@AndersVinberg, do you know if it is possible to install/run any other software on the SonicTransporter? Do the other USB ports on the front next to the main USB3 port work? Could one attach an external optical drive to it for ripping? Also, what OS does the SonicTransporter run? All my music is on drives formatted in OSX.
The short answer, I have no idea. Ask @agillis.
Long answer: I have no idea on purpose. I don’t want to know anything about this being a computer. I don’t want to work with it at the level of Linux. To me, it is a single-function music server device, it has certain functions that are exposed in the control panel for the Roon server, and I don’t want to know about anything else.
I work with computers, but I don’t think there is a future in using general-purpose computers (Windows, MacOS, Linux) as home electronics. All that stuff has to be hidden. Like it is in your car, which has hundreds of computers.
I have a perfectly good Windows-based NUC. But being a general-purpose machine, it requires management. I have no problem with it, I know Windows, but I don’t want to do it. So I got the SonicTransporter to replace it, as an experiment in a trend that I believe in and that I want to encourage. I have no commercial interest in it, but I think it is the right thing and I want to see Small Green Computer and Sonore and the others succeed exactly because it is the right thing.
And I want to see Roon succeed because it is the right thing. And for the same reasons, I get worried when I see Roon get sucked too deep into arcane computerish stuff.__
3 Likes
This perfectly captures my take on computers and enjoying music. I’m keeping an eye on the sonic orbiter. Please continue to post your experiences.
See that’s my goal as well, which is why I’m asking the questions. I’m trying to create a turnkey Roon appliance for myself, and what I’ve done so far hasn’t fully succeeded. I’ve got a Sonnet Echo 15+ dock with two 2TB SSDs and a Blu-ray optical drive. Right now it connects to a dedicated Mac Mini via Thunderbolt. I use the optical drive to rip disks to the internal drives which is where my Roon library lives. Everything is super fast, and the only software running on the Mac right now is dB PowerAmp, DVD Audio Extractor and RoonServer. It would be nice to replace the Mac Mini with the SonicTransporter and create a dedicated turnkey system, but, for me, if I can’t use my dedicated turnkey system to actually get music onto my system, then I still need the computer, and so the SonicTransporter, becomes an extra device I have to deal with rather than what I want which, like you, is for all that stuff to be hidden. And the question if whether or not I can plug any USB hard drive into the SonicTransporter and have it read my music files without having to reformat it in some as yet unknown format (you imply that it is Linux, but the Small Green Computing site says NOTHING about that) is not keeping unnecessary complications hidden, but rather withholding necessary information. If there’s anything that I need to plug into my car in order for it to work in the way that plugging your hard drive into the SonicTransporter is needed for it to work (like keys, gas, oil, tires, etc.) you can be pretty sure that the car company is going to tell me which one to get and which ones won’t work.
Anyway, we don’t need to debate this. I get your point and I’ll just refer future questions to @agillis . I think SGC is already aware of this issue as they also make the sonicTransporter AP that does most of what I want. At least it rips CDs though they also hide what ripping software they are using so I’m not sure that I can trust that it makes bit-accurate copies. If I knew that it could accurately copy my CDs. I might buy it. If it had a blu-ray drive and could extract PCM audio from DVD and Blu-ray, I’d buy multiple units (one for my regular house, one for my vacation house and two for each of my kids). They’re almost there, so we’ll see.
I made a somewhat different choice. I want the music playback system to be simplified and single-purpose, but I use a regular computer for managing the content: ripping discs, downloading from a variety of stores (from HDTracks to artists’ sites), metadata editing (including finding artwork for albums and artists), distributing to other systems (since Roon does not yet sync with mobile devices or other locations), and most importantly backup (to my NAS and to the cloud). These functions are inherently general purpose. And the distribution and backup processes are the same as what I use for other content, like my photography.
So I use the general purpose computer for these general-purpose functions, and then drag the content over to the music server.
Not as smooth and seamless as an integrated box, but the world of content is not smooth and seamless.
I’m not sure I get the reason to have a device like the sonicTransporter if one has a powerful general computer. I’m toying between spending close to $900 for a i5 sonicTransporter and about $1300 on a i7 Mac Mini. The Mini will enable me to use it for downloads, etc. I like the idea of keeping the general purpose computer out of the playback system, but it seems to me that so far these RoonServer machines are really general computers with a closed system.
Right, and that’s the point.
For me, getting rid of the general purpose computer in the music playing system will simplify, which means I could recommend such a system to non-techie friends.
Others argue that it will make audible improvements.
General purpose computers are fantastic, they can do anything. A revolutionary invention, unprecedented in human history. But that generality drags along some baggage.
1 Like
You can attach a USB drive to the USB port and mount your music in Roon Server. The drive can be almost any format. If you want CD ripping you need to buy the sonicTransporter AP.
Agreed - I am not computer savvy but I simply get my computers custom made to my specs and ensure that it looks like a HiFi component - the flexibility is enormous as you can update both software and hardware whenever you want with little expense - usually the software developments trigger an major update in hardware every couple of years - you can also make the PC audio friendly. These days with so many streaming options both audio and video and I am not that reliant on my Synology NAS server for data as I used to be.
1 Like