I’ve been setting up Roon for the last couple of days and I really like it a lot. My setup is very simple so far. One Laptop as Core in my listening room, USB to DAC etc…
I want to stream to 2nd room, too. There is a stereo setup with an older yamaha amp, so no bluetooth, LAN anything on this thing. My idea was to use an old Pixel 3a phone, installed roon remote, connected to amp aux in, works like a charm.
Still I’m wondering about a better solution, because I don’t want to use WLAN if possible. I don’t want to buy a streaming device of any kind, just makes no sense to me when a android remote is more than sufficient in this case.
So I’m wondering is there a device out there, android based to be able to install roon remote, with LAN (preferred) and a halfway decent DAC or optical output to use the DAC in the amplifier??
Hope you can follow me here and I really appreciate any ideas!
All the best to all of you,
Bob.
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
2
Hi - glad that you’re having fun!
Just after a bit of clarity, so I’ll ask a couple of questions.
At present, it would appear that you’re using the Pixel 3a as an endpoint, not a remote. By this I mean that the phone is physically connected to the the amp. Are you looking to use another device to replace this or are you looking for a way to control this (the endpoint) remotely?
In other words, when listening in the 2nd room, do you want to be able to control what’s going on when you’re sat some distance from the amp?
He SMS!
Thanks for your questions. You are right - the Pixel 3a is an end point (and remote at the same time of course). The phone is physically connected to the amp. I’m looking for a replacement of this device. One of the small problems is that the audio output of the phone starts to make noises when no music is playing so I have to mute the amp as one workaround. There are a couple of more details…I was just glad the idea works to start with.
And to your 2nd question - YES - I want to control what is going on in the second room. So I want to be able to control this endpoint via my Huawei P30 (or any other roon remote device).
Cheers!
1 Like
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
4
You could replace it with another phone or tablet. Personally I wouldn’t recommend that.
In you OP you mentioned replacing it with something android based. There are devices such as Mi Box S that have Chromecast built in, but again I wouldn’t recommend it.
The best solution, imho, is a Raspberry Pi. You mentioned that you don’t want to use a streamer, but having a phone or tablet as an endpoint and another phone as a remote means that you’re sort of using a streamer already.
The RPi can be set up as a bridge, connecting to your amp. It can be connected to your network via either ethernet or wifi.
One additional question, what model is your Yamaha amp?
Yeah, another phone or tablet is not what I have in mind. I heard about the Pi’s and like the idea but havn’t looked into it very much. What is the idea of a device used as bridge - where can I read about this?
And do you have a link about the Raspberry that you could recommend to get started with the topic?
Thank you. No DAC needed in the Raspberry since the Yamaha has a DAC built in as I mentioned in the OP. It has coaxial and optical inputs I could use. So the Raspi would only need a digital out. Is that complicated?
The budget is flexible. I want a future proof solution and also would like something to tinker with a little. So it is not about a couple of hundred bucks. But I don’t want to spend 1000€ or something like that. It’s just not appropriate for that 2nd space. The first hearing space gets the good stuff.
The RPi provides LAN input USB output only , but you can get a HAT to give SPDIF Coax. A bit of DIY but nothing except a screw driver
I use a RPi 4 4gb, with an Allo DigiOne HAT. Additional board, this gives coax out straight to coax input of amp, not sure of Euro prices but mine was ZAR2000. About 140 USD . Probably easier in Europe
The software, use Riopeee, free download, includes Roon Bridge and a Linux OS
The whole construction and software less than hour, the Riopeee author is a regular member of the forum
Mines been running 3 years with one issue the was fixed with a new SD card
It’s probably the most used cheaper endpoint
2 Likes
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
9
A bridge essentailly bridges between your source (your laptop) and your endpoint (the DAC in the Yamaha)
In terms of equipment, the following links are to a UK site, so you might want to source things more locally.
In order to allow you to connect to the DAC in the Yamaha, you’ll need a digi out HAT. This just attaches to the top of the RPi. Below is the one that @Mike_O_Neill mentioned, but there are other available. Any HAT with a digi out.
If your phone has USB-C you can buy USB-C to Ethernet adapters with a pass through charging USB-C port like this one:
For bonus points, you can use a PoE to USB-C splitter to power/charge your phone from a PoE switch. I have this setup on a Xiaomi Mi 10T Lite 5G phone I use as backup for my broadband connection.
That said, Raspberry Pi + Ropieee is by far a cleaner solution.
Thanks a lot for your feedback. I read into everything and the RaPi with the Riopeee seems a nice solution. I’ll try that out. I love this internet thing of having a problem a lot of people had before and found a customized solution that (hopefully) rocks!
@SukieInTheGraveyard and @Mike_O_Neill,
I’m looking in the RaPi hardware. Most kits include a fan, but I don’t want to use one and what I read from you, you don’t use one either, right?
SukieInTheGraveyard
(This one time, at Bandcamp... I spent too much money!)
14
I don’t use a fan. Running Ropieee on an RPi4 isn’t very power demanding.
It should be noted that I don’t need HATs on my RPis as I use USB-out. This means that I’ve got a much larger selection of cases to choose from.
This is an all inclusive kit I bought , SD card, power supply R1549 is just over $100’, and SA is notoriously expensive for electronics. that’s everything you need except the USB cable
I didn’t get a book !
This has no fan , it’s just a circuit board in a plastic box, absolutely silent
If you go the HAT route you’ll need a specific case, if you look around thePi Shop site it’s all there , you will have a similar supplier in your country
