McIntosh MA7200 Roon Ready Integrated Amplifier

Audio Gear Talk
1

Please may I apologise in advance for what could be deemed a stupid question. I’m considering the Roon Ready McIntosh MA7200 Integrated Amplifier. I currently use a Nad Amp that is connected to my network with an ethernet cable and I select the Nad as a zone from the Roon Core on my MacBook. I see however that the McIntosh MA7200 does not have an ethernet port so does anyone know how I would connect the Roon Core to the McIntosh amplifier? If it’s wireless how exactly does this work - does the McIntosh have wifi connectivity to connect to my network via Wifi or is there some sort of wireless connection possible from Roon Core directly to the McIntosh MA 7200? Am I being really obtuse here??

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Hi. The MA7200 is Roon tested. That means if you plug It direct into the USB of your core it will work and be properly identified. In this guise I presume it’s natural pairing would be with a Nucleus or another one of the high end streamers that can host Roon Core. It will also work via a Roon Bridge.

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That amp is not “Roon Ready” it is “Roon Tested”. A “Roon Ready” peice of equipment has a network port that is running Roon’s RoonBridge software which will enable it to just be seen when plugged into a network. “Roon Tested” mean Roon has tested the equipment and has not found any issue when used in a Roon ecosystem.

You will still need a streaming bridge, like a microRendu, or to plug it directly into the Roon Server via USB.

See:
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_Ready
And:
https://kb.roonlabs.com/Roon_partner_programs

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4

Thanks very much. This explains it. I didn’t realize Roon “tested” was that different to Roon “ready” but what you say makes sense. Connecting my Roon Core via a USB cable is simply not an option for me so I’ll need to look at another solution.

5

I bridge device would work well. There are many to choose from in varying flavors, abilities and, of course, price points. Two different options would be a microRendu, which would provide an Ethernet to USB interface, be seen in Roon and quite an easy, good sounding, but pricier, option.

The other would be a Ethernet to Coax device, like a DigiOne, it too will just be seen by Roon, is easy and good sounding. But, you might not want to be limited by Coax.

6

Thank you Daniel - I’ll have a look at the microRendu solution - it looks like a good solution. Appreciated.

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