Sweet - then I was stumbling over my attempt to be precise while I was actually using confused terminology. A zone is a single thing driving the speakers in a particular physical location, and the ability for a second device to subscribe to updates about what’s playing in a particular zone is on the API roadmap. I’m good - I just have to be patient.
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If at all possible it would be nice if RoonBridge detects a display attached and then show stuff like Album, Cover Art, etc…
This would be a little effort as Roon Labs already knows how to do this. 
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Roon Bridge should ideally only do what’s necessary to get audio from Roon Server to DAC. The less going on the better to facilitate noise free transmission to DAC.
Hi Rob,
This kind of functionality is what Roon Ready certification can do and has, I think, been implemented int PS Audio Roon Ready.
Unfortunately various devices have different ways of dealing with visual data, so I don’t understand that it is feasible to create a one size fits all solution for Roon Bridge to do so. In circumstances where there are many devices that don’t use visual data there seems to be a strong case for keeping Roon Bridge lean and mean and implementing device specific bells and whistles in Roon Ready certification.
It will be interesting to see what the forthcoming Roon API makes possible. Details about API functionality haven’t been released yet.
I agree entirely. I’m really impressed with how well a relatively inexpensive device dedicated solely to high-quality transmission of audio data can perform. A microRendu - especially when fed by a shockingly excellent DC supply like an LPS-1, and I’d contend also aided by a surprisingly good USB-to-S/PDIF converter like the Singxer F-1 - is the best-sounding digital transport I’ve ever heard in my home.
I don’t want to compromise the microRendu’s performance by tacking on any ancillary user-interface nonsense. I just want it to continue to be the lean and mean excellent-sounding simple headless zone player it is.
BUT - I do crave some user-interface bits I feel are missing from our Roon experience. Simple-seeming things like the ability to use an IR remote control, and sure, a track display would be nice, too. I don’t want any of this to be the responsibility of the microRendu, as I wish to jealously guard the relative simplicity of its mission.
So a user-interface gizmo which could logically be bound tightly to a single microRendu, but which would physically be completely unconnected to it - the binding-together happening via the network and the server, not anywhere else - is what I want and need. Such a gizmo should just handle user interface chores, not add additional unnecessary load to the network or server by having to be fed audio which would just be discarded.
This is what I want. This is what I think a lot of people will want, once they realize they want it. This is what I hope the API will allow.
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+1,
IMHO, kind of SBT (“old” SqueezeBox Touch but without audio capabilities) would be such a desirable device, from price range, UI, and form factor point of view.
But, unfortunately, it is not possible (EOL and almost no RAAT support) to group it with better RAAT enabled headless endpoints (from SQ point of view). So alternatives are needed. I hope too API will allow. Big improvement in Roon ecosystem usability
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Never understood the touch screen on the SBT - too small to be useful visually, too far away to serve as a UI unless your hifi is at your side and with iPeng in hand you already knew what’s playing.
Isn’t it called a tablet?
Mains benefits VS a tablet are:
- Availability: No need to unlock, to click on the app icon etc …
- Located: No problem like “where is my tablet ?” alway at the same place
- Sociability: Not a personal and private device, anybody in the listening room is able to know what is playing
- Remote control integration: Harmony compatible (via IR) as the other devices in my living room
- Wall-powered (alway on)
Obviously i’m also using several computers, a tablet, and a phone to control Roon.
The goal is not to replace these devices.
Touch screen is not needed and screen size no matter (if >=6").
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I have been having similar thoughts recently. What I would really like a manufacturer to build is a version of my Meridian F80 that is a Roon endpoint, which effectively has an iPod touch integrated into it, running the Roon remote app. Would give a great display and allow a nice touch interface. I would then want a programmable IR remote so you could do some basic navigation of the menu and the usual playback functions but with some proper buttons.
Just buy a Galaxy tab 8 (samsung is currently selling them for UDD 130) and stand it in front of your system or better yet on a stand near where you are sitting. This will give you a bigger screen than you would get on most components and will cost a lot less than your hi if manufaturer trying to give you something similar. It will always be there and you will always be able to find it if your make it a dedicated Roon remote. And you don’t have to wait for this feature to be implemented.
No, it isn’t. People keep saying that, and every time they say it, they demonstrate that they don’t get the issue.
Nope.
Let me count the ways that a tablet - at least one running the current mainstream Roon app - is entirely the wrong device:
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No infrared remote control. The feature I think is even more important than a track display is the ability to quickly, instantly point an IR remote at the stereo and pause the music (if a phone rings, or people in the room want to have a discussion without talking over the music or missing part of a podcast). I’m not aware of current widespread support for IR remote control inputs to be received by a Roon app on a tablet and acted on by Roon. Using a dedicated remote is a fundamentally different (quicker, easier, no thought or unlocking or context-switching delays) experience from unlocking one’s phone, finding the Roon app, waiting for it to connect to the server, making sure the right zone is selected, and then pausing or whatever. In my personal hierarchy of the reasons I want the sort of interface device I’m talking about, using a straightforward appliance-like remote control is about two-thirds of what I want. And walking over to wherever a tablet has gotten propped up and mashing one’s fingers on the screen doesn’t cut it in this context either. I get the impression that people who think a tablet would be acceptable haven’t had the opportunity to get used to a simpler, lower-friction way of life like using a straightforward remote.
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No guarantee you’ll always be talking to the right zone. All the current Roon apps need to be told which zone or audio device they’re supposed to control. This thing they might be controlling could be a single player like, say, whatever is playing music in the Living Room; or it might be a group of zones being told to play synchronized. A piece of control/display infrastructure like I’m yearning for, though, will be deployed to a fixed location and its control and display functions will need to be able to be bound tightly to a single hardware zone player - say, always whatever makes the sound in the Living Room - regardless of whether the Living Room is playing alone, or grouped with a bedroom, or the office - and those groupings can change multiple times a day. A dedicated control/display gizmo must not be put off by that, and logically must stick stubbornly with its single chosen play device. I don’t believe the apps are currently designed to allow this.
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Overly-complicated display. The apps provide a full (or for phones, close to full) Roon interface. That’s too much information on the screen. A display/control gizmo needs track info, some display of elapsed and either remaining or total time… and that’s it. More information is not only not helpful, it would actually reduce the usability of this device. Remember, we have Roon programs and apps for a deep dive into album and artist info; that’s not the purpose of a simple track display.
…and aside from all of the above, I’m not yet sure Roon apps would remain reliable when left running constantly for days, weeks, months. This needs to be infrastructure - simple function, plugged into wall power, hardwired network connection, sits in one place and just works.
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It does not sound like there would anything I can say to convince you otherwise but let me make a few comments for others who come across this thread.
If you have a dedicated tablet or even an old phone for the zone you can set it up like this and leave it like this. You can leave on all the time whilst listening (I do.) This is a simple display that does all that you are looking for and not much more. It also does it without even having to point it in the right direction. 
It does have to be powered or recharged regularly though which is the only downside I can see. Other than that I think it is better, ie. a larger display that can be put in a better location than the front of the equipment which often cannot be read from the listening location. Also the equipment can be hidden away in a cabinet a big plus for many who do not have a dedicated listening room or even if you do and you don’t want to see all the stuff.
Regardless it does seem that Roon Ready devices such as the PS Audio that have displays are doing what you are looking for on that end so if one of those DACs are OK and the new API can work with an IT remote (and some sort of receiver that you would have to buy) then you may be able to get what you need without too much trouble.
For me a dedicated tablet is a better option but Roon is listening and will likely support what you want before too long.
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[quote=“Jeffrey_Moore, post:32, topic:10381”]
People keep saying that, and every time they say it, they demonstrate that they don’t get the issue.
[/quote]Perhaps they’ve just made the transition to tablet based technologies serving as remotes some time ago. The IR remotes that came with my Squeezeboxen were never used…iPeng did all I needed. Last thing I’d want now would be another IR remote to control my listening experience. I already have the tablet to control playback and my preamp remote to control volume, power down etc.
I suspect what you want you’re most likely to get from a Roon Ready DAC with built-in display.
I am just coming across this thread now, so I realize that I am late to the party. However, I just wanted to say that you very articulately stated exactly what I am looking for, implemented in exactly the right way. I am excited that this should be possible to implement with the forthcoming Roon API and I sincerely hope that someone chooses to productize it.
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I have been thinking about this recently too. And I totally agree a tablet is not the device for this. I’ve got a phone and tablet already. It’s the same reason why I won’t have a Chromecast on the house, I can’t stand picking up my phone and unlocking it to drive the tv. Its also a pain for kids and guests whom either want to use my phone or tablet, which I don’t leave in the house, or have to set up applications in their phone. At the end of it, it’s still not a good experience to use a screen like that. It sounds like there are two schools of thought on this. However, seems like the tablet argument is pointless as it’s already provisioned. Can’t wait! I’ll build something from a raspberry pi…
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Not sure !
Such a RoonReady DAC will be a new device to buy, probably quite expensive (see PS Audio DS or even DSJr) and only associated to the DAC zone.
I can see the point of this, although I’m coming at it more from the remote angle.
As much as my primary interface is a tablet, I just like the immediacy of dedicated remotes and to a lesser extent displays. They don’t have to be IR these days of course, they can be Bluetooth too.
I do find the endless unlocking of device screens, selecting the app, waiting, and then then telling it what you want to do (skip track or pause for example) can be pretty tedious and slow. I definitely miss my cd remote.
My hifi has its own physical remote volume and app, but in the kitchen it would be great to be able to do volume on the iqaudio without an idevice. What I really want is a ‘hot button’ that makes it play a certain radio station regardless what it was doing before, to give back a bit more tactile ‘old school radio’ feel. I.e. When you want to listen to music, just turn it on! Not run back upstairs to find your phone.
It’s not just Roon for me btw, it’s lots of devices. Somewhere along the line tablets and idevices, while very powerful and flexible, have made things more complex than they need to be in some cases.
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Too right. The June oven is but a harbinger of the horrors that are set to be unleashed on us. I often think that the Luddites may have had a point.
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Oh dear… bit depressing really tbh!