I am doing a trial of Roon with my NDS. I understand NDS does not support Roon but there are workarounds with upnp bridge (Sonore) which I believe is a hardware solution. I think I read somewhere that there can also be a software solution by using bubbleupnp but dont know how this works. Can someone please provide some guidance or point me in the right direction if this has been covered before.
I’ve no information for you wrt to using bubbleupnp with Roon, indeed, not come across that one at all.
There are a number of useful and information threads on the forum worth searching out. In addition, to the Sonore hardware solution there are many other options. Some options that I have tried that may be of use to you…
Use Chromecast as a Roon endpoint
Use Raspberry Pi with appropriate software as a Roon endpont
Use any computer on your network with appropriate software as a Roon endpoint
The software solution is an application called lms-to-upnp which can be run standalone or as a plugin on a separate Logitech Media Server. BubbleUPNP allows you to use Tidal or Qobuz via a reverse proxy server which can allow improved sound quality over the Naim app for Tidal and gives Qobuz compatibility.
Lms-to-upnp bridges between a Squeezelite interface and UPNP allowing PCM to be sent from Roon to a UPNP streamer.
I’ve been using it for 10 months now and it’s very reliable and sounds as good as a stream started from the Naim application.
Or to save you a headache. Purchase a Chromecast Audio for around 20USD and attach it to the input of the NDS and get going. Some will argue its a tradeoff in quality. However you will not need to get a master degree to make it happen
I use a hardware and software solution. First I have a dedicated music server running Roon, then the Sonore software (?) is used so that the NDS can receive the music data. Somewhere along the line, as @trickydickie mentions, Squeezelite comes into play. One day I’ll understand what each bit does … for now it all works nicely.
Martin at the Audiostore was very helpful… there are several solutions that match a range of price points.
Thanks all for your valuable inputs. I understand know the limitations of NDS and my options. I am not the one for fiddling with code and installs. And from past experience I don’t want to play around with unestablished solutions. I have done enough in my younger days with squeezeboxes and squeezeserver’s.
Talking of squeezeboxes, I have one (the very first one before Logitech took over) somewhere in my garage. I plan to connect that to my NDS via one of the digital inputs and test out Roon with that as the endpoint.
If someone has tried that, I would be interested to know their experience and recommendations.
Squeezelite is an open source software level Squeezebox player. It emulates the original hardware and advertises itself as a Squeezebox to the network… It allows any computer, android device to essentially be a squeezebox box player and be seen by the Logitech Media Server so it can send music to it. Very much like Roons Bridge software that can be installed on all computers and make them a Roon endpoint. Roon essentially incorporated code from LMS so it can advertise itself and talk to Squeezeboxes so the squeezelite player shows up as an available squeezebox to Roon. The Sonore then bridges UPnP to Squeezelite, there is a similar plugin for LMS itself that does a similar thing and had been around for many years and is free but not as hassle free to setup.
One thing to note is that Roon don’t officially support Squeezelite only the official hardware Squeezeboxes.
If you are the UK I suggest you visit Vortexbox.co.uk who have a number of very effective solutions for owners of Naim legacy streamers, especially if you don’t already of a Roon Core. Their servers have the Sonore UPNP Bridge software installed so you don’t have to import a separate SGC box from the USA.
Hi,
Firstly the Squeezebox V3 which pre-dated the Squeezebox Touch is limited to 24/48. The Touch was 24/96, but there a plug-in to extend that to 24/192.
I owned a V3 used into a Pink Triangle DAC (differential DAC7 chips with a 24-bit filter), but this was limited to 24/48 as well. So when I changed the V3 for a Touch, I still couldn’t play 24/96 material.
At that point I got a ND5XS, which in time became a NDS/555DR setup.
Now the SonoreUPnP Bridge is very easy - either you can run on the server if you go for a Vortex box or a SGC SonicTransporter. Or if you already have a device running your Roon Core, you can take the standalone SonoreUPnP Bridge device that SGC offers, or run the Bridge on a microRendu or UltraRendu.
Installation/Configuration is all package based, and then it is a simple configuration, of which all the settings have been listed on this forum.
The SonoreUPnP Bridge gives your NDS the ability to participate in a Roon environment and will give better SQ than a Chromecast, Squeezebox V3 or a Raspberry Pi with S/PDIF output.
Yes, SPDIF to the Qute2. Would be interesting to compare it to an ‘all networked’ solution that eliminates that connection, esp. on a higher-end streamer/player. Zero complaints for my use!
I have been using the RPi with the LMStoUPnP bridge software whilst using Roon. It sounded very good to me, certainly be interesting to know how it compares to the Sonore and other solutions.
The LMStoUPnP software will be similar to the SonoreUPnP Bridge, just without the GUI packages approach to install & configuration.
So the stream from the Roon Core will be pushed as UPnP to the Naim Network player, as a packet based protocol in WAV or PCM (materially identical) without any conversion to S/PDIF.