I have discovered Roon recently and been doing some reading. I have not downloaded or installed the system yet though. A friend is exploring the system with a trial membership and I really like what I see.
Before I jump in I would like to learn what I might be getting into as I own two homes (Seattle and a cabin on Orcas Island). I split my time between the two locations in a 70-30 ratio.
My setup in Seattle: Linn Majik DSM and Linn 140 speakers in the main room. I also have three SONOS Connect Amps and one SONOS Connect for additional multi room play. I do my “serious” listening with just my Linn system though. My computer system is all Mac based and I run a Synology NAS DSM1515+ as my storage and backup server.
My setup on Orcas Island: my Internet feed is all delivered via a small local radio receiver powered system. I am all Rega here: amp, DAC, and turntable for my vinyl. I use a SONOS Connect which streams into my Rega DAC box. I don’t have a computer or a server here. I just travel with my aging iPad Pro which controls my SONOS account.
So, finally to my main question: would a single Roon account serve both locations? Do I need two Roon cores? I never completed ripping my old CD library but plan on doing so. Maybe a couple hundred CDs? I mainly listen to TuneIn and Tidal in Seattle. On Orcas I listen to TuneIn and Apple Music via my SONOS Connect.
Any general thoughts or path suggestions here would be most welcome…
Macmini is also an option if you like the Mac ecosystem. But your library will need to be replicated too or a portion of it perhaps unless you can rely on streaming services like tidal and qobuz
Other option might be to use a laptop for the core and and external hdd for music when in your other location. Core systems should ideally be lan connected
You will either need a Core machine at each location or a Core that can travel with you to each. If you have two separate Core machines you will need to have a copy of your library at each location.
I forgot to mention that I do own a 2018 MacBook Pro that I use for my photography while on the road. I could use this for the core and just travel back and forth with it. Initially I could build a stored library on my Seattle based Synology NAS. I think I would need to add an extra RAM chip (2mb > 6mb) and then the drive (plus backup) for the music archive.
Odds are I would be the main user of Roon. So if I am at say the Orcas place I could be using the Roon license up there while my wife could continue to use the Linn Kazoo app in Seattle for TuneIn and Tidal.
I have a trip next week but will get working on this in a couple of weeks.