Hi!
I have a Marantz PM7000n. I don’t have any local audio files, but love the combination of Tidal & Roon to discover music and get more info. I currently have Roon installed on my Macbook, which ofcourse is not optimal. My question: is getting a NUC with Rock a sensible option for my use case and how would I run it in my network?
My (all wired) network is: Fritzbox Router (in technical closet) → unmanaged Switch (in living room) → Marantz (UTP-in). If I understand correctly I should connect the router to the Router, right? If so: would this be beneficial to the audio quality of Tidal tracks, or do I need to add a dac or something like that?
I assume that your Macbook is using Wifi, in which case a ROCK/NUC connected via wired ethernet to your Fritz!Box or switch would be an improvement in terms of reliability. Roon Labs highly recommend that the Roon Server is on a wired connection, not WiFi.
In terms of audio quality, there would be no change, since everything is in the digital domain until it reaches the DAC in your Marantz.
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So how can I improve quality?
Please define what you mean by “Quality” - sample rate, bit resolution or something else?
How are you connecting to the Marantz with your current setup?
I’m connecting through airplay. The integrated DAC is capable of putting out 24-bit/192kHz. So I’m looking to getting the most out of that.
So it will be AirPlay that is limiting what you can get, I believe.
At the present time, the PM7000N is only “Roon Tested” and is not “Roon Ready”. If it were Roon Ready, then Roon would be able to deliver 24-bit/192kHz streams over the network using the RAAT protocol.
It appears that there is certification being done by Roon Labs for at least some Marantz/Denon products, however it is impossible to say when this might be completed, or indeed if the certification will be successful at all. So, I wouldn’t hold your breath in the expectation that your device will become Roon Ready soon.
There is a third-party HEOS extension for Roon that has been developed by @peter_richardson, see:
This might be a solution for you, but would involve being able to run the extension alongside Roon. I’m not certain whether it can be run on MacOS and if you went to a ROCK/NUC setup, it certainly couldn’t be run on the RoonOS in that setup. Those of us using a ROCK/NUC setup (which includes myself) use an RPi4 running DietPi and the Roon Extension Manager for this.
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I don’t support MAC (though I believe it has been installed successfully - I don’t have any kit to test). If considering a NUC I would probably install DIETPI as the OS run ROON server and the RHEOS extension from that.
Feels like there are two different questions here…
1/ Potentially moving your Roon server to another machine (for convenience)
In terms of sound quality it will make zero difference, unless you’re currently suffering from dropouts or other networking issues from running your Roon (on your MacBook).
But a NUC (ROCK) or Nucleus One allows you to use Roon without opening up your MacBook.
So purely from a usability / convenience point of view having a dedicated always on (zero maintenance) Roon server device hidden away in the closet next to my router would feel like a very sensible option to me.
2/ How to best to connect your Marantz with Roon (for SQ and convenience)
Before you get too concerned that your ‘missing out’ on some better sound quality due to ‘bigger numbers’ be aware that Roon streams to Airplay devices at 16 bit / 44.1Khz.
Which in theory is all you can hear up to anyway (this is a fairly concise and clear explanation of why).
Airplay also works nicely with Roon, allows you to control the Marantz’s device volume in Roon and doesn’t require any additional boxes or software setup.
In fact I’d say one of the more signifiant reasons to move to Roon’s (Roon Ready) RAAT protocol over Airplay is if you have multiple endpoints and want them all to play in perfect sync. If you only have the one playback device, I’d pause and really consider if you need to do anything. Instead maybe sit back and enjoy some music for now…
Of course we’re on an audiophile site, so even if were just chasing numbers people will naturally want to go there…!!
- Peter’s HEOS extension is probably the cleanest in terms of (potentially) not needing any additional hardware while allowing Roon to still control the main volume on your Marantz. Unfortunately you can’t run Roon extensions on ROCK or Nucleus One (two solution to this listed above, but neither time/cost free). It also requires a level of technical setup. Lastly, as it’s effectually a Roon->DLNA ‘bridge’ you may see a very small delay when initial starting playback.
- If that all sounds like too much tinkering then you could just get a WiiM Pro which is Roon Ready (so capable of 24-bit/192kHz) and connect it to the digital S/PDIF port on your Marantz. The one downside to this approach is Roon will control the volume of the WiiM but not your Marantz. You can either set the WiiM to output at a fixed level and only control the volume on your Marantz or you can keep the volume on your Marantz at a halfway point and control the WiiM volume via Roon — mostly people do the latter I expect.
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Thank you very much for your clear and elaborate explanation! The youtube movie made things very clear and gave me peace of mind 
FOMO on SQ was my main reason to expand the setup. I haven’t had any issues with stability yet, so very happy with your input 