I’m thinking about buying a SBT to use it as a Roon endpoint and Spotify Connect client. The question is, is it still worth it in 2021 going down that route?
How’s the sound quality out of the RCAs and SPDIF output? (I can’t use its TOSLINK output as it is occupied in my setup).
Will the TOSLINK output engage the SBT’s DAC or use my DAC/amp’s DAC instead?
How much can you interact with SBT’s touch screen, if that’s something doable at all?
If no, is it going to be a completely ‘‘dumb’’ touch screen if using it as a Roon endpoint?
How about interacting with it via its remote controller?
I would be grateful if someone clarifies the above
Yes they are great you can use its DAC if RCA out or your own using spdif. if you can get one cheaply they are great I used coaxial for mine sounded great. These days a pi, hat and touchscreen can serve the same purpose.
You can use it as Spotify connect client without running LMS which means it’s not used in Roon.
Definitely your opinion. Having been an LMS user for many years I am very happy with Roon. Went back and tries V8 recently still dated the material skin does not change the antiquated library management and it’s idea of combined library is a mess, in my opinion.
I have already built a streamer with a RPi, a HifiBerry Digi+ Pro, and a 7inch touch screen running a RopieeeXL but am considering moving this to my desk for private headphone listening.
In this case, I have thought about swapping that with a SBT which is going to feed my Marantz amp.
My Ropieee streamer works great and even can interact with roon via its touchscreen with basic functions.
What about SBT screen?
I have had great success with the Squeezebox for three years, using SPDIF out. I upgraded the power supply, and think it helped some, especially if you can find one used.
Do you have examples? FWIW, LMS has every library management style available…including via Folder [which Roon does not]
Question #2
How would you create a playlist in Roon which consists of the following?
Playlist Alpha consists of:
5 whole albums from Artist John
2 whole albums from Artist Bob
1 album from Artist Rick
3 songs from Artist Jane
In LMS
Navigate to Music folder
Click on Artist John folder then add to playlist [name it Alpha]
Click on the other 4 albums then add to playlist Alpha
Navigate to Artist Bob folder open and repeat add to playlist Alpha
repeat for each artist until done.
Very very simple
How would you do this in Roon…step by step?
This is a great way to prove Roon as superior library management. I look forward to reading your steps.
Of course I don’t doubt you, Roon appears to be superior in every way, newer and great looks. But I would like to see the actual steps as confirmation.
The Squeezebox Touch’s screen is pretty much not very useful when used with Roon. The screen just shows the cover art and some timing info. However any Roon Remote (computer, phone, tablet,etc) can be used to control the Touch.
Digital output is via coax or spdif and is limited to 24bit/96kHz. There is also a way to enable USB output but I never tried it.
For a start I don’t see folder view in the Material Skin as on by default so you have to enable it so can’t be an important feature if it hidden from the off. Folder view also requires you to have preorganised your music into artist/album folders. Roon negates this I have my albums organised in where they came from so LMS fails here straight away as I may have two albums from John in a folder called Qobuz, one more from HiResAudio and another from Bandcamp.
In LMS there appears to be no way to add an album directly to a playlist only the play queue then you have to save this as a playlist which is far from intuitive.
So in Roon would go to artist view I have the option of typing just J to quick jump or I can add more characters to get me closer or use the funnel filter all get me there the same as folder view in LMS. Click into the artist select the four albums needed,.select add them to playlist, make new playlist named Alpha. Hit back do the same again for Bob add to Alpha playlist. Rinse repeat. Simple to achieve and does same thing so not sure what your point is here.
I honestly don’t see what the advantage of folder browsing here brings, why do I want to emulate on operating system when looking for music either. In 7 years of using LMS I never used folder browser once. In Roon I can just look for ab artist they are all grouped regardless of folders or location.
Sure I add albums, tracks or what ever I want to a playlist in LMS…straight from the library.
Important features are subjective, surely whats important to you might not be important for someone else. One of the reason why freedom to configure the UI is important.
Some people create folders of an artist and put albums from that artist in the folder…seems intuitive for those people. Another way is just to use the garbage can approach and just add everything into one folder, then let the software sort it out for you…
If you don’t use folders then its a feature you will never see value in…some people like myself do use folders and most software [at least from yester-year] had this functionality. In the 20+ years I’ve been using music software its something I always use…dating back to Winamp and Foobar.
Good to see you enjoy the way Roon does it, I’d steer clear of LMS if you enjoy the way Roon does it.
I do. I pop back to try it out every now and again when new things are added, only recently to check out v8 and the Material Skin that everyone goes on about but it still felt the same to me and I really dont like its attempt at mixing streaming with local music, just a mess imo. But for free and that fact its still has loyal following and developemt is testament that it still has its place and is a worthy product. It just didnt grow with what I needed or wanted.
I just got a used one and the sound from the SPDIF output to my DAC is really special - smooth and coherent. Dare to say its smoother than the pi - hifiberry digi+ running Ropieee Xl!
I only have a question. Upon boot most of the times the SBT won’t display “now playing” information but will show a screen like the one below instead. Sometimes it will just start showing now playing but it’s not very often.
Any idea how I’m going to set this to work?
I’ve already set this. I have basically set the screen to turn off when nothing’s playing and have opted for ‘‘now playing’’ and album art when it actually plays music.
The thing is it will show info on the display only some of the times, not always. Looks like it’s a random thing. A quick research showed there are many people having the same problem…
hm
Hmm indeed…Mine seems to reliably display what I’ve set it for. You can also add a now playing command to the main menu somewhere in settings, but you’d need to use the touch screen to get now playing to load. Also, there is a button on the SB remote that goes directly to now playing.
If you add the EDO mod to the SBT it gives you PCM output up to 192kHz on all three interfaces. This is what I use with Roon into my DAC.
I’m searching hard for a replacement for the SBT because my DAC has an I2S input that supports up to 352.8 and DSD256 but I just can’t find anything that meets all these criteria:
Works as a Roon endpoint
Has a screen that shows me track info and artwork from up to 3m away
Supports an instant remote control for play/pause/skip (could be IR or Harmony Hub)
I2S output with higher than 192kHz support
Suggestions welcome. Otherwise, two thumbs up from me for using an SBT as a Roon endpoint.
This seems to be a bug in Roon I think. If you use the SBT either on screen or via IR remote to initiate playback then you’ll get the now playing info. I’ve also mapped a button on my Harmony Hub’s remote for “info” that brings that screen up directly – but if I didn’t initiate playback from the SBT the screen saver kicks in again after a short time.
