How do you keep your system easy-to-use?

Docker container on Ubuntu VM on top of VMWare and lots of Squeezebox receivers. Transporter for quality, Duet for convenience.
Works like a charm, all hardwired ethernet (yes, quite more stable than WiFi).
Single and simple interface, no fuss for guests or my best-half, just works.
I run a container because I can and after having dedicated barebones server, dedicated VM, found out this was the easiest and most convenient. Really just launch, forget, and enjoy the music.
I can already hear the arguments about digital noise and whatnot but my objective here is to enjoy the music and the great convenience brought to me by Roon (my library, Tidal and radio).

Many good advice in the thread! Iā€™ll repeat/add to what others said and have worked also in my home:

Wired network:
Nothing beats wired networks for predictability. Iā€™m an old-school radio amateur and have been experimenting with antennas and radio-gear my whole life. My personal conclusion is that even if radio-waves follow the laws of physics - they do so in a somewhat chaotic way. Unpredictable, at least in my home, and predictability in operation is paramount to the XYL.

Use endpoints that match the task at hand and the quality needed:
Our Chromecast Audios (on wifi actuallyā€¦) are what the rest of the family use the most. Carefully placed for coverage to sustain them, but I anyway had to add a WiFi zone to support. :frowning: And @Jazzfan_NJ, the optical out on CCA fed by ROON measures really well in the tests I have read - itā€™s probably a really good and cheap alternative to the Pi but I never used the CCA for serious listening.

Many make do with lossy Spotify and a CCA. Or at least they didā€¦ lately some have been ā€œcaughtā€ using my headphone rig / Pi / tablet with ROONā€¦ :slight_smile: The Pi has been surprisingly stable (wired networkā€¦).
But repeating myself, if Iā€™m allowed to offer only one piece of advice - IMHO, avoid wireless.

So give it try. Thereā€™s nothing to lose but oneā€™s audiophile bias.

Roon has been a game-changer for me.
Prior to Roon, I had music on my NAS, subscriptions to both Qobuz & Tidal, a bucket-load of SACDā€™s, and almost a room full of vinyl.
Now, with Roon, I actually feel like Iā€™m ready to dispense with the SACD player from my main system. Especially since: 1) Iā€™ve ripped the RB layer onto my NAS, and this sounds at least as good through my Lumin, as the SACD layer played on my SACD player, and 2) Qobuz gives my most of these titles in High-Res streaming anyway.
Simplification to me is the key. And my Lumin plus Roon gives me that.

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The optical out has drop out issues with sources at 24/96. A bug in Googleā€™s implementation that there is no indication they will fix given it has been discontinued.

You just reminded / pushed that up a bit on the ā€œlazy saturday afternoonā€ list:
An A/B test Pi/Hat vs. CCA, both fed via ROON -> external DAC + Sennheisers. The worst critic of all (not me who has a bias) will be the judge and jury - my hifi-nerd-hangaround daughter :slight_smile:

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Haha, love that! Any chance she might contaminate my daughter please? :smile:

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Hi Tony,
I am really interested in your Roonspeaker. Is it easy to use, reliable, stable? I take it that you are only using Roon on it without other services (such as Spotify, youtube)?
How does it compare to say a Sonos one?
It would be great if you could share some details as I would love to try something similar to test as potential Sonos replacement.

Cheers

Hi,

it is nothing special and a few others have built more integrated units (will dig out a link after this and add it to the post). It is simply a spare centre channel speaker I had lying about unused, but a decent model, a PMC DB1C. I just built another PI with IQAudio DigiAmp+ HAT. The speaker has a split crossover so one channel drives the woofer and the other the tweeter for approx 25W+25W. It is powered from a 19v laptop 60W PSU (also spare and lying around). Roon is set to send a mono signal but you do need to put in some headroom to avoid clipping.It is absolutely 100% reliable and stable. I use Diet Pi with Shareport/Shareplay which just works fine for Airplay use.
With regard to Sonos One comparison, it is rather better. I did used to own a Sonos One but the tubby bass was rather off putting, as it tends to be with small speakers.

EDIT: @CrystalGipsy posted a very useful walk through a while back:

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Many thanks for this Tony, really appreciated.
Just to double check somethingā€¦ if you were to use a single speaker with a single set of banana plugs (red / white), would have to use a wire a channel from the DigiAmp (e.g. the right channel only), leaving the other disconnected?

Cheers

There are several speakers with chromecast built-in. An affordable Roon solution in my opinion. For the kitchen, bathroom, the kids.

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I love my DIY ones never drop a beat and sound excellent. I replaced my centre speaker recently so have another spare one waiting for it to be Roonified.

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Yup, my LS50Wā€™s wired = much better experience vs even a strong/healthy wireless signal. Iā€™ve even gone as far as wiring my Chromecast Audioā€™s to the network, so no wifi at all for my audio streaming devices.

I have multiple Chromecast Audioā€™s but have never used the ā€˜standardā€™ Chromecast. Can you stream audio to it just like you can to the Audio version or are there limitations (like the TV must be on, etc.)?

So it would have analog out instead of HDMI? I donā€™t think thereā€™s any DAC chip in the HDMI-out Chromecasts.

The audio on Chromecast 3rd Gen and Chromecast Ultra is channeled though the HDMI port in full digital splendor so it matches the sound you would have from Netflix or YouTube. I plug mine directly into the audio receivers (Anthem, Yamaha). You can play the sound only or turn on the TV and also see the Roon now playing screen. It is limited to 16/96 audio (hard to find honest specs). Chromecast audio does not do the video part and has a better DAC chip (AKM AK4430) with 24/196 support. It does not have HDMI, just TOSLink and 3.5 mm.

CC Ultra has Ethernet built in. Chromecast 3G has a $15 adapter for wired Ethernet. I recommend either.

My Yamaha receiver is newer and has AirPlay built in so I can use that route with RAAT to get higher bitrates without the video display.

I will test this out and report back.

See Billā€™s response quoted below.

With all that said it should be noted that the audiophile response to the Chromecast (both regular and audio versions) is very similar to the audiophile response to the Logitech Squeezebox (all versions). Which was and still is that a company that doesnā€™t make audiophile approved products made of plastic and reasonably priced cannot be all that good. Both the Squeezebox and the Chromecast also adhere to the principle that a digital data can be easily transmitted over either Wi-Fi or Ethernet with bit perfect accuracy. It is what happens after the digital data is received by the unit that determines the whether or not the final sound meets audiophile standards. In other words, hook up a Chromecast to a very good DAC and nice stereo and the result is audiophile quality sound. Iā€™m good with this approach and have been using it to get great sounding audio via streaming for over 10 years.

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Yes just use either channel. So long as Roon is sending a mono signal it wonā€™t matter which one.

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My upcoming solution -

https://www.elac.com/product/ddp-2-preamplifier-dac-streamer/?r=us
https://www.elac.com/product/navis-arb-61/?r=us

Library on Innuos Zen mk2, Nucleus core, project pre box s2, Hegel H160, all wired controlled by IPad Pro, seamless.
I just dont seem to have problems, Iā€™m always amazed as i trawl through this site and read peoples issues and think, wow, glad thatā€™s not me, then i also ask why?