Second room options

Audio Gear Talk
1

Hi folks. I’m looking for some ideas for a modest setup for Roon to play my library + Tidal to a second room.

Current main room setup is a dedicated silent high spec i7 PC running Win 10 (Roon Core) through via USB to a T+A DAC 8 DSD and then balanced into McIntosh MC 275 and ART Signature 10 speakers. I play a mixture of music but largely classical and 60/70’s rock. Ideally I’d like to keep the box count down on the second room system and price not more than say £1500-£2000 (less is nice). For that I need to include some small bookshelf speakers. My music collection includes quite a lot of 24/96 and 24/192 material and increasingly I’m buying DSD 128 / 256 albums as they appear.

I’ve done quite a bit of digging around but I’m not sure if a NUC or similar running Roon Bridge or getting a network streamer (Roon Endpoint) is the best bet to get the most audio quality bang for my buck.

Thoughts please?

cheers

Rob

2

No need for a NUC, you just need a Roon endpoint (for which there are many choices). Since you want to minimize the box count, how about something like a BlueSound Node 2 with powered speakers or a PowerNode 2 with passive speakers?

For a comprehensive list of endpoints, look here under “Roon Ready Network Devices”:

https://kb.roonlabs.com/Partner_Devices_Matrix

1 Like
3

Lots of choices for endpoints. Different price points. Raspberry Pi3 is quite inexpensive. Bluesound (as Orgel stated) is a good option. Some headphone amp/DACs and powered speakers make for a simple solution.

4

Thanks guys I’ll investigate further!

5

Do you want a DSD capable endpoint also is a worthwhile consideration.

6

Yup absolutely thx

7

I think with that budget I’d just go for the KEF LS50 Wireless. But that just me, since I don’t need the features they are missing and I think it’d be a nice and clean solution. Plus I really like the passive LS50.

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8

The ability to handle native DSD requirement will rule out quite a few choices I would have thought.

9

It’s on my list for consideration!

10

Naim Uniti Atom, is great all in one. Just got one the other week. Upto DSD 128 support or 23/384 LPCM. Roon ready with Spotify Conect, Airplay, in built Tidal and Chromecast support, So all streaming bases can be covered if Tidal goes the way of the DoDo.

11

Thanks Simon. I took a look at the Naim and some user reviews. Generally positive for sure but it’s not going to leave much for speakers out of my budget. I’ll aim to get a listen to it though…

12

I would its a lovely piece of kit, Its not without its flaws though but all can be fixed with firmware upgrades and the Naim app is not great, but if your using Roon you wont need it above the initial setup and it does sound lovely.

13

ok thanks again Simon. I’ll book a listen!

14

Quick follow up please…

I have a powerful i7 7700k desktop running Roon Core with my T+A DSD 8 DAC connected via USB in my lounge. All working fine and upsampling everything to DSD256.

What spec machine (NUC / SBC) can I get away with running Roon Bridge only out to a local DAC/AMP/Speakers in my bedroom (different Roon zone) please?

thanks!