Complete noob asking for pc streamer configuration tips

Roon Software Discussion
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About a week ago I started getting into home streaming for the first time in my life. Before that it was basically vinyl, CDs, and my phone – with the phone I never cared about audio quality (I’ve never been a big fan of local audio files, but after using Spotify so much I got used to it and ended up loving how easy it is to switch albums, playlists, etc. while doing stuff around the house or driving). Then I discovered Qobuz… wow, total life-changer.

Now I’m stepping up my game a bit with FLAC files. I bought a DAC that’s not too terrible I guess (Fiio BTR15, because it’ll also be useful in the car or whenever I want the convenience of Bluetooth), and I’m using Roon to play everything. Down the road I plan to upgrade the notebook to a dedicated music streamer and the DAC to something better once I know more about streaming, but for now I think the Fiio + notebook combo will be more than enough.

In the short term, my plan is to build a decent collection of FLAC files to use with the dedicated notebook + the DAC, and occasionally just use the phone when I can’t be bothered to turn on the notebook or it’s in another room for whatever reason.

Anyway, the specific question is: any tips for setting up the notebook as a streamer? Is there anything in particular I should do?

I’m already using Process Lasso to control CPU/memory usage, etc. I assigned cores 2 and 7 exclusively to Roon to avoid skipping/glitches. I guess that’s fine? …I read somewhere those were the “ideal” cores to dedicate for my cpu. Of course I also set high priority for memory, hard drive, etc.

Inside Roon I’m still learning how to use it, but so far I absolutely love it (I tried Audirvana and the Qobuz desktop app, but Roon wins by a mile). I still don’t really know how to configure it optimally yet.

Any tip or advice is very welcome, even if it’s not directly related to the specific question.

Oh, I’m planning to run everything over Wi-Fi because this notebook doesn’t have an Ethernet port… or maybe I could buy a USB-to-Ethernet adapter if it’s really necessary. Right now I’m not getting any dropouts with Roon – no idea how I fixed it because before it was absolute hell.

Thanks a lot for any help!

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Hi @TheGuy,

Welcome to the adventure! It sounds like you are off to a fantastic start. The FiiO BTR15 is a very capable device, and moving from Spotify to Qobuz/Roon is indeed a “life-changer.”

To answer your immediate questions about your current notebook setup:

  • Process Lasso / CPU Cores: While dedicating cores won’t hurt, Roon is generally very efficient. Unless your notebook is very old, Roon manages its own resources well. If you aren’t getting dropouts now, you’re good.

  • Wi-Fi vs. Ethernet: Since you aren’t getting dropouts, your Wi-Fi is likely sufficient for now. Roon handles network buffering well. Don’t feel pressured to buy an adapter today if it’s working.

Looking Ahead: A Practical Roadmap

Since you mentioned planning to upgrade to a “dedicated music streamer” down the road, here is a logical path that keeps things simple but will yield big improvements:

Step 1: Shift to a Dedicated Roon Server
Right now, your notebook is doing double duty: it’s your personal computer and your music server.

  • The Upgrade: Eventually, get a small, dedicated mini-PC to run Roon Server.

  • My Recommendation: The GMKtec NucBox G5 (Intel N97 version), although not “officially supported”, has been a great option for many folks. It fits in the palm of your hand and is usually around $180 on Amazon. I posted about this solution here.

  • Why this specific PC? Roon OS (replacing Windows) turns the little PC into a dedicated appliance that does nothing but run Roon Server—no Windows updates, no maintenance, just rock-solid music. It also has a microSDXC card slot (supporting up to 2TB), so you can store a massive library of FLAC files right inside the unit for very little cost. You can tuck it away behind your router and forget it exists.

Step 2: The “Transport” (Dedicated Streamer)
Since you already enjoy the FiiO BTR15, consider the FiiO SR11.

  • It is an affordable, dedicated “Roon Ready” transport.
  • You would plug the SR11 into your network (or Wi-Fi) and connect it via USB to your BTR15.
  • This gets the computer out of the playback chain, which generally results in better sound quality.

Quick Question: Are you primarily listening via headphones with that BTR15, or are you feeding a pair of loudspeakers? If you are setting up speakers, getting them positioned correctly in the “sweet spot” will make a bigger difference than any software tweak, but that’s a topic for another time. Again, welcome. Enjoy the music!

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Vote for :+1:
SR11 + K11 R2R = Nice and reasonable price combo :grinning_face:

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Whilst I agree with most of what @David_Snyder says about the dedicated Roon Server and even the use of the Gmtek mini PC, I think this statement about is potentially little troubling.

The Micro SDXC card is not as reliable as a SSD and would be much more likely to fail at some point especially if used continuously for long periods. Consequently, if you do use it it is critical that it is not used as your primary or sole copy of your music files.

Personally, with the Gmtek box, I would opt for a USB connected HDD or SSD instead.

If you really do want a one box solution for a dedicated Roon Server (including music storage), I, personally would be inclined to go for a mini PC in a slightly larger case that can accommodate a second SSD (assuming that you want to use ROCK) for the Nucleus like experience. Just be aware that only the Intel/Asus NUC devices are officially supported for ROCK and if you stray too far from the specs of these devices a ROCK install may not work because ROCK includes only a very limited set of hardware device drivers

The officially supported devices (old and new) can be found at:

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I have two K11 R2R’s at home. One connected to my WiiM Ultra. The other to my Cambridge CXN V2. I just absolutely love the sound the little DAC’s create. And pretty cheap as well compared to other R2R DAC’s.

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I agree with you. I’m using the same NucBox G5 as my Roon Server. It is pretty quick, rock solid and silent. I’ve stored my music on an external USB powered hard drive. Flash cards can get corrupted quite easily. They are convenient for temporary storage, but not as a more permanent solution.

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Now to answer the OP :slight_smile:

When I started out with Roon I was running it on my daily usage Windows laptop. After subscribing to it I’ve started looking for a dedicated computer to function as my Roon Server.

First a 2017 MacBook Air running on MacOS. After that a 2014 Mac Mini (MacOS, later Linux), a Lenovo laptop (Linux again). And earlier this year I’ve bought a small power efficient NUC. The above mentioned NucBox G5. It is running on Roon’s own ROCK software. With my own collection of music stored on an attached 3 tb USB powered hard drive. Qobuz and my own collection are forming my libary.

I’ve never looked at, or needed, optimization stuff. Roon ROCK doesn’t even allow it. The only thing I have done however is connecting my Roon Server to Ethernet. As I was suffereing from dropouts, track skipping and other issues while connected to wifi. Even with the network signal indicator giving me a full strength bar and 700 mbit connection speed to the router. I guess living in an apartment block where everyone have their own wifi setup is not the best thing :smiley:
But if wifi works for you. Then you should be good.

I also have Audirvana Studio. Got a 3 year sub (for 2 year cost). But I am barely using it. It doesn’t allow me to play music outside of my home (Roon ARC sees to that). No options to combine several endpoints as one. I can team up my 3 streamers should I need to. It relies on UPnP and Chromecast to connect to external streamers. The UPnP option is not very stable with my Cambridge CXN V2. It often quits after 1 or 2 tracks played. My WiiM Ultra seems to do ok. My Bluesound Node X isn’t supported at all, as it doesn’t have UPnP nor Chromecast.

I’m also not that fond of the whole Audirvana interface. Getting the music to stop is having to click on a tiny little padlock icon far away from the other player controls. And more of those, I guess typical French, design decisions.

Happy Rooning :slight_smile:

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Hey there!! Thanks for the very helpful reply. Your suggestions make a lot of sense and I think I will try the later on.

Just wanted to add I don’t plan to use this notebook with other tasks while roon is playing. It’s going to be pretty much dedicated to roon. That’s why I want to configure it just for roon if necessary.

Regarding your question, I don’t use headphones. Just feed it into an Amp then speakers in one room. My house is not that big and those speakers are positioned in a way they can be heard very well from most places.
Not sure they’re in the sweet spot though…

Also.not sure what a transport is, it’s sort of a transmitter that receives a signal and sends it to the dac? Would that be necessary if I connect the dac to the notebook and set everything to have bit perfect reproduction?

Thanks again for the cool suggestions.

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Hey there thanks! Than nucbix seems like a very good idea!! Once I learn more about all this will see if I go that route as well.

Loving roon and qobuz, they changed everything for the better here at my place.

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A transport in this case means a device without a built in DAC of its own. So it relies on an external DAC for sound creation. It basically just transports the incoming digital signal to the DAC at the end of the digital chain.

If you connect your streamer (even if it has a DAC) digitally to an external DAC or amplifier with built in DAC. Then the streamer will also act as a transport. As the built in DAC will get bypassed if you are using optical or coax.

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I completely agree that the microSDXC card should not be used as the primary or sole copy of one’s local music library.

I was prepared to defend use of microSDXC cards for what I call “read-mostly” data, as this application would be. To educate myself, I did a bit of research. While flash memory wears out primarily from writing, I learned that consumer cards can suffer from “read disturb” errors if data is read repeatedly without ever being rewritten.

As we know, Roon scans the file system metadata (directory structures, file headers) frequently to check for changes. Anecdotally, I’ve never experienced a microSD card failure, but, from what I’ve learned of the technology today, I concede that failures over a multi-year horizon are more likely than with external USB SSD or even HDD storage.

If one is willing to accept the small risk of using a microSDXC card for music storage in exchange for the small form factor, best practice for reliable operation is to reformat the card once a year and copy the music files back to it from your master copy. This mitigates bit rot by refreshing the storage cells. (You do have a master copy, right??)

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Absolutely agree with you on this! I would also extend that to using USB keys (not hard drives), for permanent storage as they do not have any error correction,

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Today I finished installing the whole system… It sounds soooooooo gooooooood. Very close to my vinyls. Wow. Sounds airy, defined, with just the right amount of sweetness in the high freqs. So happy right now with roon. Audirvana sounds more digital or transparent/bright? Roon has this vinyl like warmth but without losing transparency…

Fricking love it. Wish I knew earlier about all this streaming bit perfect thing.

Vinyl still king ofc. But wow this is good. The doors LA woman 2021 remaster 50th anniversary. sounds insane in qobuz’s high res right now.

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Please tell us what you installed and how you set it up. You have the BTR15. What else?

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Pretty simple to be honest. Dedicated notebook with roon and qobuz / tidal accounts obviously, to the btr15 with the hybrid filter active, to a solid state extremely clean amplifier not very expensive but good, without tone stage. Preamp section has only the volume control. No color whatsoever. To a pair of jbl L100 speakers. Not using ethernet.

Can’t hear any noise. Listened to the whole L. A WOMAN 50th edition collection after finishing the setup and it really sounds amazing. I barely can tell it’s digital. Still shocked. That remaster is insane. Never ever ever expected having this quality of sound using a fricking notebook and a tiny dac. Wow

Edit: and roon set up for bit perfect. Btr15 has the 2.0 drivers/control center installed on the notebook as well. So asio driver is active bypassing the pc sound drivers.

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JBL L100? Nice. I live in a small apartment. And I’ve settled on a pair of JBL L52 Classics combined with my good old JVC subwoofer. I reckon the JBL’s should sound pretty similar.

Excellent for older music in my opinion. Electronic, 60-90, Celtic, New Age, Folk etc. Music I listen to the most. My Cambridge CXA81 and the FIIO K11R2R DACs which sit between my 2 streamers connected to the CXA81 also sound more on the warmer side. Perfect for me :slight_smile:

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Nice that should sound pretty similar to what I have. I love the vintage jbl sound. If you have the opportunity I suggest you to sometime try the L100 mk2.. Or the original L100 but that one is harder… Mk2 sound pretty close tbo

Edit oh wow just checked out the l52s. Theyre the L100 but for apartment haha congrats man. Those must sound the part.

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They do. I’ve bought them brand new in April of last year. They are now properly played in. One Euro shy of 1k but definitely worth the investment. They’ve replaced a pair of Dali Spektor 2’s which I’ve bought with the Marantz all in one that I’ve owned before upgrading to the Cambridge amplifier.

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