Going a Roon One More Time

Devg said:
If you are getting a NUC to run the ROCK, I would encourage you to get a decent power supply. Depending on what DAC you will use, you might not even need an endpoint by adding some kind of isolation device and re-clocker. I use PS Audio DS with Singxer SU1 over I2S and was able to get rid of the endpoint (microRendu) and go directly from ROCK. In a long time, my system hasn't sounded this good. If your DAC is USB only, I bet a ISO-Regen will provide the same benefit.
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Thanks. I'm using the iFi USB 3.0 with great results.
 
Dr Tone said:
Mike is using a network endpoint. The core computer doesn't have a sound in that scenario. If it's direct connect DAC that's a different story.
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U better reread all the Roon docs....I'm using a network endpoint and everything matters
 
I'm really thinking the SonicTransporter I7 is the way to go vs a NUC or Nucleus.....the specs are just over the top vs. the Roon position of this is all u need.
 
I don't have to read articles to understand TCP/IP network data delivery, buffering and reclocking. If you guys hear things which make you spend more money on your servers, all the better for those particular manufacturers.
 
Devg said:
iFI USB 3.0 also has galvanic isolation and a reclocker. So you are good....
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I really like it. I have a couple of demos here if anyone wants to try one. I also have the iFi 2 to 1 USB cable which helps separate the power from the audio on the USB line.

Just PM me if anyone wants to try one.
 
Dr Tone said:
I don't have to read articles to understand TCP/IP network data delivery, buffering and reclocking. If you guys hear things which make you spend more money on your servers, all the better for those particular manufacturers.
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I haven't read any of the Roon articles and you really don't need to understand TCP/IP, buffering and all those things...I was a firm believer of "bits are bits", until I started hearing the benefits. As I said earlier, there is a large amount of unknowns in computer audio today and digital circuits are far complex in nature than analog - once you have a system with processor, ram, network, storage its a different ballgame and no more a simple design.
 
Why won't Roon do higher than 24/48 MQA? Is there any rumors about Roon handling core MQA decoding in the future? Seems like a no brainer.
 
The folks at Roon pointed me here:

https://kb.roonlabs.com/Sound_Quality

They said:

"Hi Michael,

We've got some tips for sound quality at the following link. Ultimately it's less about the machine you run Roon on, and more about setting up your components to avoid environmental effects on sound quality: https://kb.roonlabs.com/Sound_Quality

With regard to vertical scrolling, it's coming soon! We are redesigning Roon and vertical scrolling is on the roadmap -- there is no way to enable it currently in Roon."


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Mike said:
I really like it. I have a couple of demos here if anyone wants to try one. I also have the iFi 2 to 1 USB cable which helps separate the power from the audio on the USB line.

Just PM me if anyone wants to try one.
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micro or nano ?
 
Devg said:
I haven't read any of the Roon articles and you really don't need to understand TCP/IP, buffering and all those things...I was a firm believer of "bits are bits", until I started hearing the benefits. As I said earlier, there is a large amount of unknowns in computer audio today and digital circuits are far complex in nature than analog - once you have a system with processor, ram, network, storage its a different ballgame and no more a simple design.
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You are correct the changing noise floor from load and particular hardware in a computer can have a major effect on the sound of a system with attached DAC. How the bits are created won't but how they are delivered to that attached DAC could as well. I'm not debating this at all.

Put a network between the 2 devices and that all goes away. I guess the computer could inject noise back into the mains and get to your audio equipment but that should be solved at the audio equipment not the source computer as there are many things making noise on your mains. I suppose the network switch could inject noise into the network DAC but that should be solved at the switch. IMO, Galvnic isolation on ethernet ports pretty much alleviate the possibility of this issue though some think expensive switches or fiber solutions sound better.

The computer generating the bits to send over the network as long as it's capable of of creating the bits in a timely fashion and doesn't have network implementation issues won't have a sound.
 
Dr Tone said:
You are correct the changing noise floor from load and particular hardware in a computer can have a major effect on the sound of a system with attached DAC. How the bits are created won't but how they are delivered to that attached DAC could as well. I'm not debating this at all.

Put a network between the 2 devices and that all goes away. I guess the computer could inject noise back into the mains and get to your audio equipment but that should be solved at the audio equipment not the source computer as there are many things making noise on your mains. I suppose the network switch could inject noise into the network DAC but that should be solved at the switch. IMO, Galvnic isolation on ethernet ports pretty much alleviate the possibility of this issue though some think expensive switches or fiber solutions sound better.

The computer generating the bits to send over the network as long as it's capable of of creating the bits in a timely fashion and doesn't have network implementation issues won't have a sound.
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In theory yes but unfortunately not in practice. With a streamer and a network, the problems are far less than when its directly connected but they still exist and influence the sound. How ? Nobody probably knows exactly but possibly there is some postulation. You should go look at the Jplay (used it a long time back) forums and Jplay dual-pc setup. I have been doing these for a while now and this is not I am saying just from theory but from practical experience.
 
Devg said:
In theory yes but unfortunately not in practice. With a streamer and a network, the problems are far less than when its directly connected but they still exist and influence the sound. How ? Nobody probably knows exactly but possibly there is some postulation. You should go look at the Jplay (used it a long time back) forums and Jplay dual-pc setup. I have been doing these for a while now and this is not I am saying just from theory but from practical experience.
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I have.

JPlay had no effect on my custom PC with SOTM USB and Battery Pack. All noise issues were isolated from my USB DAC with that specialized USB card.
 
Dr Tone said:
I have.

JPlay had no effect on my custom PC with SOTM USB and Battery Pack. All noise issues were isolated from my USB DAC with that specialized USB card.
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Well, you must either be the lucky one but I am not surprised...I have used SoTm, Jplay and PPA v4 USB card with all sort of different power supply option, including battery and any changes to the rest of my system was evident - some in a subtle ways, some big. Most of the users of Jplay has the same experience as well but I guess every system is different and some changes affects some systems in a bigger ways than others.
 
After sitting on the sidelines for a couple of years I installed Roon on Monday.
Amazing software and tremendous interface.

Installation was smooth and was done in less that 10 mins flat.

Core + Server is on my Audio PC which is connected to my DAC over USB
Roon Remote installed on my Control PC which is where I also have all my media on a network drive
Wow! These guys are slick and know their stuff - highly recommended!!

After a few days I added HQPlayer to the mix
It has absolutely changed the way I use HQPlayer which suffers from a poor interface.

I'm glad I waited it out as I can see that Roon has fixed a lot of things.
There are still a few things I'd like to see but on the whole this is the way to go.
 
Does the audio PC quality affect the sound quality or do we need to build a decent pc to run rune to sound it's best?
 
justubes said:
Does the audio PC quality affect the sound quality or do we need to build a decent pc to run rune to sound it's best?
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Just as with anything else parts quality matters. Intel boards to me are the best.

At the base level a Corei7 Intel NUC + 128 GB SSD + 8 GB RAM will happily run Roon.
Roon offers a software package called ROCK that installs on a NUC giving you a very decent transport.

Somewhere above that is something like a Small Green Computer.
 
An unexpected bonus - Roon sniffed out my AppleTVs and within a few clicks I was streaming music to my bedroom.
This is something I wasn't aware of but thanks to the slick network software it just works seamlessly.

The sound quality is not that bad at all for casual listening. I like that Roon has built in a robust network architecture.
 
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