Auralic Mini + Roon [RoonReady coming, now in beta]

Heys guy, I’m new to Auralic, I’ve intention to replace my NUC to Auralic Mini as a MusicServer. Since I’ve invested on Roon, can I use Roon to manage my music library instead of using the lighting DS software provided by Auralic?

sure! as far as you have Roon running on “something” on your network (the Aries is just a Roon endpoint)

oh… wait… Aries Mini? then sorry: it is not a Roon Ready device :frowning:

If you tell us your current setup and how you are hoping to use the Mini we might be able to make some suggestions if you want them.

Presently, I’m using a NUC loaded with Windows 10 and run Roon Core headless. The output, USB is connected to USB-DAC. Roon Remote is used on iPad to manage music library playback.

The Auralic Mini does not work with Roon at all as far as I understand. ( apart from via AirPlay that is )

And even with the Aries mini you would need to run RoonServer on your Nuc as you are doing at the moment.

What are you trying to do that your current setup does not do?

This response is just about Roon and does not factor in other streaming options / needs. A Mini will not work as a Roon endpoint because Auralic did not put the code in the Mini to allow it to do so. An Aries will, however, work as its own streamer and a Roon Endpoint. So that is an option.

If you just wanted a way to streamline your Roon setup and move the NUC out of the audio stack, then you should look into a Sonic Orbiter or a MicroRendu which are both Endpoints that accept an ethernet cable in and then plug into a USB DAC. Either way, you will still need your NUC to act as a RoonServer. None of the options discussed will take the place of the server necessary to run Roon’s backend.

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Thanks @Rugby, There are couple of reasons why I want to move away from PC…

  1. PC is inherently more noisy when compared to dedicate devices.
  2. PC is not optimised for audio delivery; with so many threads running on backgrounds, one could imagine how all these can affect the audio. Some even go beyond to tweak and ‘kill’ those unnecessary threads running on the background or use programs that does the same thing.
  3. Especially Windows 10, there’s no way to disable Windows updates, as such if allows to update during music playback, it is going cause high CPU utilization - This is something we trying to avoid. Major Windows updates can sometimes screw up USB driver to stop working. In short, PC requires a lot of maintenance works.

There are many excellent streamers out there such as Auralic, Aurender, Lumin and others, but when it comes to software to manage music library, nothing can beat Roon. I can imagine someday, the hardware manufacturers can incorporate the full version of Roon into their products, not just as endpoints, but full working out from the box. This is something I’m looking forward to, or may be Roon will come up its own hardware running on Roon software - this seems to be best of worlds?

Have a look into the SonicTransporter. Its silent runs on Linux is dedicated to audio playback and pretty simple to setup. They will ship it worldwide.

There is a dedicated category for these products here on the forum.

https://community.roonlabs.com/c/audio-products/small-green-computer

You can move your Roon database over and not loose anything from your current setup.

No problem. Issues 1 and 2 completely go away the moment you move your NUC away from the audio stack and use Ethernet to deliver the music stream to the DAC. Which you can solve with an Endpoint like the ones I mentioned earlier. Issue 3 goes away if you use Windows 7. And when you are delivering music to the DAC via Ethernet concerns about which OS sounds better goes away as ethernet pretty much isolates everything from the computer to the DAC.

There are Pre-done Roon Servers, but you still need to purchase an Endpoint even if you use them.

Thanks @philr - will certain look at these linux based SonicTransporter. Thanks @Rugby - Using endpoints in some way help to reduce noise from the music server to the DAC but I’ve a couple of questions:

  1. My HiFi system sit together with my NUC tucked behind my USB-DAC, by adding an additional component, like an endpoint to ‘isolate’ noise from music server to the DAC, meaning adding additional stage, will this effect the sound quality?
  2. My idea of an endpoint is one can bring this anywhere in the house, plug ethernet cable to endpoint and connect vis USB to a USB-DAC. Then one can stream from the same music server?

If noise propogates from the music server via USB connection to the USB-DAC, other than using endpoint, is there other way to stop the noise from coming to the DAC? Unfortunately, the new NUC comes pre-installed with Windows 10. I’ve tried installing Windows 7 on separate occasion but ran issues on drivers support due to new hardware.

nubbie question here.

A few weeks ago did a 14 day trial of roon. Not a current user as my old Synology NAS is not up to the task. I was successful in ‘finding’ my Logictech Squeezebox Touch (SBT) on my home network which is how I played music through Roon.

At some point I may buy a Auralic Mini, but I know it is not ‘Roon Ready’.

Since I was able to find my SBT (can I assume that it was never ‘Roon Ready’) will I be able to find a Auralic Mini on my home network if I connect one to my network?

I would plan on running Roon on a properly equipped NAS just to head off that question should it come up.

thxs.

No, you will not find an Auralic Mini on your network. For a mini to EVER be seen by Roon directly, it would take Auralic to modify the Mini and ADD Roon Network Code to it. Which they currently maintain they are not planning to do. If you want an Auralic and you want it to talk directly to Roon then your only course is an Aries.

Squeezeboxes were endpoints already when Roon came out and were built with the ability to talk to the Logitech Server aka LMS. The devs added the ability to talk to Squeezebox endpoints into Roon; just like they added Airplay communication into Roon.

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That clears it up for me.

Thank you.

If I’m not mistaken Auralic have to code available to them to turn the Mini into a Roon ready device but look like chosing not to implement this for commercial reasons. I’ll be honest to say I’m a bit disappointed by this decision as the Roon ready option was left open when te Mini was released. As I’m very much impressed by Roon’s software I’ve decided to sell the Mini on and buy a SoTM SMS200 or MicroRendu. Don’t think I’ll be returning to any Auralic products any time soon.

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You’d do just as well using a Rpi as a Roon endpoint.

The title on this thread should be updated to a resolved in Beta or some such. It’s confusing for fools like me.

Consider it @done. :slight_smile: