I’ve managed to roonify part of my system (NDS) with an Audiostore black box. I’m happy with it. I’ve tried to set up LMS to Upnp, but after initial success (Macmini and Lapbook pro) it has left me frustrated (I guess because these beasts are not running 24/7). So my options are to buy a solution: audiostore product, SGC, Raspberry Pi, Allo, etc.
I’ve been tempted by the Raspberry before and now I’ve got Roon working on my main system, I think it’s the cost effective way forward or my Unitiqutes. But where do I start? I’ve got a generic guide to RP but it’s not up to date. I’ve looked on the Roon forum, and here, but I’m a novice.
Could the wise men / women out there in the Naimsphere please help?
Hi - I gave up my NAS to run the Audiostore black box - massive improvement. But I’ve not asked Martin if I can run the LMS to UPnP on his boxes. Something to do this week… or perhaps I could run it on a Qnap?
If I remember correctly you have several Unitiqutes stacked together? Converting all of them to work as Roon endpoints (eg by adding a RPi) means that it’s going to get pretty crowded in that rack, as you’ll need one for each Qute. I guess you could squeeze a Chromecast Audio behind each one and use Roon via Chromecast, as the hardware is tiny. Perhaps better to do it in software (LMS?) if possible but I’m not the best person to say how you should do that.
LMS.to.UPnP I have found to be a pain to work. For some UPnP systems it works fine but in some networks it’s pain to to get working.
If you want to use RPi’s then using an OS such as Ropieee and a good output HAT is simple and works brilliantly. What HAT you want is personal choice. A lot go for the Allo ones, but I am not sold they beat anything else and they are a mess to look at due to 2 x PSU . I tried thier USB Bridge but got rid off it as it was very unreliable. HifiBerry kit has been rock solid and I honestly cant fault what they sound like. It was my mainstay into my Arcam amp for a longtime. I only changed because I got an an Atom which was Roon ready and an amp so reduced box count.
I run lms-to-upnp within Logitech Media Server (LMS) on a QNAP. It’s not strictly necessary to do this but it was just very easy to get it going that I have stuck with it.
My QNAP can run container station which means that it runs in a virtual environment called docker.
Once I got LMS running I went to settings and enabled the lms-to-upnp plugin and disabled all the other plugins which are not required. A bit of configuration on the plugin got everything up and running.
Some NAS boxes can run LMS natively, my 2 Netgear Readynas can (RN102 & RN104) which saves the container part.
I have been using this for just over a year now and it hasn’t skipped a beat. It starts up automatically when the NAS boots and requires no administration.
I used the LMStoUPNP bridge software on a RPi whilst trialing Roon. I have to say I was very impressed with the simplicity of the solution and although only used for a short period of time whilst trialing Roon it was rock solid.
I used Raspbian (Buster) and then added the LMStoUPNP bridge software to the RPi. I’ve got some notes of the build process somewhere if you want to try it out but it is a self build solution. You may prefer a supported solution with upgrades etc etc
If you Google " Installing Logitech Media Server (SlimServer / Squeezebox Server) On QNAP" you will find a step by step guide.
A couple of things I found out.
If you change the container settings after you have configured lms-to-upnp for some reason the settings get lost and you have to start over so get the core setup of the container right first. I discovered this when I reduced the memory allocation.
Once you have set the container up and started it for the first time, reboot it before trying to configure things. I found that it couldn’t save the settings in the plugins page in LMS until I did this.
I also notice on the Qnapclub Store there are downloads for a variety of different Qnaps, including the ones with ARM processors. Search for QLogitechMediaServer.
It may be an older version which likely won’t matter but it’s supposed to autoupdate overnight anyway.
Curiosity got the better of me so I’ve just tried downloading the X86_64 version of Logitech Media Server (LMS) which is the one that I need for my QNAP.
It’s installed perfectly and I had it up and running in 10 minutes.
This is what I did.
Downloaded the correct .qpkg package from Qnapstore. Selection depends on what processor you have in your QNAP
Installed it manually in the QNAP App Center (click on the install button and browse to your downloaded file)
Once installed click on Open to open LMS
Skip the account setup stage and the music library setup (not required to use the plugin).
Click on settings, and then Plugins.
Unticked all plugins and ticked UPNP/DNLA Bridge. This ensures you only run what is necessary
Allowed LMS to restart
Clicked Settings, for the UPNP/DNLA Bridge
In the Extra Command Line Options enter -s ip_address_of_roonserver - This tells LMS where Roon is located (make sure you change the IP address to your Roon Server’s address)
Selected the Static Library and clicked on the checkbox to start
Once started, clicked on the Generate button on the Configuration File line to create a config file
Next you need to edit the config file. To do this you will need to download WinSCP which will allow you to reach area’s on the QNAP that the FileStation app won’t allow.
Download WinSCP and install it
You need to enable SSH access on your QNAP from the control panel
When you have found the file in WInSCP right click the file and choose Edit
Find the line
<roon_mode>0</roon_mode>
and change to
<roon_mode>1</roon_mode>
Save and return to the LMS Config page. Click on the Restart button to restart the bridge
That shoudl be it!
All your UPNP devices should show in the list of players section at the bottom of the page. It’s easier to enable them one by one (click apply and restart the bridge) so you can identify and name them in Roon.
These instructions should work to Roonify any legacy Naim streamer, using lms-to-upnp running within Logitech Media Server
Note: You cannot run LMS and Roon on the same server, so if you have Roon running on your QNAP, you cannot use this method.
Thanks for the detailed instructions - very helpful.
My Qnap has an Arm v7 processor (according to Qfinder). None of the variations from the Qnap shop installed. So I’m left scratching my head.
After a little more research it seems that ready built RPi for HiFi are about the same price as the Audiostore solution ~£300. Obviously a self assembled RPi is about half that, but perhaps at a reduced sound quality?
However, given that the end point is a Unitiqute, perhaps building it from scratch as @Jack has done is the best option.
A combination of @Jack approach using Pi running LMS and installing LMS as per @trickydickie and only using lms 2 upnp ie UPNP/DNLA bridge would provide a tidy solution
This would allow all your Uniqutes to be roonified by one box.
I have found running lms2 upnp on iMac no problem. I note you said you had lms2Upnp working on Mac Mini. It runs on my iMac even when sleeping so no big issue if Mini left on 24/7
It’s very easy to get running and very stable. I have it on a Rpi 4, it’s been doing it’s thing silently and no hiccups, the dev did an impressive job coding it.
(make sure you change the IP address to your Roon Server’s address)
