I have been using Roon for years on a lifetime script that now seems like a steal (you might say I got Roon for a song :)).
Core runs on QNAP NAS and runs via ethernet through router and a few switches to a PS Audio DSD, PS Audio DSD Jr, Naim Muso QB via microRendu and USB to toslink converter, and is available on various wifi endpoints, which I don’t really use it for.
Remote is on my Mac, iPhone, and iPad.
Everything works almost always. I am adding a Bluesound Node to the mix with some powered monitors in my office, which got me thinking about the setup, and I realized that I have no idea what Roon Bridge is for.
I have read and read, but I am missing some basic understanding of why and when one would use Bridge. Are there any resources where it’s spelled out in super basic terms?
I understand networking and computers better than many, and worse than many others - it’s just that what I have been able to find, while I understand it, leaves me feeling the Burkean Parlor thing. I need to start at the beginning of the conversation…
I have Roon core on an ethernet connected Nucleus. I use an ethernet connected Raspberry Pi 4 as a Roon bridge to my Mojo 2 DAC and headphones. The RPi4 is connected to Mojo 2 by usb. You need a Roon bridge if you don’t have a direct connection from your core to DAC or if your ethernet connected endpoint is not Roon Ready. My Roon Nucleus is in a different room.
I also have an ethernet connected Oppo 203 connected by HDMI to a Bose system. I don’t need a Roon bridge for this because the Oppo 203 is Roon Ready which means it acts as a Roon bridge.
Roon Bridge is run on devices to expose the audio hardware back to core. It allows anything that will run Roon Bridge to act as an endpoint (like a Pi, Mac, PC, etc).
Its just the missing bit if you’ve got a something connected to the network and a set of speakers / headphones which allows Roon to send audio to that something. Roon Desktop / Roon Remote already include Bridge but if you don’t want to run the full desktop software or can’t (like on Linux) Roon supplies just the Bridge as standalone.
Basically, Roon is a system where three components work together:
Core: ‘Brain’ of the system
Control: From where you interact with Roon’s user interface
Output: Where you play music
The different available software packages cover one or several of these components:
Complete Roon application (Windows, Mac OS) — Core, Control + Output Roon Server (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) — Core, Output Roon Bridge (Windows, Mac OS, Linux) — Output Roon on iOS and Android — Control, Output
So, Roon Bridge is a small software package that enables a computer device on the same network as Roon Core to output Roon’s RAAT digital sound stream to a suitable connected device (e.g. DAC on USB, or a DAC/Receiver on HDMI, or DAC on S/PDIF…)
I don’t think so. In the Roon ecosystem, the Core is the streamer. The Core is the component which accesses your local music files and the cloud streaming services, applies any processing and assembles a bit stream, sending it either to an Output local to the core, or using its RAAT protocol to send it over the network to a Bride, which simply receives the stream on a network interface (WiFi, Ethernet) and outputs on an audio interface local to the Bridge (USB, S/PDIF, HDMI).
Even if you use any Roon-Ready ‘streamer’ device on your network, in the Roon ecosystem such a device still works as a Bridge, receiving the stream from the Core and outputting it on any one of its digital interfaces.
As I said before, if you use this device connected to your Network (Ethernet) in the Roon ecosystem, outputting Roon’s stream via the Roon Bridge component installed on it, it is effectively a bridge.
I see it supports Spotify and Tidal Connect… so if you use it outside of Roon, streaming via one of those two connectors, then I would say it acts as a streamer.
Yes, and that is why I avoid speaking of ‘streamer’ devices in the context of Roon’s ecosystem. All these devices which receive the Roon Core’s stream on the network and output on one of their digital interface should be called bridge devices, not streamers.
I disagree on that. If a network-connected and Roon-Ready device like e.g. the Lumins receives Roon’s RAAT stream on the network and internally routes the digital stream to its DAC and outputs an analogue signal, it still is a Bridge… a Bridge-DAC. It’s still Roon’s Core component which streams.
If, on the other hand, you use such a device outside of Roon’s ecosystem, using its own software to select sources and control the device, then it would function as a streamer.
