I have a question regarding using a Roon Core (my macbook pro) with a Roon endpoint (Lumin Streamer). When I play a song from Roon/Tidal, it sends the info from my laptops wifi and then I’m guessing through the router and then through the ethernet cable which is plugged into the back of streamer.
Anyway my query is this - does my laptop have any effect on the sound what so ever? I know if I plugged it straight in through USB it would but by doing it this way through the streamer wirlessly does it have any affect? Or does the Lumin act as the computer and streams the song directly from Tidal with only the Macbook acting as a remote of sorts? Hope this makes sense… Cheers any help would be much appreciated!
The files come from Tidal and Qobuz to the Roon server (I think) then to your router. From your router they go to your Roon core device for processing, then to your Roon end-point device. So, your laptop (and mine) has some effect, whether good or bad, I don’t know. Sounds great to me.
The impact of a core, and the way it is connected to everything else does have an effect on the Roon experience. But if you are using a streamer those effects are often much reduced as the core is electrically isolated from the playback device. What is does is introduce a degree of consistency which is the sweet spot most people want to pitch their systems at.