I’m moving from a small NYC apartment to a 1500sq ft house on North Fork of Long Island, NY. I would like to setup a multi-room system for the first time. I currently have a Denon-DRA100, ARCAM
irDAC and Dali Minuet speakers I have over 1200 CDs with some stored on a couple of MACs. I was thinking about getting the Uniti Star or Uniti Core for streaming music and to rip/store my CDs. The main listening room is 11’ x 11’ x 8’ high. The TV room is 11’ x 17’ x 8’ high. It’s a 50" TV. Ideally the Uniti would be in the TV room with wireless speakers in listening room. I’d like a speaker in kitchen and one outdoors on patio. As you can tell I’m a beginner and would appreciate advice. Thank you.
Do you need to re-rip everything, or can you in theory use what you already have, assuming you ripped to a lossless format?
At the start I mistakenly ripped many of my CDs before I learned about lossless format.
Uniti Star seems a good option. The Uniticore can’t stream, only local files but needs an additional dac.
I appreciate your reply. What do you suggest for wireless speakers in the various rooms that are a good match? Thank you
If you are happy to tip your CDs using a computer, you can store them all on a NAS (network attached storage). You then load a upnp server such as Asset. You could then have a Nova as the main system (or a Star of course but the Nova is better) and a mu-so 2 or mu-so Qb 2 in the other rooms. You can stream different music to each, or link them together in multiroom and play the same music all over the house. The same goes for internet radio, or streaming from Tidal if you have a subscription.
It all works delightfully well and is really really easy to use.
I mention a NAS because it sounds as good as a Core, is more flexible, and costs a fifth of the price. You’ll likely be acquiring more music as downloads, which you’ll need a computer to do, so the ease of ripping of a Core becomes irrelevant once your CDs are ripped.
I hope that helps. It may sound a bit daunting but really isn’t. I have a Naim streamer in the sitting room and three Qbs in other rooms and Mrs HH and I use it quite happily.
For wireless speakers, I honestly have no idea. I even think that the Uniti Star is maybe overkill in that set up, because you will use only Airplay or Bluetooth.
I suggest you to open a different thread, like “ best all in one integrated with streamer, with wireless speakers “.
@CrystalGipsy could help.
There’s already a thread “ wireless speakers for Atom”, in the search part.
Question is do you want Naim speakers for multiroom or you want to go for different manufacturers to meet a set budget. Is it you own music or streaming off the internet you want or both? All these will dictate a lot and determine if you need additional software or hardware.
I would not recommend a Uniti core unless your going full Naim system and even then it’s expensive for what it is if you ask me and not very flexible.
There are many options for multiroom setups but it all depends on the eco system you want to base them on. When you decide this it wil then dictate what you need. Options are below
Naim
Airplay 2 compliant
Chromecast compliant
Roon compliant.
All have disadvantages and advantages, cost implications and obviously quality.
I understood that the main speakers are wireless. So I wonder if a Uniti Star is a good option. Perhaps something cheaper?
Thank you. I would like to play my CD, Rip them again to optimize sound quality, stream with roon, multi room. Main listening room, den, is small 11’x11’ with very limited self space. Currently have Dali Menuet Bookshelf. Playing with Denon DRA-100, ARCAM DAC ir-ii. In addition to main room; living room, kitchen, patio. I appreciate your guidance. Thank you
Hi, @Beijinglarry .
Congrats on your residential expansion!
I am a bit of a multi-room fanatic.
I find analog works best for sound quality and convenience, provided you are at liberty to wire it as necessary. Digital-wired, then wireless are increasingly compromised ways to distribute audio. Their only advantage is you can do it with fewer or no wires.
If you think you might like to play analog sources to the whole house, stick with analog for all.
Good luck, and enjoy.
Nick
1 Like
If you want to have Roon. Then first you need to have a Roon core server that is used to host the main software and serve up your own music and feed the other zones you add. If you managing multiple zones you don’t want to skimp on this, get a decent core machine. A 8th generation Intel nuc i7 pc is the minimum you would want here and it’s very easy to set it up using Roons own operating software known as ROCK that makes it a dedicated Roon server device, with very little maintenance afterwards so it’s pretty much fit and forget. Make sure it has wired access to your network. Roon have recommended systems in their knowledge base I would research this well before buying. There are plenty of ready built ones you can buy or build it from the parts yourself which is much cheaper. There are dedicated Roon core devices but they will set you back a lot more and often are not that scalable.
One thing to bare in mind for multiroom if using wireless devices is that your wired and wireless network is set up to be robust and has enough wireless access points to cover the entire property with a good wireless signal. This is where a lot of people fail. Plan it properly and don’t just buy the first wireless mesh system you find they are not all created equally and often cause more issues then they sort out if not setup properly. Most issues with multiroom or streaming in general are down to poorly implemented network infrastructures. Where possible having LAN connected wireless access points will make for a more reliable experience than any wireless mesh system.
If you want to be able to play the same music across all areas at the same time then you need to ensure all your zones are using the same streaming protocol. You can mix and match for multiroom only if your not doing sync play to all of them. You can only sync or what is called grouped Zones if they are all use the same protocol Roon supports a number of these. RAAT its own protocol is the best of them, this is used for devices that are called Roon Ready such as the Star , Atom, Nova and the Naim streamers and new QB and Muso. There are also many other devices from Bluesound that do wireless speakers again you can check out products on thejr website that are classed as Roon Ready. It supports Airplay devices, Chromecast devices, Sonos streaming, Squeezebox streaming , KEF Streaming, Linn streaming it does not support anything that relies on UPnP or Heos.
I use Roon and use a lot of different devices to cover my house Naim Uniti Atom in my main Room, Squeezebox Radio in my kitchen, a Chromecast JBl Link 20 for outside a number of Raspberry pi’s feeding DACs and a few of these I have built into speakers to make them homemade wireless speakers also my DAP I can use Roon as well as my work computers whilst working from home. Roon gives you a lot of off the shelf as well as diy streaming using raspberry pis.
Sonos are reliable , well established and also have their own app to control if you don’t want Roon to use other services. So these would be fine for outside, kitchen etc. The advantage of these is they are one unit devices and come in a number of sizes to suit the surroundings. Chromecast speakers work well, and basically any airplay speaker will work. So it’s really up to you to assign a budget and plan it out there are things for all budgets.
You can use the Star to rip and play CDs. It’s storage can be used for the Roon core to pick up and send around your house. It’s a little fiddly but many do this.
As HH as said you could just plump for a whole Naim system , you would not need Roon for this and just use Naims app for multiroom. It’s not as deep or as feature rich as Roon but is stable and we’ll supported. It won’t be cheap though for the amount of spaces you want to fill with music. Or go whole Naim with Roon.
The world is your oyster and only you can decide where to start.
1 Like
One more thing , if using the Star to rip CDs and you want to use Roon or other app, ensure you rip as flac not wav as when Naim rips to wav it uses a 2nd file for metadata which s proprietary and can’t be read by any other devices.
I’ve been doing more homework. I am considering going with the Star + Wilson TuneTots or the Nova + TuneTots. Then I can put a Muso-QB in my kitchen, Bedroom and perhaps a Muso in my living room. If I go with the Nova I’d still like to need to rip my CDs and play them at times. Do you think I’ll be able to tell the difference between the Star and the Nova, or the Atom from that matter, in my home setting? My primary room is 11’ x 11’ with 8’ ceilings. There is a wood burning fireplace in the room, white Wainscoting Wall Panels, and hardwood floor. What’s your opinion of the Wilson TuneTots for this type of room? They’re pricey. I am not a “true” audiophile, but I appreciate sound quality. The past 5 years in my apartment, I’ve been listening to Harbeth P3ESR, LFD Amp and ARCAM irDAC. I’m trying to elevate my experience. I have recently experienced Roon, during the demo of Nova and TuneTots, and definitely would like to incorporate this. Tomorrow I’m going to listen to the Trenner & Friedl Sun with Uniti Nova. I’d appreciate your guidance. Thank you
Hi @Beijinglarry .
All will be well if you simply WIRE everything for analog. Multi-zone by Wi-Fi or even Ethernet is no better than a marginally-convenient compromise.
I would not make this suggestion if we did not care here about ultimate sound quality, ultimate convenience, analog source playback, and noticeable benefits from reasonable extra effort and expense.
My next project is to run line-level to a MuSo Qb2 to end the agony of Wi-Fi disconnects weekly, at least, not to mention the lower sound quality versus analog, and the inability to play analog sources, which I frequently want to do.
Nick
Hey Nick maybe a better Wifi router would help. I have an Asus RT-AX88U I get great Wifi everywhere in my house, and @Beijinglarry I have way more than 1500 sq ft. Also if you want wireless speakers of very good quality Dynaudio does some excellent wireless speakers.
At this point I wouldn’t bother ripping all my cds. Now that Tidal & Qobuz are available I almost never use my local files. Probably 2% of my collection isn’t available. Of course I’ve already spent 100’s of hours ripping them three times. Maybe it isn’t such a miserable experience the first time…
I have stand mount speakers (Brigadier Mu.2 from Australia) that use the same Scanspeak driver units as used in the Wilson Tune-Tots. These are in a room that is 11’ x 12’ . They are excellent in terms of precision and range - and have reflected the improvements in my system as I have moved up the Naim ladder from Atom in three steps to 252/300DR, and now to a non-Naim power amp in my main system that better suits my near field listening and room size.
The speakers do tend to highlight the shortcomings in the Atom, (which sounds very similar when played out through lesser speakers - I like the Atom’s size and flexibility though for day time) so I would suggest you go with Star or Nova & Core.
If using computer-based ripping, as advocated by some, then make sure you are comfortable with computer peripherals, specialist software and file/folder management; yes a NAS is cheaper but requires more tech capability and pieces to manage.
I use Naim’s multi room with Atom & Muso Qb2 on a combined wireless and wired network and it works well.
Roon is further setup - needs a PC/Mac (or a big-spec NAS) to act as the roon Core - I use a Small Green Computer Sonic Transporter i5 (USA made), which is easy to manage and can run other software such as Plex and HQPlayer. Roon enables me to incorporate other non-Naim streamer(s) into a multi room system, not everyone likes the sound presentation though.
I think that partially depends on how you listen, as main activity, or as background music? Also to what lengths will you go to optimise the room and speaker placement?
I think everyone agrees there’s a big jump from the Atom to the other two. Personally I found the difference between the Star and Nova very minimal, but most here on the forum seem to disagree with that. Maybe I have cloth ears?
Also if you like at the innards of both on the website, they look remarkably similar except for the transformer size and CD mech. I think the “superior isolation of the Nova, making it effectively a two-box system” is a bit of marketing speak. Or at least when compared to the Atom, AFAICT it doesn’t look to have much, if any, more isolation vs. the Star.
One theory of mine is that it could depend on speakers, some more difficult to drive ones might just benefit from the Nova’s additional power, where for the ones I auditioned with the Star had plenty.
Anyway, just listen for yourself with the speakers you plan to use. If you can clearly hear the difference, in likelihood you will hear it at home as well. If you have to really focus I think it’s more doubtful.
I appreciate all the input. I am going to a listening session this afternoon and will take all these points into consideration.
When doing a listening demo, how do you control for the influence of the speaker cables, or any interconnects that be used, on the sound? Thank you