rooExtend – The easy start with Roon Extensions

@DrCWO - I wanted to suggest a feature that I have not seen anyone request or discuss:

  • It would be GREAT if we could have the controller (whichever one) control the volume for one zone (Amp) and playback controls for another zone (DAC, etc).

Do you think this is technically possible? Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

Why would you want this? (No aspersions cast, just wondering - I can’t imagine the use case)

To eliminate the need for two controllers. For example:

Today I need two Controllers in my Office:

  • My rooNuimo controls the volume to my Roon Ready AMP. Controller is setup to always control this Zone regardless of source. Other sources, could be any Roon connected DAC or even another non roon Source, like TV.
  • My Roo6D is setup to follow playback so that I can still control pause, fwd, back for any other roon source/DAC playing in my Office. EDIT: When this ‘zone follows playback’ - I lose volume control to my AMP.

If RooExtend could separate playback and volume controls between two zones on the same controller. Then we would need only one. I would think that most of us using Roon have more than one DAC?

You can use a long touch on either side of the Numio to change the zone controlled. It’s a little clunky but it works.

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Gosh, hadn’t thought of that.

I have many DACs, but all of mine are in separate rooms. In my office, I have a single Schiit Gungnir, and it feeds a headphone amp, a second headphone amp, and a small TPA 2-channel amp. I can’t imagine having two systems in one room. But clearly you do!

I have a RooDial and a Roo6D (would prefer just Dials, but I was experimenting). They control different rooms. In my office I don’t need anything, cause I’m always at my keyboard and Roon uses the keyboard commands and volume is on the amps.

I get it… but I wouldn’t need it. Thanks for explaining!

I‘l put it on the feature list. Maybe will be part of the reworkings planned after rooHead.

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I understand what @Henry_Svendblad is asking for - I suspect it’s not a common use case. It would be interesting to consider implementing something like this using the MQTT / Home Assistant support that we’ve talked about in the past. If controllers generated press, long press, double press, vol up, vol down events, you could almost certainly implement whatever complex zone switching mechanics you wanted in Home Assistant.

I’m using Lutron Caseta pico controllers to do some things like this now but would much prefer to be using rooDial and rooNuimo.

I’m sure “make it possible to program this stuff ourselves” isn’t going to resonate with everyone, but I’d love it :slight_smile:

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:exclamation::exclamation: Progress with rooHead :exclamation::exclamation:

Hi everybody,
I was quite busy the last two weeks finalizing rooHead. It happily runs now in my development environment and I like to share a first screenshot with you:

I also like to share a link to a summary document from Harman, that gives a high level overview of the research that led to Harman Target Curve used in rooHead. Finally all Roon users now can easily benefit from this research :+1:

Many thanks thank Jaakko Pasanan for his excellent work providing the equalizer database where rooHead is based on.

The gimmicks I added in rooHead:

  • Easy to use in Roon (select headphone and go)
  • Extended frequency range up to 96kHz without cutting off at 22kHz
  • Adjustable Bass Boost and Tilt to match personal taste and listening experience explained in the document above. (Probably caused by my age I like +2dB Tilt :smiling_face:)
  • Option for headroom management, so you can turn the convolution on and off at the same volume (better to explore how the equalizer improves the sound).

Till mid of next week I will publish rooHead after I put the Sellcodes page, the videos and the roohead thread in place.

Please stay tuned :+1:
DrCWO

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rooHead is the new Roon Extension I ship with v3.1.0.

Discussions about rooHead please here.

Best DrCWO

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Where can I download version 3.1.0 ? I usually take all my HIFI off power during nighttime.
I just got the license key for RooHead.

Thank you !

If you are already on v3.x.x:

  • Find IP number of rooExtend in the Settings of rooExtend License Manager at end of page
  • Open http://[IP you found] in the browser
  • Click this button
    image
  • Wait until you got upgraded

If you are not on v3.x.x

  • Download the SD-Card image from my download area. The link you find on the Sellcodes Page of rooHead ( see: rooExtend SD card image (v3.x.x) and Quick Installation Guide)
  • Burn v3.1.0 and go

Best DrCWO

Suddenly my Nuimo won’t connect. I’ve restarted the Pi running RooExtend (v.3.1.0, with TP-Link USB Bluetooth dongle) and RooNuimo (v1.2.4) and power cycled the Nuimo, but no luck. I just get the flashing bluetooth symbol on the Nuimo. RooNuimo and RooExtend show up fine in Roon Extensions. I haven’t changed anything in my setup.

Anything else I should be trying?

What type of Pi did you use?
Would you please be so kind to mail me the system log to info@definiteaudio.de.

Best DrCWO

Quick question… if my RooExtend is having Wi-Fi challenges) seen because it is dropping off and rejoining the network as visible in my Unifi console, is that something that is captured in system logs or anything like that? I have a Pi3A+ and it is much more sensitive to placement vs lamp, DAC etc than my Pi4B. I see it’s zone dropping off, and then I check and the extension is flapping too, think it’s a power issue, Roon is losing control of the zone, but it comes back too quickly, and turns out that it’s Wi-Fi or so it seems when I move it. But any way to see that that is the issue? Nothing indicating this in any of the logs I see.

Raspberry Pi 4 Model B Rev 1.1

Sent! Thanks!

@Fred_von_Lohmann1 @DrCWO
I encounter exactly the same problem.
My Nuimo is disconnected. I also did several times a power cycle of my RPI 4 Model B Rev 1.5, but without any success.
I also use a TP-Link USB Bluetooth dongle (UB4A).
Up till this update, I didn’t encounter any issue with the connection of my Nuimo.
I will also sent the logfiles to info@definiteaudio.de
Kind regards, Frank.

Quick question. Did you both receive v3.1.0 by OTA upgrade or by burning a new SD-Card?

Best DrCWO

It was an OTA-upgrade. I didn’t touch the SD-card. The bluetooth-connection stopped over night after the automatic upgrade to 3.1.0.

same here :expressionless: Nuimo is offline

Sorry to say Dr, my Ethernet connected devices are up and down constantly this morning, or at least the Nuimo extension seems to be.
I am heading into work but I will have a look this evening and do some rebooting etc.