Cheap way to enable Roon streamig to older NAIM streamers

Couple of questions re the RoPieee please:

    • What HAT would you need if you had an NDX → Chord Qutest DAC setup?
    • Does the Artist/Track info still show on the NDX screen
    • Is it even worth having the NDX in the middle of the RoPieee+HAT and a Chord Qutest DAC?

I keep looking at the NDX as used prices are so cheap at the moment but wouldn’t want to lose ROON.

Hi if you have a qutest you don’t really need a hat as the qutest takes a USB input.

I dont know why you would want an NDX in the mix here. Pi into quetest, analogue output qutest into pre amp.
If you want something a bit tastier then the same pi can have a pi scree 7 inch attached to it to display whats playing and this software is all handled by Ropiee.

Here is a very bad shot of one such set up in my kitchen.
Cases for all of this area available on amazon and for like 120 quid you have an excellent roon endpoint with display for your qutest. win win in my book.

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…or just make do with your phone or tablet. :grinning:

Dave

Well yeah, you can always ‘make do’ I suppose.

Make do and mend. :grinning:

Dave

Ok, I have posted on this subject in a number of topics.

To provide Roon connectivity to the older generation of Naim Network players I looked at a number of options.

  1. SonoreUPnP Bridge, an out-of-the-box supported solution where the Roon stream is presented on the Ethernet port in UPnP format.
    This software runs on a range of equipment, i) an appliance from Small Green Computers at $229
    Sonore UPnP Bridge – Small Green Computer
    ii) A Sonore Rendu device, the cheapest being a microRendu, available directly or from their Distributors such as Martin at http://www.vortexbox.co.uk/
    It also runs on the UltraRendu, OpticalRendu and SignatureRendu
    iii) The sonicTransponder server range from Small Green Computers and distributors including Martin at http://www.vortexbox.co.uk/ where you can run your Roon Core plus the SonoreUPnP bridge on the same device. The i5 version has been reported to run Roon and the bridge well.

  2. The open source LMS2UPNP software which runs on Linux platform. Cheapest solution is a RPi. A Built-it and maintain-it yourself solution. No major hardware requirements involved from CPU or RAM if you run it as a dedicated headless solution.
    I have it as a backup solution on a RPi2 which I use to run Asset 7.2 UPnP server. I use DietPi, as a lightweight stripped down OS.
    Some Linux knowledge and skill required to build, install OS, install and configure the LMS2UPNP, but there are guides on this forum.

There is also Windows version of the UPnP Bridge, but you would need a Windows platform to be running when listening. This maybe an option if you run your Roon Core on Windows, so have this platform available. However I have found that Music server, Bridges etc. run better on dedicated computing platforms with OS stripped down just to serve them and ideally a lower noise environment. Something you don’t get with normal Windows or a Mac environments.

Again as with the SonoreUPnP bridge the Roon endpoint presents a bit-perfect stream to the Ethernet input in UPnP format.

The Naim Network player will auto select the input when the streams starts. You then have to actively stop the stream in Roon if you want to select another input, otherwise it will jump back to the Ethernet input and continue to play the stream from Roon.
So this solution may not be the best for the Streaming Preamps in the 272 & 172.

Each UPnP Bridged endpoint needs its own Bridge, as it configured for each, and one maintains one stream at a time. So a multi-room system will require multiple, or a configuration of the bridge to direct the stream to a different endpoint.

  1. A Roon endpoint that outputs S/PDIF based digital output to used on one the digital inputs of the Naim device (this is the only solution if you just have an nDAC or V1 DAC).
    There are many solutions here.
  • A RPi with a HAT that has a S/PDIF convertor, such as HifiBerry, Allo
  • A Chromecast Audio with TOSLINK optical output (limited on the formats supported, but up to 24/92)
  • A NAA player with USB output, then a USB->S/PDIF convertor
  • A dedicated Bridge product with S/PDIF output, such as Sonore Endpoint Sonore - endPoint, DCS Bridge, Limetree Bridge Lindemann

There are many different products here, all with different merits. However you are converting a packet based stream to a synchronous digital stream to feed into the Digital input on the Naim Network player. In doing so, the format conversion will potentially introduce its own characteristic as well as the possibility of jitter. However this is very dependant of the solution and good designs will strive to minimise this, but it is another set of variables in the playback path that can influence the SQ.

My feeling is that the Naim Network players such as ND5XS, NDX, NDS etc. were designed for a Networked input, and the playback path optimized for a UPnP stream. This is the format Naim still use to showcase their 500 series and Statement products. As such the UPnP Bridge solution is better served, as a Bit-perfect stream.

I have listened to a number of these solutions on my NDS/555DR and before this a ND5XS/NP5XS (and for a while NDS/NP5XS). When comparing different NAA devices into a S/PDIF convertor, I feel they loose to the UPnP Bridge playback in terms of timing & presentation.

I have the LMS2UPNP solution available on the RPI2 and prefer the SonoreUPnP bridge I have running on an UltraRendu/UltraCap LPS 1.0 - but that’s in my system with Sim Audio Moon amp, B&W 805 Signature speakers etc in my room.

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4 RPis here around the house as endpoints - mix of HiFi Berry and RoPieee - all sound about the same, all easy to do, and you can use minimal kit - Pi3, 2Gb (think one of mine is 1Gb), one or other Hat. Simple to plug and play. Don’t even need a case if you like the steampunk look. Or a clear acrylic if you want a contrast…

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No, this is not passed through. You get a ‘StreamingXX’ notation where XX is the number of streams you have initiated.

I have requested it, as the UPnP format allows it, but it may not be available in the right format from Roon, to be parsed over.

Of course if you use a S/PDIF output endpoint, this comes in a digital input (RCA, BNC or TOSLINK) so just the Input name given is used.

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+1

RPi 4B / HiFiBerry Digi_ Pro / HiFiBerry OS → NaimUniti 1 (essentially acting as a DAC) → Lexicon AV…

Very simple to build and commission (30mins) and sounds much better than the Chromecast I was using as an interim.

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Thanks for the responses, for some reason I didn’t get notified of them.

OK, so the Ropieee acts as the transport meaning the NDX would pretty much just be a pass-thru to the external DAC. Agreed, it makes no sense in having it then.

I think I’m just impatient to add another black box as I only have one (SN3) on a rack with three levels :slight_smile:

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Simon, I agree per my own experience. My set up is Roon → ultraRendu → 1st gen Naim streamer * via UPnP → NDAC

(*) originally a UQ2, then later an NDX

I first tried USB from the ultraRendu to a Bel Canto uLink USB/SPDIF converter to UQ2 → NDAC, and found the result was inferior to “native” UPnP streaming, like from Asset on a NAS. Even after adding USB and SPDIF reclockers. However, when I tried streaming from the ultraRendu over the network via UPnP instead, the result was indistinguishable to “native” UPnP, at least to my ears.

Is that purely for sound quality reasons, or otherwise? I have a bedroom system with a UQ2, and was considering LMS2UPNP on a RPi so that when using Roon, I wouldn’t have to take the extra step of repointing my ultraRendu to a different streamer (yes, I’m a lazy boy).

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It is, but only marginal. But setting up the LMS2UPNP on a RPi does require some Linux knowledge, it’s not a out-of-the-box solution, as with SonoreUPnP on a Rendu. If you are happy with that, a good solution for that system at minimal cost.

Another suggestion is a Chromecast Audio, using the Optical digital into the UQ2. Roon supports Chromecast based endpoints.

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Thanks Simon. I’d like to stick to a direct UPnP solution. And I like that LMS2UPNP can stream to multiple endpoints.

I’m familiar with Linux, so no issues in that regard. It will be an excuse to tinker with a RPi, which has been on my bucket list for quite awhile. So I may give this a go, once I make a bit more headway on a few other in-progress audio projects.

I used Windows to start with to do a ‘proof of concept’ before taking the plunge to ‘productionise’ the setup on something that can run 24x7.

If all goes well you can have it up and running in just a few minutes.

ok, so

I use DietPi as the OS on my RPi2 (have an original RPi knocking about somewhere), a lightweight headless OS, which has been stable and requires little maintenance as you are not using many modules, no desktop components etc.
It just runs Asset UPnP server, as the Naim Streamers seem to like having a default UPnP option and a backup incase Roon gets screwed up, and the LMS2UPNP bridge, however it is not enabled as an endpoint in Roon, as the SonoreUPnP is the default bridge.

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Thanks TD. In my case, I don’t have any Windows machines anymore. I got rid of Windows in my household after W7 was EOL’d. So it will be straight to Linux for me.

Thanks Simon. In my case, I have Asset running separately on a NAS. But I’ll go with your recommendation to use DietPi, and will just install LMS2UPNP on it.

BTW, my Sonore UPnP Bridge on an ultraRendu isn’t going anywhere. It will remain as the Roonification method for my NDX, as it works splendidly.

It’s my separate UQ2 in the BR that I also want to Roonify, without the necessity of repointing the Sonore UPnP bridge back and forth between streamers. Not to mention that I have a spare UQ2, that I might set up for a garden audio system some day. It’s too bad that the Sonore UPnP Bridge doesn’t support multiple streamer endpoints (simultaneously).

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If your NAS can run Logitech Media Server then you can install that and enable the lms-to-upnp application as a plugin within LMS.

This is what I do on my QNAP. I run LMS within a container. It works flawlessly and saves having another device running like a Pi.

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Good point, TD. I am in the process of switching from a QNAP TS-251 on it’s last legs to a Synology DS720+. I don’t believe that Synology supports LMS anymore, but I suppose that I could run it within a container.

You could ask Sonore to modify the SonoreUPnP product to run multi streams.