If you have a Linn DSM (rather than a DS, which has no inputs other than Ethernet), this works fine via Toslink or coaxial SPDIF. I have Raspberry Pis with both the Allo Digi One and HiFiBerry Digi+ performing this role with various Linn DSM devices.
One nice thing about this approach is that since the Raspberry Pis are running RAAT, you can sync them with other RAAT-compatible devices (like Bluesound wireless speakers).
The unfortunate thing about this approach is that it renders the whole streamer functionality of a DSM redundant, and our DSMs are optimized to be streamers. In my main system, I am now running Sonore’s UPNP Bridge software to stream from Roon to a DSM via Ethernet, but unfortunately Sonore does not license this software to run on anything other than the devices sold by Sonore, and they seem to have dropped the lowest-cost devices from their roster. Given that Linn devices and Roon will eventually be able to speak to each other directly (with emphasis on the word “eventually), it probably does not make sense to spend a lot of money to implement the UPNP Bridge approach, unless you’ll have some other use fo the Sonore device once Linn and Roon get their protocol sorted out and implemented.
Yes, the Linn streaming capabilities are redundant, but I’m assuming that this configuration
Roon -> Ropiee+Digi One -> Linn DSM has the same quality of direct streaming from Linn, or eventually from Roon -> Linn when available. Am I wrong?
One question on the Roon to control Linn scenario is if it still make sense to use Space Optimisation instead of move everything into Roon’s DSP, but I don’t want to hijack this thread, so I’ll create another post on that subject.
To be honest, I’m not sure. I’ve convinced myself that some Toslink or SPDIF (coaxial) sources sound better than others, and I always have a nagging sense that streaming to the DSM via Ethernet sounds best…but this could all just be audiophile neurosis. It certainly still sounds good via Toslink/SPDIF.
According to the specs it works with Linn DS players as well as Squeezebox. In the Sonore set up, Roon “sees” the Sonore as a Squeezebox device on your LAN and you can use it to output music through the Linn DS player. So it “may” work the same way…I don’t know for sure.
However this box runs something called “InnuOS” and I don’t know if it can run Roon. That said, if you already own one, you prolly know the answer to that question!
I am using the UPnP bridge from green computer and I am running the latest beta davaar release on my LINN KDSM; I have the feeling that newer davaar releases are getting less compatible with the UPnP bridge (loosing the connection, I have to reboot the UPnP bridge, switch the DSM off and on agailn and reconfigure the connection) - does anybody else experience the same?
Thanks for pointing that out. In the comments following the article, the author has since clarified that Linn won’t be “Roon Ready,” but instead that Roon will support Linn via a protocol he calls “Songcast Direct”:
“The Linn Akurate DSM digital system will not be a Roon endpoint, per se. Rather, by the end of April, it will utilize Linn’s Songcast Direct streaming to integrate with Roon.”
This (if accurate) must be the new protocol that Linn and Roon were reported to be working on.
Am posting only here, to avoid a bunch of responses on the Linn forum stating that Kazoo is all anyone could ever want (or all that anyone right-minded should ever want).
In any event, I will be very pleased if we have some sort of direct support of Linn in Roon by the end of April.
Not sure how I feel about this, since I already use Roon with my Klimax DSM via Small Green Computer’s UPNP Bridge (which, as I understand it, is still available if you contact them directly, $279 I think). I have no stability issues and it is seamless when in use, but it is a workaround and I can’t group my main listening area with the Bluesound players I have for music in the rest of the house.
If I understand what is upcoming for Linn owners, this doesn’t change anything for me. Songcast Direct appears to be “endpoint lite” and is doing what the UPNP Bridge does.
So, while Linn owners will be able to use Linn & Roon together without having to buy an accessory, since they aren’t true endpoints, Linn players won’t be able to to be grouped together with Roon endpoints - if I’m wrong, please let me know.
If all you own are Linn products, this is all you need. For folks like myself, it falls a little short and it’s disappointing that Linn isn’t embracing this totally and making their DS players Roon endpoints. Looks like Linn still wants to wall their products off from the rest of the world like Sonos. Yikes! I just said Linn and Sonos in the same sentence!
Better than nothing, I guess. And I’m happy for Linn owners that haven’t been able to use Roon until now, because Roon is much better than the Linn alternatives.
As for me, I’d be happy to learn that I’m wrong about the limitations of this, but if I’m correct, this is kind of a non-event for me, unless Soundcast Direct sounds better. I’ll share my thoughts once the upgrade comes through
I think you’re right that you won’t be able to group a Songcast Direct endpoint with a RAAT endpoint (at least not until Roon figures out how to sync across different types of endpoints), but this should allow multiple Linn endpoints to be grouped, which currently can’t be done inside Roon using the UPNP bridge. I also would have preferred that Linn implement RAAT, but I’m still looking forward to this step forward in Roon/Linn integration.
Well Dang it! When I posted this there were no comments posted yet. My apologies for getting all excited.
I’d imagine there is good reason Linn hasn’t incorporated Roon End Point yet. Could be Roon’s possibly competing with Linn and may be more of a competitor in the future if Roon plans to get more involved with the hardware side. To the best of my knowledge, Roon was the original Sooloos, which sold to Meridian, a direct competitor to Linn. If Roon were strictly a UI and had no plans of ever being more than a UI, Linn might be more on board with them. This is just me rambling, of course. I really have no idea why a Roon End Point isn’t available for Linn.
One of the things that Alpha testers agree to when they join the program is not sharing any info or commenting about what is going on during testing, so we won’t hear anything until an official update is released. .
