Gentoo sounds well worth exploring - I should have several SD cards for different options if I can find them!
Yes,
- Download image
- Copy to SD card
- Insert into Rpi
- Plug into ethernet and then power up
- Wait about 5 minutes for it to set itself up.
- Connect to web interface - http://gentooplayerrpi64:5000/index.html
- Look around, familiarize yourself with it, enable what you want.
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Qobuz gapless was a problem with Chromecast from iOS and also various other things apart from Roon - Audirvana now works prettyy well with recent firmware but I’ve reverted to an older one so this may give options!
+1 for GentooPlayer.
I only run BubbleUPnP Server to provide Qobuz and transcode to WAV for my old-tech Uniti 1. Works wonderfully.
I did try and just install BubbleUPnP Server with the necessary ffmpeg to do the transcoding, but couldn’t get it to work. GentooPlayer was seamless.
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I’ve spent over 4 hours tonight looking for some spare SD cards!!!
Unfortunately in clutterville this is a thankless task.
I have instead however found my Canon DSLR charger that I replaced just over a week ago along with several other things I’d lost and replaced - very odd.
Eventually found one where I started looking - why does this always seem to be the case? Is it just me?
Hopefully some domestic brownie points anyway for a mini tidy up 
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If you fancy something a little more hands-on, I have an RPi3 that uses Tinycorelinux’s piCore to stream images, music and videos using rygel.
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Right, have some time to dabble today.
Just installed GentooPlayer on the 4GB Rpi4 that arrived a few days ago.
Can access it via the web interface, have installed the 64 bit version.
Wondering what to try first.
Noticed there’s a Roon Server option - currently using Roon on mac Mini.
Does Roon Server need a separate licence or does the desktop Roon control Roon server?
Hmm, can’t enable Roon Server.
Not tried it, but I see this:
RoonServer: media server (Only x86).
It’s in the menu, but only applies to the x86 image. Won’t run on the Rpi
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Ok, thanks, that’s a shame.
Got some non-descript error which didn’t really help.
Time for more dabbling!
A RPi is an ideal Roon endpoint but I dounbt that it makes sense running a Roon server on a RPi. The Roon server requres a more powerful CPU, I believe.
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I have 4 pi’s in constant use as Roon endpoints, running Ropieee XL ,which work flawlessly they make superb little streamers and counter to some beliefs sound exceptionally good with the right DAC. Ropieee is a very light weight minimum interaction os, originally written just for Roon , but the XL version can now be be Roon, Spotify, Squeezebox or UPnP endpoints. It works amazingly well with Roon and offers really nice touch screen support for Roon. You can use it as simple remote or now playing screen to control playback on any zone or just the local one.
I use a two with little amp hats as I out them inside some old speakers to have wireless streaming speaker systems for the bedrooms and two via USB to DACs which are headphone stations.
I tried once to run one as a server but they are just too underpowered for anything taxing. I tried Volumio once and it was just awful user experience. Before Roon I used PiCore Player and DietPi.
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It wasn’t something I’d considered until I saw it in the software option screen. The 4b is a quad core ARM processor clocked by default at 1.5GHz - I suspect it might have enough power to work provided there wasn’t intensive processing of sound but seems no option currently anyway.
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From what I can gather from a quick look on the Roon forum, their devs simply have not compiled the core for the ARM architecture. Likely they believe the Rpi is not yet ready for it.
As for using an Rpi as a server, I think they can do the job if you don’t overload them by running too many applications on the same device. At their cost, it’s easy to split the tasks up. One pi runs AssetUPNP, another runs BubbleUpnp, etc. For me, they are rock solid and quietly doing their thing hidden out of sight. Great stuff for the tinkerers out there.
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No chance, it doesn’t have the power really to run Roon efficiently even with the latest version. They don’t support the server on Arm architecture anyway, so it would need some one to port it over like they did for NAS, it’s not supported by Roon on that platform officially. Don’t see the point of a low spec Roon server myself, it just hinders performance.
That’s what I typically do: I have one RPi4 wired to the router which runs MinimServer and transcodes FLAC files to WAV. This is located near the router and is connected to two USB drives. Further, I have an RPi3 (with DigiOne Signature hat) that is connected (via Naim DC1 BNC-BNC) to the nDAC and only runs upmpdcli (and, thus, MPD). This low power RPi3 consumes about 0.2A of current when I switch off all components that I do not need: wired Ethernet, USB, bluetooth, HDMI, internal sound card, etc. Additionally running MinimServer on this transport (with data stored on the internal micro SD card) brings the power consumption up to about 0.25A. Adding a 1TB Samsung T5 (and, thus, switching on the USB bus) drains another 0.20A of current for a total consumption of about 0.48A. Still very little but more than twice the 0.2A that are enough to power the RPi3 when it is used as a pure transport. This is also the default usage: I typically switch on MinimServer and the USB bus on the RPi3 only for testing purposes.
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I have 3 RPi3 doing music duties … 1 running Asset with a 1TB drive attached containing ripped FLAC files. The other two running Volumio in my office and bedroom systems. Overall Volumio provides a great set of services either natively or via plug-ins e.g. internet radio, Spotify Connect, UPNP, Shairport, Radio Paradise (incl. FLAC stream), 80s 80s Radio. I also pay the optional (minor) monthly subscription to get Tidal integration which now is able to pass MQA streams to the attached Meridian Explorer DAC.
The Volumio UI could be (a lot) better, especially for Tidal but it is evolving.
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Thanks - tried Volumio many years ago on a Mac, probably worth another look now.
Actually, I may not have though possibly a very similar sounding server.
I think the reality is Roon is becoming a bloated power hungry pile of crap that does it the Roon way not the way I want it to.
It’s a glorified media server on the basic level - that should not need massive processing power once the library has been catalogued with occasional additions.
It’s become completely unstable following a few recent updates on my Mac.
Sorry, I know you’re a Roon advocate and all that but it’s actually getting in the way currently for me. Back to Audirvana or something else for now.