Roon with original NDX

@Meaculpa any success?

Hi Robert,

No, not really. I managed to get two of the devices RaoP Bridge devices to play Spotify (my Marantz AV amp & My Sonos AMP) but they would still not play WAVā€™s from the NAS, and could net identify which Bridge was the NDX anyway.

So I have given up on Roon. I did like the interface, and the fact that toy could have all your inputs & outputs controlled from one interface, but given that I use mainly my Naim App & Sonos, I can still control all my sources (NAS, Tidal & Spotify for example) from these two.

So I think Roon is a good product, but not sure the value given the cost v the convenience, but I understand this is a personal choice & many are very happy with it. When you factor in I have legacy UpNp devices (NDX) I do not se the value at the current time.

So, thnak you all to those that have contributed, and helped me with my UNIX/Terminal learning as well. I still however appreciate the GUI advantages!

Many thanks,

Andrew

Hi
Only just seen this thread. Had the same problem with NDX and wanted to stream Qobuz which proved problematic especially with hi-res. I tried Roon and borrowed a stand alone core from my local dealer. It solved the problem and gave me a significant sound improvement using the Raspberry pi with hifiberry hat on my main system and chromecast audio in a second room. Extra advantages are that you no longer need a NAS as the Roon sends the music round the network, so a simple (cheap) hard disk is all you need. I have further upgraded my sound with a better DAC which means I can sell the NDX ( for more than I paid for the DAC). The DAC also has volume control so my Ā£1000 pre amplifier can be used for my second system (or sold). So, as well as the hugely better interface with Roon, you donā€™t need to spend on streamer and NAS, so can improve sound too for virtually no cost.

I see on Roon community a new extension, search for rooUPNP which may do the business without terminal use etc.
Runs on RPi 4 and costs $35, may be worth a try.
Note I have no connection to this and am about to try. I am currently using LMS2UPNP.

CK

Iā€™ve just spun this up on an old Pi Model B

Itā€™s basically a wrapped version of lms-to-upnp. You create an SD card from a downloaded image, fire up the Pi and it appears in the Roon extensions with limited config options.

Itā€™s currently free to run during a test period.

It works to an extent but the dreaded static issue has appeared, bizarrely only on 16/44 files. Iā€™ve had this before and have always put this down to a throughput issue but the fact that the easier files are the problem puts this theory into doubt. If you enable FLAC compression in Roon it works perfectly but this does mean that the Naim device receives FLAC rather than PCM.

It will be interesting if people with the recommended Pi 4 which has more horsepower donā€™t have this issue.

As an appliance itā€™s certainly a good idea, it took 10 minutes from start to finish to get it working, but the static issue is a concern.

It does seem a bit cheeky that somebody is charging a fee for a packaged version of somebody elseā€™s software, it feels like the main development effort was in writing the lms-to-upnp software and the Raspberry Pi Raspbian package.

Iā€™ve posted my findings on the Roon thread.

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I did give a try earlier today. As you say a wrapped version of LMS2UPnP and nothing there that would make me change from my current LMS2UPnP solution so I decided to quit playing with it. I did play some 16/44 files but not all the way through on my RPi4 and had no static issues. Dont know whether thatā€™s because I didnā€™t play enough of the file or becuase it was on a RPi4.

Ok, so the weekend is hereā€¦I have some time & an old Raspberry Pi B+ā€¦

But first just some clarification as I am starting to get a bit confusedā€¦

So I could have Roon on my iMac on the same network as a Raspberry Pi (with some Bridge software) feeding my NDX?

What Audio out do I use on the B+? It has an output labelled AV, that looks like a 3.5mm jack, but I am not sure. It has HDMI out (which could carry just audio?) and USB. Is this why I see the mention of a HAT device, which I presume is an expansion board that sits on the B+ with the appropriate output?

And therefore what high input would I use on the NDX?

Thanks in advance

Ref the ā€œrooupnpā€ software mentioned: I donā€™t think the pi is used as anything other than a server. Itā€™s the software that makes the roon output feed a upnp capable device, so the ndx or nds - which doesnā€™t support roon raat or airplay or chromecast - appears as a device in roon, which itself doesnā€™t use upnp.

Yes

You donā€™t need to worry about audio from the RPi with this solution, just connect it to network and it will allow you to use your NDX within Roon.

You may have some issues with the hardware you using for RPi but worth a go and will get you used to the process

Ref raspberry pi plus hat plus roonbridge (official) software. I donā€™t know if a b+ is capable/ powerful enough. A model 3 definitely is capable. In this scenario, you would be using official roonbridge software installed on the pi. The pi has an extra board attached in the shape of a digi out board eg the hifiberry. So coax out into the back of the nds or ndx. Install raspbian, install roonbridge, enable in roon, done.

Found out you need a pi with ARMv7, so the b+ wonā€™t work with roonbridge. 3 or 4 is needed (I use a 3b+).

Hifiberry digi out sandwiched on a 3b+, mounted on the back of an official pi 7ā€ display.

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@Meaculpa

Sorry if I confused you with my messageā€¦when you said ā€œsome Bridge softwareā€ I thought you were referring to the new rooUPnP that trickiedickie had mentioned. Ifuyou want the RoonBridge software then refer to Robertā€™s post

Jack & Robertā€¦thank you.

I now understand that regardless of Pi version you need a HAT to give you the output.

And I will need a new Pi too.

The Roonbridge software (or equivalent) then goes on the Pi.

It seems you have 2 choices, at least when using a pi to access roon.

  1. Using a pi with digi out (coax or optical) into the back of the ndx/nds. You buy a pi and a hat digi card eg hifiberry. Then install an os plus roonbridge software.

Or ā€¦

  1. Use a pi to run rooUpnp which then allows roon to see the ndx/nds. This seems to be a simplified way, as far as install is concerned, to get lms-to-upnp software up and running.

I donā€™t know how the two compare sound wise. I can say option 1 for me has been rock solid and the software is developed and supported by roon. The software auto updates when roon release a new version, and I never need to fiddle with it.

An update on the rooUPNP extension as I have been corresponding with the developer.

Itā€™s configured to allow you to send FLAC from Roon to the extension which will then send WAV to the player by selecting PCM in the extension. From early tests this seems to work fine and indeed WAV is received on my NDS. Iā€™m using an ancient Raspberry Pi model B with 512mb ram and the ARM710 processor and it seems to have no issues playing 24/192 material.

There is a discovery issue which I have reported to him. Whilst my devices were initially discovered I powered the Pi down and went back to my original bridge yesterday evening. Upon reverting back today the discovery of my UPNP devices within the extension settings seems hit and miss although Roon is seeing them OK.

Looking at @robert_h post above, I would speculate that sound wise rooUPNP will be best. I have used UPNPBridge for 2 years now and comparing to streaming from Asset on my NAS reveals no sound quality difference at all, both on local and QoBuz/Tidal assuming the same master is played.

Iā€™m going to use it this weekend to see how reliable etc it is.

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Hi, Thanks for the update and interested to see the outcome of your tests.
Quick question, what is the Roon Extension doing? Is providing a configuration interface to the LMS2UPNP, so you donā€™t have to modify the XML directly?

At present, I have the SonoreUPnP Bridge working just fine, and a LMS2UPNP running on a RPi2 as back-up, but not enabled in Roon.
I still have Asset on the RPi2 as the NDS seems to like a default UPnP server present.

Simon, yes your assumption is correct, it provides an almost plug and play way to get lms-to-upnp working on a Raspberry Pi.

You download an image which you write to an SD Card, pop it in to the Pi and switch it on.

Once booted it appears as a Roon extension, you donā€™t (and canā€™t) do anything on the Pi. There is a web page which just really acknowledges UPNPBridge and links to the authors website.

When you first enable the extension it discovers all the UPNP devices on the network and initially configures them. It defaults to low quality settings which you need to change.

The options are limited but sufficient. I would like to see a way to disable a device on the bridge and have fed this back to the author. Subsequent discovery doesnā€™t work well, my NDS is currently missing in the settings page but I can still play to it!

I think its a great solution to easily create a dedicated bridge with little effort.

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Hi M,

I am also having the same problem with NDS and Mac. I donā€™t know any Linux /IT knowledge.

Can you share if you eventually got it working?

Saw the term RooUpnP and Rpi, may I ask what are those and if I need them ?

Appreciate any help , thank you.

Regards
Ken

Rpi = raspberry pi
Rooupnp = extension to roon someone has created to simplify the set up of lms 2 upnp (in other words, leveraging Logitech media server software)

What hardware do you have, do you use roon, what solutions have you tried already?

Hi Robert,

I am using Core / QNAP NAS / NDS. I use MAC.
I tried download the LMS-Upnp Bridge to my MacBook.
Following the instruction from the thread, when I attempt to create the config.xml I have the same error message as Meacupla ā€˜!!!Error loading config file !!!ā€™