Can we output 320kbps Ogg Vorbis with Roon? NOT ARC

[dabassgoesboomboom]

Hi

Can we output 320kbps Ogg Vorbis with Roon? NOT ARC (I know ARC can do this).

I’d like to do this with full Roon. I am away from home and using my Macbook on cellular data

[Matthew_Shields (Paying overs)]

I can only rip Ogg Vorbis @ 192 kbps (source Free Audio Converter). Yes it plays OK, but it is clearly inferior with sound quality.

Normally I am fine with lossy, though I’d probably take your 320 kbps over what I can quickly whip up.

Maybe it’s a poor converter? But I was on Spotify last year, and I also wasn’t that impressed with the 320 kbps feed.

Others say it’s superior to mp4, so each to their own.

[dabassgoesboomboom]

I want my FLAC to convert on the fly to Ogg Vorbis , like Roon ARC can already do on the fly also.

But I’m trying to do this with main Roon on my Macbook when away from home.

[Matthew_Shields (Paying overs)]

I see. Is there another codec you would consider? mp4 isn’t subject to royalties, either, and it’s transparent @ 256 kbps. This would be the best of all worlds.

I also are happy to try ripping 320 kbps Ogg Vorbis, but I don’t want to start a flame war or project my bias.

[dabassgoesboomboom]

I actually don’t mind any lossy format.

I don’t want to spend any time converting my collection - Roon ARC does the conversion “on the fly” already for us (while the FLAC file is playing)

I am asking for same feature on main Roon.

[Matthew_Shields (Paying overs)]

Interesting question.

[GregD (Greg Dowling)]

I’m guessing you’re using the roon client over a vpn.

As you know roon didn’t design their streaming protocol to do this.

So the roon server will only deliver lossless over RAAT to the client (and all codec decoding is done on the server)

And roon clients don’t have any intelligence to decode codecs.

I think the best you could do is tell roon that your endpoint only understands 44.1k 16bit - which is what I did when I was trying to stream over a vpn. It did seem to help make my streams more reliable when listening to higher bitrate files.

[loop]

I’m afraid this might be a pretty niche use case (even if it’s one that I, myself, wouldn’t mind having access to): full access to Roon with transcoding options for when your connection is metered.
Unfortunately, I don’t think a lot of users have ever even considered this, let alone having a need for it. I also do not think that the Roon developer team has any interest in blurring the lines between what is Roon and what is ARC, even if this particular request might make perfect logical sense. Nevertheless, I suggest you request this thread to be moved to Feature Suggestions, where it probably belongs and where it can be voted for.

If you don’t require full access to Roon’s capabilities and just need to be able to play music from your library on your MacBook, I suggest you take a look at these threads (and vote if you want to):

Roon ARC for Desktop / Laptop (Windows, Mac, Linux)

Roon ARC should have a desktop version so it can be used on Windows, Mac, Linux while out of home. This connectivity is achievable with a tool such as ZeroTier, but a ‘native’ solution would be much easier for all. I’ve read in other posts that this is not on the roadmap, can Roon provide their reasoning behind that decision?

Roon ARC on Mac with Apple Silicon

I LOVE Roon 2 and you have done an amazing job making it work as easy as it is. Kudos to you all! Since Roon ARC runs on my iphone 14, it should be able to run on Macs with M1 chips. I understand its not that simple though … If I take my Mac outdoors, setup a personal hotspot with my iPhone (1 click, works flawlessly), will I be able to access Roon at home from my Mac? If not, I hope you have this high up on your feature list for Roon 2.0 Thanks!

[CrystalGipsy (Resisting the flow!)]

No RAAT will one send PCM.

[dabassgoesboomboom]

@GregD

And roon clients don’t have any intelligence to decode codecs.

Understood. In the case of ARC you can tell the server side to transcode to lossy.
Would be nice for main Roon to do the same.

With Zero Tier, Roon Client over VPN has actually been working really well for me (surprisingly).

Roon on iPhone has been dodgy via ZeroTier , but on Android and Macbbook I’ve not had a single blip (to my surprise)

@CrystalGipsy

No RAAT will one send PCM.

?

[mjw]

@dabassgoesboomboom

@CrystalGipsy

No RAAT will one send PCM.

?

Roon dossn’t transcode any format to another, so no, it won’t do what you want. That’s why there’s ARC.

Any source file is deconstructed by the server, and sent to the endpoint as PCM.

I haven’t used LMS for a long time, but IIRC, this can transcode on-the-fly.

The best way to handle this is to use a batch encoder to convert FLAC to OGG, and store this in a new library location.

[Matthew_Shields (Paying overs)]

@mjw

That’s why there’s ARC.

I’ve never got ARC to work, unless I download the files onto my storage-constrained phone.

Say I was to stream. Is all this to say that, in order to save mobile data, ARC will convert my requested FLAC to lossy?

If that’s the case, ARC would be a non-starter for me, but then I pay a lot of attention to data caps and such.

[mjw]

Your server converts files to Opus, so ARC receives a lossy steam. Likewise, ARC downloads can be converted from hi-res to balanced / balanced optimized.

I can’t see ant support tickets in the past 12 months, so suggest you raise one, and try to get ARC working.

[Matthew_Shields (Paying overs)]

Thanks. Good to know.

My use case for Roon is broad enough that ARC (or lack thereof) isn’t a deal-breaker.

The Roon (iOS) app (whatever it’s called) is critical, though.