Antipodes Audio DS Music Servers

Continuing the discussion from Bryston pulled support for RAAT in last release:

@robdarling

Rob

Regarding the Roon Ready Partner Program is it the case that not every manufacturer needs to submit to Roon for certification on the scheme and can just upload the new upcoming Linux software onto their device for use by their customer (me).

Reason for asking is that I’m currently looking at getting an Antipodes Audio DS Music Server and they say that they don’t have to be Roon Ready certified as can just utlise the new Linux Software with their customer then using their own log-in to start using Roon.

How do we know that the Antipodes DS Music Servers are up to the task to fully run a Roon Core, or is it just hit and miss for non ‘Roon Ready’ manufacturers.

Sorry if I misunderstand the workings of the Roon Ready certification scheme.

Cheers
John

PS I’m not saying the Antipodes Audio DS Music Servers aren’t up to the task, just that after reading the story regarding Bryston it got me wondering.

Thanks for the question, and I’m sorry this is something we haven’t been more clear about.

With our 1.2 release and the introduction of Roon Core for Linux, we will also kick off the Roon Core partner program.

Roon Core partner servers are tested to meet all the requirements to run Roon, and we have them in-house for QA and Support.

They won’t be “certified” in the way that the performance of Roon Ready endpoint devices is certified… there is too much variability in servers for us to be able to guarantee their performance… but there will be partners whose Roon Core devices we can support.

This last piece is the important part. We have already found situations where server manufacturers have installed Roon on a server for a customer, but when it comes time to support the user, the server maker has done things that make it hard for us to figure out what is going on and we haven’t been able to easily help the customer.

In these cases, a “turnkey” solution was actually harder to support than a diy computer solution. The Roon Core program was set up to address this situation.

So, to answer in regards to Antipodes… they will be a Roon Core partner, not a Roon Ready partner, since they make a server.

They will send it in for us to be able to test it and have it in-house for QA and Support, but it will not be “certified” in the way that Roon Ready devices are certified… how powerful it is as a computing device and how the interface performs, we cannot say.

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This is very interesting, especially for someone like me who is currently looking at options for a music server / streamer purchase. Will there be a list of Roon core partners anytime soon?

Rob

Appreciate the reply, and that does mostly answer my questions; makes sense to have a separate list for Roon Core ‘Partner’ and Roon Ready ‘Partner’.

As Brian has asked above it would be useful to also have a Roon Core ‘Partner’ list on your website for info.

Is there a typical minimum specification listing for ‘Core’ Ready hardware (be that Server, Computer, etc.), that is easily accessible for our info. As the Core machine will be doing most of the grunt work before passing on to the Roon Speaker Endpoint it needs to be up to the task, with a bit of allowance to play safe for future Roon software upgrades.

Cheers
John

PS Loving Roon and with the new upcoming 1.2 also being Linux enabled will open up options for more manufacturers to utilise as the ‘Core’ machine in a Hi-Fi set-up (think I’ve got that right)

Yes, our plan is to have separate listings for Roon Ready and Roon Core partners.

As a user, you can probably see how the architecture of Roon is starting to fully flesh out in both hardware and software. As this happens, the website will grow as well to reflect it and you will find all the partners there.

As for performance ratings and benchmarks… this is something we have struggled with.

We don’t have a “minimum” spec because a single given point- processor, ram, etc- won’t necessarily give the whole picture… you can have a great processor but run the OS on a slow spinning laptop drive and have bad performance. If you are using a remote, the network interface comes into play.

That said, we are working on something like a “roon score” that would give a ballpark of what the performance of a given device will be. Generating that score is still something we are working on and it probably won’t be ready for launch, but we will keep everyone posted as it becomes a reality.

Rob

Is there a listing yet of the Roon Core Partners or is that still in the works. Assume Roon Core and Roon Server are essentially the same as far as the listing is concerned.

Also have Antipodes sent in one of their units yet for testing (I’m looking at getting a DS Server so would be nice to know it has been Roon Core tested).

Cheers
John

Here is the list of companies publicly talking about Roon Core products…

432 Evo, Amare Musica, Antipodes, Blue Smoke, Computer Audio Design, dCS, Elac, ExaSound, Melos Audio, Music Vault, Pink Faun, Rockna, Salk Sound, Sforzato, Small Green Computer, SOtM, and Sound Galleries

Rob

Appreciate your quick reply.

I assume the Roon Core verification programme is to ensure that the Partner products are capable of satisfactorily running Roon Core, with possibly some processing room to spare for future upgrades of Roon.

Do the Partner Companies run with a standard version of Roon Core (most probably Linux) or do they have a specific version for their own needs?

By the way, well done with the recent upgrade of Roon 1.2, and fyi it’s the main reason why I’m looking at getting the Antipodes DS Server, with it going to be a Roon Core Partner.

Cheers
John

Slightly off the Antipodes topic admittedly, but fully relevant to the Roon Core / Roonready issue. Roon 1.2 adds Linux support, however, I believe that there is an issue with some Linux based devices that utilise an ARM processor. Would it be possible to get some clarification with respect to this issue. That is, would a Linux / ARM equipped product (say a music server) never be capable of becoming a ‘Roon Core’ machine? Are there other options for a Linux / ARM machine, say by Roon Bridge or being a Roon endpoint. The reason this is important is that there are some music servers that for the money are the absolute top end with respect to sound quality and run Linux / ARM. So if such a device is useless with respect to Roon, then that gives the unhappy choice of going for Roon or ultimate sound quality, but not being able to have both. Any thoughts?

[quote=“Brian69, post:10, topic:9112”]
The reason this is important is that there are some music servers that for the money are the absolute top end with respect to sound quality and run Linux / ARM.[/quote]on what do you base this statement?

Depends which bit of the statement you are referring to! Obviously the first bit could be considered a matter of opinion, subjective, system dependant etc. However, the specific point re an issue with Linux / ARM and Roon compatibility is based on information from a manufacturer. I am posing this here to try to get a bit of clarity on the issue, I like facts!

I was referring to the statement I quoted. As far as I know there’s no Arm based Roon server - Arm typically makes for a great endpoint, but lacks grunt as a server.

Ah, OK. Well to be clear, I think I agree, there are no ARM based Roon servers. What I was saying is that there are some very good music servers running Linux / ARM, and the said units are not ‘Roon Ready’. The question being, will they never be Roon ready because of a compatibility issue with the ARM chip, or rather than specific compatibility problems, perhaps it is simply ‘lack of grunt’ with respect to ARM?

The question was raised in this thread, and got an answer from Brian of Roon Labs…

OK, so in simple terms, Evan’s ‘lacks grunt’ comment is about right …

It is true that they generally lack grunt.

But another very important reason we are not supporting ARM devices for the Core is because they inevitably require a bunch of optimization and customization to work with.

We have done this once and learned from experience the kind of work required. It is not something we intend to do again… if we supported ARM, we would need a separate team just for doing so, which is not the direction we want to focus.

x86 will keep getting more powerful per unit of cost, and soon enough turnkey roon hardware on x86 will be as inexpensive as ARM is now. In the meantime, we will focus on making Roon better software.

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Getting this back on topic, is there any reason that Antipodes are not on the ‘Roon Partners’ list? There are a few others in the ‘coming soon’ category?

Looks like Antipodes has Roon up and running on their servers. How far out is an official partner green light?

Looking at the Antipodes website they are now making a big thing out of their Roon credentials:

http://antipodesaudio.com/roonnotes.html

http://antipodesaudio.com/

However, Antipodes remain absent from the Roon Ready and Roon partners lists. Why is this?

Also, are there any other fine Roon Ready products lurking out there, also not on either of the two lists?

i have dsgt from antipodes audio and fully recommend using them and roon core. sound is very transparent, detailed, and authoritive.