Roon and NDX 2

You can’t download music from Tidal it’s a streaming service. Their own apps allow offline playback of these streams when no internet is available. This feature is not available outside of Tidals own apps on phones and tablets no 3rd party application or hardware can do this. What Roon does is allow any favourites from the streaming services to be part of your overall library so they appear along side your own files when searching and its all seemless. Roons discovery is great it keeps you in touch with your own collection which gets difficult the larger it gets, Roon radio is just so good and the best of the new features recently updated. It’s ai is incredibly good and I have found so much new music via it now.

You only need to use Roons app, the Naim app comes pretty much redundant for any streaming unless you want to listen to another source such as Vinyl or CD.

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Not sure this really makes a different to the all in one units or if your not using an external DAC. I’ve played around a bit and could not really here any difference myself.

Thanks @CrystalGipsy that explains few things. I was aware that you don’t actually download music, but its available offline within the app. But I was under the impression its still only available offline on the device you used to make the music available offline. Perhaps my understanding is wrong, but that’s what i see with Spotify for example.

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The Tidal downloads are only accessible to the Tidal iOS app. If you use Roon, or the Naim app, or anything else, it will have no access to them.

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Indeed, the files are encrypted and the app has the session key required to encrypt and decrypt. Therefore even if you accessed the downloaded Tidal media files via the operating system for example… the files would be not usable to you due to the encryption.
I believe most streaming services (both video and audio) follow this method to allow offline playback whilst still maintaining rights management.
However Roon doesn’t keep local copies of these media files

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Hi @JosquinDesPrez, pardon my ignorance but what is NUC and what is headless?

Yes I have already determined that and have a new SSD 1TB drive arriving tomorrow. I will copy the contents to the new drive and connect it to my main Microsoft surface book computer (I use this as the core) and leave one attached to the NDX 2 so that I can access via Naim app if I can’t be bothered to go upstairs and boot up the main computer.

For Ethernet I use Powerline adapters which are very good and had to buy a USB to Ethernet adaptor for my surface book yesterday.

quote=“JosquinDesPrez, post:8, topic:2725”]
In Roon Core, each output device can be configured with DSP settings. You can change the Roon DSP settings for the NDX2 device to transcode your DSD64 files to PCM.
[/quote]

I did not see this option for the NDX 2 - I only saw it for my iPad.

For me the iOS app is fine as a controller purely for the convenience - it is always in the kitchen drawer close to where my speakers are.

I agree, the Naim app works just fine for me. You can, though, use the Roon app on the same device for control if you prefer, it’s just the Roon Core that needs to run on a computer of some sort.

Hi @timbre, good to hear that you are getting back into HiFi! You don’t need to use the Naim app if your are using Roon but it is easy to do A to B comparisons if controlling Roon on your iPad and are also able to switch quickly to the Naim app on the same device. [quote=“timbre, post:11, topic:2725”]
Thanks, I hope the trial gives you the results you are after, I will be following with interest.
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Yes, the trial is a no brainier really because after all it is free! I got my free 30 day trial courtesy of qobuz but @Mike_S has pointed out that quobuz is not available in NZ (I am in the UK) but even Roon themselves offer a 14 day trial. Maybe other forum members can advise of where you may get a longer trial period.

Hi @ChrisSU, My surfacebook Pro does not have Ethernet but I have bought a USB to Ethernet adaptor which works well over Powerline so I am now connected via Ethernet. This only leaves one USB port which I will use to attach an SSD with ripped cd and sacd files.

Don’t take my initial comments on SQ too seriously as I have yet to get a chance to sit down and do a proper comparison. Perhaps it would have been better if I had stated something like I was not immediately impressed with the Roon SQ - perhaps I was expecting a leap forward in quality. Actually, I am not too sure what a leap forward would sound like because these systems are so good anyhow!

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I do the same with my MacBook, as that also has no Ethernet port, and it works fine. A little inconvenient to have to fire up a laptop though.
Beware those powerline adapters though, they can cause dropouts, and will radiate large amounts of RFI all over your house, so if you find a way to engineer them out, I would do it.

Hi @Simon-in-Suffolk, I see that you also set the clock to 1 (highest) rather than the default - I will change mine too.

Now for that I am not aware of any sonic difference in doing so… I just did it :grinning:

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Very interesting, I have used them for a few years mainly for getting Sky Q, Netflix etc. all over the house.

My router is in a cupboard in the hall so I cannot wire directly to it. We had a lot of work done on the house a few years back so I am not brave (or wealthy) enough to suggest to the Mrs. that we should up-route things just to get Ethernet properly installed!

Ha ha, that makes me smile! :grinning: I have read many of your responses and it is very clear that you have a deep knowledge of electronics/data processing so I assumed that you knew of a reason why it should be so. No worries though, I still consider you to be the Guru of such matters!

Some of your previous descriptions took me back to my days as an apprentice in Telecoms, enduring endless lectures in college on such matters. Things will have moved on a lot though as that was nearly 40 years ago!!

@Simon-in-Suffolk, where is the setting to output DSD to PCM towards the NDX 2? My SACD rips are obviously DSD 64 but you say that it is better to transcode to PCM to make things ‘easier’ for the NDX 2. Also, someone else states that they set DSD to 128 - is this sensible and if so, how is this done?

It won’t it’s purely for Multiroom to take the master sync from

You need to go into DSP settings and sample rate conversion settings. Turn of Native DSD Processing, then choose custom sample rate to the choose the rate you want it converted to.

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Next Unit of Computing ( NUC ) is a line of small-form-factor barebone computer kits designed by Intel

This KB article at Roon explains a bit about it in regards to Roon
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Optimized_Core_Kit

A NUC is essentially a small, inexpensive Intel Quad Core computer. You add memory, storage and the OS. I run it with Roon’s dedicated operating system ROCK, but you can install Windows or Linux on it as well. By headless I mean once setup I have it connected to ethernet on my network but hav ea no display, mouse, or keyboard attached. It runs Roon Core 24/7 and is essentially a Roon appliance.

I did not see this option for the NDX 2 - I only saw it for my iPad.

When you play something to the NDX2, there should be a little speaker icon for the device in the Roon UI for the current track. If you click it it will reveal a DSP button. Clicking on that brings up the DSP setting for it.

Hi @CrystalGipsy, can’t remeber how to access these settings - where are they?