I won a Chord Mojo at the Bristol Show and it it is awesome. I do keep wondering what a TT might sound like on the NDS. If the Sonore UPNP Bridge resolves the Roon issue then I can experiment.
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Thanks - thatâs useful to know.
And how about comparing Roon vs the Naim app for Tidal (or Qobuz or similar) files?
When you say âapply my choice of subtle dsp filters to all streamsâ is this to apply the room correction that you mention? Or is it something else on top of room correction (e.g. upsampling music files)?
Hi Simon
Can you hear a difference between the same track with and without MQA just on the first unfold?
If so, can you name a specific recording or ideally a particular section of a track on Tidal or Qobuz where the difference is especially identifiable between the redbook and MQA versions on your system?
thanks
Jim
If youâre playing Roon through your bridged NDS, doesnât the normal Naim multiroom option work to play the same music on your must?
For me it is just a very light touch Dsp for room correction. I fire across my room so there is an inevitable bass boost at the rear wall. Iâve tried upsampling but ultimately I found that mastering quality far outweighs that. For me, well produced 16/44 still sounds compelling.
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My understanding is that the Sonore UPNP Bridge can only bridge one Roon end point at a time. Iâm hoping that adding other endpoints (eg Chord Polly) can work alongside the bridge as multi room players.
Iâm using lms-to-upnp which works in a very similar way to the Sonore bridge.
Multiroom doesnât sync properly if using lms-to-upnp to output to the other players.
Roon will only multiroom to the same type of devices, so it will offer to multiroom all the Squeezelite players (which is how the bridge exposes itself to Roon) but they wonât be perfectly in sync. You cannot use Roon to sync between a Squeezelite and Airplay device for example. If you were to use Roon endpoints (which use Roonâs RAAT) then they would.
However it is possible to use the Naim app to instigate a multiroom session once playback has started on the primary device.
e.g. Use Roon to start playback via the bridge to an NDX/NDS, then open the Naim app and use the multiroom tool to connect the playing streamer to any other devices, e.g. Musoâs. This method gives perfect synchronisation as itâs using Naims multiroom.
Itâs reads more cumbersome that it is in practice!
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I would imagine so, as the NDS receives the stream as a UPnP input, which obviously works with Naim multiroom. This certainly works with BubbleUPnP.
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So it depends on what you are comparing?
PCM HiRes to MQA or Redbook PCM to MQA?
So Buenaventuraâs Vista Social Club in MQA 96 (locally streamed)
to same track in PCM 24/96 - this is hard to tell, but are different.
However verses the same track in std Redbook (from Tidal) - yes
Then Gregory Porter in MQA 96 (locally streamed)
verses PCM 24/96
verses Tidal Master (MQA 96)
verse Tidal Redbook
The locally streamed versions have the better SQ and there is a difference between the MQA 96 and the PCM 24/96
However to answer your original question Tidal Master over Tidal Redbook - yes
But frankly this is just the same as HiRes vs CD.
However qiven that the Tidal Master version is almost as good as when locally stored I am happy, but wonât be getting rid of my locally stored Library any time soon.
Simon
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Yes
Thanks, all sounds reasonably straightforward.
Thanks Simon, I reckon Iâll be placing my order with the Small Green Computer co. next week and perhaps borrowing a Nucleus from the dealer.
It is if you are all Naim, it just involves an extra step b going into the Naim app.
If you have lots of different makes as end points then this isnât available to you and you have to find an alternative solution.
For example at the back of our house we have a conservatory system utilising a Yamaha MusicCast streamer feeding a Bose (yes I know!) system with those small cube speakers. I can control the Yamaha using Roon (Airplay or UPNP via the bridge) but cannot multiroom from this to the Naim equipment. To overcome this I use 2 separate line outs from the Bose into 2 Muso QBâs in our office and kitchen. This allows multiroom fed from the conservatory to the 2 Musoâs but I couldnât then add the NDS in the sitting room as there is no means to link to these.
BTW most of the MQA material I have locally sounds wonderful, with excellent sound stage, transients etc.
It really makes the NDS shine, as a very capable network player and when driven by Roon, an excellent experience without the need to upgrade to the ND555 and the additional âŹ20k required to get the Roon capability built in - remember the ND555 uses the same DAC technology, the same brass isolation platform of the DAC board and with a 555DR the same power supply. Plus are Naim really going to optimize the Roon implementation in the ND555 over UPnP playback from a UnitiCore/UnitiServe where they want to sell the âŹ3k Linux or Windows server as well? If they do so, they loose control of the âserverâ side to the Nucleus type of Roon Core implementation and there are many more hi-end music servers being launched now than folks (the US market) have realised running your music server on dedicated low noise hardware hardware is better than connecting a PC/Mac to a DAC via USB.
Many on the Roon forum are reporting good improvements moving their Roon Core from a iMac/MacBook (i.e. a general purpose computing environment) or trying to run Roon Core on a NAS platform to ROCK on a NUC (a embedded OS dedicated to just running Roon Core).
Plus many are running some sort of dedicated NAA to a USB DAC, instead of plugging the DAC directly into the server platform.
For me, multiroom is primarily for background listening where sound quality is a lower priority. So using a workaround solution such as Chromecast or AirPlay multiroom to distribute Roon is OK.
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Hi Simon,
Yes, thatâs why Iâm disinclined to drop ÂŁ13k, especially when itâs on one box, working in an area thatâs moving so fast.
So what we have with this solution is:
- A reference level network player optimized for UPnP input
- ROCK for the Roon Core
- A NAA layer, running close to your network player, establishing the bridge from Roon to UPnP
- Choice of storage - USB disks attached to the NUC or networked storage using a NAS.
Each âlayerâ clearly defined what it is doing and dedicated for that purpose, with isolation between them.
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Yes, but look at building your own ROCK based server - it is just a NUC, which can be bought prebuilt with RAM and M.2 SSD and just a case of installing the ROCK software (full instructions on the KB article on RoonLabs)
Perhaps there is an opportunity here, to build and sell ROCK servers at say half the price of a Nucleus?
Or are Naim folks going to want to buy Computer Servers from their HiFi dealers and pay a premium for that - just with UnitiCore and UnitiServe?
You can build low cost RAAT endpoints or additional squeezlite oneâs using rasperberry piâs for feeding other endpoints and get Multiroom synced streaming quite easily.