Can I do it this way ? (Setup help, please)

I started my trial with Roon Core loaded on my (2012) MacBook Pro. I liked what I saw, so I signed up for yearly.

Only a fraction of the music on my Mac mini is copied to the MBP. Searching through the help files and topics on the forum, I’ve come to the conclusion that I should run Roon Core on the Mac mini, which has a 4Tb SSD in it, and Roon Bridge on the MBP.

Am I on the right track with that ?

A follow up question is, can I have Roon Core also loaded on the MBP for use when I am away from the home network ? It looks as if I can as long as deactivate the Roon Core on the Mac mini, before activating Roon Core on the MBP ?

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Welcome to the Roon Community,

Good start

Yes

You could just use the MBP as the core and utilise the MAC mini as the storage. I’m not a MAC expert though but I would say this would save messing changing authentication on cores.

That’s true, and if I never took the MBP out of the house that looks like the right solution.

My OP question relates to using Roon in two locations, on a regular basis, without going to the expense of a 2nd licence.

If I point the Roon Core on the MBP to the Mac mini network share where I store all of my music files for home use, can I then easily switch to a local MBP store when away from the home network ?

Roon Arc will do this for you

That was in the back of my mind.

If I have a Roon Ready endpoint (likely an Argon Audio Solo) at the remote location (i.e. not on the home network), but the ARC handset (iPhone or whatever) and the endpoint are on the same wifi network, I will be apply to play to the Solo ?

No, Roon doesn’t work that way. Roon ARC will only use the audio output capabilities of your iPhone - it can’t see other Roon Zones (i.e. other endpoints) in your network.

Personally, I would install the full Roon package on both your MBP and Mac Mini, and use your Mac Mini for local music storage. At your home, you would be using the Core in your Mac Mini, and it could be controlled using the MPB.

At your remote location, you have two options:

  • Use Roon ARC to access the full library at home, and connect your iPhone to the audio system at the remote location, or
  • Load up your MBP with all or part of your music held on your Mac mini, and activate the Core on your MPB when at your remote location. The MPB would then control endpoints at your remote location.

If you subscribe to Qobuz and/or Tidal, the streamed content of both your Roon Libraries (on the MPB and the Mac Mini) will be automatically kept in sync.

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Interesting. Now that ARC is in the picture, I’d think this would be overkill/confusing.

I’d move the core to the mini. I’ve been lifetime for a few years now, and I am pretty sure I did my trial on my MBP, and then just moved it to the mini (also a 2012) when I knew I was going to keep it.

Mini stays put as a headless computer away from the stereo, and all my music files live there. I use the MBP (as well as my iPhone/iPad) as a remote.

You’ll use your phone as a remote (endpoint) when you’re using ARC at your second location.

Look at this thread for ideas for best sound quality with ARC at remote locations

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That’s exactly what I was suggesting - so you have installed the full Roon package for MacOS on it and you’re not using the Core component…

The OP was thinking of installing Roon Bridge on it - but this does not have the Roon UI, so can’t be used as a Roon Control.

At the remote location there are options to choose; either Roon ARC or Roon. I wasn’t suggesting both should be implemented…

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ah, gotcha. When you said “full” i took that to mean “including server”

Yeah, my mini is only the core, so I have ONLY roonserver installed on that. No ability to play, as I don’t control anything from it.

Which brings me full circle to what I was thinking, before I posted. So Install the full Roon package on both machines.

Thanks for the help, I’ll come back here if I get stumped.

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The semantics of Roon are very important. I took Roon Core to mean the full monty (GUI, server) ?

Logically, what I would want is Roon Server on the Mac mini, if I can configure that from the MBP when on the home network, and the full package on the MBP with the Server part dormant when on the home network.

The Architectural components of Roon (Core, Control, and Output) are packaged differently in the software products (Roon, Roon Server, Roon Bridge, Roon Remote, Roon ARC and ROCK).

So Roon Server has the Core and Output components, but does not include the Control (GUI) component.

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They are… and you seem to have a pretty good grasp already! :wink:

Very kind of you, sir ! I think I’ve made some good progress, I’ve moved my Roon Core to the Mac mini, the MBP I now have set up as remote.

And … I just had a eureka moment - If I reactivate my Qobuz subscription, Roon will “merge” my local and streaming (Qobuz) content, and if there’s HiRes in Qobuz, but CD, or even mp3/aac quality, in my local library will serve up the Qobuz version. N’est pas ?

I currently have an Apple Music subscription, but I wouldn’t need Apple and Qobuz, so reactivating Qobuz and dropping Apple Music, wouldn’t have me paying out more money.

(I destroyed my local file library, because of Apple’s ambiguous vocabulary - remove “download” in Apple Music means remove the local file, whether it was downloaded, or not!)

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I would recommend to consolidate ALL your music on the MMini with Roon Core on it. One great feature of Roon is music discovery based on your listening history. Running split libraries will have a negative impact.
To listen to your Roon library remotely, enable Roon ARC mode on the core and use the Roon ARC mobile app to access your Roon core remotely.

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Yes, I hear that. I’m working on that at this very moment.