iPad as Roon remote and end point/audio zone?

Audio Gear Talk
1

I’m setting up a headphone ‘station’. The situation:

  • Roon core running on iMac mini
  • Roon remote on iPad Pro with usb-c
  • headphones are sennheiser hd660s2

I’m looking to purchase a headphone amp/dac combo (e.g., rotel dx-3, topping dx9 discrete, etc).

Can I just connect my iPad to the amp/dac with usb-c cable or do I require another Roon end point in the path (e.g., a wiim mini). I’m reading conflicting info and want to validate…

Thanks in advance!

2

Connect your iPad to your network via WIFI. I use four Remotes, all connected by WIFI. They include 2 iPads, an iPhone, and a Dell XPS 15 laptop. I can use them as end-points, but I rarely do.

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3

Most certainly. You’d want to put the iPad in Silent Mode to avoid notifications interrupting the listening. Even when set to not make a noise an incoming notification would cause the audio to duck otherwise.

One other observation: a few seconds after the Roon remote is paused/stopped it will become invisible to other remotes, assuming it’s not set to be Private. This would only matter if you wanted to control the endpoint from elsewhere.

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4

Ah - good point on notifications…first one would probably have blown out my eardrums. Lol

So I guess my assumption that since I can pick my iPad as an audio zone and play music through the iPad speakers means that I just need the amp/dac to play to headphones is true?

5

Yes - that’s how I’m set up for playing via my speakers…

Roon core on Mac mini → WiFi → Roon remote on iPad → hifi rose rs250a streamer → klipsch the nines speakers

In my last house the WiFi wasn’t reliable so I had the rose tethered to the router

6

Sure. I do this from time to time, even with a modest SMSL DAC/amp that’s powered off the iPad’s USB.

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7

A Raspberry Pi 4 works well as a Roon bridge to your DAC also. I use one connected by ethernet to a switch and USB to Chord Mojo 2 headphone DAC/amp. I use another connected by WIFI with USB to Meridian Prime DAC/amp.

2 Likes
8

The FiiO SR11 has made things rather simpler for folks that don’t fancy configuring a Pi. Arguably more elegant too.

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9

How do you normally play via your headphones?

10

For a quiet evening in the den:
FiiO SR11 > USB > RME ADI-2 DAC FS* > HD650
(*The RME is simply used as a hi-power DAC/amp, apart from Loudness compensation. Roon handles EQ, crossfeed and any other DSP upstream.)

Occasionally, in other parts of the house:
iPad Air > USB > SMSL M300SE > HD599
FiiO SR11 > USB > aptX Lossless transmitter > Sonos Ace or Soundpeats Air5