RoonReady Sonore Sonicorbiter SE

When a Sonicorbiter SE is being streamed to from Roon as a RoonReady RAAT, can playback be synced with other Squeezebox Touch end nodes?

No, we don’t support mixing different synchronization technologies. That is a very difficult problem. I went into more detail in this post.

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So you would need to use it in squeezebox mode to sink with other squeezeboxes.

But if you didn’t need syncing you could use it in Roon mode.

hi
i want know how to settings

thanks

Ah, interesting… Would you expect sonic quality to be better via Sonicorbitor SE as a RoonReady RAAT than using it with Squeezelite? (I know the answer is to try it myself, but hey, inquiring minds want to know ;-).

But it sounds like a Sonicorbitor SE should provide all the same capability and potentially more than a Squeezebox Touch (albeit, without the display). I just need to decide if I want to keep my other SB devices or eventually switch all to RoonReady RAAT devices. Right now I’m using 4 SB devices in my home and often sync them.

We don’t officially support Squeezelite (but many people have found that it works fine).

Sync quality is much better with RAAT (both in terms of tightness of sync and the disruptiveness of the mechanism used to correct for clock drift). Roon+RAAT linking is probably always going to be better than Squeezebox because the underlying design of RAAT’s zone linking system takes into account over a decade of progress that has happened since SlimDevices designed their technique. And, of course, we focus more effort+attention on RAAT than Squeezebox internally.

Roon+RAAT can support more/higher-res formats in a bit-perfect manner than Roon+Squeezelite. This is not relevant unless you actually have content in those formats.

I don’t know how Squeezelite volume control works, but we have a few different options including a nice noise-shaped dithered volume control + a mechanism for passing volume commands onto a USB device. If you are planning on controlling volume from Roon, this may make a substantive difference.

Another factor to take into account Michael is that the Sonicorbiter is wired only, not Wi-Fi. In another thread on the Sonicorbitor Andrew G referred to HomePlug, a powerline based network, which sounds very interesting as an alternative to Ethernet cabling.

A post was split to a new topic: SQ impacts of volume control before the preamp

That suggests to me that there is almost certainly a way to bypass volume, and it would be weird if they didn’t provide a way to do it in software for the non-audiophiles.

The thing I am not sure of is whether they can fully support DACs that expose their internal volume controls via USB commands.

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The Roon implementation of SB doesn’t give you ALL the features of SB - such as those based on plugins. It’s main focus is giving you the music playback capabilities. Some of the other features aren’t there.

@danny2 - right. Roon playback to an SB (or SonicOrbiter SE) will not provide all of what LMS does (yet) which is why I’m switching between Roon and LMS as needed. As Roon evolves, I suspect the reasons to switch back to LMS will be less & less (internet radio, iPhone controller, some plugin functionality currently in LMS, etc…)

Right now I need to buy an end point to replace a SB Duet that died over the holidays. I was looking to pickup a used SB Touch, but now I’m thinking the Sonicorrbiter SE might be a better choice - both near term (ability to use with LMS & Roon) and long term with Roon via RAAT.

The ability to use Roon in a mixed environment of Meridian/SqueezeBox/RAAT endpoints is way cool and a great transition solution to get people to give Roon a chance (hey, worked for me). But, syncing playback of multiple endpoints is one of the reasons I’ve stuck with LMS for so many years. While I wouldn’t be surprised if Roon will eventually be able to sync across these platforms, I betting that the better long-term view will be to have all RAAT/RoonSpeaker endpoints throughout. No?

If I was you I’d go with the Sonic Orbiter SE. It gives you full access to SB/LMS features, plus lots of flexibility to use other ecosystems (Roon,among others) if you ever want to. And I own 2 SBTs and a Boom, and formerly owned a Duet, if that means anything to you.

The Sonic Orbiter SE is new, and based on Sonore’s reputation I bet it sounds good.They have very good customer service. I bought a used SOtM SMS-100 (also based on Sonic Orbiter software) and they gave me free support, even though I hadn’t bought it from them.

Received my Orbiter SE this afternoon. Simple to operate, install. Playing through roon ready no issues sounds fantastic. USB to a PS Audio Directstream

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Is this an endpoint, or does it have RoonServer installed?

Hi,

It’s a RoonReady endpoint which means it supports Roon’s RAAT (aka RoonSpeakers) network protocol right out of the box.

All you have to do is hook it upto your network and connect a DAC to it.

I was going to get this and a DAC. But should I wait for a MQA capable DAC?

I have been pondering the same question. I currently have a DAC i am happy with and was looking to purchase a SonicOrbiter SE as soon as the RAAT update is released. With Roon i believe we should get that here sooner rather than later but in regards to MQA i just don’t know. The only music available currently is very niche, and who knows how long it will take until there is a better selection.

I have decided to fight my nature and try to avoid being a cutting edge adopter with MQA until a couple of my questions become more clear, specifically if hardware decoding adds some element software decoding doesn’t. That being said if i was currently looking to upgrade then MQA compatibility would be a bigger factor in my decision rather than wait and see.

It seems you could get something like this and the Explorer2 from Meridan and have both for a moderately low investment.

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We started shipping the fully RoonReay Sonicorbiter SE last week. Now everybody who is not on the ALPHA version of Roon can use it!

Great work getting the latest version of Roon out!

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Why is it $298.00 when it’s basically a CuBox-i that sells for between $100 - $169, depending on configuration? Isn’t it running the same open source software?

Two things (that may or not may not be of value to you):

  1. Linear power supply
  2. Custom image for easy switching of endpoint selection, including the soon-to-be RoonSpeakers.

OK, thanks for the info.

On the second one: custom image for easy switching of endpoint selection, I am not sure I understand what that means. Do you mean multiple boot/runtime images that are pre-configured for a variety of uses? For example, one with Shairport or Squeezelite enabled and/or one setup for MPD or uPnP playback?

Thanks.