How to setup multiple end points

Roon Software Discussion
1

I have Roon on a Mac Mini with a USB output to a WiiM Ultra. From the Wiim Ultra I can output to a Gustard DAC and Amp/Speakers or to a Headphone AMP or to Bluetooth headphones.

Is there a way of isolating each choice in Roon so I can use Room Eq for the speakers and choose a a seperate equalization for my Sennheiser or Bose headphones? – all of which go to the Wiim Ultra

2

The WiiM is a Roon Ready network streamer, so connect it to your network, not the Mac Mini. This device is one zone.

Any devices connected directly to the Mac Mini via USB are additional zones.

Each zone can have different DSP. Headphones may also have different EQ settings, but you will need to create these, save them, and select as needed, depending on your zone setup.

So, it may be beneficial to describe how you would like to use Roon and each of your preferred zones.

Some reading.

3

The WiiM is three zones…one is room speakers, one is a headphone amp, and one is a Bluetooth headphone …I do a lot of manual switching now…and it sure would be nice to have separates…and I mistakenly said it was connected to the Mac…it is connected to the router.

4

As far as Roon is concerned, the WiiM is a single zone: it is just one audio source on the Ultra. So switching between outputs would be handled by the WiiM not Roon.

5

Yep…that’s what I’m doing now…but adding equalization is tricky

6

You need to create EQ for each device, and save this as a preset in Muse. Then select the appropriate preset according to headphone or speakers.

7

@Dennis_Laslo1 Could you or would you want to do something like the following to have separate end points and gain the ability to have MUSE DSP per zone?

The Mac Mini and Roon - not the WiiM Ultra - would become the central hub.

Roon Zones and EQ
Roon Zones and EQ796×745 15.2 KB

8

Yep…I could do that except the headphone amp input is the line out of the DAC. THere is no USB input. I used to use the Mac to feed the bluetooth headphones but I suspect the Mac DAC is not the best. I didn’t need the iphone…I just went straight from the Mac to the Bose 700’s.

It would be nice if Roon recognized the DAC as the output for the room speakers as a seperate zone. I could have sworn that was the case a year ago. I suppose another possibility is to have multiple WiiMs …Roon has a chromecast, an airplay, and an ethernet wiim.

PS: How did you generate that diagram so quick…? I’ve been fiddling with Visio for the last hour.

9

I put a question mark after Zone 2 below because I’m assuming - haven’t done this myself - it’ll show up as a different zone since Roon sees WiiM Ultra (network) and Gustard DAC (USB).

If I were setting this up for myself, I would consider…

  • The measured and audible differences in diagram 1 above and diagram 2 below. The differences would likely be subtle and possibly inaudible (or irrelevant with headphones).
  • Convenience switching between sources (controlled within Roon only).
  • Physical length of cables needed to connect devices.

The Bose headphone is handling the digital to audio conversion. The limitation to think about is bluetooth.

  • Similar to the bullet points above, I would choose simplicity and configurability.
  • Roon may treat audio output from the Mac Mini as a single zone - something to consider if you plan to use analog output or bluetooth speakers from the Mac.

Roon Zones and EQ 2
Roon Zones and EQ 2483×796 11.9 KB

For the diagrams I used draw.io