Very nice Steve…Thanks!
Hi Andrew (and all others),
Thanks very much for all the useful information!
FINAL QUESTIONS, I hope?
My intention is to mostly run Tidal through Roon and use the MQA possibilities that my Mytek Brooklyn affords as well as listening to the vast catalogue that Roon/Tidal has access to. I have a NAS with a fair number of my CD’s on it, but the Roon/Tidal set-up would keep me busy exploring music for quite some time.
So, would the basic Sonic Transporter do the trick?
Can I plug it into my Mytek Brooklyn and listen to Roon/Tidal “out of the box?”
Must I have the micro Rendu (or similar device) now to have music and control it from my iPad mini or can I add it later?
Can I add an external SSD later and transfer my music to that storage medium?
These questions might seem quite naive, but I am fairly new to the digital/streaming world, but recognize it as the future.
Thanks for any further advice.
I’m hoping to make some purchases soon and get my MacBook Air out of the loop.
Leslie,
I also purchased this set up as a newbie to the world of roon and streaming, with the sonicTransporter/ microRendu bundle from Andrew. It works great for Tidal streaming and I have my own music on a USB external hard drive. Easy set up and I’m very happy with the sound.
I really do not understand the positive feedback for MAC products (I have a few). I currently have the MacMini running as an entertainment console, mainly for photos and to stream NHL.com and MLB.com. I had it running ROON software at one time. My MacMini is a quad 4 CPU from 2012 and has the latest OSes. I am a software developer and know how to build computers and also write software.
I must say that the MacMini experience for me has been severely disappointing. The OS is such a delicate flower. I have had to re-image the machine from Time-Machine about 6 times in the past 12 months. I now keep my backup HD beside the MacMini in my living room. Problems booting arose under the following circumstances
Mac OS updates (a few bad updates)
MAC app updates
Changing monitors (I have 5 in my office)
Changing keyboards
I am currently running ROON with Windows 10 Enterprise, Sonare MicroRendu and Orbiter, a Benchmark DAC in one system, and KEF X300A speakers (built0in DACs). This system is so reliable and stable, and sounds great. I used to have Windows Server 2012 running with ROON but it was not as seamless to use as Windows 10.
I am a big fan of the Sonare products because it allows me to use the most powerful music server, the computer. The computer is in a different room and the ROON clients are iPhone, iPads, Android phone, MSFT Surface Pro, or the ROON server computer itself.
My computer server is a throw away DELL OptiPlex 790 that my old work discarded (16 GB of RAM). This machine is located in my home office far away from the living room and bedroom where my speakers are located.
As a comparison, to some of the specialty music servers that one can buy to place near their stereo system. Last week I bought 2 used HP z800 Workstation’s on eBay for $700 each shipped, with the following configuration for each (not for ROON but software testing):
2 Xeon x5675 CPUs (24 hyper-threads), not the latest but very adequate for my heavy duty needs
96 GB of RAM expandable to 192 GB
6 hard drives
This machine was $700 and if I want I could run ROON with the Sonare products and have more power than I could ever use, unless ROON software gives me the ability to use all that RAM for ROON. Try to get that type of power with a MAC or a specialty music server for those $$.
Hi,
What size did you get for the Sonic Transporter that best accommodates Roon/Tidal streaming?
Thanks for any response.
It was the basic model without an internal drive (https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/collections/audio-server/products/sonictransporter). I use it with external storage. My music collection isn’t too large and this works just fine. They recommend the i5 for larger collections (>24k tracks).
Thanks for the response!
Is it sufficient for all of the “meta-data” that’s part of the Roon/Tidal steaming experience?
Yes, absolutely. It has enough internal storage for all the database stuff 
I have an Imac
I followed the above links instructions to create a virtual switch.
I also bought cheap usb 2.0 to ethernet adapter which I plugged in a spare usb 2.0 port on my Imac.
My Roon core and music are both on my Imac. My Roon control is an iPhone SE
Then my connection are as follows:
ISP provided router (with inbuilt switch) —> RJ45 cable (cat 6) --> ethernet port of iMac --> Usb to ethernet adapter —> RJ45 cable (cat 6) --> Sotm Sms 200
Remember to turn off wifi, Reboot (although may not need) and check in System Preferences > Network that the virtual switch is being used.
Before the virtual switch way I configured as follows.
Imac (Roon core + music) —> Wireless --> ISP provided router (with inbuilt switch) —> RJ45 cable (cat 6) —> Sotm Sms 200
I really prefer the virtual switch way. A big difference (even with my very modest dac and amp). I can understand why people are asking for this functionality in ROCK but it’s hard to appreciate it until you tried it.