Started Roon trial and have a LOT of problems. Help please

@support
I started a Roon trial on the 26th and I have experienced so many problems, I hardly know how to begin.

  1. I directed Roon to use my metadata in several instances, the most notable being Cover Art, Titles and Artists. I did this because my metadata is essentially perfect with all titles in a standard convention. For example, about 75% of my Titles are Classical or Opera so they all have st least one composer. When there is a composer Title is always:

Composer Last Name, then a colon and space, followed by Album Title (Puccini: Madame Butterfly).

Roon stripped off the Composer and went with just the actual title. Unfortunately that’s not how I want my music organized. Why didn’t Roon take my title, which included composer Last Name, just as I had it?

In the other 25% of my albums, Artist is prominent and in those cases the Title just contains Album Title.

I would prefer my music be organized alphabetically by Composer/Title. Without Composer, my music isn’t organized the way Imsearch for my music.

  1. I’m not sure how many albums came up with tracks unknown, but a lot and maybe all. My metadata was originally ripped using Naim to apply the first round of metadata and stored in WAV format. This is the data file submitted to Roon.

Just the other day I saw this sentence on a Naim forum:

Naim’ ripped files cannot be used in a non-Naim machine and must be converted to ‘normal’ WAV or another format.

Naim told me this:

No … the WAV format is completely non-proprietary however the WAV files are not tagged with any metadata and the metadata is retrieved from the Cores own databases - if you wish to have the files tagged with metadata then they can be ripped as FLAC format and the files will be tagged with metadata too.

Wikipedia says WAV files don’t have attached metadata. Then where is my meticulously crafted metadata I so much want to apply to my Roon metadata?

Am I running into trouble because of this? Can someone please define the problem with WAV more explicitly? And what I have to do to get my metadata used?

Yes, Janet, you have a good grasp of your situation. Nice research.

Using the Naim CD ripper and WAV format, for better or for worse, has made importing your groomed music files difficult, if not impossible. Your WAV files have no metadata of their own, just file names. Your metadata edits exist only inside the Naim server. And without access to that metadata, Roon cannot observe your import preferences.

AJ

  1. Have you used Roon’s Import Settings ?

  2. As AJ has confirmed, ordinarily WAVs don’t have file tags. You won’t be the first Naim user to want to convert your Naim metadata linked WAVs into FLACs with filetags. Search on the Naim forums for people who have done it before.

  3. Is Roon installed on your desktop ? If not, install it and point it at your Sonic Transporter Core. If yes, it is probably installed as a Core. In Settings/General/Core disconnect from your current Core and connect to the Sonic Transporter Core.

Lastly, the Forum is the best place to obtain Support, rather than emails to Roon.

You might ask Naim if you can convert or export your WAV files to FLAC with the metadata attached.

See the following:

Unfortunately, I didn’t use the HDX referred to in the thread you referenced, I used Naim’s Uniti Core to rip my albums, and it has no feature to convert its WAV ripped files to FLAC.

In part. I asked Roon to convert my files and in four cases to use my metadata - Cover Art, Title, Artist and Track,
Cover Art worked well, but that’s it. I am now in the process of asking Roon to use its metadata, but I was quite dissatisfied with Roon’s choices for my music during an earlier brief trial, so I am quite dismayed at my present situation.

This may be of use: Adding Metadata for Naim Wav Rips.

@support
I am on the third day of my Roon trial and aside from the metadata issues I have requested help with, I am having other problems.

  1. I cannot get Roon to play music at my Windows Desktop computer, though it does play music in my living room audio system (Roon endpoint is an Audio Alchemy DMP-1) and in my TV system (Roon endpoint is an OPPO UDO-205).

The Roon Core is not on my desktop computer but instead is installed in a Sonic Transporter connected to my router via Ethernet but remote from my desktop. Does my Desktop need a Roon endpoint?? (Which it doesn’t have) Or what??

  1. Also, the Roon stream stops after a few minutes in both the living room and the TV room and I have to keep restarting it every few minutes!

3rd trial?

  1. Here is the KB on audio device setup: https://kb.roonlabs.com/Audio_Setup_Basics
  2. Often, domestic routers have options to limit streaming thru the device - perhaps on a port basis - which need to be disabled, as this is precisely what you’re trying to do.

Have you installed the Roon software on your Windows Desktop computer? The Roon software includes the Endpoint function, so then your Core, running on your Sonic Transporter should see it and you can enable it for playback in Roon.

Hi @Echolane you need to install the Roon software on the pc to allow it to be a Roon endpoint. This can be Roon remote or the leaner roon bridge. There are a few pointers to follow for setting it up on windows to get the best SQ.

https://kb.roonlabs.com/RoonBridge
ttps://kb.roonlabs.com/Audio_Setup_Basics

Do you mean have I installed the Roon Core on my desktop? If so, i believe it is still there from an earlier trial as I am using the Roon program on my desktop to browse my music files and set flags to control the metadata on my files.

The Roon program can run either as a Core on the computer it is installed on, or as a Remote, pointing at another Core.

If you installed Roon on your PC before getting your Sonic Transporter, then it will probably be running as a Core on the PC or your Naim Uniti. You can check this under Settings/General/Core (first entry). Try disconnecting from your current Core and reconnecting to the Sonic Transporter Core.

Each Core has a different database, so you should confine your edits to one (Sonic Transporter) as they don’t talk to each other.

When you have pointed your PC to the Sonic Transporter Core it will stick there until you disconnect it.

Edit: I’ve merged your Support threads so you only have to monitor one for responses.

I am able to stream my music via thr Naim Uniti Core without interruption. The Sonic Transporter sits right next to the Sonic Transporter in my living room audio system. They are both using the same Ethernet port on my router (there Is a splitter at the site) so I am inclined to think the router is not the problem. I will definitely read Audio Setup though and thanks.

Maybe a simple thing, trey Puccini**;** (point comma) instead of colon

I’m sure you have already done it, but just in case, you have enabled a device on your desktop? At a minimum you should have a selectable /configurable zone called “System Out” (unless you have renamed it).

Hello @Echolane,

Thanks for contacting us regarding these issues, let’s try to break down your reported issues one by one:

Do you by any chance have a firewall active on your Windows computer? I would use these instructions to make sure that Roon is added as an exception and verify what the behavior is like with any Antivirus or firewall blocking applications turned off.

What is your Network setup like? Please list the model/manufacturer of your Router/Switch/Splitter and any other networking gear here. Does your Router fall under the list of routers that need additional settings? Does the same issue occur if you bypass the splitter and connect the SonicTransporter directly into your router instead of using the splitter?

What exactly are you dissatisfied with in Roon Metadata? Can you please provide some examples with screenshots if possible? You can also read more about grooming your collection here.

Please let me know if my above suggestions help.

Thanks,
Noris

I am using Windows 7 Professional. Will double check the firewall tomorrow.

My network setup:
Internet cable modem from AT&T direct to Netgear Nighthawk R7000 Router. All Ethernet cables are output from Netgear Router. Four of its five ports are in use.
The splitters are both this: NETGEAR 5-Port Gigabit Ethernet Unmanaged Switch,
I have one in my TV room with a split to Oppo and Roku. I have a second one in my living room with splits to Naim Uniti Core, Sonic Transporter, and my Roon endpoint, the Audio Alchemy DMP-1. I will do the test suggested.
Your documentation suggests this for my R700: We recommend disabling the "Enable Smart Connect setting. (If I can find this setting!)

@support
This is a complicated question. I’ll do my best to respond.

I trialed Roon for about a week some months ago and gave up in dismay. A great deal of my cover art was wrong so I didn’t recognize my albums by sight at all. Many were “unknown” whereas of my approx 550 albums only one was classified by Naim as unknown. Nor did I understand why my multiple CD albums were scattered around as if they didn’t belong to each other. Too much of my track information was missing. Whereas the Naim generated metadata I was accustomed to using was highly accurate.

Also, I didn’t like the way Roon scrolled horizontally instead of vertically.

Subsequently, I decided to try Roon again, primarily because I have four very good quality audio systems and I wanted them to all play simultaneously. So I devoted some considerable time to standardizing my Metadata with a plan to use my metadata instead of Roon’s.

When I started my second trial, I made choices for Roon to take my cover art, my artist data, my title data and my track data. I did get perfect Cover Art, but almost no metadata. It turns out that Roon cannot read metadata generated by Naim. Naim’s WAV files are standard but apparently they don’t package the metadata in a way that Roon recognizes. And my WAV files were ripped in the Naim Uniti Core.

I have been informed that for Roon to use my metadata I would have to rerip all my CDs to FLAC as my Naim product has no way to convert my WAV files to FLAC. Or hire someone to do the conversion to FLAC. I have subsequently learned, in fact just an hour ago, that Songkong software can decode Naim metadata and repackage the metadata with my WAV files in a format that Roon can read. So I will have to buy the software and do a conversion if I want to continue with Roon.

So this adds considerably to the time needed to complete my “to do” list to trial Roon, especially considering that I can’t get Roon working on all my platforms and on those I can get it to work on, it quits after a minute or two.

Hi Janet

I use SongKong, I would add a word of caution SongKong works with the MusicBrainz db and the Discogs db

It matches your album to. A “release “ in MusicBrainz, so if your album is there it works well , but things like big box sets it has a tendency to recognize some bits and not others and can simply scramble metadata

Add to that it makes adjustments as a process with no preview and no chance to decide whether to apply the changes unlike its sister product Jkoz

There is a 30 day demo, I would advise you try . I would also do your first runs on copies not the real thing. The dev, Paul, is very helpful and I am not trying to down the product , but I have had some funny experiences

Just my 2 pence

Mike