Some questions about Roon/Naim

Roon Software Discussion
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  1. Familiar with the volume control in my Naim ND555 and how it affects SQ, particularly on Hi Rez material. Roon also controls volume. I presume that the Roon Volume control does so in a manner that does not have the same effect as the one in the ND555. Hence the Naim recommendation to use a preamp and not go straight into a power amp. Did the test and Naim are right.

  2. The biggest reason for Room for me is to have access to streamed Hi Rez material so as it exists and is available. Do you notice a benefit from the hi rez material? Which ones stand out?

  3. I have TIDAL HiFi. Will I be able to stream the Masters/Hi Rez material from TIDAL?

  4. I like the idea of the Nucleus. I know its more expensive, but I am plug and play when it comes to IT. Seems like my kind of Tool. Anyone with a Nucleus or Nucleus+? (I have a linited music collection–100 cd’s, the main system and 2 Qb’s and will probably want to play with REW–will the Nucleus handle this or do I need to get the Nucleus+?

  5. I am not going to tie into my computer for my audio. Its worth it for me to have a separate device.

  6. Other than ripping cd’s, the Naim Unity Core with Roon continues to store ripped cd’s? I assume that other downloads now get stored on the Nucleus?

  7. From what I read, the preferred way to connect the Nucleus/+ would be with a wired ethernet wire. The ND555 and the Unity Core are connected that way.

Sorry for so many questions, but just want to make sure this is the right purchase for me. I realize this is also a Naim item, so have also posted same questions there.

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I never use volume control in Roon. I prefer to do volume control at the hardware level.

Roon can playback high resolution music files. Whether someone notices a difference depends on the source and its particular mastering, the DAC, the speakers, the amp, the room treatments, etc. And even then, your personal hearing. The best high resolution I’ve heard is not available via streaming but I won’t muddy the water, so to speak. On streaming, try the albums from 2L, they are well recorded and mastered.

The only “Hi Rez” material on Tidal is MQA. If you have the appropriate subscription, you can stream the MQA files and Roon will do the first unfold on them. Qobuz, if you have access to the service, will stream high resolution flac. Note, that not everything on either service is available in high resolution. Either way Roon can play the high resolution stream. Assuming your network and internet is up to the task.

I am not sure what 2 Qb’s refer to, but if you do not have that many CDs and are going to basically stream; then, it sounds like the Nucleus will work for you.

Well, you will need to use your computer for some things. For example, if you have storage on the Nucleus, you will need a computer to copy files to it. Just keep in mind, that the Nucleus is a computer.

Your Unity Core can be used to rip CDs. When you setup Roon, you will point Roon to the Unity as a storage device only. There are several threads on here on how to do this. It will require knowledge of network path names to implement.

When it comes to this, everything should be wired except for a tablet you might use to control the RoonServer. WiFi should not be used along the path from music storage to RoonServer to Music Output.

1 Like
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Two more questions about the Nucleus and Roon. I have some Hi-Rez downloaded files from ProStudioMasters and HD tracks etc, copied to usb thumb drives. Can I input them to the Nucleus thru the usb socket in the back, and will they store on the Nucleus, assuming that I have installed an SSD?

Will Roon runnng on a Nucleus stream TIDAL Masters without perfomring the first unfold and send them to a MQA certified DAC (Mytek Manhattan II) for full unfolding to the limit of the original stream?

Thanks

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N[quote=“Gary_Walker, post:3, topic:61879”]
Will Roon runnng on a Nucleus stream TIDAL Masters without perfomring the first unfold and send them to a MQA certified DAC (Mytek Manhattan II) for full unfolding to the limit of the original stream?
[/quote]
Yes I’m doing that. Sounds great. I have the Mytek network card and also use Roon to control the analogue volume in the Manhattans pre amp section. I prefer that slightly over the digital volume but you can also control that from Roon if you want or get Roon to do the volume control itself.

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If you only have 1 drive in the nucleus then, no. The Nucleus OS drive cannot be used for music storage. Better to get an external USB drive ( 4 TB WD Passport’s have worked well for me) and copy all the music to that one drive.

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Hello Daniel

Thanks for the information about the Nucleus. I guess I should have made it clearer—Can I put a usb thumbdrive into the Nucleus that has its on board SSD and has an optional 2TB SSD located in the bottom of the drive, as installed on several web sites, to store the Hi Rez music fromthe thumb drive? I don;t have my computer on the network, so how does one copy the data to the optional 2TB SSD in the base of the Nucleus?

Thanks
Gary

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I believe you need to use a computer to copy music to/from any internal storage drive. The internal storage drive should be available on the network.

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You cant use usb stick with the Nucleus it only reads usb drives. So you can use an external usb drive to store the music on. Then to copy music to.it you can stop roonserver at any time using the Nucleus web UI then unplug the the attached usb drive, plug it into your computer add the music , plug it back into Nucleus and restart roonserver. This is the advantage of RoonOS you can shut down just parts of it and not the whole device.

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Thanks CrystalGipsy
When you do this, do you use NTFS format for the external drive or FAT32. I found that the Naim Streamers will only accept FAT32 from the front panel. I assume that the external drives formatted in NTFS would be the way this worked?

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Exfat is the preferred option for Roon Nucleus. But it accepts others that Linux supports.

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https://kb.roonlabs.com/Nucleus_Media_Storage_And_Audio_Devices

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Thanks. I now remember reading this.

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