Sorry for some very basic question, but the Roon forum is very complicated - maybe I’m just getting too old to understand all of this
I’ve designed Audio hardware based around the RPi - and am looking for Streaming software solutions that we can recommend or bundle with our hardware.
I know of Volumio and moOde - but what does Roon have to offer?
The ideal software would offer Roon, Tidal & Spotify…
While I can design the hardware - I’m really backwards when it comes to the world of streaming software and services but would like to offer my loyal customers the very best product…
I did contact Roon but received no reply (I guess they have so much Email traffic) - so maybe someone here would be so kind and can tell be about using / installing Roon on RPi.
The Audio subsystem is interfaced to the RPi via USB… With Volumio we can stream DSD256 (native) and PCM 384KHz so the “known” RPi USB limitations are “workable”.
Can Roon drive a display / UI via HDMI or is it strictly headless? - I would really like to support a UI…
Can you share any more details - I’m sure that it would be of interest to Roon users.
I’m not technical enough to know whether or not Roon can run on a Raspberry Pi but I doubt it - however, RoonBridge does run on a Raspberry Pi. This means that the Raspberry Pi can act as a Roon endpoint i.e. Roon can stream to it.
Might be worth contacting Harry (@spockfish) who produces Ropieee - this is a linux image which includes RoonBridge and can also output to a display.
Well the streamer hardware is designed to be installed with an upgrade PCB for an older design of mine (The Audiolab MDAC).
Jarek and myself have also design a “Simple” development DAC to work with the streamer hardware while we complete design work on the MDAC2 upgrade PCB. It used a pair of ES9038Q2M’s, discrete clocks and multistage PSU’s so while its considered a “development” DAC its not too shabby…
The first prototype PCB - I’m about to build the first few boards that have been sold to those who wish to play with the hardware for software development.
We also have spun a “Ministreamer” that has been designed to be used with external USB DAC’s that offers a decent quality PSU for the DAC and a detox’ed USB (Dejittered from the CPU core and RF filtered etc) - again based on an “industrial” RPi solution.
Wow. but yeah. Do-able. That would be then running RoonBridge (or getting the certification). Roon server on a Pi is not gonna do it, but I think that you’re looking for the client side of things, Right?
Well to be honest I don’t really know, I’m often asked if the streamer hardware will support Roon - I have no idea what Roon has to offer… but its seems very popular!
I’d like to be able to use the HDMI video output with say a wireless keyboard - rather then operating on a phone… I hate using the phone when I’m listening to HiFi… Besides HDMI monitor (TV) and keyboard always works without messing…
What does Roon certification offer? - one of my recent designs has been Roon certified (without my input) - so I have no idea what its all about really…
Yeah you’re talking about client side support. Basically it would mean that everyone that has Roon (and that includes the server) can use your design as ‘plug and play’. So straight from Roon server to the DAC.
Keyboard and video is possible of course. Roon’s control software does also run on the desktop so there’s no need for a phone if you don’t want to…
Well, there’s some documentation here on the forum that explains it very thoroughly, but in essence it means that it provides you with a marketing advantage (“my new shiny DAC is Roon Ready”), as some technical advantages as well. One of them being that Roon recognizes the device etc. Furthermore the Roon team will provide assistance when Roon customers have a support question.
Here’s the thing - I’m retired now and just dabbling to prevent boredoom + I love HiFi and have a very loyal band of users of my designs. I can design hardware until the cows come home and I also have inhouse SMD production line, so its “simple” for me to run off a few “bespoke” boards when required… As such, I’m not really interested having to spend crazy license fees - or get involved with masses of contacts etc. which is why I’m looking at “open source” type software…
I’d like to bring the fun back into “HiFi” - so people can play and develop there own devices…
Maybe I should really know more about Roon - but now being “small fry” I can understand why Roon might not take me seriously - like last year at the Munich show… I understand this - but hey I’d still like to try…
The little ProJect DAC Jarek and I designed recently is Roon certified - but certification was carried out by ProJect themselves, so I’ve had no direct involvement with Roon.
I have people come to me saying - “hey your DAC’s Roon certified” - and I look and wonder what Roon is!!!
Well, if you don’t want to go down the certification route, then follow the example of Harry ten Berge (RoPieee) and Dan Knight (DietPi) who have installed RoonBridge into their Linux images…
Can it be operated with a wireless keyboard & HDMI?
If we had enough “customers” would you add a volume control slider, input source select and Digital filter buttons on your software (so basically a custom build) - we can give you our APi and help with SPI (GPIO) based communication between the CM3 (RPi) and our audio subsystem…?
We are working on an 800X480 touch screen (interfaced directly to the RPi 24Bit LCD interface) - the interface connector is already on the streamer PCB - does your UI scale between HDMI and the RPi LCD?
