Looking for some advice from this forum. Have read the myriad of material on-line and spent hours walking through the on-line postings
Very excited about downloading Roon but want to make sure that I have the optimum set-up for my new system. Have just completed a full house renovation and obviously now getting to the most important part
This is my current set up. Everything that needs to be is hard wired via Ethernet:-
Synology NAS 213j (512MB RAM and x2 2TB storage + x1 64gb SSD – via USB 3.0). Set up RAID 1.
Apple Mac (circa 2011) running on 10.13 High Sierra
Amazon Kindle and various Ipad’s and Iphones for the family
Tidal (HiFi) membership
Approx. 1k CD’s (stored on ITunes)
I have four rooms to link up for multi room:-
x2 Naim Atom’s (one in each room) – linked into B&W CCM in-ceiling speakers
x1 B&W Zeppelin (airplay but non-Bluetooth one)
x1 Yamaha Amp (with Musiccast) – this is linked into KEF 5.1.4 surround system.
I am thinking of running the Roon core on my NAS SSD – I don’t have a huge library so hoping that the lack of optimal RAM will be okay? Am a bit constrained by my NAS as the RAM is not upgradable. It’s served me well over the last few years and I am loathed to do away with it.
Any advice/help on that point would be of great use – and any other helpful pointers along the way.
I’d suggest looking at an i5 NUC running ROCK as a Roon Core and using your NAS for storage.
If your Mac meets the minimum reccomended requirements then you could try out Roon on your Mac and consider a NUC if you are happy with it. You can transfer your Core to the NUC if so.
I would be worried about that vintage mac too as it likely to be marginal spec wise and you will want an SSD in it at bare minimum and 8GB ram… what model is it exactly?
Andy is right and I concur the i5 ROCK/NUC combo would be a much better place to start.
The NAS is fine for storage of Music but thats about it. Roon needs a much beefier processor and certainly might not even run at all on the 213J
Note the iOS devices need at least 11.2.5 and typically nothing older than 2-3 years is going to give an ideal experience…Ipad Air2 and iph 5s at least I think.
You are at least in a good place re the wired network…bravo
I presume you will also need a Roon endpoint (RPi plus HAT) to get music into the Yamaha amp, unless it has Airplay? it will need a spare optical or coax input (or possibly USB if it accepts that).
Also as a side note airplay (and sonos too IIRC) is limited to the 16/44.1 or 48K bitrate limit. The Naim’s are roon ready so you should get their maximum bitrate and see them in the audio setup list.
Yamaha amp (RX-A3060) is also Ethernet wired and has pre-installed Musiccast (i think Yamaha’s answer to multi room). Was hoping that once installed Roon would recognize that as a valid output to add into my system?
Thanks. It was actually Naim that pointed me initially in your direction when I found out that my Atom’s were not able to directly play Master quality straight from the Naim/Tidal app.
The Yamaha is probably only going to be upnp or DLNA and will not be seen by Roon on the network. Unless it has a Usb DAC you could use you might need to use a Roon Bridge endpoint. It might work as an AirPlay device though.
Honestly I would forget about the Mac option based on its vintage and probably no ssd inside and just go with the NUC, assuming you are confident to build and install the software that is. Otherwise there are other options like sonic transporter or nucleus at the higher cost end of things.
I am not sure with kindle if it’s supported or not sorry.
Seriously thanks for the advice. I am furiously subjecting google to many searches and reading all the material (NUC, RPI, HAT) are some of the phrases that i have learnt already today!
I agree with the NUC alternative but the extent of my computing wizardry:mage: only extends to setting up my synology and installing inside x2 of the HD drives into the slots. I am worried that the NUC might be a bridge too far and then I’m siting holding £400 worth of kit.
Try the Mac just as a proof of concept with a trial. At least you will get an idea of the interface and how it works but don’t import tens of thousands of tracks if you can help it. You can always wipe it out or migrate it to a new more capable core if you like it. Just don’t expect the fastest of use when searching etc or for importing you library.
There are plenty of good step by step walk thru articles on building a nuc. As noted other options also exist in the turnkey space. Help is always here too
Yes, it should show up as an AirPlay Zone in Roon when the streaming input is selected. Different types of zones (ie: AirPlay and RAAT) can’t be grouped together to play the same queue.
Different zones at the same time yes - but your cpu for the core must be up to it…and as noted the 2011 mac is maybe not going to play nice. It could be used as a Roon Bridge with no issues if it fits in your design…but as a core to grow with…no.
Minimum specs call for an i3 Ivy Bridge and your mac is likely one version below that…it might work…but start to build up your library and streaming to more than one or 2 endpoints and you will start to stretch the friendship most likely.
If it has an SSD maybe … just maybe you will get by for a while. But its not worth upgrading…a new mac mini is another option or a refurbished one with SSD and i5 could be a go if you like the Apple ecosystem - but Value is on a NUC/ROCK combo
I was in a similar situation as you. NUC assembly is a matter of plugging things into the motherboard and turning screws. No soldering, nothing terribly complicated. Roon has, or had, the exact specs so absolutely nothing can go wrong go wrong go wrong.
