Hi Michael welcome to the forum. Roon requires a computer or NAS to run the Roon core server software. Your Oppo is a Roon endpoint only e.g. it connects to the core server and can then play music from it. If on the latest firmware the endpoint software is installed. It will show up from the Roon core server audio settigns. Here you add it and then Roon can send music to it.
If you want to try Roon I suggest you read about it fully and its requirements on the website and associate knowledge base as it will tell you all you need to know.
Just to make sure you like Roon and want to keep it, I suggest you install the Roon core on your Windows 10 or Apple computer. I am currently running the Roon core on my Dell XPS 15 laptop and it works perfectly.
Roon recommends that both your Roon core device and Roon end-point device be connected to your network using an ethernet connection. However, WIFI might work OK depending on your signal strength. I had an ethernet cable pulled to my Oppo 203 just to make sure I had the best possible situation.
You also need a device to control the Roon program and choose your music, etc. You can use a computer, iPad, iPhone, or Android device. Just download and install the app for your device. If you install the Roon core on your computer and want to use it as your control device, you do not need to install any additional sofware or apps.
Of course, you will need speakers or a soundbar, etc. connected to your Oppo for sound output. You can connect speakers using analog RCA outs or you can connect a receiver using HDMI, etc. I have my Bose soundbar connected using HDMI. To take advantage of your Oppo internal DAC, you would want to use an analog connection. If you use HDMI, you bypass the Oppo DAC and use the DAC of the connected receiver or powered speakers, etc, which may not be as good as your Oppo DAC
Looking for multichannel? Otherwise if two channel go with a W4S DAC, or a preamp. Emotiva makes fair stuff at good prices. The Oppo 205 has a good DAC in it. Sabre 9038.
I think a preamp has great benefit in taming the sound. W4S STP-SE would be a good fit for 2-channel.
Hi. Thanks for the response. Iām really into multi-channel, as when I go back to stereo, I feel Iām missing something. Thatās why Iām thinking of an Emotiva. Iām happy with the Oppo but wondered if a dedicated pre-amp or processor would give a step up. As Iām in the UK, I have no opportunity to try before I buy.
A processor would be an improvement over going straight from the 205 IMO. I donāt utilize multichannel much except for an occasional multichannel channel SACD from my Oppo UDP203. I use an Anthem MRX 720 AVR as a controller for that. Emotiva is decent well priced gear.
Not in my current system, but with a prior one. I thought the analog preamp was better. TBH, the Anthem only gets used on multichannel SACDs or movies. Iām a two channel guy, and mostly head-phones. Using a DAC (which your 205 has) as a digital preamp works fine. One of my headphone setups is hooked up to work that way. (Kenzie Encore /Headphone amp with a Benchmark DAC3)
There is some discussion of this over on the PS Audio forums. Specifically in a thread entitled, āPreamp vs direct.ā You may find it helpful.
Youāll be the only one to be sure it sounds better in your setup.
You donāt run Roon Core on the Oppo. Itās an endpoint. I run the core on a NAS, but you can run it on anything compatible with Roon CoreāWindows, Apple, Linux, or something running the dedicated Roon operating system. If youāre just trying it out I suggest running it on whatever you use for general purpose computing, as the other posters suggest. I believe you can run the Roon remote program on a Windows PC as well, presumably the same one running the Core, if you donāt have a compatible tablet or smart phone.
I use the 205 for all around playback of media on my local network or silver disks (CD, DVD, SACD). I even found recently I can watch TV using my HDHomerun tuner through the Oppo. I doubt anyone would be using the 205āthe audiophile version of the 203āwith a sound bar though. Since the Oppo and Roon donāt play nice together for multichannel, I just load the damn SACD for my half dozen or so multi-channel recordings (primarily the SF Symphony/Michael Tilson Thomas Mahler cycle).
OK, late Thursday night, and now, very early morning Friday off, plus a few cocktails . . . should not be posting at all, but . . . I donāt think there is any single unit DAC that supports multi-channel Roon RAAT except for the very expensive MERGING + NACDAC or MERGING + PLAYER. There are many streamers, including PCs, ROCKs, Sonore, exaSound Sigmas, etc., that may receive multi-channel Roon RAAT via Ethernet and then transmit via USB to an appropriate dedicated multi-channel DAC (but they themselves are few and far between as well). As James_Fitzgerald indicated, your most affordable route will be from an appropriate HDMI-out capable RAAT endpoint (but then, after that, not via RAAT) to a multichannel HDMI DAC (IOWs AVR receiver, or the OPPO, as mentioned). There may be other far more expensive solutions, eg TRINNOV, etc., but right now, Iām using an endpoint-only ROCK via its HDMI-out to either my OPPO UDP-205 or directly to my AVR until something better comes along. Happy with that. Unfortunately, multi-channel audio seems to be an endangered diminishing species that no mainstream manufacturer wants to save. Not too happy about that.
Thanks, I knew that. But itās a non-issue for me as I use Qobuz instead of Tidal and pretty much have decided not to bother with MQA. I have a Sennheiser HDV 820 headphone amp with 800S headphones, so I donāt need MQA for those either.