Starting from scratch with ROON

I live in Leicestershire, UK and am interested in using Roon in my system after reading quite a bit online. I’ve not seen it used in person and don’t think my laptop is suitable for the free 14 day trial, as it doesn’t have an SSD. Maybe I’ll be able to find somewhere to try it out, a dealer perhaps or maybe someone local to the Midlands?

So, if I wanted to use Roon I’d need to start from scratch from the computer/Core side of things. My current system has speakers, integrated amp and a USB-capable DAC, so need something with a USB output to serve the system. I also have a Chromecast Audio for TIDAL which plugs into my DAC via optical. I’ve ripped most of my CDs and SACDs to my laptop HDD and it looks like it’ll end up around 1TB of music in total. Just need to buy an extra HDD to rip the remaining discs.

I’ve looked at the Nucleus a lot and it seems an attractive option, but lately I’ve heard of people using NAS drives for the Core, which requires more hands-on skills than the Nucleus. There’s also the NUC option but I’d be concerned about the learning curve. The non-Nucleus options do seem to be less expensive though, and I’ve been told the Nucleus is not good value for money and that I should look at Innuos. I’ve also seen Melco but that would again require a Core housed elsewhere I think.

I’m hoping for something as simple as possible. The router is in the same room as the system so there won’t be a complicated wiring situation, so maybe a Nucleus next to my DAC is the best option and I should just bite the expensive bullet?

Again, it would be helpful to actually try Roon out for an hour or so somewhere local to me. If anyone doesn’t mind having me round :smile:

Hey Gregory, fortunately this is not true - especially for the purposes of a trial. Probably later yes, you’ll get a better experience with Roon database running on an SSD but I wouldn’t worry about that just yet, for your trial.

My old man (dad) currently has Roon Server running on a 2011 i5 iMac with a 7 year old hard disk drive at the moment (temporarily while we’re sorting out some other playback issues).

Just give it a crack! Download Roon to your computer and see how the laptop goes. What are it’s specs and age, just out of interest?

You can look at a new Roon Core if you’re happy with your trial.

So after you’ve pointed Roon to your music library, you’ll be able to quick play music direct to your Chromecast Audio.

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Oh so I can use the trial? That’s good.

I hope there’s some explanation of how to ‘point Roon at my music’ and how to get it to the Chromecast! :grinning:

Absolutely, it doesn’t need an SSD to ‘work’. As mentioned you’ll get a better experience later with an SSD for your ‘database’ but you can worry about that later.

Don’t panic about the 14 day limit too - if you email Roon asking for a small extension they’ll probably help you out.

Give it a crack :slight_smile:

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Why not post a request on pink fish media to see if there’s someone in your neck of the woods running Roon who’d be happy to take you on a tour.

I’ve signed in and am on the Roon Download page. How do I know which thing to download? There a dozens of options. I hope it’s not always this confusing once it’s up and running.

My laptop is a Lenovo from 2017. Not sure of the specs. Should I download the ‘Common Roon Downloads’ for PC or another one?

Yes, download the Windows version in the “Common Roon Downloads” section. That is the full all-in-one Roon package containing all the three components (Core, Control and Output).

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OK thanks, I’ve downloaded it now. What do I do next? It says Run, Open folder, View downloads…

Click “Run” to start the installation process…

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I’ve got it working into my Chromecast Audio now. It’s sending 16/44.1 to my DAC as 24/44.1 but sounds perfect!

A large percentage of the album covers are not correct now. Spent ages getting those right…Maybe there’s a work around for that? If I use only my MediaGo music folder (which has the correct cover art) will Roon just use the assigned art in the MediaGo folder? Is there a way to stop Roon trying to change things like this?

Also, I’d like to get my Tidal account linked to Roon but can’t remember my username or password for entry. Anyone know how to find them?

If your MediaGo music folder is the folder that Roon is watching for music files (i.e. it is listed in Roon’s Settings > Storage screen), then just tell Roon to use the artwork in your music folders (i.e. go to Roon’s Settings > Library > Import Settings, and click on “Prefer File” for the Artwork entry.

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I live in Leicestershire. Check my bio for details of my setup. Happy to test drive Roon for you.

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You could look in your list of Web Credentials in Windows. In Windows 10: Click the Windows Start icon, and type “Credential Manager” (without the quotes) into the Search field. This should show you the link to the Credentials Manager, so click it. Go to the list of Web Credentials, and look for the https://my.tidal.com entry. Click the down arrow to the right of the entry and you’ll see your TIDAL username. Your password is shown as a string of asterisks, so click the “Show” link. You’ll be asked to enter your Windows account and password, and then you should see your TIDAL password.

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Thanks! I had my email address as my user name :confused: …All working now.

Oh great! I’d love to be shown round Roon by someone familiar with it. I’ve never used Music player software before, so it’s a big adjustment.

PM me your details and we can have a chat maybe :slight_smile:

I’ve got music playing with my Chromecast ok, but having trouble making it work with my Sony DAC (TA-ZH1ES). Played a DSD128 track and it came out playing at 32/384 PCM. Tat was using the WASAPI option. There was an ASIO option but it didn’t work.

I don’t actually use the Sony DAC with my laptop, just my Walkman. I expect it needs setting up right.

Any idea why only about 5000 of my MediaGo tracks have been pulled into Roon, when there are actually over 9000 tracks in MediaGo?

First stop is to take at look to see if any files have been skipped during the import process - go to Settings > Library > and view Skipped Files.

Files could also not be imported because they are in a format not supported by Roon or some other reason. Take a look at this Knowledge Base article

@Woo maybe your library is still importing?

Already checked the Skipped Tracks. It’s only listed the 4 DFF albums I have.

I don’t have any unusual formats, I’m missing quite a lot of albums. I noticed that I didn’t see my Kind Of Blue DSD64 album, for example, even though other DSD albums are shown in Roon.

I’ll have a read of the article though. Thanks for the advice.