A set of very specific questions

Thanks Nick. Does that mean there is no way for me to use Roon in BOTH rooms at this time, without a new DAC in the living room? Because aside from MQA issues, the Bel Canto is a fine DAC.

Andy,
Thank you also. Could we just forget my questions about MQA for now. Can someone review my OTHER questions about using Roon in my two different room setups? How would I set up Roon for the two rooms with the equipment I have, independent of ANY MQA functionality?

Is there any way to get my questions addressed by someone who actually represents Roon and is paid to help potential customers understand whether they should buy the software? Or is the ONLY support, community support?

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Sure. That’s very simple. In theory you can run a Roon Core on your iMac with a direct connection to the DAC as is in the entertainment room. Since 1.4 you can also use the iPad as an Output in the living room, with existing connection to the Bel Canto DAC.

In practice the standard of the experience will depend upon the speed of the Core, having the Core on an SSD is a big factor, and the WiFi reception into your living room.

You can download the Roon software and try it out for a 14 day trial. The Roon Knowledge Base will help you come to grips with it. And of course, this Forum.

Roon has Support staff who regularly solve issues in this Support section. They have the coloured Roon logos next to their names. They will see this thread and may add to it. Questions about suitability or use are usually more swiftly answered by the Community.

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Unlike the TIDAL app, Roon has no difference in audio streaming capabilities between iPad and Mac. You’ll be able to access the same content at the same quality through both without buying extra hardware. And yes, Roon can ship the audio over your wireless network to the iPad. We do not degrade the quality during wireless transmission, or anything like that.

That means that today (with Roon doing no MQA decoding yet), both will play the MQA content without unfolding, and in the future, when the recently announced MQA support is released to the public, Roon will be able to perform the first unfold, both when playing through the iPad and when playing through the Mac.

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If you ignore the MQA angle then just feed your Bel Canto DAC with USB from an rPi across your network from your existing Mac running Roon.

$50 … job done.

Andy thanks. I had thought there was a 60-day free offer but I guess I was wrong.

I’ll think over the suggestion you made. But here’s the problem. As I understand what you and others have said, Roon has NOT confirmed what it plans to do about MQA. So It may make more sense for me to wait until Roon confirms when it will offer MQA compatibility, so I can try everything out during the one free trial period I can get.

Honestly I had hope there was some way to establish contact with a Roon rep who is paid to help customers. But if that is not possible, I very much appreciate your help.

Thanks.

Brian thank you. That’s what I needed to know. So all that’s left for me is this:

When I start my 14-day free trial, as I run into problems or questions can I contact Roon directly again? How? If not, if the only method is community support, do I start a new topic or continue this one.

Thanks to all!

No problem. If you need further support aside from discussing these questions, start a new topic in this section. Our support staff monitors the #support section constantly.

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I think there are extended trials associated with some hardware partners.

@Brian,
One more follow up question.

I want to originate the Master/MQA files from my iMac desktop. Because they are not offered in any way I can see on my iPad. So can you just explain what the basic setup is for me to stream from the iMac to the iPad and into the Bel Canto DAC in the living room?

Thanks again!

Hi Geoff. You would designate your iMac as the Roon ‘Core’. It would populate its Library from all the music you point it to and furnish itself with the rich metadata that is a great part of the Roon experience.

That iMac would also be an ‘endpoint’ for your entertainment room, feeding the LH Labs DAC.

Your iPad would be a ‘Roon Remote’, using Roon’s iOS Remote software. It would also be another ‘endpoint’. Talking to your iMac in your entertainment room, it would receive a stream from the iMac and output it to the Bel Canto.

The iMac would have to be running, even when you’re only streaming to the living room because all the music and any manipulation of audio such as DSP, EQ, Volume Normalising, up/down sampling etc. (You only need do manipulation if you want to, but it’s there as an option) would be done by the ‘Roon Core’ - The iMac, in your case.

You could control the music selection in the living room from the iPad, think of it as ‘pulling’ the music from the iMac, you can also… if you so wish… control the music selection in the entertainment room from the iPad, in this case it’s just acting as a remote for the iMac and the iMac is pulling the music itself!

You can control the music selection in the entertainment room from the iMac, or even the iPad, if you brought it in from the living room, or an iPhone, Android phone… whatever.

Hope this makes sense.

More info. here :-

https://roonlabs.com/howroonworks.html

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Or, since 1.4, continue to use the iPad as an Output for $0 outlay.

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Sorry Geoff… I called you Brian… I’ve edited that! :slight_smile:

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Can you explain that further? Not sure I follow.

Do you mean purchase Roon and then do everything as Dan has suggested, without buying any new hardware for the living room? Or do you have something else in mind?

Thanks!

Roon Version 1.4 introduced the ability to use an iOS device as an ‘endpoint’, as well as a remote control. Up until that release, it was not possible to stream music from the Roon Core to an iOS device. Now it is! :slight_smile:

So… yes… you don’t need any new hardware.

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Yes, just as Dan has said. Here’s a screenshot of the available resolutions through my iPad into a DAC connected by USB (the internal iPad DAC is limited to 48k). The green means currently available, the yellow means available if I change some settings and red means unavailable:

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Thanks!! Very helpful. I may get up enough confidence to try this.

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Agree and it is a great option. I still would consider a $50 rPi as then the iPad (worth far more than the rPi) no longer needs to be tethered to the DAC with a USB cable. Geoff could sit in a comfy couch and use the iPad to browse and select music to play.

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