Roon Discussion

Discussion in 'Computer Audiophile: Software, Configs, Tools' started by AllanMarcus, Jul 3, 2016.

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  1. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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  2. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    I was planning to put the NUC on the shelf where I put my main setup (BF2 to Starlett) at. This is also the same shelf where I have my router as well. This means I will be sitting right near any NUC. So fan noise might be an issue.

    Still reviewing....thanks for the feedback.
     
  3. Ksaurav402

    Ksaurav402 Friend

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    ROCK OS is very light and go for better spec like i5 or i7 if you want to use EQ and upsampling and want to keep low fan noise. There are some fanless chassis available but will increase the cost. Also you can try to keep it out of sight with longer LAN cable if fan noise is only thing keeping you away. Keeping it away in corner of room is one beauty of it.
     
  4. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    Like Pinocchio's? :D Un-kidding: not too bad, but I've moved to fanless servers a while ago. Since I'm a bit lazy, rather than assembling my own fanless server, I bought one pre-assembled NUC from QuietPC. Works like a charm.
     
  5. YMO

    YMO Chief Fun Officer

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    Thanks guys. I don't do any DSP, I only run bit-perfect except converting DSD crap to PCM and down convert to 24/96 on my secondary computer setup since I use Toslink.

    Was thinking still do an i5 as a just in case situation.
     
  6. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Akasa makes fanless cases for Intel NUCs BTW.

    That's what I have for mine.
     
  7. gaspasser

    gaspasser Flatulence Maestro

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    Is there any sonic advantage to having a separate Roon Rock appliance? I’ve thought about doing this but the expense seems high for convenience alone.
     
  8. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    Depends if a separate appliance is the server and you use it as a player as well, it is difficult to say, it would depend on what other platform you are using. If you use Roon Rock as a server only, there is no difference, provided that RAAT has enough resource to run. There may be a difference between endpoints like Pi2AES and for example RPi with USB out but that is not related to the server deployment.
     
  9. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Press [F] to doubt.

    When I was looking for silent cases for my NUC I ended up on a tiny forum in a circle-jerk thread where people were sucking each other off for being so clever as to figure out that an Intel Octane drive instead of an SSD was The One True Key to audio quality over IP.

    Please don't start thinking that way, because that's f'ing retarded.
     
  10. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    Bought something used recently (streamer) that didn’t look like was ever used. It came with a 60 day trial code for Roon. Not for sure if it has been used or not, but if anyone is interested in trying it, send me a PM.
     
  11. zonto

    zonto Friend

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    I'm in the process of updating my music streaming setup, researching endpoints and the like and am again toying with the idea of a Roon subscription. Has anyone heard any rumblings about Roon adding Spotify HiFi support once that service launches later this year? Have been considering dropping Tidal given their and record labels' double-down on MQA.

    However, one thing I really like about Tidal is that there are edited/clean versions of many CDs available. For example, Taylor Swift's recent albums folklore and evermore have both explicit and clean versions. This is important to me as I have a toddler that often listens with me so prefer to just "favorite" the clean versions to use all the time. When using Roon, do folks see the clean/edited versions of albums via Tidal?

    Relatedly, for folks using Qobuz do you see edited/clean versions of albums through Roon as well? (It appears both T.Swift albums mentioned above are available on Qobuz's site in both clean and explicit versions so I assume so.)

    Does Roon offer the ability to filter out "explicit" tracks through either streaming service?
     
  12. Inoculator

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    There is a way to filter explicit tracks from Roon radio at least, but this is reliant on Qobuz/Tidal having the data tagged as explicit...which is pretty hit or miss. The Taylor Swift example you use is one where it is obvious and tagged well, but I find that is a rarity more than the standard. I think you would need to manage your version via Qobuz/Tidal rather than Roon as it might be a bit more obvious when using those services what the album version is. I am glad you brought this topic up though, as I need to start making that shift around my 2 year old as well.

    As far as your Spotify question, I imagine the chances are basically zero that happens. Spotify does not play nice with others, and Roon and Spotify have very different missions/visions.
     
  13. crenca

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    @zonto, according to Roon both Tidal and Quobuz have all 12(!) versions of folklore and 8(!) versions of evermore , exactly half of each are E and and the other half clean. This is congruent with my experience ,Qobuz has exactly what Tidal has, just real PCM instead of the MQA version(s). Roon makes all this "easy" in that a search brings up the album (which version seems to be random since the last update), but you just click on the "VERSIONS" link to get to the rest.

    As to Spotify I would love to be pleasantly surprised but in reality there is little chance. All these streaming companies are taking a page from the larger IT world - lure your customers into your own walled garden and "ecosystem", and be sure to keep them there. The only reason Tidal and Qobuz cooperate with Roon is because they are small players trying to compete by playing the "hi res" and audiophile angle. Coming from the other direction, Roon has no leverage being as small as they are.
     
  14. Metro

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    Roon won't happen for Spotify, Apple Music, or Amazon Music. They have no incentive to function as a generic music server. These companies want customers to use their apps so they can push promotions and tie in with other parts of their business.
     
  15. zonto

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    Thanks to those who responded above. After reading through the thread, it appears that many SBAFers are running ROCK on a NUC for their core instead of using Roon's Nucleus. For those running NUCs, can you please comment on how loud the fan is and whether it would be audible and/or distracting if a NUC was located in the same hifi rack as the other equipment in a living room setup? Are there steps that you took to minimize or eliminate the fan noise?

    One thing that really appeals to me about the Nucleus is the custom, fanless enclosure, but I'm not sure I can get over how much money it costs for such paltry specs. I don't anticipate needing an i7 as I won't be utilizing any upsampling or other audio processing features in Roon and don't have a large library yet (probably a few hundred GB once I rip all the CDs I haven't yet).

    For those that are using Akasa cases, how easy was it to transplant the NUC to the case and ensure all the heatsinks and thermal paste were properly applied?

    Lastly, what maintenance is required for your NUC? Do you just open it up and use blowie air once or twice a year?
     
  16. Taverius

    Taverius Smells like sausages

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    Really f'ing loud. It's tiny and it spins fast.

    Either buy a fanless case like these, buy one that comes in a fanless case, or plonk it somewhere you don't won't hear it.
     
  17. rlow

    rlow A happy woofer

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    My NUC sits roughly 7’ from me on top of a shelf with all my other gear and I basically never hear it, unless I walk right up to it. Mine is an i3 6th Gen I believe, if that makes any difference. And no internal storage (have a seperate NAS). Also generally only one 1 zone at a time (rarely 2) with some PEQ but that’s it. So fairly lightweight duty.
     
    Last edited: May 3, 2021
  18. wormcycle

    wormcycle Friend

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    I would like to put my Roon core on fanless mini PC and found this:
    Kingdel Windows 10 Mini Computer, Intel i7 8th Gen. Cores CPU Nettop, 32GB DDR4 RAM, 1TB SSD,4K Intel UHD Graphics 620, 4096x2304, 4xUSB 3.0, HD Port, DP, 4xUSB 2.0, Wi-Fi, Metal Body $899

    it looks like a great config and has good reviews on Amazon as a media server, it runs hot under heavy load, but that' ok I am not gaming.
    If anyone used Kingdel PCs before can you share your experience?
     
    Last edited: Jul 5, 2021
  19. earnmyturns

    earnmyturns Smartest friend

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    I have three fanless mini PCs for Roon and other purposes. When I researched the topic, I looked at Kingdel but the information & reviews I got back then did not fully convince me. So, I ended up with a fanless NUC in an Akasa Newton enclosure first (from QuietPC UK), and more recently with ZOTAC CI662 nano PCs. All running Ubuntu Server, although they could run Windows if I wanted to. I think those are more expensive than the unit you listed, though.
     
  20. mitochondrium

    mitochondrium Friend

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    Hi,

    I am using a Zotac CI620 (i3) with Daphile. I do not know whether you need the computing power of the i7 processor I would rather save some money on the processor. The Nanos have the advantage that you can buy the RAM and SSD of your choice. From a first look it seems the Nanos have more ports whether you need them I do not know.

    PS: when running Daphile with upsampling and brutefir for room correction the load is around 10 % with my i3. I do not know how much computing power you need for Roon.
     

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