Hi all, I currently use roon with my phone and PC, and I am looking to extend it into a multi-room setup alongside a record player for vinyl. There are so many home audio products with different capabilities these days, and I’m evaluating different options. I’d greatly appreciate any suggestions!
I could use advice on the following products:
Audio receiver
Wireless speaker points
Choosing a communication protocol to connect the two above with roon, analog vinyl, and guests who use spotify or similar
Here is an outline of what I hope to achieve:
Vinyl record player + preamp + receiver + wired speakers for analog listening in my living room
Receiver mode to stream vinyl playback to wireless speakers in 2 other rooms
Ability to push audio to the receiver from Roon
Ability to push audio to the wireless speakers from Roon. Ideally this works similar to chromecast where I don’t need to manually turn on / connect the speaker each time.
Synchronized multi-room audio playback on the wireless speakers (optional but nice to have)
Privacy/open standards - Ideally the receiver and wireless speakers do not have any microphones or rely on proprietary subscriptions/vendor lock-in. I recall Sonos had an issue with bricking speakers a few years ago.
Friends can push music from their phones/spotify to the wireless speakers/receiver.
BlueOS/BlueSound seem like they could be a useful part of this. I am open to some manual setup, i.e. raspberry pi or running a small linux server. I’ll make a follow up post with what I decide on.
I have a Rega Planar 8 turntable that’s connected to a Parks Audio phono preamp. The preamp has a 24-bit, 96 kHz optical digital output that I have connected to an optical to USB adapter which goes to a Raspberry Pi 4 running the rooDial extension.
This sounds convoluted, but it works beautifully. The rooDial extension makes your turntable appear to Roon as an Internet radio station. Play the station to as many zones as you like. You can even add room or headphone-specific DSP or room correction filters.
I’ve compared the Parks Audio phono preamp to an alternative that costs three times as much and don’t feel that it’s holding back the performance of my turntable at all.
For all of your output zones, I’d buy WiiM Pro or Pro Plus streamers. Use the Pro with your external DAC or amplifier with digital input. Use the Plus in rooms where you don’t want to bother with an external DAC. If you don’t have speakers for the other rooms, a pair of JBL 306P active monitors make be an effective solution that can be connected directly to the WiiM Pro Plus.
Friends can stream Spotify or whatever to the WiiM device, but they are also Roon Ready (well, the Pro is now…Pro Plus works and should be fully Roon Ready any day now).
With this setup, you can stream high-quality vinyl playback to any or all rooms and amaze your friends.
