Tidal account if you have one, into a single library. You control it all from the Roon app rather than the Naim app - there is no output to select on the streamer, it just detects the incoming signal and plays it. If you have any other networked systems around the house, Roon can play to those too, and has its own multiroom function.

Regarding sound quality, I only have an Atom supporting Roon, so you might have to judge that for yourself! I have tried it via a few different workaround setups into my NDX, and although I didn't really try too hard to make a direct a/b comparison, Roon sounded OK to me.

Thanks Chris.   This sounds to me to be just what the Uniti Core does,  it gathers together ALL your music files and presents them to the streamer.  What he Core doesn't  do is allow you to see, for example, all your HiDef or all your FLAC albums which are stored in different folders on the network, everything's grouped together, no matter where it was found.  Is this what Roon does, or can you select to see just the contents of one folder ?

When I had the Core on dem, I didn't know whether I had selected an MP3, a CD or a hidef file until it was playing, then the streamer told me.  The HDX & NS01 & US's allow you to select a discreet folder.  The Core went back to my dealer;  the NS01 remains.

Roon has a logo in each entry which will say CD, 24/96, AAC, Tidal or whatever. I'm not aware that you can search by format (but maybe I missed it) although if you search by artist, you can see all albums in your collection, with the format of each one shown.

No being able to view by folder is a big let down in roon, as is the bloody side scrolling.

Roon is designed (deliberately) to get away from folders, so local content, Tidal content (and soon apparently Qobuz) is seen in one library. BUT Roon has a focus feature where you can search by almost everything, one being  format. 

.sjb

ChrisSU posted:

Roon has a logo in each entry which will say CD, 24/96, AAC, Tidal or whatever. I'm not aware that you can search by format (but maybe I missed it) although if you search by artist, you can see all albums in your collection, with the format of each one shown.

That sounds useful... up to a point.  There are many artists I know and love in my collection, but there are many more artists amongst my thousands of albums that I've never heard of, or who's names I can't remember or whose work I don't recall.  For these I use the browse-by-artist (irrespective of format) throwing a (logical) dart to see the next to be sampled.  This 'artist' approach falls down on those days when I want to explore my hires or my CD library.

So, all in all, I'm thinking that Roon, like the Naim Core server, is not for me.

Thanks for your clear explanation though ChrisSU, I've been enlightened during the course of today, thinking this morning that this Roon thing sounds like something new and wonderful and helpful (especially since my new ND555 supports it), to realising by this evening that it's probably not for me, and thereby now having the problem of finding something else exciting to spend $119 a year on.

PS - just noticed SJB's post above... looks like the book is not yet closed... I'll call the jury back in 

Probably worth doing the free trial, it's easy enough to set up without spending money on hardware if you want to get the feel for it. I guess we all browse and search for music in different ways, which might be why some really like Roon, and others don't. Of course, it does a lot more than just replace the Naim app as a way to browse. It replaces UPnP altogether, provides multiroom options, a load of configurable DSP stuff, and so on. All of which you probably don't really need, although I would say that what it sets out to do, it seems to do very well.

rjstaines posted:

ChrisSU posted:

Roon has a logo in each entry which will say CD, 24/96, AAC, Tidal or whatever. I'm not aware that you can search by format (but maybe I missed it) although if you search by artist, you can see all albums in your collection, with the format of each one shown.

That sounds useful... up to a point.  There are many artists I know and love in my collection, but there are many more artists amongst my thousands of albums that I've never heard of, or who's names I can't remember or whose work I don't recall.  For these I use the browse-by-artist (irrespective of format) throwing a (logical) dart to see the next to be sampled.  This 'artist' approach falls down on those days when I want to explore my hires or my CD library.

So, all in all, I'm thinking that Roon, like the Naim Core server, is not for me.

Thanks for your clear explanation though ChrisSU, I've been enlightened during the course of today, thinking this morning that this Roon thing sounds like something new and wonderful and helpful (especially since my new ND555 supports it), to realising by this evening that it's probably not for me, and thereby now having the problem of finding something else exciting to spend $119 a year on.

 

PS - just noticed SJB's post above... looks like the book is not yet closed... I'll call the jury back in 

Definitely, call the jury back in. Once you try it, I’m sure you will find it gives an unparalleled access to your music.

I’m not sure though that you can make your Qnap a Roon Core. It depends on its specifications. In my case, I have a small fanless intel i5 pc, meeting the specifications which you can find on the Roon website, and on which I installed the Roon Core software. This is effectively your music index, as it were, and then the  Roon remote app running on,e.g. your iPad, can be pointed to your Qnap (and any other devices) on which your music resides, to give you access to the music stored on the Qnap. 

The Roon remote app will find your ND555 automatically, as it is a Roon endpoint.

Hope this is not too confusing. 

I'm running Roon Core on my Qnap TS251 - you just need to plug a 128G SSD into a spare usb port (unless you are already using SSDs).

Pev posted:

I'm running Roon Core on my Qnap TS251 - you just need to plug a 128G SSD into a spare usb port (unless you are already using SSDs).

That’s interesting Pev. Presume I could do this with a HS-251+ ? How do you download the Roon Core program to the SSD?

Hi David - there are links on the Roon site to a download pack for the Qnap, then once it is on the Qnap just install it on the SSD. It was several months ago since I did it but I recall it was very straightforward.

If you have any problems then shout out and I will try to retrace my steps.