I know the question about how to remove Roon endpoints has been asked several times and answered with “You can’t”
Let me identify my use cases:
I have a Linux PC with an OK GFX card and a decent internal sound card but I use a SMSL DAC for my Roon endpoint when listening to music on this machine - I never want to listen to Roon on any of other of the Linux sound options because the DAC is wired to my desktop and and speakers (and has a built in headphone amp) - I never use the HDMI ones but can’t remove them as they are part of my GFX card and I don’t use the soundcard in the machine except for ham radio work. The only time I would want a different endpoint to my current DAC was if I bought a new one.
So instead of Roon presenting me with the single end point I want to use I get:
SMSL M6 (Roon endpoint I actually want to use)
HDA NVidia MI 0 - My GFX card HDMIs which I never use
HDA NVidia MI 1
HDA NVidia MI 2
HDA NVidia MI 3
HDA NVidia MI 4
Xonar DX Digital - My internal sound card which I never use
Xonar DX Multichannel
So my Roon Settings has 7 endpoints I simply will never use, and that’s just for this computer.
Along with those I have
Google Home Mini
Google Home Max
2 Lenovo CD-4N341Y Google enabled digital alarm clocks
These 4 devices have poor audio and it would be a travesty using Roon with then
So that’s 11 end points cluttering up my settings - it’s actually worse because my two raspberry PI music streamers and Sonos speakers are identified once by their alsa or Sonos interface which I use and then again by Airplay - so that’s 15 endpoints that are clutter
I can understand there may be technical reasons why Roon would not want to have all these devices removed but surely an option to hide devices in Settings/Audio and a simple “Show Hidden Devices” toggle to allow bringing ones back if needed is just a GUI change.
I never understand this question/wish, maybe you can explain Let me try to explain why I don’t get it:
There needs to be a place where all devices are accessible and can be disabled and enabled. You may not need a particular device now, but maybe next year. Obviously, they can’t be gone forever if you remove them.
The place to do this currently is Settings > Audio. One goes there once to enable/disable the devices one wants.
If disabling the devices in Settings > Audio removed them from this page, then they would need to go somewhere else, so that one can get them back. So there would now be a second page for the disabled devices, just as cluttered as Settings > Audio.
Settings > Audio would then be less cluttered, but one never goes there except to enable/disable devices.
It is simply a matter of usability. As I pointed out I have to bypass at least 14 devices every time I want to enable a new one. (like when I recently replaced my older Fiio DAC with the SMSL one I’m currently using)
Of course it isn’t necessary but it seems strange to need to wade through 7 unused and unwanted endpoints just to set up the one I actually want (and that’s just on my Linux PC). It is just poor usability.
My proposed solution was not to remove the endpoints; I understand potential use might be wanted in the future (although in my case, given where my PC located is I cannot imagine ever using any of those HDMI cards - for years I have deliberately and definitely separated audio and video). Rather than remove them why not simply add a “Hide this annoying superfluity from my view” option to unwanted endpoints along with a global option of show hidden endpoints. This is along the lines of most Linux file managers where files starting with a , are hidden by default and the file managers have a “show hidden files” option.
Perhaps using my PCs for amateur radio I am unusual in that I have invested in decent spec USB sound cards (for ham radio digital modes, software defined radio, morse decoding etc) so never used not wanted to use HDMI for audio and keep the internal soundcard for lower fidelity uses.
Minor annoyance it maybe but annoyance it definitely is, particularly when a potentially simple improvement might be simple.
And I’m not the only person to have asked for this.
Saying you have to wade thru them seems like a bit of an exaggeration. It is pretty easy to tell the enabled and disabled endpoints apart. I can’t say it bothers me, but I don’t need to visit that page very often. Maybe your use case is different.
Nick, yeah OK a bit of exaggeration perhaps!. But at the moment I’m going through an exploratory phase to build a few systems in my house of varying audiophilability. I’m also picking up improvements from eBay or Facebook Marketplace so I am probably swapping kit and playing with Roon settings more than most folks who will have stable systems. I have five hifi Roon systems, so, along with my phone I have six Roon endpoints that I actually use. But when I upgrade one I see about 25-30 (a least) in the Settings page.
My entire career has been in software design and development, including several years as a usability specialist. So anomalies, like being presented with endpoints I will never want to use, probably irk me more than most.
So a perfect storm - volatile systems that are being configured more often the norm and a configuration interface that IMHO has features that don’t delight
I haven’t researched the use cases of others who requested similar in the past. Might be interesting to do so when I find some time
I may decide on an new, additional system for my kitchen. I would probably base this on my ham radio Windows PC which is adjacent. If I do it will be one new required endpoint (based on its USB soundcard with a semi-decent 192K DAC) and several more unwanted ones from any and all HDMI interfaces on its GFX card and also a couple based on its internal soundcard and PCI soundcards (which I leave configured for experimentation sometimes).
So I’ll probably have an excess of 6 or 7:1 in unwanted endpoints v wanted ones.
Surely this is not so bizarre, I would suspend most users who base Roon endpoints on a desktop PC will elect a strategy, to use a specific HDMI, sound card, external DAC, or whatever and may never want to use any of the other endpoints. So what’s so wrong with wanting to simplify the interface by hiding them?
I understand that usually you go enable and after that use the zones so I do not mind the Settings/Audio but a little simple would always be better. I do use the settings a lot as I’m almost always trying something around the house.
I guess Roon GUI feels like an iPad app (a lot of scrolling) so I would change the entire app with panels and dropdowns all customisable, old app style (maybe is just my confort zone).
I suspect many of the people who don’t understand the requirement don’t run desktop computers as Roon endpoints as that is certainly the main problem.
As I said my desktop (one of about half-a-dozen enabled endpoits) presents itself to the Settings/Audio interface as 8 distinct endpoints - the USB DAC I want, 5 HDMI ones, and two from my internal PCI soundcard. Recently I have been playing with different USB DACs so have been using what I consider quite an untidy configuration page. Given that Roon is a premium product with premium features for a premium price, this untidiness rankles a bit.
Whilst I understand that folks don’t necessarily see the requirement, apart from some (hopefully small) small development effort I can’t see what the objections to an implementation along the lines of my proposal are - it is a feature that has been requested more than once in the past, it can be totally ignored by those who don’t want to use it, it hardly changes the complexity of the interface on the Settings/Audio page, and it ought be simple to implement.
So, as I said - why not tidy up something that is pretty ugly in some configurations?
It is just a bridge - my core runs on a Synology NAS (along with my local library CD rips). I use the bridge on Linux both as a testing ground for any new hardware (it is easier to plug things in and out on my desktop rather than some audio stand) and as an endpoint for me to listen to music (either on phones or via and amp and speakers) when I’m on the computer.
I think that it is a Linux thing. With Windows, I do not get the extra HDMI options on the same machine. I am guessing thatt ALSA is presenting them as audio and Roon is picking that up.
This is what I see on my laptop (Roon on Wine) and core (Linux.) I’m seeing the same with ALSA and WASAPI.
Nonetheless, I don’t understand the issue since these settings are rarely used. If the OP doesn’t intend using these interfaces, then don’t enable them, and they won’t appear as an audio zone.
It’s the same on ROCK as well and certainly not only the case for the OP. There must be some place where all options are displayed, if it’s not Settings > Audio, then it’s Settings > Audio > All Interfaces, or whatever. One goes there when one wants to see and enable the interfaces one wants to use as zones. I appreciate that the OP tried to explain their reasoning, but I still don’t get it
Let me try to explain why I don’t get it:
