General Roon Setup Advice (Beginning System Setup Direction)

Roon Software Discussion
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Good Morning,
I am about to pull the trigger on a Roon yearly subscription and I was looking for some general advice on what direction the more experienced users would head in when setting up their system. About my setup (this whole thing started when I bought an SVS PB-1000 Pro (got the free plugs making it effectively an SB-1000 for music). I got a free 3-months to QoBuz and have fallen in love. Guess I listened to MP3s on a not good system and had gotten used to it. I am really enjoying it and am down with committing to QoBuz for the long haul.

Music Library: - ~1400 QoBuz Library Indexed Albums (~830 CD, ~550 High Res)

  • ~225 Local MP3/FLAC tagged & indexed (~45 GB, 70% Compilations that are not produced anymore)
    Listening Setup: Living Area
    HTPC (Old Dell e6440 Haswel i5-4310M with 8GB DDR3 and a 250GB SSD w/ 200GB free)
    Outputting via HDMI up to @192k bitstreaming to my HTPC (SVS PB-1000, Andrew
    Jones SP-SF52 fronts w/matching center and insignia surrounds for 5.1 through a Yamaha RX-381 Receiver (outputs via HDMI to TCL 4k HDTV, but for the purposes of music I will Just be outputting stereo to the fronts and sub) This is my best sounding system and I envision it as my prime listening location.
    Work/Office Area
    Desktop PC (Ryzen 2200G with 16GB DDR4 and 500GB SSD w/ 300GB free) Outputting
    Via HDMI up to @96k to an HDMI audio extractor that feeds an Onkyo TX-SR304 feeding
    A Dayton SB-800 Sub with Micca MBX42X near field 2.1 listening setup. This system is
    Not as good as the living from, but I spend 65-70 percent of listening in this as I work
    From home in the office.
    I think I understand the concept of the core and how streaming works but wanted to solicit some advice on what I am planning:
    Install Windows Roon Core on my living room HTPC (have room to run the local files on the HD) This setup already does up to 192k digital out to the receiver via QoBuz Windows and sounds great so I am confident Rune will work as well. The advantage of this is that my best audio setup gets access to the whole music library through Rune (MP3s would be local so available through Rune on the HTPC). Also, I have an iPad, could I install Rune (remote) on the iPad and control the core and output to my living room? Using the touch screen iPad would be better than my HTPC outputted to the 4k TV (scaling is not ideal on it). For the upstairs I could install Rune and would be set for all my QuBuz, I figure I could set up Plex and use it locally on my LAN to access my MP3 local files from my Office desktop.

Will I be able to control the Rune on my HTPC and output to my good audio setup via my iPad?
Can I organize and control the tagging/cats of my collection from my Office PC Rune remote/client (not core) and iPad remote or does that need to be done on the the HTPC Rune Core (the visual to the TV is great for HTPC movies but the Windows screen scales a bit funky). Thanks looking forward to re-discovering so many albums!

Scott

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Yes, you will be able to control Roon from your iPad provided HTC (with Roon core) and iPad are on same network.

I am not sure if you can output Roon via HDMI from your HTC, although if it is working with Qobuz, maybe it will work with Roon.

I think you will be able to designate your office computer as an endpoint and stream to it from Roon core on your HTC. Also, the office computer, like your iPad, can serve as a remote. Again, not sure about HDMI output.

I think all of your files need to be accessible to the core computer locally or by attached storage, instead of on different computers. Maybe designate your office computer as the core instead, and use HTC as endpoint, control with iPad.

I didn’t understand what was happening upstairs.

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You are not mentioning much about your network, this key to a successful Roon install. If you can hardwire everything, WiFi can be an issue , so avoid if you can.

The whole concept of Roon is Core - Network - End Point

Maybe as a suggestion try your Office PC as the core and your HTPC in the main listening room as an End Point . Load the main Roon Windows app on both nominating the Office one as Core. The core PC needs processing power, the End Point less so . I would think your office PC is the more powerful of the 2

That way any maintenance, imports , storage , backups etc. would be in an “office environment “ desks , keyboard etc. Your HTPC could then be headless and controlled by the iPad, just load Room Remote from the Apple Store

As an example , my set up is

Tower PC , i7 7700, 16 gb RAM, 250 SSD for Windows and library, 4 x HDD for media files. Noisy but located in my “office” / study away from listening area.

Tp link Archer Router D7 , Ethernet to switch in listening room, Core Ethernet directly input.

RPi4 4gb Version with Allo Digione coax to Audiolab M DAC , then Sennheiser HD800 headphones.

Control is via a iPad Pro 12.9 and an old iPad mini 4

You could then load Plex on the same Core and centralized file storage if that’s possible

Once you have got a digital input from the network, HDMI out should not be an issue. I have an Android video streamer . It will run Roon out by HDMI to my soundbar if if I want

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Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I was able to join rugbys chat and got an intro from him and a couple knowledgeable roon vets. Will definitely be installing the core on the upstairs more powerful PC as suggested. Will go from there, as for hard wiring LAN. It is on the to do list, I would love to get away from Wifi all together for so many reasons, roon just adds to the list. Its hopefully gonna happen sooner rather than later but I certainly understand that it is ideal and preferred. Thanks again for all the help!
Scott

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Was great to chat!

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Just wanted to update and give thanks to all who lended a hand. I am all set up and love it. Still learning the UI and all that’s possible as far as organization etc but I am loving Roon. Installed Core in my more powerful Computer upstairs in office. Can output directly over HDMI WASAPI @96k to my optical on my Onkyo receiver and am very happy with the sound I get from this receivers DAC to my office speakers. On my HTPC I installed the client and have it outputting via HDMI WASAPI @192k to my yamaha receiver and speaker setup and love it. Got the remote installed on my iPad and love the interface and the ability to control either rune end point. Great, I’m all the way in on Rune and Qobuzz (not ready for life time lol but yearly is good). Thanks again everyone!
Scott

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:+1: Good ups!

BTW, I just demoed your sub, well the SB version, for my small living room system. It’s really good, but a bit a bit too big for our space. Just saw they came out with Micro 3000, so going to give that one a try. Cheers!

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