I’m hoping someone can help me with this question or, that you might be able to recommend someone who can.
My current system is as follows: Shahinian Obelisk 2s, Dynavector pre & power, Naim Unitiserve SSD and Naim NDX; I rip CDs to a QNAP NAS TS439 pro II+ with 2 x 1TB drives (not SSD) and the network is hardwired. I control things currently via an iPad Pro and the Naim Audio app.
I would like to use Roon and to run it on my NAS, however, I’m fairly sure my NAS has insufficient processing power and RAM, therefore I would like to find someone who, unlike me, can build, configure and install a new NAS (copying my existing music files) and with Roon installed and running in my system.
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I can find people who are happy to sell me a NAS and I know how to acquire Roon, but bringing them together, making the whole thing work and not losing my current music files is beyond me.
Don’t rule out just running Roon Core on a Mac/win pc or NUC running ROCK. You don’t need a new NAS at all unless you’re adverse to having the Core on a ‘computer’, and you’ll save money.
Also, think about how you will connect to the NDX.
I agree with Steve. Unless you are looking to significantly increase your NAS storage or use it for a number of other tasks then a roon core machine that either points at the storage on your existing NAS or has a USB disk attached sounds more sensible.
Those who have gone the NAS route tend to have a LOT of storage, which is why their NAS appliances are powerful enough to run roon.
Either wait for the roon Nucleus which will be released shortly Nucleus! when can we expect the first deliveries?
or buy a NUC and install it yourself - if you can cope with a NAS you can do this https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Optimized_Core_Kit
Oh, and you can then attach a USB to digital converter to the NUC which then goes into the back of the NDX.
I had a ND5xs and did just this.
Then I realised I was using roon exclusively so seemed a bit daft to be just using the naim as a DAC so I sold it.
I’m in Glos too my friend, alas, I’m pretty strapped for time at the moment so wouldn’t be able to help out in the way you’ve asked. The time-consuming bit of your request is the setting up of a new NAS and transferring the data across. An alternative option, unless you are set on upgrading your NAS, is to purchase an Intel NUC, set that up as a ROCK (Roon Server), have it on the same network as your NAS, configure Roon to look at your NAS folders, your Roon Remotes (whether on laptop, PC, smartphone, tablet) then communicate with the ROCK.
You will struggle to find a value-for-money NAS that has the kind of processing performance justified by Roon. I’d recommend an i5 NUC with 8GB RAM and about 96GB SDD.
If that’s an option - keeping your NAS, buying an intel nuc for ROCK - then I’m happy to help get you up and running. Of course, I’m just a hobbyist so if you are looking for a professional solution you may want to have a chat with Ceritech Audio in the Forest of Dean who seem to cater for more custom solutions (no idea if they would want to help, or can, or indeed what they’d charge for the privilege).
As someone who has been using Roon for a number of years, the best solution I’ve found is to buy a mac Mini on eBay!
Honestly, setting up a Mini to run 24/7 is the best solution. I also invested in a copy of HQPlayerDesktop - really to fine tune things when I absolutely want the best sound. However, I have found that ROON’s new DSP features are excellent - certainly for Binaural.
I’ve had zero issues with the mac Mini I got off ebay, which is more than I ever could say regarding NAS drives.
Hi Tim and thanks for your message; sorry to a bit dim but you’re suggesting getting rid of the NAS and storing music on the Mac mini which would also provide a home for Roon?
Hi Rick, thank you for you reply, I have read elsewhere about doing as you suggest with a NUC and pondered it but, alas my technical akills are not sufficient to make me feel confident in going ahead with it, although I do appreciate your offer to help out.
Were I to go that route how does Roon “talk to” my NDX - which I understand is not compatible (my Mu-so is though)?
You would need to purchase a USB->SPDIF converter and connect it to the coax digital input on the NDX (if memory serves me well you should have three digital inputs on the NDX: optical, coax and BNC).
Then you hook up a USB cable from one of the USB outputs on the NUC, plug that into the USB/SPDIF converter, then a coax digital cable out of the converter into the coax digital input on the NDX. Pretty simple really and there are plenty of decent USB/SPDIF converters. I haven’t used one in a while but the M2Tech EvoFace served me well at the time.
With ROCK (Roon Optimised Core Kit) running on the NUC and with the USB setup as above, then its simply a case of setting up the NDX as an Audio Zone. Again, straightforward.
The Roon guys have worked hard to make the above pretty robust. Certainly I’ve not had any problems setting up three audio zones at home (KEF LS50W in the office, Pioneer AV amp/Allo Digione in the lounge, iPeng for wherever but mainly bedroom headphone listening). Currently musing about adding a Roon Endpoint to my garden amp/speakers (Monitor Audio amp).
Happy to help more, just give me a shout. Perhaps send me a private message if you want to discuss in more detail?
It is impossible to know unless you are able to compare it to something known to be good. I compared a similar and apparently well regarded device to the original European built device it was ‘inspired’ by and it was effective (it worked and didn’t sound bad) but was no where near as good as the original.