Hi. I just added Roon, as music management and app.
In my setup, and as I’m only streaming remotely from Qobuz, compared to the Naim app I was surprised to hear a very noticeable SQ improvement: essentially PRAT! The best it ever sounded since I began the streaming journey. I just plugged the old mac to the wifi router (I had also tried into the Ether REGEN but there was no improvement there), so I suspect moving to a Nucleus should also bring some benefits.
When looking at the signal path it is interesting to see how well roon integrates with the ND555 with “Roon Advanced Audio Transport”. Anyway I’m bypassing all filters, only using “sample rate conversion”. Overall the setup was incredibly simple.
I’m curious to hear your experiences with Roon?
Other opinions in the same thread and in some others
I don’t notice any difference on my Atom, but Naims Roon support is superb and I much prefer to use Roon to manage my library and streaming under one app so I can use it across the house and different setups I have that are not Naim.
Is there a post on the Roon forum? I only see Dylan from support leaving.
My bad, somehow, I was thinking the person who left was Danny, the COO.
Deleting my post …
I don’t think so. Danny is COO not CTO, Brian is CTO and rarely posts on the forum. Dylan has left support but Danny is still very much there with active posts from a few days ago. So not sure where you heard that from as nothing on the forum.
Roon user here since 2015 and the original Beta program.
It has been my default Playback system since with my NDS/555DR, since 2017, with ROCK which I use on an Intel NUC as my Roon Core (instead of a laptop), and the SonoreUPnP Bridge to ‘Roonify’ the NDS ulitizing the Ethernet UPnP input.
Has been solid, reliable and sounding great since then.
I found that the introduction of the EtherREGEN with the ‘B’ port feeding the NDS, in 2019 (1st batch), was a huge improvement, along with a Chord Sarum Tuned Streaming cable.
Roon provides great access to an existing server-based Music collection and any streamed music services, including Internet Radio.
Yes totally agree and my setup is very similar. Initially I put the laptop (core) ethernet cable into a free A side input of the Etherregen and there was no SQ improvement at all. I noticed the SQ improvement immediately when I connected the core laptop directly to the wifi router outputs…any idea why this is?
there is a thread somewhere around audiophile switches and their pro’s and cons.
I always assume that anything unnecessary in the signal path (digital or analogue) is a potential source of SQ degradation so the simpler the network set up the better… I Found Roon to be slightly cleaner sounding than the Bluesound app using Quobuz (node 3) - logically it shouldn’t matter but who knows what voodoo the code is doing that makes any of these things work…
So is there a connection between your WiFi Router and the A ports of the EtherREGEN?
It is often the introduction of a switch or switches in the playback stream can improve things.
I have found it best to have switches connected between each other, with Roon Core and other networking storage devices on one, and the playback equipment on a separate switch, and if this has a dedicated output for the streamer, all the better.
You may also find benefit is to use a further Netgear/CIsco/TP Link switch for the Roon Core and associated network storage devices over the Router in the ISP supplied WiFi Router.
I’ve used Roon for years and not on the basis of it making anything sound better, to be fair I think Naim do a decent job with their streaming services integration and app functionality, I do however find Roon puts everything I have all in “one place” far better than any of the alternatives including manufacturer apps.
I like the fact it works with all the kit I have at home including Naim, Linn, Sonos, Apple and Google and does so without me having to tell it what to do as well as it being a good discovery tool for new music.
Yes this was also my entry point, to use Roon for all the “other than SQ” benefits. This is why I put it on my old 2008 mac. But then I was surprised by what I heard…
Yes there is an ethernet cable between the wifi router and one A port of the Etherregen. I found that connecting the core to the wifi router through ethernet cable gave better SQ quality than connecting it to the etherregen A side input directly (same ethernet).
Nice surprise in that case, I run Roon on a repurposed Mac Mini, it’s a 2012 Server version so had the internal layout already for two SSD drives which I replaced with larger Samsung ones.
It’s probably reaching the end of its optimal performance but it’s only used for Roon so was a simple and cost effective setup.
So Roon is fantastic to manage the information and increase the “listening experience”. I particularly like the “lyrics” option. However it is disappointing that not all the “album artwork” liner notes etc are systematically available…probably some more copyright hurdles. Until then I feel I have to hold on to my physical media just in case.
Yeah I have the same Mac mini I use strictly for my Roon core. I’m also wondering if I should retire it but it works so well. Just can’t update past macOS Catalina
Also look at moving the Roon Core to a dedicated server, such as an Intel NUC running ROCK or a SonicTransponder. Many have reported improvements to Roon based playback.
If it works well, why?
The parts of the OS used by Roon for a headless server haven’t changed in years, it’s basic Linux/Unix functions.
The low-level operation of Intel CPUs also changed very little from 2015 to just now.
So what you have is stable, operational and you don’t to worry about updates - happy days
I’d tend to agree, and I’m in the same situation in relative terms. I’ve not had an issue with Roon, my local database is a decent size (15k Albums) which it can flap about occasionally but as I’m not using any heavy load features in Roon like DSP it tends to work well.
I did ponder alternatives like a Nucleus but overall didn’t see the overwhelming benefits considering the cost and the fact I had dormant hardware (Mac Mini) I could repurpose.
Any current or former Roon users (I’m in the latter category for now) doing any recent comparisons between Roon and Innuos Sense?
Purely SQ, not library management.