Connecting two Macmini's with ethernet cable directly

The online Roon manual says that you get the best sound quality from Roon if you plan for an ethernet cable between your Core and Output components.
I now have Roon Server on a MacMini which is connected with my DAC.
What I’d like to do is to use my spare MacMini with Roon Bridge connected with my DAC.

I tried a ethernet cable between the two MacMini’s but on my remote (iPad) I don’t see the bridge.

Is it possible to do this directly because I don’t have a wired network in my house.

Thanks in advance,

Frans

Sorry, but you can’t take an ordinary ethernet cable and use it to connect two computers directly - it won’t work.

You need a special “crossover” cable, or plug both computers into a simple ethernet switch.

See http://www.labnol.org/software/connect-computers-without-router/11049/

Mac mini does support auto MDI-X so a crossover cable should not be needed. What you probably are missing is IP addresses. Without a DHCP server to help setup the network configuration you are going to need configure the network setup on each Mac.

@frankg - ah, thanks for that clarification; I’m not a Mac user. In that case, indeed IP addresses will need to be set up manually…

Thanks, I did know the above, but I tried last weekend to connect the two mini’s with an ethernet cable. I gave the mini’s an adres etc. but the RoonServer did not ‘talk’ to the RoonBridge… What am I doing wrong? Do I have to mount each computer? Or something else? Is there a guide on doing this?

Thanks in advance,

Frans

This can be done easily with any ethernet cable (I though crossover cables were no longer even available to purchase?). However it assumes you aren’t connected to a wireless network as well, which I’m betting you are. You just need to put both PCs into the same subnet with a relevant and correct IP address, then they will see each other via the LAN connection.

If they are both connected to wireless the simplest thing to do is ignore the physical layer and go with the flow. Install Core on one and Remote on the other, both connected to the wireless network and you’re good to go.

If you really wan’t to use a cable, then this may work:

Connect your Core unit to the wireless network.
Still on the Core, go to System Preferences -> Sharing.
Click on Internet Sharing.
At “Share your connection from:” choose Ethernet.
At “To computers using:” tick Ethernet
Select OK on the warning sheet.
Tick “Internet Sharing” on the left again and choose “Start” from the sheet.
Connect the Core to the Remote via ethernet cable and ensure on the Remote that in System Preference -> Network ethernet cable is showing as connected and DHCP is selected as the addressing method.

Depending on how Roon does it’s network discovery this might all work hunky dory.

It is a bit overkill though, I’d repurpose the mac mini elsewhere and buy a low cost Roon endpoint (like the SonicOrbiter thingy).