Help with 'Roonifying' my NDX

Streaming Audio
1

Last summer I purchased a used second-hand Naim NDX (2017) in good working condition. This was to be an upgrade from my BSNode 2i/nDAC setup. I do not do much streaming and bought the NDX as a higher quality source for my large music library which resides on a Synology NAS.

Four months later and I am still trying to integrate the NDX into my system so I can evaluate it’s SQ properly. I have been having a challenging time trying to find a music server/controller that works seamlessly and efficiently with my library and the NDX. I ran into problems with Asset, Bubble and Audirvana. I am currently into a two-week Roon trial but need help getting it to talk to my NDX. If I can’t I am going to give up and put the NDX back on the market.

I read through the previous posts on this topic and noted that two options were usually recommended.

  1. Purchase a Sonore UPnP bridge
  2. Install Squeeze2upnp bridge.

I have looked for a new or second-hand Sonore bridge but was unable to locate one.

I have downloaded the Squeeze2upnp bridge files, and downloaded the ”ayon User Manual for Squeeze2upnp bridge”. Unfortunately, I am having trouble installing the binary file on my MacBookPro. I am not very familiar with the script commands terminal uses so have attached a screenshot of where I got to with Terminal.

Terminal LMS screenshot

Some questions:

Are there any other basic step-by-step guides or YouTube videos on how to do this?
Is there a third option that I should consider?
Is there any benefit to having the Logitech Media Server running in a container on my NAS?

2

The legacy NDX is not “Roon Ready”. I think the method that probably 99% of users who want to Roon their legacy streamers will opt for is to use it as a DAC only and instead feed a digital input on the NDX from an external transport that is Roon capable. Bridging it to make it appear as UPnP is probably not the way to go.

The old streamers were designed to sound best specifically with simple WAV files (FLAC resulting is slightly more processing noise to extract the same data stream) over direct unbridged UPnP like Asset or Minimserver, or a Naim server like the Core.

1 Like
4

Keep it simple, as said above, NDX is not Roon Ready.
My NDX runs with a Synology NAS (DS214 with DSM-7) loaded with Asset UPnP.
Music is all FLAC with Asset set to ‘play as’ WAV.
Control point is iPad with iOS app or Android SPhone.
Nothing else required = Simples

5

Perhaps if you state what the issues were with the other methods you tried?

6

I’m not sure buying the NDX was a good option.

The ndac is better than the DAC in the NDX, and a streamer such as the £500 Primare NP5 is a better streamer than the streamer in the NDX.

Upgrading the streamer feeding the ndac is a better solution, both in terms of SQ and connectivity.

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7

There are quite a few relatively inexpensive network bridge devices available so you can “Roonify” the NDX. Roon themselves have a webpage that mentions some of them. I use one with my UnitiQute2 and it works and sounds fine. There’s the Allo DigiOne and the Sonore . . . and others.

Prior to Roon I used Asset on a NAS. It worked just fine but definitely required more hand-holding than running Roon on a NUC, which just ALWAYS works and updates itself seamlessly.