I’d like to setup 6 listening stations where each station utilizes a tablet/ipad for inputs to choose music from an offline library (don’t want to be dependant from online connections) and I want roon to be involved from an Nucleus. The questions will be very basic as I never setup something like this.
First. Is this even possible? If yes, what do I need, besides:
6 Tablets with the Roon App installed on each
WLAN Routing for the tablets, Nucleus connected via cable
Nucleus
Do I need 6 licenses or can I login with one single account into every tablet?
Yes, it’s possible, and yes, you only need one license for the Nucleus (where your Roon Core is). You can have as many control points and audio endpoints as you wish, the limiting factor is likely to be your WLAN bandwidth…
This should work fine with a single Roon Core license. Each iPad will need the Roon app loaded onto it and the Core will need to Enable each iPad as a Remote and/or endpoint. I recommend you name each iPad a different name in Roon for tracking purposes.
Will the iPad be the endpoint for each player or will it control another network-connected device? It may be useful if there are separate endpoints to label these uniquely also, unless the iPad unique name does this. Then select from each iPad an available endpoint and the iPad can control the stream to that endpoint.
Roon needs an online connection to begin with to find out if the Nucleus is authorized. It should work offline until it needs to check in for authorization again. Not sure what that time frame is.
You can run multiple zone endpoints from a Nucleus, 6 would probably work, and you can have an individual remote at each zone location or control them all from 1 remote. However there is an ongoing issue with IPADs as remotes with no internet access. I know windows laptops can function as remotes and endpoint playback devices with no internet access from a local music library.
Yes, the 6 (or more) tablets will be used as pure remotes:
So I can indeed have Roon stream to 6 different, individual endpoints with each having its own remote/tablet where I can login with the same overall account. Of course people could fool around and set a different output with each pad or log out for fun but that’s not a biggie and can be quickly resolved.
Now I just need to figure out (more) appropriate endpoints, and then figure out the offline situation as e.g. Qobuz doesn’t allow offline play in Roon.
Note that as stated above by @Mike_LC , there is an issue with iPads not working with Roon when an internet connection is lost, so you may not be able to use them to control Roon in that situation.
It makes sense to have a plan B for that situation if losing internet access is a common issue for you. A laptop hardwired to your LAN for example.
I do not know what the Roon connection status of a wifi connected iPhone or Android phone would be in that scenario. Perhaps other users could comment as this my be an Apple only issue or could depend upon your home network/router.